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As the first three Wellingtons from 103 Squadron approached the target they were attacked by three Bf109s from astern. The first fighter dived and came up under the formation attempting to shoot down S/L Lane's Wellington from below and behind. The German pilot's timing was bad and as he broke off at 50 yards he presented a point blank target to S/L Lane's rear gunner, Sgt Blair, who fired several bursts into the attacker. The Bf109 was seen to dive to earth spinning twice. The remaining two fighters continued to attack and Sgt Bucknole's aircraft was hit and his starboard engine caught fire. He was no longer able to maintain his formation and fell back as the Wellington lost altitude. At this time the formation was flying through a fierce flak barrage at the start of their bombing run. Sgt Bucknole's Wellington was last seen at about 8,000ft and it was noted that his rear gunner Sgt E C McDonald RNZAF shot down one of the attacking Bf109s which was seen to spin into the ground. Sgt Bucknole's Wellington crashed and there were no survivors. S/L Lane bombed from 15,500ft at 15:16. The bombs were seen to straddle the dock with one bursting very near the bows of the Gneisenau. F/L Scott was unable to release his bombs due to a fault in the release gear and they were later jettisoned in the sea. The second formation led by F/L Max was attacked by two Bf 109s as the approached the target. All three tail gunners held their fire until the first fighter was at 200 yards and then opened up. The fighter was seen to rear up and turn on its back with the pilot baling out. The second fighter attacked and was also hit. It was last seen corkscrewing down to earth. F/L Max bombed from 14,800ft at 15:20 and his bombs were seen to drop in a line SW to NE along the top of the dry dock. P/O Ball and Sgt Grey released their bombs successfully but were unable to observe any result due to the heavy flak and fighter attacks although it was thought the bombs had fallen along the western edge of the dry dock. All five aircraft returned to base. The Squadron had performed very well and fought its way to a very heavily through heavy flak and fighters without escort bombing accurately for the loss of one aircraft and crew. The returning gunners claimed three Bf 109s destroyed, with the gunnery and fire control of the highest standard. The Wellington force as a whole claimed six hits on the Gneisenau for the loss of 10 aircraft. A German destroyer spotted the attack by the Halifax force on La Pallice as the formation flew low past the Ile d'Yeu. With all element of surprise lost the bombers were subjected to intense fighter and flak opposition. One Halifax was shot down by flak and several more damaged as they approached the target. The fighters ignored their own flak to press home their attacks with great commitment. Four more bombers were shot down in the target area including one that was seen to score a direct hit on the Scharnhorst. During the fighter attacks the bombers that managed to stay in some semblance of formation fared better than the stragglers. One Halifax was subjected to no less than 20 separate attacks but managed to get home. All the aircraft sustained damage to a greater or lesser degree. The returning Halifax crews claimed only one hit on the Scharnhorst. In fact they had done much better and managed five hits on the battlecruiser. Three bombs had hit the ship and passed right through and two had exploded but caused only minor damage. The air gunners had shown excellent marksmanship and claiming five fighters destroyed, three probables and several more damaged. The Germans immediately decided to sail the Scharnhorst back to Brest where the repair facilities and flak cover were better. She sailed that night with several thousand gallons of water in her hull and was laid up for four months whilst the damage was repaired. The Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen never did venture out into the Atlantic. They were the subject to further damaging attacks by Bomber Command including two notable daylight raids on the 18th December and 30th December 1941 in which 103 Squadron was not involved. Finally the Germans were forced to withdraw all three warships out of harm's way and they made their famous "Dash" up the Channel and back to their homeports on the 12th Feb 1942.
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