Dieppe

It was the eighteenth day of August, in nineteen-forty-two
We sailed away from England, and no one knew where to
We had received no orders, no friends to see us leave
The Second Canadian Division, with the blue patch on their sleeve

Early the next morning, when everything was still
We saw those tracer bullets, come at us from the hill
Though we kept right on sailing, and no one will forget
The morning that we landed, on the coast there at Dieppe

The enemy was waiting, and had taken up their post
We met a hail of bullets as we landed on the coast
Every man there landed, or at least he tried
Many men were wounded there, and many more men died

It was early in the morning, when we started in to fight
The mortar bombs came at us, from in front, and left and right
The shells came at us from the cliffs, they bombed us from the air
But the Second Canadian Division, did not so easily scare

We fought there for eight hours, from 6 a.m. till two
Our losses were terrific, but there was nothing we could do
The navy came to help us, but their boats they could not land
So we had to surrender, at Dieppe there on the sand

What is left of us are now prisoners, beneath a foreign flag
Here in the heart of Germany, in this VIII B stalag
Though many of our comrades fell, we never will forget
They gave their lives there fighting, in the battle of Dieppe

When this war is over, and once again we're free
To our homeland we'll be sailing, to a land of liberty
Many have a battle scar, there's no one will forget
The morning that he landed, on the French coast at Dieppe