Operation Donnerkeil

Channel Dash

Satellite view of the English Channel

Date	11–12 February 1942
Location	English Channel, North Sea and northern Germany 50°N 02°W / 50°N 2°W / 50; -2Coordinates: 50°N 02°W / 50°N 2°W / 50; -2
Result	German victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Strength

~450 aircraft

Casualties and losses

41 aircraft

17 fighters
5 bombers
23 airmen killed

Unternehmen Donnerkeil (Operation Thunderbolt) was the codename for a German military operation of the Second World War. Donnerkeil was designed as an air superiority operation to support the Kriegsmarine's (German Navy) Operation Cerberus, also known as the Channel Dash.

In 1941 Kriegsmarine surface vessels had carried out commerce raiding sorties in support of the German U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. In January 1941 Operation Berlin was launched followed by Operation Rheinübung in May 1941. The dominance of the Royal Navy's surface fleet prevented the German units returning to ports in the Baltic sea or Germany. The surviving ships, the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, docked in the port of Brest, France. Throughout 1941 RAF Bomber Command attacked the ships in dock. The proximity of the ports to Royal Air Force (RAF) airfields allowed a large number of sorties to be flown against the targets in quick succession. The Oberkommando der Marine (Naval High Command), and Adolf Hitler desired to move the ships out of range from potential air raids.