11 February 1942
EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: ML "Doob" - mined in Kazachiya bay in Sevastopol.
GERMANY: During the night of the 11-12th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 49 aircraft to bomb Mannheim while one Manchester drops mines in the Frisian Islands.
NORTH AMERICA: In Montreal, Quebecois riot against conscription plans that may call for Canadian draftees to be sent overseas to fight, in violation of government policy. Canadian troops who cannot be sent overseas are called "Zombies."
WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 11-12, 25 Wellingtons and 6 Whitleys of RAF Bomber Command bomb Le Havre; one Wellington is lost. Other operations include 18 Wellingtons attacking Brest (one Wellington is lost) and five aircraft flying leaflet missions.
Unternehmen Cerberus: To the fury of the British, three of Germany's most powerful ships made a daring dash up the English Channel today. By this evening they were within range of the safety of the German ports.
'Scharnhorst',
'Gneisenau', and
'Prinz Eugen' begin their "Channel Dash" in Unternehmen
Cerberus. They will leave Atlantic port of Brest move through the English Channel in daylight to naval bases in Germany. This morning at dawn, a pair of Spitfires from RAF Hawkinge patrolling the French coast noted unusual activity by light naval forces. The weather is bad, and getting worse, with snow on the ground, very heavy and low cloud, and poor visibility. At 0920, the Germans begin efforts to jam British radar along the South Coast. Given this unusual behaviour, a second pair of Spitfires are sent to investigate at 1020. On their return, they reported spotting a "convoy" including a possible capital ship. It was not until 11.09am today that an RAF Spitfire (one of two flown by senior RAF officers on a separate operation) spotted the German ships, by which time they were in the Straits of Dover. The Dover Castle guns fired, but fell short. The Eight boats from Ramsgate and Dover Motor Torpedo boats sped out, but could not get within range because of the powerful German E-boat escort. They did fire but at extreme range. Six Swordfish of 825 Naval Air Squadron, which had earlier been moved from Lee-on-Solent to RAF Manston to help concentrate attacks in the chokepoint of the Dover Straits, led by Lieutenant-Commander Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde (b.1909), are ordered at 1130 to mount an attack as soon as possible. made a brave attack, despite the fact that their Spitfire escort was not ready. It was recognized that his slow and vulnerable aircraft would need significant fighter escort to survive. Three fighter squadrons from RAF Biggin Hill and two from RAF Hornchurch were ordered to accompany him. The Biggin Hill aircraft were to defend against the now very large Luftwaffe fighter escort covering the ships, whilst the Hornchurch aircraft were to accompany his torpedo bombers in a low level attack, distracting anti-aircraft fire and strafing the ships to keep gunners heads down. However, the Hornchurch fighter controller telephoned Esmonde to warn him that his squadrons simply could not reach the rendezvous by the allotted time. The timing was also exceptionally tight for the nearer Biggin Hill units. But Esmonde feared that even a short delay might take the German ships out of reach. As soon as the first ten Spitfires from 72 Squadron appeared overhead at Manston at 1228, he set off with his Swordfish, with only one-fifth of his planned escort. The RAF Station Commander at Manston said of Esmonde -
"He knew what he was going into. But it was his duty. His face was tense and white. It was the face of a man already dead. It shocked me as nothing has ever done since."
German fighter attacks began only ten miles out from the English coast. The Spitfires engaged, but found it impossible to keep track of both their opponents and the Swordfish, flying at only about 100mph at very low level. The other two Biggin Hill squadrons arrived to engage German fighters in the general area. One Spitfire was lost, and two Messerschmitts were thought to have been destroyed. Esmonde's six Swordfish pressed on alone, under heavy fighter attack and then, as the battlecruisers came into sight, intense anti-aircraft fire. The lower port wing of Esmonde's biplane was shot away, but he somehow managed to keep flying until he was eventually shot down and killed with his two crewmen just before he got in torpedo range. The two Swordfish with him managed to drop their torpedoes before being shot down; five of their six crew survived. The second section of three Swordfish were also all shot down, with the loss of all nine men aboard. Their efforts were in vain, with no torpedoes hitting their targets. Esmonde was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, and the other seventeen men were also decorated. Seven Beaufort torpedo-bombers of 217 Squadron attempted to find their targets in the bad weather, and eventually five attacked, without success. Fighters shot down one. Other Beauforts and Hudsons attempted attacks, with the loss of four aircraft. Meanwhile, six elderly Royal Navy destroyers usually used for convoy duties, dashed south along the East Coast, coming under several air attacks. A squadron of RAF Whirlwind fighters was sent out to try to ward off the Luftwaffe, but was bounced and lost four aircraft. The effort proved too much for the worn engines of HMS
'Walpole', and she had to turn for home. The other five made radar contact at 1517, and ran in under heavy fire. The destroyers were repeatedly straddled, and HMS
'Worcester' set on fire. Torpedoes were fired, but once again the range proved too great for accuracy. However, all the destroyers survived and retired to Harwich. Bomber Command RAF mustered 242 bombers to attack the ships off the Dutch coast before dark. Visibility was by now appalling, down to 1000-2000 yards in heavy rain, and the very low cloud base meant that bombs could not be dropped from sufficient altitude to have a chance of penetrating armour. 39 bombers were able to attack the German ships or their escorts, but 188 could not find them, and 15 were shot down. Fighter Command also sent up a total of 398 fighters - 102 strafed German patrol boats in the area, and claimed 16 enemy aircraft shot down, for the loss of 17 RAF fighters. But it was not until late tonight that mines - dropped by the RAF - succeeded where bombers had failed. The battle cruisers were damaged,
'Scharnhorst', seriously, as they neared German waters and ports. The RAF lost 42 aircraft.
The first action by RAF Douglas Boston III light-bombers takes place when No. 88 Squadron attacks shipping.
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), U.S. Ambassador to Vichy France, receives instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the U.S. government has learned that French ships are to be used to transport war materiel between France and Tunisia, and that unless the French government gives assurances that no military aid would go forward to any Axis power, and that French ships would not be used in the furtherance of Axis acts of aggression in any theater of war, the ambassador would be recalled to the United States;
"for consultation in a determination of American future policy with regard to the government of Vichy."
