Operation Cerberus took place in February 1942. Operation Cerberus is the name given to a dash up the English Channel by three major warships of the German Navy – the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau and the Prinz Eugen. They had been effectively trapped in Brest harbour by the British but Hitler ordered that they should return to Germany. Any run through the English Channel was seen as being fraught with danger – but a Fuhrer Order had to be obeyed.
On March 22nd 1941, the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst had sunk 22 British merchant ships in the Atlantic – totalling 115,000 tons. Such losses simply could not have been sustained and destroying the two ships was seen as critical if the English were going to win the Battle of the Atlantic. Both formidable ships returned to Brest harbour for repairs after their triumphs on the 22nd.
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