The Battle of the River Plate - A Grand Delusion

162 Pages·2008·3.44 MB·English

by  Woodman

OTHER TITLES IN THE CAMPAIGN CHRONICLES SERIES
Armada 1588
John Barratt
Napoleon’s Polish Gamble
Eylau and Friedland 1807
Christopher Summerville
Passchendaele
The Hollow Victory
Martin Marix Evans
Attack on the Somme
Haig’s Offensive 1916
Martin Pegler
Salerno 1943
The Invasion of Italy
Angus Konstam
The Siege of Malta
1940-1942
David Williamson

The publisher and author would like to express sincerest
thanks to John Morris for providing the line drawings used
throughout this book; and to Geoff Green, who has made
pictures from his Naval archive available for use in this book.
First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire S70 2AS
Text copyright © Richard Woodman, 2008
Line drawings © John Morris, 2008
Maps © Christopher Summerville, 2008
PRINT ISBN 9781844156894
EPUB ISBN 9781844682454
PRC ISBN 9781844682461
The right of Richard Woodman to be identified as Author of this Work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the
Publisher in writing.
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Printed and bound in England by
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Contents
List of Maps and Illustrations
BACKGROUND
Sly Advance: The Cruise of the Admiral Graf Spee, April 1928-August
1939
CAMPAIGN CHRONICLE
5 August-29 September: ‘The Curtain Lifts’
30 September-9 October: ‘We Are, You See, at War’
10-21 October: ‘A Serious Strain. . .’
22 October-1 December: ‘Even at the Risk of Losing the Ship’
The Allied Hunt
25 October-12 December: ‘The Weakness of Our Intelligence. . .’
The Admiral Graf Spee
2-12 December: ‘No Alternative but to Obey’
13 December, Midnight-06.17: ‘A Fine Target’
British Cruiser Squadron (Force G)
2-12 December: ‘The Plate . . . Was the Vital Area’
13 December, Midnight-06.00: ‘The Squadron Was in Position. . .’
The Admiral Graf Spee
13 December, 06.00-06.17: ‘Signalled for Identification’
British Cruiser Squadron (Force G)
13 December, 06.00-06.17: ‘I Think It Is a Pocket Battleship’
The Battle of the River Plate: Morning Action
13 December, 06.17-07.00: ‘We Zigzagged Continually at High Speed .
. .’
13 December, 07.00-08.00: ‘She Looked Vicious and Efficient’
The Battle of the River Plate: Chase to the West
13 December, 07.00-08.06: ‘On Course for the River Plate’
13 December, 08.06-19.15: ‘No Prospect of Shaking off the Shadowers’
The Battle of the River Plate: Evening Action
13 December, 19.15-Midnight: ‘Gloriously Silhouetted Against the
Afterglow’
Three Days of Uncertainty
14-16 December: ‘This is Not a Friendly Port to Germany’
Sunset
17 December: ‘That Was That’
AFTERMATH
21 December, 1939-1946: ‘Home is the Sailor . . .’
ANALYSIS
ROLL OF HONOUR
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
List of Maps and Illustrations
MAPS
1 Cruise of the Admiral Graf Spee, 1939
2 South Atlantic Cruising Ground of the Admiral Graf Spee
3 Action in the Estuary of the River Plate - 13 December, 1939

ILLUSTRATIONS
Launching of the Admiral Graf Spee
Captain Hans Langsdorff
Commodore Harwood
Watercolour sketch of the Admiral Graf Spee
The Admiral Graf Spee’s 11-inch guns
The Admiral Graf Spee camouflaged as a British battlecruiser
The Admiral Graf Spee’s control tower
The Admiral Graf Spee in Hamburg before the war
Ajax firing a salvo, as seen from the Achilles
An early photograph of HMS Achilles
An aerial shot of the Graf Spee at Montevideo
The Admiral Graf Spee and the Tacoma in Montevideo Harbour
The Admiral Graf Spee at Montevideo
Diagram of the Admiral Graf Spee
Twenty to thirty seconds after the first big explosion, which scuttled the Admiral
Graf Spee
The wreck of the Admiral Graf Spee burning
Wreck of the Admiral Graf Spee still smoking
Final paragraph of the Admiral Graf Spee’s log
Captain Langsdorff gives the naval salute at the funeral of the thirty-seven
German seamen
Funeral of Captain Langsdorff
Photograph of the Admiral Graf Spee presented to Sir Eugen Millington-Drake
at a Christmas dinner
HMS Exeter
Maps