Damage To Nazi Warships At Brest

Northern Advocate, 24 December 1941, Page 3

Damage To Nazi Warships At Brest

LONDON, Dec. 23.

Damage is believed to have been done to the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Thursday’s daylight raid on Brest. The Air Ministry states that photographs show that one bomb fell between the after part of the Gneisenau and the dry dock 20ft to 30ft away. The effect of such an explosion would be appreciable. Another bomb fell between the port side of the after part of the Scharnhorst and the docks, while it is believed that a further bomb amidships penetrated the deck of the ship.

Accurate Bombing

It is considered that this attack furnishes one of the most remarkable instances of accurate bombing under heavy fire. Not a single bomb fell in the town itself or the commercial port of Brest.

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 the fiercest 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.

It is recalled that the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were driven out of the Atlantic and reached Brest at the end of March. Since then, wherever their departure from dock seemed possible, the Bomber Command turned from its main task of attacking Germany and bombarded the docks in which the ships were lying.