Calais, Dunkirk, Dieppe and Cherbourg are all likely to be affected.

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But in the larger scheme of things, those mistakes rank on a scale with the failed Dieppe raid along the coast of France during World War II.

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However, before he was demobbed, he was drafted on duty aboard another mine sweeper with responsibility for clearing the inshore minefields between Boulogne and Dieppe off the French coast.

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He said the French-owned Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, which runs the service from Newhaven in East Sussex to Dieppe, had been in the bidding for one of the ships, but the Eurotunnel deal was deemed to be the workers' best chance.

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