Channel Dash

by Terence Robertson

This book is an exciting and breathtaking account of the daring maneuver which enabled the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau and the Prinz Eugen ... to steam through the English Channel in broad daylight and fight their way triumphantly back to home waters.

This is the drama of 24 hours of war, the revealing story of the sensational break-out of the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from Brest, their passage through the straits of Dover and eventual arrival in German waters. Terence Robertson , who served in the Navy during the war, tells the amazing story and examines the events which led up to a climax which shocked the British public who had hitherto regarded the Channel as ours. He describes the superb courage of Esmonde, V.C., who led his squadron of obsolete Swordfish in a gallant but hopeless attack on the cruisers.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

An officer in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, Terence Robertson worked as the news editor of the Sunday newspaper Reynolds News from 1949 until 1959, after which he moved to Canada to join the editorial staff of The Hamilton Spectator.

Reviews

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting documentary novel about quite an embarrassing event in British WWII history.
A German convoy rushed trough the English Channel almost undisturbed by British forces making the ultimate naval power image of Britain obsolete.

The novel is good in its genre "Tedious descriptions of WWII events for later generations". Especially as this wasn't at all tedious or boring but quite an analytical recapitulation of the events. Supplemented by actual incidents where the sense of duty bypassed common sense and lead to unnecessary dead heroes.

The story is full of bad planning, bad luck and bad decisions which lead to a very uneven confrontations between the German fleet and limited and incoherent British forces.
Mistake after mistake was made letting the Germans to proceed almost without any real danger by the attacks. Almost unbelievable - then and afterwards.

As said, good and interesting in this WWII documentary genre.

Kanaalin läpimurto
Otava 1959

[Terence Blowfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew about the Channel Dash. But this book explained how The Royal Navy and The Royal Air Force allowed this to happen.

[Lew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about a little known action at least from an American perspective. As stated in the book, the success of the German dash through the English Channel was a blow to the general public even though the German ship never left their home waters again. Mr. Robertson does a good job of following the action.