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N0KFQ > TODAY 11.02.12 20:13l 55 Lines 2497 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 17594_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 11
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<DB0RES<DK0WUE<7M3TJZ<JK1ZRW<JE7YGF<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120211/1748Z 17594@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.48
Feb 11, 1942:
The "Channel Dash"
On this day, the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, as
well as the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, escape from the French
port of Brest and make a mad dash up the English Channel to
safety in German waters.
The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been anchored at Brest since
March 1941. The Prinz Eugen had been tied to the French port
since the Bismarck sortie in May 1941, when it and the battleship
Bismarck made their own mad dash through the Atlantic and the
Denmark Strait to elude Royal Navy gunfire. All three were
subject to periodic bombing raids--and damage--by the British, as
the Brits attempted to ensure that the German warships never left
the French coast. But despite the careful watch of British subs
and aircraft, German Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax launched Operation
Cerberus to lead the ships out of the French port.
The Germans, who had controlled and occupied France since June
1940, drew British fire deliberately, and the Gneisenau,
Scharnhorst, and Prinz Eugen used the resulting skirmish as a
defensive smoke screen. Six German destroyers and 21 torpedo
boats accompanied the ships for protection as they moved north
late on the night of February 11.
In the morning, German planes provided air cover as well; ace
pilot Adolf Galland led 250 other fighters in an unusually well
coordinated joint effort of the German navy and Luftwaffe. The
British Royal Air Force also coordinated its attack with the
Royal Navy Swordfish squadron, but a late start--the RAF did not
realize until the afternoon of February 12 that the German
squadron had pushed out to sea--and bad weather hindered their
effort. All three German warships made it to a German port on
February 13, although the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been
damaged by British mines along the way.
The British lost 40 aircraft and six Navy Swordfish in the
confrontation, while the Germans lost a torpedo boat and 17
aircraft. The "Channel Dash," as it came to be called, was
extremely embarrassing to the British, as it happened right under
their noses. They would get revenge of a sort, though: British
warships sunk the Scharnhorst in December 1944 as the German ship
attempted to attack a Russian convoy. The Gneisenau was destroyed
in a bombing raid while still in port undergoing repairs, and the
Prinz Eugen survived the war, but was taken over by the U.S. Navy
at war's end.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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