The Allied landings at Dieppe in German-occupied France in August 1942 are one the most famous amphibious operations of the Second World War and many books have been written about them, mostly from the Allied point of view. The German side of the story has been neglected, and that is why Graham Thomas’s fresh account is so valuable. He reconstructs the immediate response of the Germans to the landings, gives a graphic detailed description of their actions throughout, and looks at the tactical and strategic lessons they drew from them.

Each phase and aspect of the action is depicted using a broad range of sources including official reports, correspondence and recollections – the preliminary British commando attacks on the gun batteries, the landings themselves, the German defences and preparations, and their counter-attacks, and the associated naval and air campaigns.

The result is a finely balanced and incisive reassessment of this remarkable operation. It also offers the reader an engrossing account of one of the most dramatic episodes in the war in Western Europe.