Just Finished Reading: The Battle of the River Plate by Dudley Pope (FP: 1956)

With their experience of WW1 and their knowledge of Britain’s great vulnerability the German’s had a plan. In the last weeks of peace they would station a mixture of armed merchantmen and heavy warships across the globe to attack and disrupt Britain’s trade routes and, essentially, starve her out of the war. It was a good plan and the Royal Navy knew that with the world’s oceans to protect with far too few ships they would most certainly have a hard task countering it. What the Navy didn’t know was just how lucky they were. Ships take time to build even in a warlike economy. So when Hitler brought forward the start of WW2 the German Navy, planning for a war in the early to mid-1940’s wasn’t ready to enact their plan quite as anticipated. Their major units were still being completed so, they had to go with what they had. Britain meanwhile knew of the risks to her merchant marine and had planned accordingly. Even bore war had been declared the Navy was on patrol in the North Sea to shadow or, if required, prevent any German warships breaking out into the Atlantic. It was a difficult job – both diplomatically before any conflict had broken out and logistically with ships only now returning from the far flung Empire back into home waters. Just like their soon to be enemy they went with what they had. But, in this case, the Germans had beaten them to the punch and the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, one of the most modern fighting vessels in the world, had already escaped and was heading deep into Atlantic waters.

The Graf Spee’s orders were clear. Until hostilities had been declared she would stay away from the trade routes and disappear into the vastness of the oceans before being activated on her main mission – the destruction of all British and Allied shipping and the avoidance (as much as possible) of Allied combat vessels. With a range that included the Atlantic, Indian and possibly the Pacific oceans such avoidance wouldn’t present much of a problem. Even if a merchantman’s distress call was picked up and transmitted to the nearest combat unit it could still take days to reach the area where the transport was lost. It would be like looking for a glass needle in a haystack the size of Mt Everest. But the British Navy had to do something. So she set up a number of battle groups scattered across the world more in the hope than the expectation that one of them might be in the right place at the right time to destroy or at least fix the enemy in place long enough for other units to arrive. It was a long shot but it was the only one they had. Then war was declared and the attacks began. Over the next few months the Atlantic and Indian oceans resounded to the often unheard distress signals of ships under fire from an enemy warship. The British Admiralty back in London was frantic and could only watch as ships were reported missing or radio calls were relayed hours and sometimes days after the event leaving them none the wiser of where the enemy was or might strike next.

As the months passed and the first Christmas of the war approached the luck of the British changed for the better. Commodore Henry Harwood RN with his force of cruisers – HMS Exeter (Heavy) and HMS Ajax and Achilles (both Light) – had been trying to get into the head of his adversary and anticipate where he might strike next. Posting his force near the confluence of several vital trade routes in the South Atlantic he patiently waited for dawn on what was expected to be yet another uneventful day. As the sun came up and the sky turned a blazing blue one of the lookouts shouted that he could see smoke. Presumed to be a merchant ship one of the British warships was sent to investigate. Seconds later the truth was known just as the first 11 inch shells arrived ahead of the battleship they had been hunting. Seriously outgunned Commodore Harwood did what any self-respecting naval officer would have done in the same circumstances – he ordered the attack. Splitting into two forces – Exeter on one side and Ajax and Achilles on the other – in order to divide the enemy’s fire the three British ships closed to firing range. With much bigger guns the Graf Spee opened fire long before the 8 and 6 inch gunned cruisers could respond. Initially dividing her fire as the British had hoped the battleship the Graf Spee turned her guns on the greater threat – Exeter – and scored repeated hits on her quickly knocking out several of her turrets. Still firing but making smoke the crew of HMS Exeter watched as the light cruisers launched their attack from close range scoring a number of hits on the battleship. With all three ships now achieving hits – though with little apparent effect – Exeter was hit again and again until, with the final gun out of action she had to withdraw leaving the engagement to the two smaller ships. Then to everyone’s amazement the enemy battleship began making smoke and began heading away from the battleground. Following at a discreet distance Ajax and Achilles pondered their next move. Without the Exeter, now limping to the nearest British base on the Falkland Islands over a thousand miles away, they were completely outgunned even if they were in perfect condition which they were far from. The only option is to continue shadowing and call for help from any nearby British or French units in the vicinity. Unknown to the British units the German battleship, which had been hit a significant number of times by 8 and 6 inch shells, was more damaged than they realised. The captain was also under strict orders that the ships destruction or capture was absolutely forbidden. Unaware of the fact that the cruisers were alone and were not part of a much larger force near-by he felt that discretion was definitely the preferred option. But with urgent repairs needed and no German facilities in range he had little option but to enter the neutral port of Montevideo. It was here that the brilliant British plan came to fruition. 
  
The British really needed to prevent the Graf Spee from leaving Montevideo for at least a week to allow heavy units to arrive in the area to destroy her. But the rules of war only allowed belligerent vessels to stay a maximum of 72 hours for vital repairs. So the British played a double game – by demanding that the German ship leave no later than the legal limit whilst at the same time preventing just that. In a final twist of the knife a rumour was circulated that heavy British warships would be arriving imminently. What had actually arrived, as frantic repairs took place on the German ship, was the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland. Still several days away, coming at their top speeds, was a battleship and aircraft carrier with their screening destroyers. If any action was to take place as the legal limit lapsed it would be between the battleship and the three cruisers – two of which were undergoing equally frantic repairs without the benefits of docking facilities. The captain of the Graf Spee was left with three alternatives – none of them good. He could try to sail to the more friendly Argentine port of Buenos Aires across the Plate estuary but with the risk of running aground in the mudflats, he could fight his way out of the estuary against an unknown and apparently growing force or he could scuttle the ship in international waters. After much deliberation with diplomats and his seniors in Germany this is exactly what he decided to do. Sailing with a skeleton crew he blew up his ship almost within sight of the British guns he could so easily have swept aside.

Just as Hitler had seen this was a huge propaganda victory for the British just months after the start of WW2 brought on by courage, luck and not a small amount of subterfuge. Immortalised in the 1956 movie ‘Battle of the River Plate’ starring John Gregson, Anthony Quayle and Peter Finch this has long been an iconic moment in British military history. It was also one of the first wargame battle I ‘fought’ on a table top in after school activities. With four of us playing (one per ship) it was a great exercise in co-operation and problem solving which probably got me into gaming in the first place. Although just a tad jingoistic at times – understandably from its publication date – this was a detailed, absorbing and at times fantastically exciting story of one of the most famous Royal navy battles of WW2. Two more to come…