Brest

6 April 1941 — Brest

Date
6 April 1941
Target
Brest, France

Narrative

The German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau lying at Brest were a standing threat to the Atlantic convoys, and Coastal Command mounted repeated strikes against them. At dawn on 6 April 1941 a small torpedo force attacked the Gneisenau in the harbour. Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell of No. 22 Squadron took his Bristol Beaufort in alone at sea level, skimming the protecting mole past the muzzles of the flak ships, and loosed his torpedo at point-blank range — holing the ship below the waterline and putting her out of action for six months. His Beaufort was shot down into the harbour and the whole crew killed. Campbell received a posthumous Victoria Cross, the only one ever won by a member of an RAF torpedo squadron.

Order of battle

1 aircraft. Each crew links to the men who flew it; each airman to their own record.

AircraftTypeSquadronPilotCrewOutcome
N1016
OA-X		 Bristol Beaufort Kenneth Campbell 1 aircrew → Failed to return

The fallen

56 airmen in this archive died on 6 April 1941 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.

See all 56 who died on 6 April →

Source: Wikipedia — Kenneth Campbell (VC) →