His task was to work on radar anti-jamming methods; for a year German jamming of Allied radar had been a problem and the escape of two German warships (Scharnhorst and Gneisenau) through the English Channel, aided by enemy radar jamming from the French Coast, had highlighted the problem.
In February 1942 Ibel acted as liaison officer with the Kriegsmarine during the famous "Channel Dash" when the Luftwaffe provided effective air cover over the battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau passage through the Channel.
On 12 February it took part in the unsuccessful attempts to intercept the German battleships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen when they sailed through the Channel, escorting bombers searching for the German squadron.
On 24 July 1941, 4 Group dropped 2,000 lb bombs on the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and helped to keep these battle-cruisers locked in Brest until 12 February 1942.
This meant that, at the end of the war, the Germans left a fully armed, defended airfield with docks, infrastructure and a cannon taken from the battleship Gneisenau.
German | German language | German Empire | German people | Wilhelm II, German Emperor | German reunification | German Army | German Academic Exchange Service | German literature | battleship | German Navy | German battleship Tirpitz | William I, German Emperor | German cuisine | Middle High German | German Archaeological Institute | Revolutions of 1848 in the German states | Imperial German Navy | German (language) | German Emperor | German battleship Gneisenau | Frederick III, German Emperor | Low German | German Peasants' War | German East Africa | German Confederation | German battleship Scharnhorst | German Air Force | Old High German | German Shepherd |
The British guns fired on the German battleships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen during their 1942 Channel Dash, but were unable to stop them.
On 2 October 1936 he was appointed watch officer on the Aviso Grille, Adolf Hitler's state yacht, and on 30 March 1938 transferred to the battleship Gneisenau.
On 12 February 1942 the unit took part in operations over the English Channel during the German Operation Cerberus, when the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau made a high–speed dash from Brest to reach safety in German ports.
Their best-known action came a few months later, on 12 February 1942, when the light battleships Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen attempted the Channel Dash from Brest back to Germany.