After the sinking of the Bismark, it became rather clear to the German Navy that surface raiders had little chance of carrying out their assigned missions with the sort of success that was usually expected. Though the Scharnorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen were docked on the west coast of France with easy access to the Atlantic and convoy lanes, being within range of British bombers was a definite negative. While berthed in Brest, the ships were under constant bombardment and frequently damaged, causing delays in possible sorties as repairs frequently took months.

It was then decided by Hitler in early 1942, that the ships were useless in France and should be brought back home where it was felt they would be safer. So began operation Cerbrus. There were two ways to get to Germany from Brest. One was north around the British Isles and then down through the North Sea. This was the long way and would bring the ships within easy reach of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. The other was to go the short way through the English Channel. The Germans picked the short way.

The British knew that they would be choosing the Channel as their route for it was the shortest and while possibly more hazardous, had the best chance of success. The British planned an operation named Fuller to combat these ships when they came. It consisted of submarines shadowing the port along with constant patrols by Coastal Command to watch for the departure of the German ships. As they got closer to the Straits of Dover, shore guns would join in against the ships. There were also plans for torpedo armed Beauforts to be used and a detachment of Swordfish was deployed to Manston (which is pretty much on the south coast). The Swordfish detachment was from the same unit that helped sink the Bismark. For Naval assets, the Royal Navy did not want to chance large ships as early 1942 was not a time when things had gone well. Aircraft had sank several capital ships and there was a fear that having their ships in range of German planes would be disaster. So they relied on MTBs and destroyers.

All of their plans were for the Germans to try to go through the narrowest part of the Channel at night. No enemy force had successfully transited the English Channel in over 300 years and the British were confident that the record would stay unbroken.

Of course, things did not go according to British plans. The Germans left in the dead of night and transited much of the Channel unseen thanks to happenstance and bungling. German anti-radar jamming prevented the British radar sites from accurately locating the transiting ships, recce planes and submarines just missed sighting the ships thanks to odd circumstances. The shore guns were manned by rookie crews with unreliable radar tracking so shells missed by miles. Air attacks by Beauforts, and standard bombers were ineffective and the six Swordfish sent to attack were totally wiped out with only a few survivors. Even torpedo attacks by MTBs and destroyers had no effect. It was a debacle for the British and a great morale boosting victory for the Germans.

In his book on the dash, author Ken Ford looks at the background of the mission, the plans of both sides and the events of the operation from start to end.

Superbly illustrated with period photos taken by the Germans during the mission and 3D Maps we are drawn into a tale of German good fortune and British poor planning. So devastating was the failure of the British plan that there was much hue and cry in attempts to find a scapegoat. It is very much a gripping tale that even though all fans of the subject know it well, is superbly told. I know you will thoroughly enjoy this one and as such I highly recommend this book to you.

March 2012

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