文档介绍：RAID
RUN THE
GAUNTLET
The Channel Dash 1942
KEN FORD
RUN THE GAUNTLET
The Channel Dash 1942
KEN FORD
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 4
THE WARSHIPS AT BREST 7
INITIAL STRATEGY 12
PLANNING AND TRAINING 19
THE CHANNEL DASH 29
The Warships Depart 30
The German Ships are Out! 35
The Channel Coast Guns Open Fire 42
The MTB Attack 46
The Swordfish Attack 49
mand and mand Attacks 60
The Destroyer Attack 65
AFTERMATH 71
CONCLUSION 75
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING 78
INDEX 80
INTRODUCTION
On 22 January 1941, two German battlecruisers, the Scharnhorst and the
Gneisenau, left Kiel harbour and set course for the northern waters around
Iceland. Flying his flag on board Scharnhorst, Admiral Lütjens, then
Flottenchef (Chief of Fleet) of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), ordered his
captains to wage war on merchant shipping in the north Atlantic, in a cruise
that was without precedent. For the first time, Germany would use its capital
ships to attack shipping lanes, whilst all the while seeking to avoid contact
with heavy British warships.
Once out into the open ocean, the two warships prowled the desolate wastes,
seeking unprotected convoys and lone merchantmen. Whenever a British
battleship was sighted protecting a convoy, Lütjens’ battlecruisers withdrew to
find easier targets. They voyaged south into the shipping lanes off Africa and
then northwards across Atlantic sea routes, sinking ships and spreading alarm
amongst the British. They were refuelled by tankers and assisted by the presence
in the Atlantic of other German warships, for the pocket battleship Admiral
Scheer and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper were also out at sea. In just two
months the two sister ships were able to sink 22 vessels amounting to almost
116,000 tons of shipping. After weeks on the rampage, mechanical defects
started to appear, the most serious of which was within the boilers of the
Scharnhorst. On 22 March, the two warships entered the safe