By: HISTORY.com Editors

1943

Britain surprises German attacker in the Arctic

HISTORY.com Editors

Published: November 05, 2009Last Updated: May 27, 2025

On December 26, the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst is sunk by British warships in the Arctic after decoded German naval signals reveal that the Scharnhorst is on a mission to attack an Anglo-American convoy to Russia.

World War II History

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt committed American forces to the Allied cause in World War II.

Hitler’s navy had posed serious threats to convoys shipping supplies to the Soviet Union since the fall of 1941. American, British, and Soviet merchant ships had suffered devastating attacks in the Arctic, mostly by German U-boats. Operation Rainbow was the German plan to attack two Anglo-American convoys as they sailed between Bear Island and the North Cape en route to the Eastern front. But British code-breakers, including Alan Turing, once again provided the Allies with the sensitive strategic information they needed to anticipate and prevent disaster. The Scharnhorst, Germany’s 31,000-ton battle cruiser, which had already sunk the British cruiser Rawalpindi, was surprised by the British battleship Duke of York, which sank it in what became known as the Battle of North Cape.

Approximately 2,000 German sailors drowned and only 36 survived.

Alan Turing

Portrait of Alan Turing. (Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

By: Joseph Bennington-Castro

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Citation Information

Article title: Britain surprises German attacker in the Arctic
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-26/britain-surprises-german-attacker-in-the-arctic

Date Accessed: August 28, 2025
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: May 27, 2025
Original Published Date: November 05, 2009

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