Poster - "Salute to Valor" - Cecil Merritt, VC. This may be the cover of a cartoon book. Captions: "No matter how daring their exploits or perilous their adventures the fiction characters of war will never thrill young or old Canadians as do the real life heroes of World War II." / "Compiled and Illustrated by T.A. Steele" / "For matchless gallantry and inspiring leadership whilst commanding his battalion during the Dieppe Raid Aug. 19 1942" / "Victoria Cross" / "Lieut. Col C.C.I. Merrit [sic Merritt] VC of Vancouver BC". The illustrations in the background show Lt Col Merritt, VC in Seaforth glengarry and SD tunic, and troops in battledress and a maple leaf. The Dieppe Raid, known as Operation Jubilee, was conducted across the English Channel on 19 August 1942 on Dieppe, a small port on the French coast between Le Havre and Boulogne, planned as a "reconnaissance force" to test the Western Allies' capability to launch large-scale amphibious assaults on Europe. The raid was a major disaster. Troops of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division under Maj.-Gen. J.H. Roberts failed to achieve any of their objectives. The Raid lasted nine hours. Of the nearly 5,000 Canadian soldiers involved, more than 900 were killed and 1,874 taken prisoner, more prisoners than the army lost in the 11 months of the 1944-45 North-West Europe campaign. In the air battle the Allies lost 106 aircrafts and 81 airmen, the Royal Canadian Air Force 13 machines and 10 pilots. The Germans lost 48 aircraft and otherwise had light casualties. The raid provided valuable experience for subsequent amphibious assaults in North Africa and especially Normandy. Failure of the Dieppe raid has been blamed on the use of inexperienced troops, poor and overly complex planning, inadequate training and insufficient fire support.