The Dieppe Raid was a fatal tragedy for Canadians. For many years historians debated why the Dieppe Raid failed and who was responsible for the tragedy. In this activity, students will critically analyze primary source documents and establish facts, identifying differences and similarities regarding the Dieppe Raid and Canada’s tragic losses.
This activity was first designed to accompany our exhibition Courage in Chaos: the Dieppe Story. The exhibition is also available for free to your school by completing our reservation form.
Activity content
The activity is divided into two parts. In the first part, found in the student guide, students will read two excerpts written by historians describing their views on the Dieppe raid. After reading them, students should identify the differences and similarities in their positions. In the second part, students will then read two newspaper articles published during and after the war. Once again, they will identify the differences and similarities between the two.
The teacher’s guide describes the educational objectives of the activity, gives the correct answers and provides the necessary corrections.
Activity objectives
The goal of these activities is to allow secondary cycle two students to have a greater understanding of World War II and the Canadian Army’s first large-scale engagement in Europe: the fatal Dieppe Raid, described as one of Canada’s darkest military chapters. Students will also learn to appreciate the contributions of Canadian Armed Forces personnel from Quebec.
These activities were created as educational tools to complement the Quebec Education Program of secondary 4 History and secondary 5 History of the 20th and Contemporary World courses. In addition, these activities can also be used as language tools in the following courses: Francais langue maternelle (in secondary 3, 4 and 5), Français, secondary language, English, secondary language (in secondary 3, 4 and 5) and English Language Arts.
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