Unauthorized Action: Mountbatten and the Dieppe Raid

On August 19, 1942, a mainly Canadian force left England in an attempt to seize the German-occupied French port of Dieppe--a mission that has been described as the largest raid in history. The result was a complete disaster. Here Brian Villa unravels all the complexities that led to it: the political interests in both Britain and Canada; the pressures placed on Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff; and especially the vagaries of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was ultimately responsible as Chief of Combined Operations. As the first thorough examination of the disaster, the book is an important contribution to the literature on World War II.