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Osprey Raid #28
Run The Gauntlet - The Channel Dash 1942
In February 1942, three of the major ships of the German surface fleet - the battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen - stormed out of the harbour at Brest on a dramatic voyage back to Germany. Passing through the straights of Dover, the ships faced everything the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy could throw at them. In a dramatic running fight, the ships managed to sail right under the nose of history's greatest maritime nation to reach the safety of Germany. The brilliantly executed operation brought great humiliation to the British - Hitler, who had developed the plan, had judged perfectly the reaction of the British command to the Channel Dash. Repositioned, these fast, heavily armed ships went on to threaten the Allied Arctic convoys that kept Russia in the war at Stalingrad. This book tells the complete story of this great race, from the planning through to the repercussions of this unique Germany victory.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 31, 2017
Nice overview of the channel dash of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in 1942. Provides good insights into the factors that drove German and English thinking. Short, but solid book.
January 25, 2013
A relatively short read about a brief but major naval engagement during WW2. Only...it's not the type of 'naval engagement' you might think at first.
In 1941, the German Kriegsmarine had a powerful force of two battlecruisers (the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau) and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, along with attending escort vessels, made their way to the harbor in Brest, France, after various exercises and attacks against Allied shipping. The British immediately blockaded the harbor, waiting for the ships to come out. The British really really really wanted to sink these ships, and the Germans really really really didn't want the British to do so, so the German fleet command kept the ships tied up at the docks. The British RAF sent continual harassing bombing missions to the harbor in hopes of permenantly disabling or sinking the capital ships, but other than a bomb strike here and there, failed to do much significant damage. But after months and months of this harassment, it was adding up.
The British knew that the Germans had two choices: stay and eventually be bombed to death, or flee the harbor and make their way to German waters. If the German fleet chose the latter, there were several avenues in which they could take, all of them Bad(tm) for the German boats. One of these options would be a 'Channel dash', or a run up through the English Channel as quickly as possible. But that would bring the ships under the guns of the coastal batteries, nearby airfields and their bombers, and eventually, elements of the British Royal Navy. So the only realistic time to do the Dash would be at night, but that meant a lot of daytime travel on the seas beforehand, and the British would be waiting. The other 'exit from Brest' options were, by comparison, worse. And the British held pretty much all the cards, and had developed very detailed, mutually supportive and overlapping battle plans as to what to do if/when the German ships left Brest. The Germans knew this, and the British knew that the Germans knew it (and the Germans knew the British knew that the Germans knew...ad nauseum).
Then the Germans did something the British weren't expecting, and how, like a house of cards in a gale, the carefully laid British plans collapsed as the German ships beat feet for friendly waters. This book details what the preparations were for both sides, what their thinking was at the time, what the German plan evolved into (and was thus executed to be), and how the British plans fell to pieces in light of this change of game plan by the Germans, as well as the desperate measures the British took to stop the German ships from reaching friendly waters.
Now, all this is history, non-fiction, and you can easily google to find out that the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, and the Prinz Eugen all made it safely to German ports, with minimal damage sustained. But as for the Dash itself...I'll let you pick up the book to read. It's not long, and reads pretty fast.
In 1941, the German Kriegsmarine had a powerful force of two battlecruisers (the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau) and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, along with attending escort vessels, made their way to the harbor in Brest, France, after various exercises and attacks against Allied shipping. The British immediately blockaded the harbor, waiting for the ships to come out. The British really really really wanted to sink these ships, and the Germans really really really didn't want the British to do so, so the German fleet command kept the ships tied up at the docks. The British RAF sent continual harassing bombing missions to the harbor in hopes of permenantly disabling or sinking the capital ships, but other than a bomb strike here and there, failed to do much significant damage. But after months and months of this harassment, it was adding up.
The British knew that the Germans had two choices: stay and eventually be bombed to death, or flee the harbor and make their way to German waters. If the German fleet chose the latter, there were several avenues in which they could take, all of them Bad(tm) for the German boats. One of these options would be a 'Channel dash', or a run up through the English Channel as quickly as possible. But that would bring the ships under the guns of the coastal batteries, nearby airfields and their bombers, and eventually, elements of the British Royal Navy. So the only realistic time to do the Dash would be at night, but that meant a lot of daytime travel on the seas beforehand, and the British would be waiting. The other 'exit from Brest' options were, by comparison, worse. And the British held pretty much all the cards, and had developed very detailed, mutually supportive and overlapping battle plans as to what to do if/when the German ships left Brest. The Germans knew this, and the British knew that the Germans knew it (and the Germans knew the British knew that the Germans knew...ad nauseum).
Then the Germans did something the British weren't expecting, and how, like a house of cards in a gale, the carefully laid British plans collapsed as the German ships beat feet for friendly waters. This book details what the preparations were for both sides, what their thinking was at the time, what the German plan evolved into (and was thus executed to be), and how the British plans fell to pieces in light of this change of game plan by the Germans, as well as the desperate measures the British took to stop the German ships from reaching friendly waters.
Now, all this is history, non-fiction, and you can easily google to find out that the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, and the Prinz Eugen all made it safely to German ports, with minimal damage sustained. But as for the Dash itself...I'll let you pick up the book to read. It's not long, and reads pretty fast.
February 25, 2014
A very good overview of the escape of Nazi Germany's three capital ships from their berth in Brest to their arrival in "safe" German ports. In the end in was a tactical disaster but a strategic victory for Britain. Ford tells the story from the viewpoint of both sides and is. or appears to be, a unbiased reporter/observer. This short review of this daring feat is very readable and well-illustrated. What stands out is the bravery and selflessness of th English combatants; similar accounts from the German survivors would be most welcome. Highly recommended to those whose interest is WW II.
March 7, 2014
Ken Ford is mainly a military rather than Naval; author and I am afraid it shows. He gives an all too brief account of this series of actions, and there are sadly some factual errors which a naval historian would not have made, such as regarding the number of ships in the German Navy. Having said that the style is readable and the illustrations are clear, so someone wanting a basic account of the Channel Dash could do worse.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews