The battleship Scharnhorst was undergoing repairs, necessitated by recent encounters with a British submarine, and the night attack, which had begun a few minutes after midnight, took the defenders completely by stirpriso, states the News Service of the Air' Ministry.
Excellent visibility enabled the raiders to trace their route, from the mouth of the Eider river, right up to the naval base at Kiel, which was easily Tocated, without the need of Parachute flares, The first plane approached the tar get at a considerable height and then, with its engines throttled back, it Blided down to launch the attack.
The first bomb scored a direct, hit on a floating dock, about a third of the way along its length, and was quickly followed by others. which burst among buildings on the quayside.
The pilot, of this aircraft stated afterwards; "Just when we were half way through our glide, the enemy put up @ searchlight, which swept the sky, but having failed to locate us, went out.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.