Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Pourville

Chub and his brother Jim were in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from Winnipeg. They, along with the South Saskatchewan Regiment (SSR) had the job of landing at Pourville (a.k.a. "Green Beach") a village around the point to the west of Dieppe. Their job was to seize the town from the Germans, and head inland about 5 km to rendevous with the other Canadians who would be overrunning Dieppe itself.The South Saskatchewan Regiment landed first in the pre-dawn light and successfully secured the village, although their initial efforts were compromised by the fact that their landing craft had come ashore on different sides of the River Scie, which ran through the heart of the village.To consolidate their forces, the men had to traverse a short bridge that was under heavy enemy fire. Their leader, Lt.-Col. Cecil Merritt, earned the Victoria Cross for leading his men successfully across it.By the time Chub, Jim and the other Cameron Highlanders landed at about 7:00 AM, the town had been secured enough that they could make their way inland towards their objective. They worked their way successfully up the Scie river valley for several kilometres.Chub's party made it all the way to a cross-roads called Petit-Appeville, where they were supposed to meet up with the tanks coming from the main battle in Dieppe. But of course, the tanks never arrived because they had never made it off the beach, The Camerons therefore became the victims of their own success, having gone farther inland than any other group that day. By this point, the Germans were pouring reinforcements into the area, and Chub's group was effectively cut off from returning to the beach when the call to retreat came at about 11:00 AM. Jim was close enough to witness Chub being taken, but was not close enough to help (he did, however, get back to the beach himself, where he helped many other men make it through the trecherous rush to the landing crafts).

Today the following plaque is located at the cross-roads where were captured.Nearby, another monument remembers the efforts of the Canadians to liberate France.

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