Editing Channel Dash (section)

===Norway Hypothesis===

[[File:Norwegian Sea map.png|thumb|{{centre|Map showing the [[Denmark Strait]] between [[Greenland]] and [[Iceland]]}}]]
During 1941, Hitler decided that the Brest Group should return to home waters in a "surprise break through the Channel", as part of a plan to thwart a British invasion of Norway. OKM preferred the Denmark Strait passage to Germany and {{lang|de|[[Grand Admiral|Großadmiral]]}} (Grand Admiral) [[Erich Raeder]] called a journey along the English Channel impossible.{{sfn|Martienssen|1949|pp=121–122}} Hitler said that the break-out should be planned with no training period, since British intelligence was bound to find out and have the ships bombed. Hitler ordered that a period of bad weather should be chosen, when the bulk of the RAF would be grounded. {{lang|de|[[Vizeadmiral]]}} (Vice-Admiral) [[Kurt Fricke]], Chief of Staff of the SKL, opposed Hitler but was allowed only a short time to review the policy. On 12 January 1942, Raeder again opposed the channel route but planned for it, provided that Hitler took the final decision.{{sfn|Richards|1974|pp=358–360}}

Hitler noted that the ships at Brest had diverted British bombing from Germany but that the advantage would end as soon as the ships were sufficiently damaged. Vice Admiral [[Otto Ciliax]] outlined a plan for a standing start at night to gain surprise and to pass the Strait of Dover, {{cvt|21|mi|km}} wide and the narrowest part of the Channel, during the day, to benefit from fighter cover at the danger point. The {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}} refused to guarantee that the {{nowrap|250 fighters}} available could protect the ships but Hitler accepted the plan.{{sfn|Richards|1974|pp=358–360}} Hitler ordered that the battleship ''Tirpitz'', already in Norway, was to be moved south to [[Trondheim]]. At a conference on 22 January, Hitler announced that all ships and U-boats should assemble for the defence of Norway and on 25 January, {{lang|de|Vizeadmiral}} [[Karl Dönitz]] ({{lang|de|[[Befehlshaber der U-Boote]]}} BdU, Commander of Submarines) was ordered to withdraw eight submarines to patrol off Iceland, the [[Faroe Islands]] and Scotland. Despite protests from Dönitz, another twelve U-boats were reserved for Norway, along with the surface ships being concentrated in Norwegian waters.{{sfn|Roskill|1962|pp=149, 100, 149–150}}