HEAVY DAMAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1941, Page 6

HEAVY DAMAGE

DONE TO SHARNHORST & GNEISENAU

LYING IN BREST DOCKS.

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE SECURED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 22. Details of damage which was done to the German battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in

Brest during the daylight raid of December 18 are available now. Photographs have been examined, and the Air Ministry states that there is reason to believe that though the

confusion caused by the smoke precluded certainty, a heavy bomb . fell amidships and penetrated the deck of the Scharnhorst. “It is certain,” it adds, “that a heavy armour-piercing bomb fell between the starboard side of the stern of the (Gneisenau and the side of the big dock in which she lay. The distance between the ship and the side of the dock was

only 20 to 30 feet, and the effect of the explosion in this confined space would be appreciable. “Similarly, another bomb fell between the port side of the stern of the Scharnhorst and the side of her dock. The ships were attacked as they lay in the two dry docks side by side with heavy armour-piercing bombs,

which were sending up great volumes of smoke. The problem of photographic interpretation is to discover exactly where bombs hit, and more damage may be done than can be detected. In some instances smoke may hide the effect of other bombs.

“The gates of the two docks were closed at the time. Both gates slide into a recess between the docks when they open, and this recess had a direct hit. It is reasonable to suppose that the mechanism of the docks’ gates has been damaged and that the ships cannot be moved till it is repaired. There have been a great number of bombs dropped very close to the battlecruisers, though how much damage has been done can only be conjectured.

“Important submarine pens at Brest were also heavily bombed during the attack, and they received one certain hit and two probable hits. Buildings, which are possibly workshops behind the submarine pens, have been demolished.

“It is considered that this attack was one of the most remarkable instances of accurate bombing under heavy fire. Not a single bomb fell in the civil town or commerdial port of Brest. The bombing was from a great height in order to enable the bombs to penetrate the ships’ armour, and it was therefore absolutely necessary for every aircraft to make a very steady bombing run, even while a very fierce barrage was being sent up by the Germans. The warships themselves, each with 14 anti-aircraft guns, contributed to the barrage, and apart from this Brest is one of the most heavily defended of all targets.

“Our fighter escort did magnificent work in keeping the main body of enemy fighters away from our bombers —achievement that demanded at such a distance from base almost perfect timing on the part of both bombers and fighters—but the air gunners of the bombers had always to be on the alert even during the bombing runs and ready to fight off those Messerschmitts that did get through the fighjer escort.” It is recalled that the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were driven out of the Atlantic and reached Brest at the end of last March. Since then, whenever their departure from port has seemed possible, the Bomber’ Command ■ has turned from the main task of attacking Germany and bombarded the docks in which the ships were lying. Once the Scharnhorst escaped for a. trial run as far as La Pallice, but immediately heavy bombers went out for a day and a night, and within a day she was creeping back, once more crippled, to Brest, where she has been since.