Operation Cerberus

[DavidS]

Has anyone any knowledge of Operation Cerberus? Between 11th & 13th February 1942 a German battlefleet comprising of the battlecruisers Scharnhorst & Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen with an escort of 5 destroyers and 14 torpedo boats with air cover from 252 aircraft returned to Germany from Brest. The normal route would have been to the North of Scotland, but it was decided to sail through the channel. It was not possible to complete the journey in darkness. The fleet left Brest under cover of darkness but passed Dover at about midday. The British could not respond. Six elderly destroyers were dispatched from Harwich but the Germans easily outran them, perhaps fortunately! The limited success came for the British by the laying of mines in front of the battlefleet by the RAF. The Scharnhorst struck one of these off the mouth of the Scheldt. It again struck an even larger one in the mouth of the Elbe and sustained substantial damage. Gneisenau also hit a mine in the Elbe. I am not clear whether the Elbe mines had been dropped by the British or were German ones. I appreciate that there is good information regarding this incident on google but it is something which is rather swept under the carpet in Britain. There are few books on the subject and I have only seen one tv documentary. I cannot understand the rather strange name for the Operation. Cerberus was the mythological creature that guarded the entrance to Hades. I assume the Germans named the operation and the name seems an odd one to choose given the circumstances. Any further information about this would be appreciated.

[mart]

Isn't it possible that code names for operations are chosen at random sometimes. Otherwise there is a danger that the name may give a clue to the nature of the operation.

Mart

[Cerberus]

As in my earlier reply to DavidS,
"Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades and kept the living from entering the world of the dead.
...........A monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Cerberus who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong".
Hesiod, Theogony 310

Maybe the code name alluded to the fact that these 3 cruisers achieved the brazen notion of passing thro the English Channel, this being the entrance to Hades (Home) & that they were deemed almost invincible in comparison with the English fleet of the day.

Good luck with the research.

[DavidS]

You may be right, mart, but the Germans often used quite meaningful names for their operations. I had not considered the possibility that the name might be referring to the battlefleet return to home. Thank you for that, Cerberus. Of course it could have been that the Germans were thinking that the battlefleet would outfox Cerberus, in this case the British Home Fleet, which indeed they did! The operation would have been a total success if Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had not struck mines.

[DavidS]

It may be of interest that the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen that took part in the channel dash was subsequently used in a serious of hydrogen bomb tests at Bikini Atoll having been captured by the Allies intact. A hygrogen bomb was dropped near it and it remained intact. More remarkably, a hydrogen bomb was later exploded under it together with a number of redundant American warships. Little trace could be found of the American ships afterwards. Prinz Eugen remained intact!

[beutelwolf]

Sounds like the designers of Prinz Eugen moved on to make pick-up trucks after the war...

[Cerberus]

Maybe just a case of "Vorsprung durch Technik "