The Second World War was full of daring raids and secret manoeuvres, but one that is widely regarded as a disaster is Operation Jubilee.
In order to show the Soviets that the other Allied forces were willing to open a second front, it was decided that the German-held port of Dieppe would be seized for at least 24 hours. Initiated on 18 August 1942, it wasn’t long before the operation began to collapse. In what would become one of the bloodiest battles for the RAF, nearly two thirds of the servicemen taking part were killed, wounded or captured.
In this exciting talk, Patrick Bishop uses recently declassified material and first-hand accounts to highlight how the mission failed, while also showing how this story of tragedy, heroics and struggle cemented the operation’s place in world history.
Supported by:
About the speaker
Patrick Bishop was born in London and went to Wimbledon College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Before joining the Telegraph, he worked on the Evening Standard, Observer and Sunday Times, and also had a stint reporting for Channel 4 News.
He is the co-author, with John Witherow, of a first-hand account of the Falkands War and, with Eamon Mallie, of The Provisional IRA, which was praised as the first authoritative account of the modern IRA. He also wrote a memoir of the Gulf War, Famous Victory, and a history of the Irish diaspora, The Irish Empire, based on the TV series which he devised.
Buy the book
