Beaufort attack on Gneisenau

6 April 1941, Brest harbour, France

British success; Gneisenau torpedoed in harbour

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau came into Brest from their Atlantic raid in March 1941, and the RAF set out to cripple them there. Gneisenau was moved out of dry dock into the harbour because of an unexploded bomb, and at dawn on 6 April four Beaufort torpedo bombers of 22 Squadron were sent against her. Only Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell found her in the murk. He flew in low over the mole, through the fire of hundreds of guns on the hills around the harbour and the flak ships, and dropped his torpedo at point-blank range. It hit Gneisenau's stern below the waterline and flooded her engine rooms. The Beaufort was shot down a moment later and its crew of four killed; the Germans buried them with honours. Campbell was given a posthumous Victoria Cross. Four nights later RAF bombs hit Gneisenau again in dry dock, and she was out of action until the end of the year.