The German capital ships at Brest continued to be a prime target for RAF bombers, as they had been for most of the last year. There was some confidence that the repeated attacks had caused sufficient damage to the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau to disable them but the absence of a clear ‘knockout out’ blow meant that they remained high on the target list:
Bomber Command despatched 508 sorties, compared with 424 last week, and lost only three aircraft. A total of 514 tons of H.E. bombs (including 17 of 4,000 lbs. and 52 of 2,000 lbs.), and 24,000 incendiaries were dropped. Unsuitable weather prevented operations on two nights. The principal effort was directed against the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen, which were attacked on each of the remaining nights of the week.
On the night of the 5th, 140 aircraft dropped 203 tons of H.E. bombs and 7,200 incendiaries on the dock area at Brest, and, on four other nights, a total of 126 aircraft dropped a further 186 tons of H.E. bombs and 12,680 incendiaries on the same objective. Visibility was generally poor, but, during the heaviest raid, occasional gaps in the cloud enabled the crews to observe bomb bursts in the dock and dry-dock areas and along the torpedo boat quay. They also saw large fires followed by explosions in the town and Port Militaire.
St. Nazaire and Cherbourg docks were bombed on two nights, several large fires resulting at each of the targets. The submarine pens at St. Nazaire are believed to have been straddled.
From the Air Situation Report for the week as reported to the British War Cabinet, see TNA CAB66/20/46