Editing Channel Dash (section)

===Port of Brest, 1940–1941===

{{Location map+ |France |width=200 |float=right |caption={{centre|La Pallice and French Channel ports}}|places=
{{Location map~ |France |lat=48.39 |long=-4.49 |label=[[Brest, France|Brest]] |label_size=80 |position=right |marksize=6}}
{{Location map~ |France |lat=46.158333 |long=-1.227778 |label=[[La Pallice]] |label_size=80 |position=right |marksize=6}}
{{Location map~ |France |lat=49.639 |long=-1.625 |label=[[Cherbourg-en-Cotentin|Cherbourg]] |label_size=80 |position=right |marksize=6}}
{{Location map~ |France |lat=50.5186 |long=1.595 |label=[[Le Touquet]] |label_size=80 |position=left |marksize=6}}
{{Location map~ |France |lat=50.948056 |long=1.856389 |label=[[Calais]] |label_size=80 |position=right |marksize=6}}
}}
German commerce raiding against British north Atlantic convoys was made easier by the capture of Norway and France in 1940. An abortive sortie by the cruiser {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Hipper||2}} ended at Brest, at the west end of the Brittany peninsula, on 27 December 1940. After five weeks of attacks by Bomber Command to no effect, the ship put to sea on 1 February 1941, sank numerous ships and returned on 14 February, before sailing to Germany using the roundabout route via the [[Denmark Strait]] the next day, reaching [[Kiel]] on 28 March.{{sfn|Roskill|1957|pp=372–373}} The commerce raids in the north [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] during the winter of 1940–1941 by ''Scharnhorst''-class battleships {{Ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}}, the [[heavy cruiser]]s {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Scheer||2}} and ''Admiral Hipper'' sank British shipping at a higher rate than German surface ships achieved for the rest of the war. The British reformed [[No. 19 Group RAF|19 Group]] for [[Coastal Command]] in January 1941, which kept watch on the German ships at Brest; ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' arrived at the port on 22 March 1941.{{sfn|Richards|1974|pp=223–224}}