>>>>>I must have missed that as well. I don't remember reading any messages downplaying or denying Canada's participation in WWII by anyone.
>>>>
>>>>And let's keep it that way. < GD&R >
>>>
>>>And let's not forget the tragic part Canadian troops played in "assessing" German response to invasion, in the form of their abortive Dieppe Raid in 1942. I must admit to only having first heard of this last summer, when visiting Newhaven Fort, near Brighton, the nearest UK port to Dieppe.
>>>
>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_Raid
>>
>>In the Dieppe raid, I don't belive anyone really thought it would be particularly successful. The Canadian troops were used as cannon fodder to aid in assessing the German response and firepower etc - supposedly to aid in drawing up plans for the eventual D-Day raids. They were sent out to die, plain and simple, and they weren't given any real choice in the matter.
>
>It saddens me no end. Esp. if, as you assert, they were sent there to die, definitely, like going over the top on the Somme.

I suppose the best I can say is that maybe the leaders hoped that the soldiers wouldn't die, but without any such real expectations. They felt they needed information, and if a lot of soldiers had to die, well, that's war. In the end, I think that most (not all, of course) analysts feel that the deaths were a completely pointless waste.

I think that strategists in war should be forced to go along on the executions of the plans they make.