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Originally posted by wu-dai clan
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They also learned from Dieppe they had to have complete control of the airspace over the D-Day landing beaches. In the two years between Dieppe and D-Day, the allied air forces concentrated on destroying the Luftwaffe. By D-Day, the fighter corps of the Luftwaffe in the Western theater was completely decimated. The Luftwaffe was virtually absent from the skies on D-Day.
The other big lesson learned from Dieppe was the absolute necessity of fire support. At Dieppe, there was no heavy bombing from the air to soften up German defenses. Also at Dieppe, the Royal Navy had refused to allow any of its capital ships operate in the English Channel. A few months earlier, Japanese land-based aircraft had sunk two British battleships in the South China Sea. The Royal Navy would not allow any of its battleships or cruisers participate in the Dieppe Raid and expose them to the risk of being sunk by the Luftwaffe. The only fire support came from a few destroyers and their puny 4-inch guns; the Luftwaffe sunk one of them. On D-Day, before the troops hit the beaches, the Allied air forces mounted a massive aerial bombing assault on German defenses in Normandy. Also the Allies had seven battleships (including the USS Texas, Arkansas and Nevada), five heavy cruisers and 17 light cruisers providing fire support during the landings at D-Day.
So many lessons learned from the fiasco at Dieppe that led to success at D-Day. Lord Mountbatten, whose Combined Operations planned Dieppe, later said for every man who died at Dieppe ten lives were saved at D-Day from the lessons learned.
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