Goss, Chris "Cerberus" and "Thunderbolt"

The Kriegsmarine's "Channel Dash" and the Luftwaffe's Triumph, 12 February 1942

On the evening of February 11, 1942, acting on Adolf Hitler's orders and under the codename "Operation Cerberus"and supported by the Luftwaffethe German Kriegsmarine launched a daring operation. Having been subjected to RAF air raids following the conclusion of their commerce-raiding missions in the Atlantic, three of the Kriegsmarine's most significant capital shipsthe battlecruisers *Scharnhorst* and *Gneisenau* and the heavy cruiser *Prinz Eugen*broke out of the Breton port of Brest. In a bold daylight "breakthrough," they traversed the English Channel, aiming to reach the ports of Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel on the German North Sea coast. The operation was protected by a meticulously planned and equally audacious Luftwaffe air cover screen, codenamed "Operation Donnerkeil." The Luftwaffe deployed nearly 300 fighter aircraft and bombers for the mission; despite fierce aerial combatinvolving around 675 aircraft from RAF Fighter, Bomber, and Coastal Commandsthe Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe could rightly claim the "Channel Dash" as a triumph. In this study, aviation historian Chris Goss recounts the "breakthrough" and its aftermath from the perspectives of both sides, drawing on contemporary reports and documents as well as the latest research and analysis. His account is complemented by hundreds of rare photographs, color illustrations, and maps, combining to create the most detailed and compelling narrative of Operations "Cerberus" and "Donnerkeil" to date.