Book excerpt: Now in paper! The gripping story of the Canadian Army's disastrous raid on Dieppe -- the tenth instalment of the bestselling Canadian Battle Series. Nicknamed "the Poor Man's Monte Carlo," Dieppe had no strategic importance in World War II -- but the decision to assault it in August 1942 with the largest raid mounted to that date was political. With the Soviet Union thrown on the ropes by German invasion and America having just entered the war, Britain was under intense pressure to launch a major cross-Channel attack. In Canada, too, the public was calling for action, impatient to see Canadian soldiers wrap up their training in Britain and get into the war. Almost 5,000 Canadians formed the core of a 6,000-strong force. By the raid's end, 913 would be dead or mortally wounded, 1,946 would be prisoners of war and the Dieppe raid would become Canada's most costly day of World War II. Drawing on rare archival documents and personal interviews, Mark Zuehlke examines how the raid came to be and why it went so tragically wrong. From the clashes of personality and ambition among those masterminding the raid to the experiences of the common soldier left to carry it out, this tenth instalment of the Canadian Battle Series tells a compelling, unflinching story.