Adler17
Prussian Feldmarschall
Operation Cerberus and Operation Donnerkeil
In January 1942 the German Kriegsmarine had three heavy units in Brest: The battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. All three were reached the harbour after more or less successful raiding operations. The British Air Force did try their best to cope with that danger. 299 attacks were flown on Brest. 43 planes were lost. Gneisenau was damaged heavily twice the other ships once.
Hitler was furious that his ships were lying idle in Brest while being a good bomb target for the British. Because of thinking about a British landing in Norway he decided to bring the ships back to Germany to use them finally in Norway.
His admirals were protesting. Grand Admiral Raeder said the risk of the loss of the ships is too big when trying to take them back home. Mines and also navigatorical problems were too big in his opinion. The Commanding admiral of the Marinegruppenkommando West, Generaladmiral Alfred Saalwächter, a ww1 Uboat captain, is the same opinion like Raeder. And admiral Otto Ciliax, commander of the Brest ships, protested with a letter that the task of his ships was the Atlantic ocean. From Brest there should be fast attacks on convoys. The risk of being damaged by the British air force had to be accepted. The ships in Norway would not lead to any success.
On January 6th 1942 Gneisenau was again hit by the British. Now it was too much. 6 days later the three admirals had to come to the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia to a meeting with Hitler. Also Jodl and Jeschonneck, cic of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, and the general of the fighters, Galland came to that meeting. Hitler decided to bring the ships back to Germany as soon as possible- through the Channel!
Because of the best tides in the days between February 7th and 15th it was decided to start on February 11th. The Naval code name is Cerberus, the Luftwaffe Donnerkeil. 250 fighters, Me 109 and FW 190, are ready to give the air superiority. But because of the long distance and the low radius of the planes only 16 can be over the fleet permanently for 35 minutes. With a maximum of 32 for short times. They had the order to shoot down enemy planes at all costs, also by ramming. Also strict radio silence should be kept. This was in the German Luftwaffe not common. Mostly the pilots were talking normally to all times. But this time the silence was kept strictly!
The British command did see the possibility of a German attempt to cross the Channel. But only in the darkness of the night. That they had the chuzpe to do that in the best lunch time was excluded because of the strong air force , the surface ships and the coastal guns. It was considered as suicide. But this is exactly that the Germans would do. Hitler wanted to use the surprise moment. He thought the British could not react on such a new and unexpected situation. He ordered that they should start in the night to be hidden in the darkness until they would pass the line Dover Calais in the noon of the next day. "You will see" he said to his generals and admirals, "this operation will be the most spectacular Naval success of the war!"
But how to keep such an operation secret? Impossible! Nevertheless the perparions start. 80 minesweeper were cleaning huge minefields in the nights before. The best route was btw in the middle of the channel. The capital ships were making gun execises. This is a sign for the British admirality to act. 6 British destryoer were sent to the channel, but not the heavy ships which should stay out of the range of German bombers. If the Germans leave Brest there would be enough time if they are spotted immediately. IF! So the capital ships stay in Scapa Flow. Additionally only the King George V. is ready for action. All other modern British battleships are either in repair/ refit or still not complete like the Duke of York. So only a singe battleship was ready to fight the fleet! Everyone in Britain is also expecting such an attempt at night.
To fool enemy spies, the soldiers was said the ships would go south to Africa. Tropical supplies were openly stored on the ships. No one of the crews expected what should come.
In the mean time Galland´s fighters were added by 30 night fighters to protect the fleet in the night.
On 8 o`clock PM the ships should leave Brest under the command of Admiral Ciliax. But when the time came, the British started an attack. 25 Wellington bomber attack the ships but not hit them. But were the Germans spotted en route? No! The British saw the ships still lying on the same place. The British think the day has not come yet. Today nothing should happen. But that was not known by the Germans. Indeed Ciliax waited nearly two hours and was on the way to cancel the operation when all clear was given. At once he gave the order to go.
But they were now 2 hours late, and everything was planned just on time. But a remarkable string of luck and unbelieveable bad decisions by the British command happened now.
At first the British submarine HMS Sealion, which should guard Brest, is 45 sea miles away to recharge the batteries. A recce plane to fly in that area is damaged and returned to the base without a replacement is sent. And due to good tide conditions the speed of the ships is no longer 26 but 30 kn. So when the German planes arrived Cherbourg, they were only 15 minutes too late.
But what about the British RADAR? Well they got to know new German invention: ECM jammers. These top secret machines were used from January to let the RADAR screens show only snow. Only for a few minutes at first but later more and more. The British thought about atmospherical interferences and so did not react. Only one RADAR station is not jammeable. But the report of German planes in the area is not considered as too frightening since the Luftwaffe is often there and most likely it is a Search and Rescue operation. Nothing to worry.
At 8:42 German Me 109 give the CAP over the German fleet. Nothing happened. At 10:00 the Somme is arrived and the distance to Britain becomes closer and closer. Only 60 km left to the line Dover Calais. But now the RADAR officers were worried as the snow is still there. So a Spitfire patrouille is sent to look after the Channel. They find the German capital ships and report it at once to the British HQ. Were they now spotted? The Germans still keep radio silence. A wise decision. The British HQ can´t believe it and sends another scout. A whole hour later! The admirality is not informed until 11:15 AM. At 13:16 15 German S- Boats join the fleet todefend the outer perimeter of the fleet. Just in time to repell the first British attack: British MTB attacked but retreated after Z 7 Hermann Schoemann is engaging the enemy. One MTB is sunk in that action. But now the Dover Calais line is passed. Too late the mighty British coastal guns fire. The German ships are out of range.
Then 6 British biplanes appear with a courageous but useless attack: 6 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber with the protection of 11 (out of 100 started planes!) Spitfire. The slow biplanes are in no way a danger and shot down by the FlaK immeadiately. Among them Commander Esmonde, who hit the Bismarck, was shot down. Heavy air fight took now place through all the evening to the night.
At 15:30 a mine hit the Scharnhorst. Admiral Ciliax leaves the ship on the destroyer Z 29. The crew of the Scharnhorst is not very pleased because of that. However about 16:00 the ship can continue the voyage. A lone bomber now attacked fruitlessly.
When the fleet is together again, the Royal Air Force sent 242 bomber and 35 Beaufort torpedo planes. The attack is also useless. Although supported by the 6 destroyer 17 bomber were shot down. The HMS Worcester was damaged heavily by Prinz Eugen and was lying there burning. Another ship damaged was the HMS Walpole. It also burnt and had to run slowly back. The British pilots thought it was a German ship and so attacked it, whicle German fighters defended the enemy ship! But this attack was not the only case of friendly fire by the British Air Force, as British pilots also shot on their escorting Spitfires.
At last both German battleships were mined again but not seriously damaged. They arrived Germany safely on February 13th.
Of the hundreds of British bombers only 35 were in range to drop the bombs. No hits were achieved. Over 60 British planes were lost. The Germans lost 11 pilots and 17 Me 109 and FW 190. Additionally the British lost an MTB and the HMS Worcester was damaged seriously but could be brought back to the harbour.
Since 1667, when the Dutch admiral De Ruyter was threatening the Themse river, no enemy fleet dared it to go through the channel.
The Germans were celebrating a bravoura passage of a successful defensive operation.
The British on the other hand suffered a great defeat especially on the morale level. Although the Atlantic is now safe, the morale is down. Churchills government is in a severe crise and whole England is ashamed of that.
Tomorrow I will post more about the consequences of this action.
Adler
P.S.: Added some infos I just refound.
In January 1942 the German Kriegsmarine had three heavy units in Brest: The battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. All three were reached the harbour after more or less successful raiding operations. The British Air Force did try their best to cope with that danger. 299 attacks were flown on Brest. 43 planes were lost. Gneisenau was damaged heavily twice the other ships once.
Hitler was furious that his ships were lying idle in Brest while being a good bomb target for the British. Because of thinking about a British landing in Norway he decided to bring the ships back to Germany to use them finally in Norway.
His admirals were protesting. Grand Admiral Raeder said the risk of the loss of the ships is too big when trying to take them back home. Mines and also navigatorical problems were too big in his opinion. The Commanding admiral of the Marinegruppenkommando West, Generaladmiral Alfred Saalwächter, a ww1 Uboat captain, is the same opinion like Raeder. And admiral Otto Ciliax, commander of the Brest ships, protested with a letter that the task of his ships was the Atlantic ocean. From Brest there should be fast attacks on convoys. The risk of being damaged by the British air force had to be accepted. The ships in Norway would not lead to any success.
On January 6th 1942 Gneisenau was again hit by the British. Now it was too much. 6 days later the three admirals had to come to the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia to a meeting with Hitler. Also Jodl and Jeschonneck, cic of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, and the general of the fighters, Galland came to that meeting. Hitler decided to bring the ships back to Germany as soon as possible- through the Channel!
Because of the best tides in the days between February 7th and 15th it was decided to start on February 11th. The Naval code name is Cerberus, the Luftwaffe Donnerkeil. 250 fighters, Me 109 and FW 190, are ready to give the air superiority. But because of the long distance and the low radius of the planes only 16 can be over the fleet permanently for 35 minutes. With a maximum of 32 for short times. They had the order to shoot down enemy planes at all costs, also by ramming. Also strict radio silence should be kept. This was in the German Luftwaffe not common. Mostly the pilots were talking normally to all times. But this time the silence was kept strictly!
The British command did see the possibility of a German attempt to cross the Channel. But only in the darkness of the night. That they had the chuzpe to do that in the best lunch time was excluded because of the strong air force , the surface ships and the coastal guns. It was considered as suicide. But this is exactly that the Germans would do. Hitler wanted to use the surprise moment. He thought the British could not react on such a new and unexpected situation. He ordered that they should start in the night to be hidden in the darkness until they would pass the line Dover Calais in the noon of the next day. "You will see" he said to his generals and admirals, "this operation will be the most spectacular Naval success of the war!"
But how to keep such an operation secret? Impossible! Nevertheless the perparions start. 80 minesweeper were cleaning huge minefields in the nights before. The best route was btw in the middle of the channel. The capital ships were making gun execises. This is a sign for the British admirality to act. 6 British destryoer were sent to the channel, but not the heavy ships which should stay out of the range of German bombers. If the Germans leave Brest there would be enough time if they are spotted immediately. IF! So the capital ships stay in Scapa Flow. Additionally only the King George V. is ready for action. All other modern British battleships are either in repair/ refit or still not complete like the Duke of York. So only a singe battleship was ready to fight the fleet! Everyone in Britain is also expecting such an attempt at night.
To fool enemy spies, the soldiers was said the ships would go south to Africa. Tropical supplies were openly stored on the ships. No one of the crews expected what should come.
In the mean time Galland´s fighters were added by 30 night fighters to protect the fleet in the night.
On 8 o`clock PM the ships should leave Brest under the command of Admiral Ciliax. But when the time came, the British started an attack. 25 Wellington bomber attack the ships but not hit them. But were the Germans spotted en route? No! The British saw the ships still lying on the same place. The British think the day has not come yet. Today nothing should happen. But that was not known by the Germans. Indeed Ciliax waited nearly two hours and was on the way to cancel the operation when all clear was given. At once he gave the order to go.
But they were now 2 hours late, and everything was planned just on time. But a remarkable string of luck and unbelieveable bad decisions by the British command happened now.
At first the British submarine HMS Sealion, which should guard Brest, is 45 sea miles away to recharge the batteries. A recce plane to fly in that area is damaged and returned to the base without a replacement is sent. And due to good tide conditions the speed of the ships is no longer 26 but 30 kn. So when the German planes arrived Cherbourg, they were only 15 minutes too late.
But what about the British RADAR? Well they got to know new German invention: ECM jammers. These top secret machines were used from January to let the RADAR screens show only snow. Only for a few minutes at first but later more and more. The British thought about atmospherical interferences and so did not react. Only one RADAR station is not jammeable. But the report of German planes in the area is not considered as too frightening since the Luftwaffe is often there and most likely it is a Search and Rescue operation. Nothing to worry.
At 8:42 German Me 109 give the CAP over the German fleet. Nothing happened. At 10:00 the Somme is arrived and the distance to Britain becomes closer and closer. Only 60 km left to the line Dover Calais. But now the RADAR officers were worried as the snow is still there. So a Spitfire patrouille is sent to look after the Channel. They find the German capital ships and report it at once to the British HQ. Were they now spotted? The Germans still keep radio silence. A wise decision. The British HQ can´t believe it and sends another scout. A whole hour later! The admirality is not informed until 11:15 AM. At 13:16 15 German S- Boats join the fleet todefend the outer perimeter of the fleet. Just in time to repell the first British attack: British MTB attacked but retreated after Z 7 Hermann Schoemann is engaging the enemy. One MTB is sunk in that action. But now the Dover Calais line is passed. Too late the mighty British coastal guns fire. The German ships are out of range.
Then 6 British biplanes appear with a courageous but useless attack: 6 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber with the protection of 11 (out of 100 started planes!) Spitfire. The slow biplanes are in no way a danger and shot down by the FlaK immeadiately. Among them Commander Esmonde, who hit the Bismarck, was shot down. Heavy air fight took now place through all the evening to the night.
At 15:30 a mine hit the Scharnhorst. Admiral Ciliax leaves the ship on the destroyer Z 29. The crew of the Scharnhorst is not very pleased because of that. However about 16:00 the ship can continue the voyage. A lone bomber now attacked fruitlessly.
When the fleet is together again, the Royal Air Force sent 242 bomber and 35 Beaufort torpedo planes. The attack is also useless. Although supported by the 6 destroyer 17 bomber were shot down. The HMS Worcester was damaged heavily by Prinz Eugen and was lying there burning. Another ship damaged was the HMS Walpole. It also burnt and had to run slowly back. The British pilots thought it was a German ship and so attacked it, whicle German fighters defended the enemy ship! But this attack was not the only case of friendly fire by the British Air Force, as British pilots also shot on their escorting Spitfires.
At last both German battleships were mined again but not seriously damaged. They arrived Germany safely on February 13th.
Of the hundreds of British bombers only 35 were in range to drop the bombs. No hits were achieved. Over 60 British planes were lost. The Germans lost 11 pilots and 17 Me 109 and FW 190. Additionally the British lost an MTB and the HMS Worcester was damaged seriously but could be brought back to the harbour.
Since 1667, when the Dutch admiral De Ruyter was threatening the Themse river, no enemy fleet dared it to go through the channel.
The Germans were celebrating a bravoura passage of a successful defensive operation.
The British on the other hand suffered a great defeat especially on the morale level. Although the Atlantic is now safe, the morale is down. Churchills government is in a severe crise and whole England is ashamed of that.
Tomorrow I will post more about the consequences of this action.
Adler
P.S.: Added some infos I just refound.
