The Channel Dash (german: Unternehmen Zerberus, Operation Cerberus) was a German naval operation during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. (
Cerberus
In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; grc-gre, Κέρβερος ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the mo ...
), a three-headed dog of
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
who guards the gate to
Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
. A (German Navy)
squadron
Squadron may refer to:
* Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies
* Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...
comprising the two s, the heavy cruiser and their escorts was evacuated from
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
to German ports. ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' had arrived in Brest on 22 March 1941 after the success of
Operation Berlin in the Atlantic. More raids were planned and the ships were refitted at Brest. The ships were a threat to Allied trans-Atlantic convoys and
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
attacked them from 30 March 1941. ''Gneisenau'' was hit on 6 April 1941 and ''Scharnhorst'' on 24 July 1941, after dispersal to
La Pallice
La Pallice (also known as ''grand port maritime de La Rochelle'') is the commercial deep-water port of La Rochelle, France.
During the Fall of France, on 19 June 1940, approximately 6,000 Polish soldiers in exile under the command of Stanisła ...
. In late 1941,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
ordered the (OKM; German Navy High Command) to plan an operation to return the ships to German bases against a British invasion of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. The short route up the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
was preferred to a detour around the British Isles for surprise and air cover by the and on 12 January 1942, Hitler gave orders for the operation.
The British exploited decrypts of German radio messages coded with the
Enigma machine, air reconnaissance by the RAF
Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) and agents in France to watch the ships and report the damage caused by the bombing. Operation Fuller, a joint Royal Navy-RAF contingency plan, was devised to counter a sortie by the German ships against Atlantic convoys, a return to German ports by circumnavigating the British Isles, or a dash up the English Channel. The
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
had to keep ships at
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009
Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...
in Scotland in case of a sortie by the from Norway. The RAF had sent squadrons from Bomber and Coastal commands overseas and kept torpedo bombers in Scotland ready for ''Tirpitz'', which limited the number of aircraft available against a dash up the Channel, as did the winter weather which reduced visibility and blocked airfields with snow.
On 11 February 1942, the ships left Brest at and escaped detection for more than twelve hours, approaching the
Strait of Dover
The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continent ...
without discovery. The provided air cover in (Operation Thunderbolt) and as the ships neared Dover, the British belatedly responded. Attacks by the RAF,
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
, Navy and bombardments by coastal artillery were costly failures but ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' were damaged by mines in the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
(''Scharnhorst'' was out of action for a year). By 13 February, the ships had reached German ports;
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
ordered an inquiry into the and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' denounced the British fiasco. The judged the operation a tactical success and a strategic failure because the threat to Atlantic convoys had been sacrificed for a hypothetical threat to Norway. On 23 February, ''Prinz Eugen'' was torpedoed off Norway and after being repaired, spent the rest of the war in the Baltic. ''Gneisenau'' went into dry dock and was bombed on the night of never to sail again; ''Scharnhorst'' was sunk at the
Battle of the North Cape
The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle that occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic campaign. The , on an operation to attack Arctic Convoys of war materiel from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union, wa ...
on 26 December 1943.
Background
Port of Brest, 1940–1941
German commerce raiding against British north Atlantic convoys was made easier by the capture of Norway and France in 1940. An abortive sortie by the cruiser ended at Brest, at the west end of the Brittany peninsula, on 27 December 1940. After five weeks of bombing by
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
to no effect, the ship put to sea on 1 February 1941, sank numerous ships and returned on 14 February, before sailing to Germany using the roundabout route via the
Denmark Strait
The Denmark Strait () or Greenland Strait ( , 'Greenland Sound') is an oceanic strait between Greenland to its northwest and Iceland to its southeast. The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies northeast of the strait.
Geography
The strait connect ...
the next day, reaching
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
on 28 March. The commerce raids in the north
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
during the winter of 1940–1941 by ''Scharnhorst''-class battleships and , the
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
s and ''Admiral Hipper'' sank of British shipping, a higher rate than German surface ships achieved for the rest of the war. The British reformed
19 Group for
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
in January 1941, which kept watch on the German ships at Brest; ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' arrived at the port of Brest on 22 March 1941.
British air offensive, 1941
From 10 January to mid-April 1941, Bomber Command aimed of bombs at the ships in Brest harbour. Winston Churchill issued the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
directive on 9 March, directing the priority of the British war effort temporarily to counter the German campaign against Atlantic convoys. 1 PRU of the RAF discovered ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' in port on 28 March and Bomber Command flew about against the ships in Brest, through poor weather for the next two months. ''Gneisenau'' needed an overhaul of her engine room and entered dry dock on 4 April. When the water was pumped out of the dry dock, an unexploded bomb was found between the stocks under the ship. The ship had to be carefully refloated and removed before the bomb could be defused. ''Gneisenau'' was moored in an exposed position in the
roadstead
A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5- ...
, where it was photographed by a 1 PRU
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
on 5 April.
Bristol Beaufort
The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. At l ...
torpedo bombers attacked at dawn next day; one aircraft found the harbour through the haze and torpedoed ''Gneisenau'' on the starboard side, seriously damaging the reserve command centre.
''Gneisenau'' went back into dry dock and on the night of it was hit four times and suffered two near misses. One of the hits did not explode but the others jammed 'B' turret and distorted the armoured deck near it, made about a third of the crew quarters uninhabitable by fire and blast damage, destroyed the kitchens and bakery and affected some gunnery control systems. ''Scharnhorst'' was not damaged but the bomb hits on the docks delayed its refit, which included a substantial overhaul of its machinery; the boiler
superheater
A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...
tubes had a manufacturing defect that had plagued the ship throughout
Operation Berlin. Repairs had been expected to take ten weeks but delays, exacerbated by British minelaying in the vicinity, caused them to miss (Operation Rhine Exercise). The sortie by and into the North Atlantic went ahead and ''Bismarck'' was sunk; ''Prinz Eugen'' returned to Brest on 1 June. The loss of ''Bismarck'' severely limited the freedom of action of the German surface fleet, after Hitler ordered that capital ships must operate with much greater caution.
![Brest, Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941 C2228](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Brest%2C_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command%2C_1939-1941_C2228.jpg)
During the summer, small formations of the new RAF four-engined
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
s attacked ''Gneisenau'', ''Prinz Eugen'' and ''Scharnhorst''; ''Prinz Eugen'' was hit on the night of and put out of action. The sailing on 21 July of ''Scharnhorst'' to La Pallice, the deep-water port of
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
down the French Atlantic coast, forestalled an attempt by Bomber Command to attack the ships in Brest by surprise. ''Scharnhorst'' was attacked by six
Short Stirling bombers on the evening of 23 July; about six German fighters intervened and one bomber was shot down. The attack on Brest took place in daylight on 24 July, with a loss of La Pallice was bombed again by fifteen
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its or ...
es. One bomber failed to find La Pallice and the rest were met by and
anti-aircraft fire () and all were hit, affecting their bomb aiming. Five bombers were shot down, five were seriously damaged and ''Scharnhorst'' was hit five times. While returning to Brest containing of seawater, Scharnhorst was attacked by a Beaufort but shot it down before it could drop its torpedo.
From 28 March to the end of July, of bombs were dropped in Bomber Command, which also sent sorties, with another Coastal Command, laying off Brest; the British lost three being minelayers. For the next two months, Bomber Command made frequent small attacks, then attacked on the night of followed by on the night of Frequent small attacks were resumed and about were made from July to December. At the start of the month, the Brest Group was made the Bomber Command priority again and from 11 December, bombing and minelaying took place nightly. When ''Prinz Eugen'' was found out of drydock on 16 December, a plan for a big night raid followed up by a day raid was implemented, with a raid on the night of and a daylight raid by bombers on the afternoon of 18 December, escorted by ten fighter squadrons. ''Gneisenau'' was slightly damaged and dock gates were smashed, stranding ''Scharnhorst'' for a month, for a loss of six bombers. Heavy attacks continued all month and another day raid by Halifaxes was made on 30 December. From 1 August to 31 December, of high explosive and of incendiaries were dropped, eleven heavy bombers were shot down and considerable damage was inflicted on the docks and the town but none of the ships were hit again. ''Gneisenau'' was damaged on the evening of 6 January and 37 percent of Bomber Command sorties between 10 December and 20 January 1942 were flown against the ships at Brest.
Ultra
![Bristol Beauforts 217 Squadron in flight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Bristol_Beauforts_217_Squadron_in_flight.jpg)
Ultra was the code name used by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
for
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
obtained by breaking German
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
and
teleprinter
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Initia ...
communications, including signals encrypted by Enigma, a German
electro-mechanical
In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...
rotor cipher machine. The decryption was carried out at the
Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS)
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence agency, intelligence and security agency, security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the G ...
at
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
and the information was passed on to operational commands. From May 1941, Bletchley could read the Enigma ''Home Waters'' setting used by surface ships with few failures or interruptions, which combined with the PRU and reports from agents kept watch on the ships at Brest. By April 1941, the British knew that the three ships had been hit but not the extent of the damage.
From 16 to 23 December, Enigma decrypts showed that the gunners of the ships were on the Baltic, conducting gunnery training. Next day, the Admiralty warned that an attempt to break out was likely. On 25 January 1942, the ships were photographed in the harbour and two short periods in dry dock by two ships were seen. From the end of January to early February, torpedo boats, minesweepers and destroyers joined the big ships; together with news that the battleship ''Tirpitz'' in Norway had moved to the south, this led the Admiralty to issue an appreciation on 2 February that the three ships were going to attempt to sail up the channel and sent the signal ''Executive Fuller'', the order to begin the operation to prevent the German Fleet from breaking into the North Atlantic. Next day Enigma and RAF photographic reconnaissance (PR) found that the number of German ship reinforcements from Brest to the
Hook of Holland
Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...
had risen to seven destroyers, ten torpedo-boats, more than and many smaller craft.
Norway Hypothesis
![Norwegian Sea map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Norwegian_Sea_map.png)
During 1941, Hitler decided that the Brest Group should return to home waters in a "surprise break through the Channel", as part of a plan to thwart a British invasion of Norway. OKM preferred the Denmark Strait passage to Germany and (Grand Admiral)
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder (24 April 1876 – 6 November 1960) was a German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank, that of grand admiral, in 1939, becoming the f ...
called a journey along the English Channel impossible. Hitler said that the break-out should be planned with no training period, since British intelligence was bound to find out and have the ships bombed. Hitler ordered that a period of bad weather should be chosen, when the bulk of the RAF would be grounded. (vice admiral)
Kurt Fricke
Kurt Fricke (8 November 1889 – 2 May 1945) was an Admiral with the Kriegsmarine (navy) of Nazi Germany during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Biography
Fricke entered the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' as a cadet ...
(Chief of Staff of the SKL, Maritime Warfare Command) opposed Hitler but was allowed only a short time to review the policy. On 12 January 1942, Raeder again opposed the channel route but planned for it, provided that Hitler took the final decision.
Hitler noted that the ships at Brest had diverted British bombing from Germany but that the advantage would end as soon as the ships were sufficiently damaged. Vice Admiral
Otto Ciliax
Otto Ciliax (30 October 1891 – 12 December 1964) was a German naval officer who served in the navies of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. As an admiral during World War II, he commanded the German battleships. He was a re ...
outlined a plan for a standing start at night to gain surprise and to pass the
Strait of Dover
The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continent ...
, wide and the narrowest part of the Channel, during the day, to benefit from fighter cover at the danger point. The refused to guarantee that the available could protect the ships but Hitler accepted the plan. Hitler ordered that the battleship ''Tirpitz'', already in Norway, was to be moved south to
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
. At a conference on 22 January, Hitler announced that all ships and U-boats should assemble for the defence of Norway and on 25 January,
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...
(, BdU, Commander of Submarines) was ordered to withdraw eight submarines to patrol off
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Despite protests from Dönitz, another twelve U-boats were reserved for Norway, along with the surface ships being concentrated in Norwegian waters.
Prelude
Operation Cerberus
Hitler preferred the Channel route and responsibility was delegated to (Naval Command West, Admiral
Alfred Saalwächter
Alfred Saalwächter (10 January 1883 – 6 December 1945) was a high-ranking German U-boat commander during World War I and General Admiral during World War II.
Early life
Saalwächter was born in Neusalz an der Oder, Prussian Silesia, as the ...
) for planning and operational directions; Ciliax, was commander of the Brest Group (flagship, ''Scharnhorst''). Care was taken to choose the best route to avoid British minefields and to steam at high speed. Minesweepers cleared channels through the British mines and marked with buoys (from 3 to 9 February, Bomber Command laid 98 mines in the channels). U-boats were sent for meteorological observations and several destroyers steamed westward down the Channel to Brest to strengthen the escort screen. To have the longest period of darkness possible, the departure was to be four days before the
new moon
In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse.
...
and at to benefit from a
spring tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables ca ...
flowing up the Channel, which would add speed and possibly lift the ships over mines.
Air cover was to be provided by the and six destroyers would escort the Brest Group on the first leg, to be joined by ten E-boats at dawn; a mixture of E-boats,
R-boat
The R boats (''Räumboote'' in German, meaning ''minesweeper'') were a group of small naval vessels built as minesweepers for the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) before and during the Second World War. They were used for several purposes during t ...
s and small craft would join at
Cap Gris Nez
Cap Gris-Nez (literally "cape grey nose"; ) is a cape on the Côte d'Opale in the Pas-de-Calais ''département'' in northern France.
The 'Cliffs of the Cape' is the closest point of France to England – from their English counterparts at ...
. During January, the and rehearsed for the operation but the ships had lost seaworthiness and many technicians and experts had been transferred from Brest to more pressing duties. By 9 February, the ships had completed their trials in Brest roads and the sortie was set for 11 February. Morale of the crews was high, no sabotage had occurred at Brest and the crews went ashore freely. Among locals there was no doubt that the ships were preparing to depart and as a deception, tropical helmets were brought on board, French dock workers loaded oil barrels marked "For Use in the Tropics" and false rumours were spread around town.
Hans Jeschonnek, chief of staff, refused to guarantee the success of Cerberus or to reinforce the fighter forces in the west.
Adolf Galland was given command of the air operation, to be called (Operation Thunderbolt). Details of the plan were arranged with (
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
)
Karl Koller, chief of staff of (Air Fleet 3
Hugo Sperrle
Wilhelm Hugo Sperrle (7 February 1885 – 2 April 1953), also known as Hugo Sperrle, was a German military aviator in World War I and a Generalfeldmarschall in the Luftwaffe during World War II.
Sperrle joined the Imperial German Army in 1903. ...
). Some training units were mobilised to make up for the bulk of the being absent in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. The (signals intelligence service, General
Wolfgang Martini
''Wolfgang Martini'' (September 20, 1891 – January 6, 1963) was a Career Officer in the German Air Force and largely responsible for promoting early radar development and utilization in that country.
Early career
While attending the Gymnasium ...
) attempted to jam British radio-telephone frequencies by using a technique to increase atmospheric interference and reduced the performance of British coastal radars by slowly increasing their jamming.
Dornier Do 217
The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bomber ...
s of (Bomber Wing 2) were to fly electronic deception sorties over the western Channel to divert British aircraft. (
ir Force GeneralJoachim Coeler __NOTOC__
Joachim Coeler (1 June 1891 – 14 May 1955) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.
Awards
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 12 July 1940 as '' Genera ...
) prepared to bomb RAF bases in south-western England and to attack British naval forces attempting to intercept the Brest Group.
''Fernaufklärungsgruppe'' 123 (Long-range Reconnaissance Wing 123) was to keep watch on both ends of the Channel and support .
The convoy route was divided into three sectors using the (Fighter Sector) boundaries but to ensure local control
Max Ibel
Max Ibel (1 January 1896 – 19 March 1981) is credited as one of the creators of the Luftwaffe. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Career
Max Ibel was born in 1896 in Munich and joined the Army as a cadet in July ...
, the former commander of (Fighter Group 27) was appointed (, Fighter Controller: Ship) and embarked on ''Scharnhorst'' as a signals officer to communicate with units during the operation. Eight rehearsals, involving around were made from 22 January to 10 February. The (day fighter wings) and the night fighters of (Night Fighter Wing 1), were swiftly to prepare aircraft for the next sortie by rearming and refuelling in no more than thirty minutes. Galland decided that the aircraft should fly high and low cover, the low groups flying under British coastal radar. A standing patrol of least was to be maintained, in two formations of eight aircraft for their patrol altitudes, with each formation in two of four aircraft. One was to fly out to sea and one towards land in a zigzag and all were to fly back and forth along the line of ships in wide figures of eight, in radio silence. Every sortie was timed to allow the fighters over the ships, just enough time for relieved units to refuel, rearm and return. During , the relieving sortie arrived after only 20 minutes which meant that fighter cover for half the dash would be
Operation Fuller
![Coccoliths in the Celtic Sea-NASA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Coccoliths_in_the_Celtic_Sea-NASA.jpg)
In April 1941, the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and the RAF devised Operation Fuller, a plan for combined operations against the ships in Brest should they sortie. Vice-Admiral
Bertram Ramsay of the Dover Command was to be responsible for operations to confront a German squadron sailing up the Channel, with continuous co-ordinated attacks by Coastal Command, the Navy and RAF. British coastal radar had a range of about and with the five standing air patrols, the planners expected a dash up the Channel easily to be discovered, even at night or in bad weather. As soon as the alarm was raised, the offensive provisions of Fuller would begin. The of the
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
and
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
flotillas, with a
Motor Gun Boat
The motor gun boat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...
(MGB) escort, would make torpedo attacks from . The boats would be followed up by
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used ...
torpedo-bombers with fighter escorts and by Beaufort torpedo-bombers; the
coastal guns at Dover would fire for as long as the ships were in range; Bomber Command would attack any ship damaged enough to have been slowed or brought to a stop.
As the German ships moved beyond the Straits of Dover, six
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
-based destroyers of the
Nore Command
The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Th ...
would make torpedo attacks and the RAF would continue bombing and also lay mines in the paths of the ships. Bomber Command intended to have at four hours' notice (about of its operational strength), by reserving around from each group. Of the other half would continue operations against Germany and the rest would be preparing for operations next day. The aircraft reserved for Fuller were rotated and weather permitting, bomb Brest. Fighter Command would escort the torpedo-bombers with fighters from
10 Group in the south-west and the squadrons of 11 Group in the south-east. Each service arm had exchanged liaison officers at headquarters and operations rooms but did not use a common communications system.
Readiness
![Rade de Brest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Rade_de_Brest.svg)
The preliminaries of the German manoeuvre, especially minesweeping in the Channel and the transit of destroyers to Brest, led the Admiralty to issue a forecast that a sortie into the Atlantic was improbable and that a move to sheltered waters by a dash up the Channel rather than via the Denmark Strait or into the Mediterranean to Italian ports was to be expected. Next day the Nore Command was ordered to keep six destroyers on call in the
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
and be ready to send six torpedo boats to reinforce those at Dover. The fast
''Abdiel''-class minelayers and were detached to Plymouth Command to mine the Brest approaches and to Dover to mine the eastern exit of the Channel respectively. Most submarines were in the Mediterranean but two training boats were sent into the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
. On 6 February, the only modern submarine in home waters, was allowed to sail into Brest Roads, the commander using information supplied through Ultra on minefields, swept channels and training areas. The six operational Swordfish torpedo-bombers of
825 Squadron Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
AA(Lieutenant-Commander
Eugene Esmonde
Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, (1 March 1909 – 12 February 1942) was a distinguished Irish pilot in the Fleet Air Arm who was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awa ...
) were moved from
RNAS Lee-on-Solent
Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and ad ...
to
RAF Manston
Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airpo ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, closer to Dover.
The RAF alerted its forces involved in Operation Fuller to indefinite readiness and on 3 February, 19 Group, Coastal Command began night reconnaissance patrols by Air to Surface Vessel Mk II (ASV) equipped
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...
s, supposedly able to detect ships at range. Patrol line ''Stopper'' was already being flown off Brest and ''Line South East'' from
Ushant
Ushant (; br, Eusa, ; french: Ouessant, ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and, in medieval terms, Léon. In lower tiers of governm ...
to the Isle de Bréhat and ''Habo'' from Le Havre to Boulogne began. Coastal Command had three Beaufort torpedo-bomber squadrons in Britain,
42 Squadron at
RAF Leuchars in Scotland, of
86 Squadron and
217 Squadron in Cornwall and seven 217 Squadron aircraft at Thorney Island (Portsmouth). Two days later, Enigma showed that Ciliax had joined ''Scharnhorst'' and with the recent exercises, led the Admiralty to predict an impending departure. On 8 February, in a break in the weather, PR found that the ships were still in harbour, ''Scharnhorst'' was in dock and that another two destroyers had arrived.
Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...
Philip Joubert de la Ferté
Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Bennet Joubert de la Ferté, (21 May 1887 – 21 January 1965) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the 1930s and the Second World War.
Early life
Joubert de la Ferté was born in Darjeeling, India t ...
,
Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Coastal Command, sent an appreciation to Fighter and Bomber commands, that a sortie could be expected any time after 10 February. The Coastal Command groups were alerted and 42 Squadron was ordered to fly its south to
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
(the move was delayed until next day by snow on the airfields in
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
). Air Vice Marshal
J. E. A. Baldwin, AOC Bomber Command, stood down half of its bombers and reduced the other from four to two hours' notice, without informing the Admiralty. On 11 February, ''Sealion'' moved towards Brest on the afternoon tide, found nothing and returned at to re-charge batteries, ready for another try the next day. The German ships had been scheduled to depart Brest at but were delayed by a Bomber Command raid, which had been ordered after photo-reconnaissance had found the ships still in harbour with
torpedo boom
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
s deployed at For the previous week, Enigma had been providing information that the Germans were minesweeping on a route that made a dash up the Channel a certainty and with reference to captured charts gave away the German route, which was passed on by the Admiralty at on 12 February. (The daily naval Enigma Home Waters settings for took Bletchley Park until 15 February to break.)
Battle
Night, 11/12 February
![Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-63-46, Schlachtschiff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-63-46%2C_Schlachtschiff_%22Scharnhorst%22.jpg)
A British agent in Brest was unable to signal that the Brest Group was departing because of German wireless jamming; ''Sealion'', patrolling outside the harbour, had withdrawn to recharge its batteries. Patrol ''Stopper'', near Brest, was being flown by an ASV Hudson from
224 Squadron when the Brest Group assembled outside the port at At the patrol height of the ASV had a range of about but the Hudson was flying south-west as the ships turned towards Ushant and received no contact. The last eight minutes of the next ''Stopper'' sortie came within about of the ships but received no contact on the radar.
''Line South East'' ran past Ushant to the vicinity of
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
, to find a sortie from Brest which had turned up the Channel. The Brest Group crossed ''Line South East'' at early on 12 February but the Hudson patrol was not there, having been ordered to return when its ASV failed. Joubert was short of aircraft and sent no replacement, also because ''Stopper'' had reported nothing untoward and if the Brest Group had sailed before ''Stopper'' began, it would already have passed ''Line South East''. ''Habo'', the third patrol line, from
Cherbourg
Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...
to
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
was conducted as usual, until a dawn fog was forecast over British airfields and the aircraft was called back at when the Brest Group was still west of the line.
12 February
Morning
![EnglishChannel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/EnglishChannel.jpg)
The only patrol over the Channel was the routine dawn patrol by Fighter Command from
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
, south to the mouth of the
Somme, which the Brest Group passed at From RAF radar operators under Squadron Leader
Bill Igoe
Squadron Leader William Anthony Kevin Igoe, FRAES, CE (17 April 1911 – 15 November 1993) was an Irish-born Royal Air Force officer who was senior controller for No. 11 Group RAF at RAF Biggin Hill. He was also a noted sportsman and businessman.
...
, using an un-jammed radar frequency, noticed four plots of German aircraft circling in places north of
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
, which at first were thought to be air-sea rescue operations. At
11 Group RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Brita ...
realised that the plots were moving north-east at and sent two Spitfires to reconnoitre at about the time that news reached Fighter Command headquarters that radar-jamming had begun at and that the station at
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters.
Beachy Head is located within the administrative area of Eastbourne Borough Council which owns the land, formi ...
was detecting surface ships. Radar stations in Kent reported two large ships off Le Touquet at and when the Spitfire patrol landed at having kept
radio silence
In telecommunications, radio silence or Emissions Control (EMCON) is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons.
The term "radio station" may include anything ca ...
, the pilots reported a flotilla off
Le Touquet
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (; pcd, Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache; vls, 't Oekske, older nl, Het Hoekske), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a population of ...
(near Boulogne) but not the capital ships.
News of the sighting was rushed to 11 Group and the Navy at Dover by (One pilot then mentioned a big ship and a certain sighting was received as he was being
debriefed.) By coincidence, two senior fighter pilots from
RAF Kenley
The former Royal Air Force Station Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley was an airfield station of the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and the RAF in the Second World War. It played a significant role during the Battle of Britai ...
had decided to fly an intruder mission to the French coast at while the other pilots were grounded due to the bad weather. The pair spotted two
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
s (Bf 109) and attacked, then found themselves over a German flotilla of two big ships, a destroyer screen and an outer ring of E-boats. The Spitfires were dived on by about fighters and escaped through anti-aircraft fire from the ships,
strafed
Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons.
Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...
an E-boat and made off at wave-top height. After they landed at the pilots reported that the German ships had been off Le Touquet at by the alarm had been raised that the Brest Group was entering the Straits of Dover with air cover.
At Bomber Command had been alerted that the Brest Group was near Dover and warned the groups to be ready. Including aircraft that had flown the night before and those at four hours' notice, Air Marshal
Richard Peirse
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, (30 September 1892 – 5 August 1970), served as a senior Royal Air Force commander.
RAF career
The son of Admiral Sir Richard Peirse and his wife Blanche Melville Wemyss-Whittaker, Richard ...
had about but the on two hours' notice had been loaded with semi-armour-piercing bombs which were effective only if dropped from or higher. Visibility was poor with rain and to cover, down to and unless there were breaks in the cloud just when needed the task was impossible. Peirse ordered general-purpose bombs to be loaded, which could only cause superficial blast damage and attacks at low altitude, in the hope that the attacks would distract the Brest Group as Coastal Command and the Navy made torpedo attacks.
Noon
![Dover AST 2001073 lrg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Dover_AST_2001073_lrg.jpg)
At Dover in 1940, there were four guns with a range of , two
guns with a range of , two modern 6-inch batteries with range and four more 9.2-inch guns on new mountings with a range of and then with supercharging. (After the fall of France, Axis ships could avoid the Dover mine barrage by sailing close to the French coast.) A supercharged naval gun could fire shells but was difficult to use against moving targets. The
South Foreland
South Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England. It presents a bold cliff to the sea, and commands views over the Strait of Dover. It is centred northeast of Dover and 15 miles south of North Foreland. It includes ...
Battery of the Dover guns, with their new K-type radar set, tracked the ships of the Brest Group coming up the Channel towards Cap Gris Nez.
At the Dover guns fired their first salvo but with visibility down to , there could be no
observation
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...
of the
fall-of-shot. The gunners hoped that the radar would detect the shell splashes and allow corrections to be made, although this method had never been tried before. "Blips" on the K-set clearly showed the ships zig-zagging but not where the shells were landing. Full battery salvo firing began and the four 9.2-inch guns fired at the German ships, which were moving out of range at and all missed. German sources state that the fleet had already passed Dover when the coastal artillery opened fire and that the shells landed well astern of the major German units. The coastal guns ceased fire when light naval forces and torpedo-bombers began to attack and by the German ships passed beyond the effective range of the British radar.
Afternoon
The six Swordfish torpedo-bombers of 825 Squadron FAA, took off from Manston at after Esmonde decided that he could wait no longer, meeting the Spitfire escorts of
72 Squadron at all setting off for a point north of Calais. The escorts of 121 Squadron and 401 Squadron were late and tried to rendezvous en route to the ships but missed them and turned back to search for the Swordfish at Manston. The Spitfires of 72 Squadron flying close escort sighted the German ships at but were bounced by Bf 109s and FW 190s and lost contact with the Swordfish. The first section of three torpedo-bombers pressed on through the destroyer screen and Esmonde's aircraft was shot down before he could launch his torpedo. The other two aircraft continued through the German anti-aircraft barrage, dropped torpedoes and then ditched their aircraft which had been hit by flak. The second section of three Swordfish were seen to cross over the destroyer screen and disappear in the cloud and smoke. While the German fighter escorts were absent, two sections (eight aircraft) of No. 452 Squadron RAAF, 452 Squadron RAAF strafed several German ships and silenced the return fire of a destroyer, for a cracked perspex hood to one Spitfire.
![Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-63-11, Schlachtschiff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-63-11%2C_Schlachtschiff_%22Gneisenau%22.jpg)
The five operational Fairmile D motor torpedo boat, Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) based at Dover left harbour at and sighted the German warships, at The RAF fighter cover for this attack was not airborne in time, one MTB had engine-trouble and the rest found their approach blocked by twelve E-boats in two lines. The defective MTB fired torpedoes at the extreme range of before returning to Dover; the rest were not able to get much closer and torpedoed through the gap between the E-boat lines, mistakenly claiming a hit on ''Prinz Eugen''. Two motor gun boats (MGBs) arrived from Dover in time to defend the last MTB from a German Narvik-class destroyer. Two more MTBs had left Ramsgate at but approached from too far astern of the German squadron and were unable to get into a position to attack before deteriorating weather and engine problems forced them to turn back.
Several Westland Whirlwind (fighter), Whirlwind fighters on a routine patrol were intercepted by the fighter screen at The seven Beauforts at Thorney Island were closest to the Brest Group when it was sighted. Two Beauforts had been bombed up and one went unserviceable, before the other four took off at The four Beauforts were late to meet their fighter escorts at Manston and the torpedo-bombers and fighters were ordered independently to the German ships. The position, course and speed of the Brest Group was given by voice (radiotelephone, R/T) to the Spitfires and Morse (wireless telegraphy, W/T) to the Beauforts. The torpedo-bombers failed to receive the orders, because No. 16 Group RAF, 16 Group forgot that they had been fitted with R/T for Operation Fuller. When the Beauforts reached Manston they circled with numerous fighters which appeared to ignore them. Two Beauforts flew to the French coast, found nothing and landed at Manston where the confusion was resolved. The other two aircraft had already landed at Manston, where the crews found out what was going on and set off for the Belgian coast, arriving at (when the Nore Command destroyers were attacking). Both bombers flew through the German flak and attacked ''Prinz Eugen'', dropping their torpedoes at , to no effect.
The 42 Squadron Beauforts from Scotland had to divert to RAF Coltishall in Norfolk because of snow but the torpedoes to be loaded were over 100 miles away at RAF North Coates in Lincolnshire and came by road too late. Nine of the aircraft had flown south with torpedoes on and took off at leaving the other four behind to rendezvous with their fighter escorts and several Hudsons, intended to create a diversion. The Beauforts reached Manston at and tried to formate behind the Hudsons, which did the same thing; attempts to get the fighters to join the formation also failed. The Beaufort crews had been briefed that they would be escorted all the way, the fighters that they were to cover the Dover Strait in general and the aircraft circled Manston for thirty minutes, each formation under the impression that another one was leading. The Beaufort commander then set off, using the position of the Brest Group given at Coltishall and six Hudsons followed, the other five circling and waiting for the fighters, before giving up and landing at
The Beauforts and Hudsons flew towards the Dutch coast and lost touch in the cloud and rain but the Hudsons made ASV contact and attacked the ships, two being shot down for no result. Six of the Beauforts then attacked through the flak and released their torpedoes, also with no effect. (The other three Beauforts had already attacked, possibly against British destroyers.) The two 217 Squadron Beauforts that had flown earlier had reached Manston, set off again independently and made ASV contact, attacking ''Scharnhorst'' at The remaining Beauforts at St Eval in Cornwall had been sent to Thorney Island, arriving at to refuel and be briefed to link with fighters at Coltishall in East Anglia, where they arrived at to find no escorts waiting. The Beauforts pressed on to a position sent by wireless and at as dark fell, with visibility down to and the cloud base at only saw four German minesweepers. One bomber attacked a "big ship" but flak damage jammed the torpedo and as night fell around the rest turned for Coltishall; two Beauforts were lost to flak or the weather.
Evening
The first wave of Halifax and Stirling heavy bombers took off from and most found the target area from Thick low cloud and intermittent rain hid the view and only ten crews could see the German ships for long enough to bomb. The of the second wave took off from and reached the vicinity of the ships from and at least The last wave of began at and reached the Brest Group from and nine were able to drop their bombs. Only the aircraft that returned managed to attack the ships and were shot down by flak or lost after flying into the sea; twenty bombers were damaged and no hits were achieved.
The destroyers , of the List of squadrons and flotillas of the Royal Navy, 21st Flotilla and , , and of the 16th Flotilla (Captain Charles Pizey), from Nore Command were First World War-vintage and usually escorted east coast convoys. The ships were practising gunnery off Orford Ness in the North Sea when alerted at The destroyers sailed south to intercept the Brest Group but it steamed much faster than expected and to catch up, Pizey took the destroyers over a German minefield. At just before the destroyers attacked, north of the Scheldt Estuary, ''Scharnhorst'' had hit a mine and was stopped for a short time, before resuming at about . At the destroyers made radar contact at and visual contact at at ''Walpole'' had already dropped out with engine trouble; as the other five emerged from the murk, they were immediately engaged by the German ships. The destroyers pressed on to and two destroyers fired torpedoes; ''Worcester'' closed further and was hit by return fire from ''Gneisenau'' and ''Prinz Eugen'', then the last two destroyers attacked but all their torpedoes missed.
Night 12/13 and 13 February
![Cruiser Prinz Eugen underway in May 1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Cruiser_Prinz_Eugen_underway_in_May_1945.jpg)
''Scharnhorst'' had fallen behind after hitting a mine and at ''Gneisenau'' hit a magnetic mine off Terschelling. The mine exploded some distance from the ship, making a small hole on the starboard side and temporarily knocking a turbine out of action. After about thirty minutes, the ship continued at about and as ''Scharnhorst'' sailed through the same area, it hit another mine at both main engines stopped, steering was lost and fire control was damaged. The ship got under way with the starboard engines at making and carrying about of seawater. ''Scharnhorst'' arrived at Wilhelmshaven at on 13 February, with damage that took three months to repair. ''Gneisenau'' and ''Prinz Eugen'' reached the Elbe at and tied up at Brunsbüttel North Locks at After receiving Ultra intelligence about German minesweeping in the German Bight, Bomber Command had laid mines along the swept channel on 6 February and the next day. When the route of the channel was more accurately plotted on 11 February, four mines were laid, then more on 12 February when the Channel Dash was on. Enigma decrypts revealed the mining of the German ships but the news was kept secret by the British to protect the source.
Aftermath
Analysis
Ciliax sent a signal to Admiral Saalwächter in Paris on 13 February,
OKM called ''Cerberus'' a tactical victory and a strategic defeat. In 2012, Ken Ford wrote that the German ships had exchanged one prison for another and that Bomber Command raids from terminally damaged ''Gneisenau''. Operation Fuller had failed, a British destroyer had been severely damaged and had been lost in fighter, and Command sorties. British public opinion was appalled and British prestige suffered at home and abroad. A leading article in ''The Times'' read,
In 1955, Hans Dieter Berenbrok, a former officer, writing under the pseudonym Cajus Bekker, judged the operation a necessity and a success. He quoted Raeder "…we are all convinced we cannot leave the ships in Brest any longer". Raeder wrote that the operation was necessary because of a lack of training opportunities for the crews, lack of battle experience and the general situation made raiding operations in the "old pattern out of the question". According to Bekker, Hitler and Raeder shared the conviction that if the ships remained in Brest that they would eventually be disabled by British air raids.
Stephen Roskill, the British naval official historian, wrote in 1956 that the German verdict was accurate. Hitler had exchanged the threat to British Atlantic convoys for a defensive deployment near Norway against a threat that never materialised. Roskill wrote that the British had misjudged the time of day when the German ships would sail but this mistake was less influential than the circumstantial failures of Coastal Command reconnaissance to detect the ships which had been at sea for four of them after dawn had broken, before the alarm was raised. Churchill ordered a Board of Enquiry (under Sir Alfred Townsend Bucknill, Alfred Bucknill), which criticised Coastal Command for failing to ensure that a dawn reconnaissance was flown to compensate for the problems of the night patrols off Brest and from Ushant to the Isle de Bréhat. The inquiry also held that there should have been more suspicion of the German radar jamming on the morning of 12 February and that involving Bomber Command in an operation for which it was untrained was a mistake.
The board found that the delay in detecting the German ships led to the British attacks being made piecemeal, against formidable German defensive arrangements and that the few aircraft and ships that found the group were "cut to pieces". In 2012, Ken Ford wrote that the inquiry was, perforce, a whitewash, blaming instrument failures rather than incompetence but the report was still kept secret until 1946. In 1991, John Buckley (historian), John Buckley wrote that the ASV Hudsons had been forbidden to use flares off Brest, because of the presence of ''Sealion'' and that one of the technical faults to an ASV could have been repaired, had the operator carried out a fuze check properly. Joubert was criticised for complacency, in not sending replacement sorties, despite his earlier warning that the Brest Group was about to sail, because of the assumption in Operation Fuller since 6 April 1941, that a day sailing was certain,
The Dash exposed many failings in RAF planning, that only three torpedo-bomber squadrons with were in Britain, that training had been limited by the lack of torpedoes and the example of Japanese tactics had been ignored. The effectiveness of Bomber Command against moving ships was shown to be negligible and the failure to ensure unity of command before Operation Fuller began, led to piecemeal attacks using unsuitable tactics.
Reginald Victor Jones, R. V. Jones, Assistant Director of Intelligence (Science) at the Air Ministry during the war, wrote in his memoir, that for several days, army radar stations on the south coast had been jammed. Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace, a member of the army Radar Interception Unit, had reported this through the chain of command. On 11 February, Wallace had called for Jones to assist him in bringing attention to the German radar jamming. A gradual increase in the jamming had misled most operators to its intensity. Martini had unobtrusively made the British radar cover "almost useless". Jones quoted Francis Bacon,
and included an anecdote of the chain of command breaking down under the shock of the Brest Group sailing so far up the Channel undiscovered. Air marshals were said to have sat on each other's desks, thinking of pilots they could telephone to find the ships; even after the Brest Group had been found, contact was lost several times. In 1955, Jones met Captain Giessler, the Navigating Officer on ''Scharnhorst'', who said that the worst time in the operation was the thirty minutes that ''Scharnhorst'' was stationary, after hitting a mine just beyond Dover; in the low cloud none of the British aircraft found them. In the Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force (1994) Brereton Greenhous et al. wrote that the Canadian 401 Tactical Fighter Squadron, 401 Squadron had been sent "to intervene in a battle between German E-boats and British MTBs"; 404 Squadron was ordered
and 411 Squadron had been ordered on an "E-boat search". "The 'Channel block' had failed ignominiously".
In the German semi-official history ''Germany in the Second World War'' (2001), Werner Rahn wrote that the operation was a tactical success but that this could not disguise the fact of a strategic withdrawal. Brest was a location from which the had anticipated much success, especially after the Japanese entry into the war had diverted Allied resources to the Pacific, creating new opportunities for offensive action in the Atlantic. Rahn also noted that some members of the German Naval War Staff took the view that German war potential had reached its limit and that
In 2018, Craig Symonds wrote of the futility of keeping heavy units in Brest,
''Scharnhorst'' later joined ''Tirpitz'' in Norwegian waters as a threat to Allied Arctic convoys of World War II supplying the USSR.
Casualties
British aircraft losses to the were two Bristol Blenheim, Blenheims, four Whirlwinds, four Vickers Wellington, Wellingtons, six Hurricanes, nine Handley Page Hampden, Hampdens and ten Spitfires. gunners shot down all six Swordfish and a Hampden bomber. ''Worcester'' lost killed, four died of wounds and of the complement of ship was out of action for In 2014, Steve Brew recorded 230–250 killed and wounded. The torpedo boats ''Jaguar'' and damaged by bombing, two sailors were killed and several men were badly wounded by bomb splinters and small-arms fire; the lost 17 aircraft and eleven pilots. In 1996, Donald Caldwell gave 23 aircrew killed, four being fighter pilots from JG 26 and that 22 aircraft were shot down, of which seven were fighters.
Subsequent operations
''Gneisenau'' entered a Dry dock#Floating, floating dry dock at Kiel and was hit twice by RAF bombers, on the night of One bomb hit the battleship on her forecastle and penetrated the armoured deck. The explosion ignited a fire in the foremost magazine, which detonated, throwing the forward turret off its mount. The damage prompted the German Naval Staff to rebuild ''Gneisenau'' to mount the six guns originally planned, rather than repair the ship and the damaged bow section was removed to attach a longer one. By early 1943, the ship had been sufficiently repaired to begin the conversion but after the failure of German surface forces at the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942, Hitler ordered the work to stop. On 23 February, ''Prinz Eugen'' was torpedoed by a British submarine off Norway and put out of action until October; then spent the rest of the war in the Baltic. On 28 March, the British raided St Nazaire in Operation Chariot and destroyed the ''Normandie'' dock, the only one in France capable of accommodating the largest German warships. ''Scharnhorst'' participated in Operation Zitronella against Spitzbergen on 8 September 1943 and was sunk at the Battle of the North Cape on 26 December.
Memorial and commemorations
A granite memorial to all Britons involved in Operation Fuller was erected in Marine Parade Gardens in Dover, to mark the 70th Anniversary Remembrance of the event in 2012. Sailors from provided a Guard of Honour as part of the parade held to mark the unveiling.
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On 10 February 2017, at the Fleet Air Arm memorial church at RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron), RNAS Yeovilton (HMS ''Heron''), a ceremony and flypast by four AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat, Wildcat HMA2 helicopters of the current 825 Naval Air Squadron was conducted, marking the 75th anniversary of Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde and 825 Naval Air Squadron's attack.
See also
* Operation Kita
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External links
Nafziger: ''Kriegsmarine'' Order of BattleNafziger: ''Luftflotte'' 3, Order of Battle, 12 February 1942The Channel Dash AssociationChannel Dash War Memorial, Dover (2012, Panoramio)* [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-09VW-Worcester.htm Destroyer net, HMS Worcester]
Operations of 452 Sqn RAAF
{{World War II
Conflicts in 1942
Atlantic and Arctic theatres of World War II
Naval battles of World War II involving Germany
Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Naval aviation operations and battles
February 1942 events
Germany–United Kingdom military relations
Military history of the English Channel