A number of Canadian veterans of the Second World War are about to revisit a painful part of their past.

Seven men who fought in the raid on the French port of Dieppe have returned to the scene to mark the 70th anniversary of what is one of the bloodiest battles in Canadian history.

Of the nearly 5,000 Canadian soldiers sent to claim the port for the allies, more than 3,300 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

The battle began on August 19, 1942, when Canadian and British troops arrived by sea for what was expected to be a surprise raid on the Germans occupying the Port of Dieppe.

Instead, the soldiers met prepared resistance and German soldiers waiting to mow them down as they attempted to reach shore.

Arthur Rossell was among the Canadians who fought at the battle and will be in France to remember the occasion.

“We were young and we and we were hyped up for action. We’d been idle in England for about two or three years, you can imagine what it’s like. But we never thought for one minute that we’d be walking right into a firepower,” Rossell said.

Although many historians have called the raid on Dieppe a disaster, Rossell does not agree, saying he thinks the allied forced learned a valuable lesson.