World War II (WWII) was fought between 1931 and 1945 and involved many countries. Many different battles occurred during this war and one battle showed the Allied forces their worst loss of World War II. That battle was the Dieppe raid and this operation was supposed to create havoc on the German defenses; while showing the Germans that Allied forces would be able to attack and capture a port city. This would also benefit the Soviet Union in forcing the Germans to fight on two fronts. However, the battle was a disaster; the Allied forces used the lessons learned from Dieppe in future operations. The Dieppe Raid was a predecessor to the Normandy invasion on D-Day. Allied forces launched the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942 and it lasted about six hours. The port of Dieppe was heavily occupied by the Germans and the city of Dieppe is located in France. The operation was an attempt by the Allied forces to assist the Soviet Union by opening a second front against the Germans in the west, as the Germans were pushing into the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. Furthermore, the Axis powers were making their mark on the war by moving their forces to North Africa; as U-boats wreaked havoc against Allied forces shipping in the Atlantic. The intended purpose of the raid was to divert German military resources from the Eastern Front and would be the foundation for a more successful assault yet to come. Another purpose of this attack was to expand the Allied forces and not be bottled up in Britain, as the Germans threatened just across the Channel and the raid could weaken the Germans by hitting one of France's northern ports. Finally, the operation was to attack a German-...... middle of paper ......to be an unauthorized attack during World War II; there was no approved written order for the resumption of the operation from July to August. Lord Louis Mountbatten, a British naval officer, stated that the lessons learned from the Dieppe raid would benefit the Allied forces in their victory at Normandy. The Dieppe Raid was a battle for which the Allied forces were unprepared and it was evident on the battlefield with the number of casualties. Dieppe was a port city that the Allied forces were trying to invade to help the Soviet Union by having the Germans fight on two fronts. It wasn't like that; the Germans were ready and caused chaos among the Allied forces trying to penetrate the city. In all the destruction of the Allied forces during the battle, there was some good that came from the outcome of Dieppe; which would later be used in the Battle of Normandy.