Evening star., 1942-02-13
3 Nazi Warships Escape British
In 6OO-P|ane Battle in Channel;
Singapore Fights to Save Wafer
Vessels Flee
From Brest in
Daring Coup
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Feb. 13.-Three Of
Germany's mightiest warships
have made a sensational escape
from their French drydock pris-
on, racing to freedom through
the English Channel under the
fire Of British planes, ships and
shore guns.
It was a gamble that risked free
dom for the 26,000-ton battleships
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the
10,000-ton cruiser Prinz Eugen, to
rove the seas again as lethal raiders
Of enemy commerce. against their
loss as the price of failure.
And the British ruefully acknowl-
edged this Black Friday that, so
far at least, the Germans had en-
gineered a shrewd and skillful coup
under the muzzles of Britain's home
defenders.
Cabinet Difficulty Seen.
To many political observers 1t
also meant that the government OF
Prime Minister Churchill has only .
slim chance of riding out the storm
Of popular indignation.
Mr.. Churchill might explain the
defeats in Africa and in the Po-
cific, these sources said, but the
humbling Of two of Britair's fight
Ing services within sight of the Eng
lish coast cannot be explained
away by oratory."
The German battleships raced
through the narrow Strait OF Dover
at % to 80 knots, their top speed,
an authoritative source said today.
Later this was lowered to 18 to 20
knots. fast enough to bring them
to Helgoland before noon today.
Berlin Claim Repudiated.
This authority said no British
surface ships were lost, thus con-
tradicting the Berlin communique's
claim that one British destroyer
was sunk and another set aflre.
He said the action was COM
pletely over and in all probability
the three big German ships were
safely at their destination.
From Brest to Helgoland is ap-
proximately 700 miles. Apparently
the ships had negotiated nearly
half this distance when they first
were engaged at II am. yesterday.
For five hours planes were in con-
slant action over the enemy armada.
1t was from the sky that the Ger
man warships' greatest protection
came, not only from concealing
snow and fog but, perhaps even
more, from swarms of Nazi fighter
planes, shutting out in relays from
the French coast to keep protec-
ton constantly over them.
Explanation Demanded.
Britons' dismay that their rule OF
home waters could be so daringly
and successfully challenged was
voiced swiftly in demands for ex-
plantations which may cause new
difficulties for Prime Minister
Churchill's government on top OF
the bad news from the Pacific and
Mediterranean.
The first word of the German
warships' dash came from two Spit
fires on reconnaissance. They eluded
IL Messerschmitts to race home and
spread the alarm.
Quickly flight of torpedo planes,
guarded by so fighters, was winging
toward the French coast, and from
then on the British sped out their
own air forces to the attack.
Germany won for she shook loose
the three ships which had laid in
refuge at Brest for months as sta
tionary targets for the r. A. F.'s
bombs. Her cost was 18 fighter
planes and the warships were dam
aged by bomb, shell or torpedo
how gravely remains to be learned.
AZ Planes Lost by British.
The British failed because they
lost AZ planes and suffered some
casualties in their destroyers with
out bottling the long. narrow chan
mel and delivering a blow in home
waters which would have been their
greatest naval triumph of the war.
"a German military spokesman
said today that IS British planes
were shot down in the battle. More
than 600 planes we're fighting at
times over the Channel. The
Germans said they lost seven
planes.
(An official Berlin communique
placed the British plane losses at
43, but otherwise gave virtually
the same account Of the Channel
fight.
ct listed other German losses
as "one German patrol boat sunk
after 1t had shot down an at
tacking plane" and "one German
torpedo boat slightly damaged
by bombs"
(The war bulletin disclosed
that commanding the German
battleship force was Vice Admiral
Otto Ciliax, 50-year-old veteran
Of the German Navy
Full Story Still to Be Told.
But the full story still is to be
told of the great land. sea and air
battle which started after the Ger
man warships nosed out of the
NaA-occupied French harbor at the
western mouth of the Channel and
headed eastward toward the Dover
(See BATTLE, Page AID.