0:00:03 > 0:00:07On December 13th 1939, 200 miles off the coast of South America,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12the first major naval battle of World War Two exploded into action.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Against overwhelming firepower, three British ships took on the
0:00:18 > 0:00:22pride of the German fleet, the pocket battleship, Graf Spee.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28It would become known as the Battle of the River Plate.
0:00:30 > 0:00:36The battle would pit two great naval officers against each other in a deadly duel.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Graf Spee was commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, a decorated hero from the First World War.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43TRANSLATION FROM GERMAN:
0:00:43 > 0:00:46A thousand men owe their lives to Langsdorff.
0:00:50 > 0:00:56Facing him was Commodore Henry Harwood, a brilliant naval tactician.
0:00:56 > 0:01:02He had a happy knack of getting results by being nice. People trusted him.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07As the world watched, the battle moved ashore in a gripping story
0:01:07 > 0:01:12of deception, and one of the biggest bluffs of the Second World War.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18One of the commanders would be decorated and return home a hero.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24The other would lose his ship, his reputation, and eventually his life.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32In this battle we have good versus evil.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Weak versus strong.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37The weak triumph over the strong.
0:01:37 > 0:01:44But the strong is represented by a good man fighting for an evil cause.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48He pays the price of this impossible situation.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53It's a tragedy that most playwrights could make a great deal from.
0:01:53 > 0:02:00Tonight, Timewatch re-examines the evidence and tells the full story of the Battle of the River Plate.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20CHEERING
0:02:24 > 0:02:30The Admiral Graf Spee was the pride of the German navy.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34Even before the Second World War had begun, she was central to secret
0:02:34 > 0:02:39plans for a guerre de corse, a war against commerce at sea.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45A special ship would need a special captain.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49The man chosen was one of the best and most highly respected officers
0:02:49 > 0:02:54in the German navy - Captain Hans Langsdorff.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59The great thing about Langsdorff was that he was a very gentlemanly officer.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02He was a very old style naval officer.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07And he was a very attractive figure as well.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Langsdorff came from a family of lawyers and Lutheran pastors,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and had been brought up in a strict moral tradition.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18TRANSLATION:
0:03:18 > 0:03:23The Christian concept of the world meant a lot to him,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25as did morality.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30These were the things which he valued.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40He had thought about becoming a vicar, which the family would have definitely approved of.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44But on reflection, he decided to join the navy.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50NEW SPEAKER
0:03:50 > 0:03:52When I reported to Captain Hans Langsdorff,
0:03:52 > 0:03:57he struck me as someone who'd had a humanistic education.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06He was somewhat different from the image one has of an officer in the imperial navy.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Langsdorff's Graf Spee was nicknamed a pocket battleship.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20It was boasted that she was bigger than anything faster,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24and faster than anything bigger.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30Her newly designed diesel engines allowed her to cruise for 16,000 miles without refuelling.
0:04:30 > 0:04:37Bristling with huge 11 inch guns, she was capable of sinking ships 15 miles away.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48My father must have been really proud and happy to be on such a beautiful ship.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52Not only beautiful to look at, but great in every way.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59On August 21st 1939,
0:04:59 > 0:05:05Graf Spee sailed quietly away from her base in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10On board were 1,134 crew.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Her departure was carefully timed so that she would cross
0:05:13 > 0:05:16the main shipping lanes at night without being spotted.
0:05:16 > 0:05:23When Britain declared war on September the 3rd, Germany already had an ace hiding in the Atlantic.
0:05:23 > 0:05:29Her orders were to act as a lone surface raider and to wreak havoc with allied merchant shipping.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Langsdorff's intention was to create as much chaos as he could.
0:05:39 > 0:05:47So he'd sink something somewhere and then motor away as fast as he could somewhere else to give the impression
0:05:47 > 0:05:51there was more than one ship, and to create as much chaos as possible.
0:05:51 > 0:05:58In fact, the main aim was not so much the physical damage that was involved
0:05:58 > 0:06:03in sinking the ships, it was the whole chaos that was inflicted on
0:06:03 > 0:06:10shipping in this broad area, shipping that was of crucial importance to Britain's survival in the war.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16On September 30th, Graf Spee sank the British steamship Clement.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21But she got off a radio message warning that she was being attacked.
0:06:21 > 0:06:27News of an unidentified German raider in the South Atlantic was met with swift action at the Admiralty.
0:06:27 > 0:06:34With merchant shipping vital to the war effort, Churchill made the German raider his number one target.
0:06:34 > 0:06:3820 warships were dispatched to hunt her down.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47Three of them were under the command of Commodore Henry Harwood.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52Henry Harwood is possibly the archetypal cruiser Commodore.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54He knew the area perfectly.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56He'd served there before the war.
0:06:56 > 0:07:03He knew it like the back of his hand, and he had thought long and hard before the war about how to deal
0:07:03 > 0:07:06with pocket battleships in general, when he'd worked at the naval college
0:07:06 > 0:07:11at Greenwich, and how to deal with them in particular in South American waters.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Langsdorff could not have faced a more formidable opponent.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23Henry Harwood was a family man who had joined the navy as a 15 year-old cadet.
0:07:23 > 0:07:30In 1906, he passed out top of his class and went on to serve in the First World War.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36He was quite social.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38He enjoyed country sports.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40He was a good golfer.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47He had a happy knack of getting results by being nice.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50People trusted him,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54and his ship's company, I think, always...
0:07:54 > 0:07:59realised that he required a high standard and they gave a high standard.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07Serving under Commodore Harwood was 19 year-old Basil Trott.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08He was a great skipper.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10He was a great seaman.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16He decided that when we left England, we were going to be an efficient ship.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20It didn't matter what time of the day or night it was, if he was up,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23he would think of something for us to do.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Action stations at midnight.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Lower a sea boat and try and pick up a lifebuoy which he'd thrown over the side.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Lower all the pulling boats and row them round the ship.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39But he also used to stop the ship in mid-Atlantic and say, "Hands to bathe", which was great.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43You just dropped whatever you were doing and leapt over the side.
0:08:43 > 0:08:51Anyway, by the time we'd been in commission six months, we found he wasn't really a bad old stick.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Commodore Harwood and Captain Langsdorff were set on a very
0:08:54 > 0:08:59public collision course, one which would shape both their destinies.
0:09:04 > 0:09:10In a deadly game of cat and mouse, Langsdorff continued to hunt allied merchant shipping.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16To cause the maximum confusion possible, he now also began to
0:09:16 > 0:09:21disguise his ship, adding a fake gun turret and an extra funnel.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25He played his sister ships.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28In the South Atlantic, he was the Admiral Scheer.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30In the Indian Ocean, he was the Admiral Graf Spee.
0:09:30 > 0:09:37He made the allies think there were a number of German raiders around when there was only one.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40He played this game, and I think he enjoyed it.
0:09:44 > 0:09:51Apparently during the entire trip, he took great delight in avoiding being found by the English ships.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54To me, doing that seems almost boyish -
0:09:54 > 0:09:57even though he was 45 years old by then.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Graf Spee next intercepted the Newton Beach,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10a British merchant ship.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14To keep his position secret, Langsdorff ordered the merchantman
0:10:14 > 0:10:18not to use the radio to report his presence or he'd open fire.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22He then transferred her crew to the Graf Spee, before sinking their ship.
0:10:22 > 0:10:29On October the 7th, the Ashley, carrying 7,300 tonnes of sugar, was sent to the bottom.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Again, Langsdorff transferred her crew to the Graf Spee.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38He was worried about the fate of the crews of the ships he sank.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42And he would compromise his own position, in fact,
0:10:42 > 0:10:49in order to secure the lives of the crews that he'd sunk.
0:10:49 > 0:10:56In fact, one very touching thing is the way that when ships would not obey his orders and still signal,
0:10:56 > 0:11:02and he would shoot at them, he would congratulate the officers at the end to say, "You did the right thing."
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Throughout October and November, Langsdorff led the British
0:11:09 > 0:11:13a merry dance around the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18He continued to sink merchant shipping, but insisted on saving lives.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Hans Langsdorff conducted an outstanding cruiser war,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32which in the form it took, was unique in naval war history.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Unique, because he fulfilled his task as a merchant raider.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47And yet, during the deployment of the ship, not a single human life was lost.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55Because Graf Spee was a lone raider, thousands of miles from home,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00Langsdorff had strict orders from Berlin not to attack other warships.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Hitler did not want to risk losing his prize asset.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10But these were orders that went against the grain for an old-school officer like Langsdorff.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20In his heart of hearts, he considered this somehow insulting.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Which was clearly shown by what he said.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31And my father also thought it dishonourable
0:12:31 > 0:12:36to attack a much weaker opponent, who had no chance of defence at all.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46Graf Spee had been at sea for three months and was coming to the end of her patrol.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52Langsdorff was eager to win a significant victory over a British warship before returning to Germany.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57It is precisely because Graf Spee is disappearing from the South Atlantic
0:12:57 > 0:13:01and it cannot be foreseen when a second commerce raider can operate here,
0:13:01 > 0:13:07that it must be perceived to have achieved an objectively significant success before leaving the area.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12You can see from the war diary that Langsdorff was getting
0:13:12 > 0:13:15very frustrated at just sinking merchant ships.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19He wanted a victory over the British before he went home.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26By early December, Commodore Harwood's cruiser Exeter, and his two light cruisers,
0:13:26 > 0:13:33Ajax and Achilles, were patrolling the South American coast between Brazil and the Falkland Islands.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39Harwood, a tactical expert, had a hunch as to where Langsdorff might eventually be found.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43The idea had come to him on a day out with his wife.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47At the World Trade Fair, he was transfixed by a map
0:13:47 > 0:13:51which showed the shipping routes in the South Atlantic,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55and how they all focused on the Plate.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58And he was so transfixed that Mother, who was there at the time,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02had great difficulty in getting him away from it.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07On December the 2nd, Graf Spee sank the steamship Doric Star.
0:14:07 > 0:14:14But not before she was able to send the emergency code signal announcing she was being attacked.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Excuse me, sir. We've just had a...
0:14:16 > 0:14:20For the first time, Harwood now knew where the German raider was.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I've got here a rough diagram which Father made
0:14:26 > 0:14:33in making his plans for where Graf Spee was after sinking Doric Star.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38And various calculations of her speed and probable speeds and range, and where she'd get to.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41And he had three options.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44One was to go to Rio, where he'd get on the 12th,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48one to the Plate for the 13th, or to the Falkland Islands on the 14th.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52So, it's quite an interesting little bit of paper, which he sent home
0:14:52 > 0:14:56to Mother, saying, "Keep it, it is of interest."
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Harwood's thinking that Langsdorff would head for the River Plate,
0:15:00 > 0:15:07is one of the most classic examples of inspired intuition, I think, in naval history.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12He knew, from his experience, that the River Plate was a focal point.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16That if there was a German raider in the area, which it looked as
0:15:16 > 0:15:21if there was because of the sinkings, then it was more than likely he would come to the River Plate.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27There was no code breaking, there was no intelligence, this was just inspired professional instinct.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And he was absolutely right.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34On December the 7th, Graf Spee sank the another merchantman,
0:15:34 > 0:15:41and captured secret documents that revealed allied convoys were forming off the mouth of the River Plate.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45It was the opportunity for a major victory that Langsdorff had been looking for.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56He presumed that these convoys were protected by one or two destroyers.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02But he didn't reckon on finding Admiral Harwood's squadron there.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Graf Spee headed towards the River Plate.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Although neither Langsdorff nor Harwood knew it,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19they were now just 20 miles apart.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21There was tension building up in the ship.
0:16:21 > 0:16:27I mean, we knew that there was a German raider and they were a modern ship.
0:16:27 > 0:16:34And the equipment we had was the same sort of equipment that they had in the First World War.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37It was fairly hit and miss stuff.
0:16:49 > 0:16:55It was in the early hours of the morning, and the commander was asleep in a tower cabin.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03And when the tops of the masts could be made out...
0:17:05 > 0:17:08..the commander was woken and the alarm was sounded.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21I don't think the sailors, any of them, got their breakfast from the galley, when something was sighted,
0:17:21 > 0:17:26and they sounded off action stations on the bugle.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35And I can feel the cold shiver now,
0:17:35 > 0:17:40even sitting here, that I felt then.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42What's going to happen?
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Of course, we're all starting up, "Whose joke is this?"
0:17:45 > 0:17:48The commander's being funny.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50We all turned out till somebody's screaming,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52"It's the real thing!"
0:17:52 > 0:17:57A messenger went down to Father in his cabin and he said, "I think I've heard that one before."
0:17:57 > 0:18:03But nevertheless, he put his uniform on over his pyjamas, went up to the bridge, and was there all day.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13He waited for a moment, and then it became increasingly clear that these were warships.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20To begin with, he had assumed them to be destroyers.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27And then he said, very calmly, '"OK, let's do it."
0:18:31 > 0:18:37The key moment is when Langsdorff sights three British warships.
0:18:37 > 0:18:44He chooses to engage. He knows that that's going against his basic orders not to engage warships.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48But he thinks that the time has come to do it. He could have got away.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53His diesel engines allowed him to accelerate away in the opposite direction.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55He chose deliberately not to.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Had he realised in time that he was faced with three cruisers,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11he certainly would not have engaged in battle.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17It sounds very unfair really, three ships versus one.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20But yet the one ship has the advantage.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22And you can see clearly from here why it does.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26It has got six guns that can fire these huge 670lb shells.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31One of these hitting you, you know about it, as Exeter particularly found out.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Whereas the British ships, the two smaller ones with the six-inch shells,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43they can spew out large numbers of these, but clearly
0:19:43 > 0:19:48the effect of 100lbs hitting you is going to be a good deal less than the effect of 670lbs hitting you.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52All the British could hope to do is to peck their enemies to death.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00But Harwood had a brilliantly simple plan, which now came into its own.
0:20:00 > 0:20:07He was convinced that his smaller ships could beat a pocket battleship by using a simple strategy.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10He would split his ships into two flanks,
0:20:10 > 0:20:18thus forcing Graf Spee to make choices as to which side to fire at, effectively halving her firepower.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Poor old Graf Spee, throughout the Battle of the River Plate, is firing at one ship.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24And then at the other two ships.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26One ship, the other two ships.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Its attention is entirely split.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32And that worked absolutely brilliantly.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Harwood's tactics of dividing his ships were revolutionary at the time.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44But the plan called for the Exeter to head straight for Graf Spee.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49This exposed her to the full fury of Langsdorff's 11-inch guns.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53In the battle that followed, Exeter took seven direct hits.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Some of us were directed up to the bridge area, where a shell
0:20:59 > 0:21:04had passed through what was known as the remote control office.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08And the people there were cut to ribbons.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11And we had to sort of
0:21:11 > 0:21:15really, I suppose, put people together.
0:21:15 > 0:21:16You know...
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Well, it's difficult just to sort of talk about it, I suppose.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27But there was a body here and an arm over there.
0:21:27 > 0:21:34And you knew that that arm belonged to that body because he had the right buttons on his sleeve.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39The Exeter was now a limping wreck.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45Amazingly, Graf Spee did not move in to sink her and bring Langsdorff the victory he had sought.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49But for Kurt Diggins, the answer lies in Langsdorff's character.
0:21:56 > 0:22:03He didn't pursue the Exeter because the Exeter had been rendered unfit for combat.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08And it's possible that his own personal attitude played a part here too.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16Why sink a ship if it would entail 600 or 700 men losing their lives?
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Graf Spee now turned her guns on Harwood's other two ships.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29Seven men were killed on Ajax, four more on Achilles.
0:22:29 > 0:22:35When you hear them land, there's an almighty percussion.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37LOUD EXPLOSIONS
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Because we were down below in the deck, and as you come down below,
0:22:43 > 0:22:50there's a steel hatch, and the steel hatch there's around about 2ft 6 square, I suppose,
0:22:50 > 0:22:52that we went down through.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56And that's with a wired-up lid, and that clang, stop.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59And you were shut in down there.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03I often thought afterwards, you know, it came to you, then there's fear after.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06"Hell, what if something had happened? How the hell were we going to get out of there?"
0:23:06 > 0:23:12At 7.40, after 80 minutes of ferocious battle, Harwood ordered
0:23:12 > 0:23:17the Ajax and Achilles to break off the action under a smokescreen.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20To Harwood's surprise, Langsdorff didn't pursue,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24but instead turned Graf Spee away.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29Accurate British firing had taken its toll on the German ship.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33The impact was recorded by one of Langsdorff's officers.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37Above deck they have punished us severely.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40What one sees there is disastrous.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44When, from my control station, I have to go to the command post
0:23:44 > 0:23:48or to one of the gun turrets, I have to cross the chief first aid post.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50The floor is running with blood.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00It made a huge impression on him.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06There's one of those pictures of him standing there,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10his head bare, wearing a coat, receiving the first reports.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17He then walked through the ship and visited the hospital below deck,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21where the injured and also some of the dead were laid.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24And this made a profound impression on him.
0:24:26 > 0:24:33Having finished his inspection of the damage, Langsdorff decided that his ship urgently needed repairs.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39He headed for the nearest major port, Montevideo in neutral Uruguay.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44It was a move that would have grave consequences.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51Langsdorff telegraphed Berlin explaining his fateful decision.
0:24:51 > 0:24:5736 killed, five seriously wounded, 53 slightly wounded.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59As ship cannot be made seaworthy for breakthrough
0:24:59 > 0:25:06to the homeland with means on board, decided to go into the River Plate, at risk of being shut in there.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13With Graf Spee's arrival in the harbour, the Battle of the River Plate turned into the first great
0:25:13 > 0:25:18media event of the war, as the world's press arrived to cover the story.
0:25:19 > 0:25:26First on the scene was local reporter, 22 year-old Hugo Rocha.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31The first assignment was to cover the arrival of the ship on Wednesday night.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36It was tremendously impressive. We had never seen anything like that, especially
0:25:36 > 0:25:38inside the harbour.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43The second day, I went around the ship with my photographer.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46And my impression was of pity.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52Pity. I knew that 36 of them had died, that many more were wounded.
0:25:52 > 0:25:58Most of the crew, I saw them, were boys, 18, 19 years old.
0:26:00 > 0:26:06We were very conscious that we were suddenly part of the great world war
0:26:06 > 0:26:12that had started three months earlier in Europe, that we were following with passionate interest.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16And that, suddenly, the war was happening here.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24The following morning, as the cameras rolled, Langsdorff released
0:26:24 > 0:26:3061 British merchant sailors who had been held captive on board Graf Spee after their ships were sunk.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Langsdorff's next task was to bury his dead.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46REPORTER: Hundreds of German citizens attend the ceremonies at the grave.
0:26:46 > 0:26:53Captain Langsdorff watches in silence as the boys he once commanded find final peace.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02This is a good photo of the Graf Spee, isn't it?
0:27:02 > 0:27:0966 years after he first sailed the seas around the River Plate, Bob Batt and fellow veteran Roy Dickey
0:27:09 > 0:27:13return for the first time since 1939.
0:27:15 > 0:27:23They have come back to Montevideo for a memorial service, and to remember their fallen shipmates.
0:27:29 > 0:27:37We actually collected together 62 bodies on that morning and laid them out on the forecastle for burial.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49And the captain stood there with his prayer book and read the burial service.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Then he said, "We now commit their bodies to the sea."
0:27:56 > 0:28:01And each one is then gently allowed to slide over the side.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Reality came home to you that you'd lost chaps that you knew.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13It did come home to you, really.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20I remember just watching those bodies slide down...
0:28:21 > 0:28:24..a plank.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Pipes and what have you. No, it does come home to you.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35It's a very moving moment.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38I don't think you ever really sort of get over it.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42It's something you like to try and forget.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58The morning after the battle, it was headline news across Britain.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00"Here is the news.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04"There has been an important naval engagement between a German pocket battleship
0:29:04 > 0:29:07"and three British cruisers in the South Atlantic."
0:29:07 > 0:29:13I was at prep school in my last year, and Stephen was in his first year.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18And we were rehearsing a play, in which fortunately I had a very minor part.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23And I remember one of the masters coming in with the evening papers
0:29:23 > 0:29:29and I saw them, and I was very frightened.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31But the news was good.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36Commodore Harwood had been knighted and promoted to Rear Admiral.
0:29:36 > 0:29:42Churchill obviously and rightly wanted to make
0:29:42 > 0:29:48much of what really was the first British victory in the war.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51And he did this in spades. I mean,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54he promoted Father immediately.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57He had him made a Knight Commander of the Bath.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00He made the captains Commanders of the Bath.
0:30:00 > 0:30:07And BBC, press, full of it, etc, etc.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10It was rather unkind, because Father said,
0:30:10 > 0:30:17"Here we were, showered with honours and the job not completed."
0:30:17 > 0:30:20The first half of the story is a classical naval battle.
0:30:20 > 0:30:26The second half of the story is a story of guile and deception,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30and perhaps one of the biggest bluffs of the Second World War.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41In Montevideo, Langsdorff requested a meeting with the Uruguayan government.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Accompanied by the German minister, Langsdorff was seeking permission to
0:30:48 > 0:30:52stay in the port for two weeks to complete repairs to his ship.
0:30:53 > 0:31:00The Uruguayans eventually agreed to permit him to stay for a maximum of four days.
0:31:00 > 0:31:08Outside the harbour, the British force was now reduced to two small cruisers, the Achilles and Ajax.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Harwood was concerned that without reinforcements he would
0:31:13 > 0:31:17not be able to stop Graf Spee if she made a run for it.
0:31:17 > 0:31:23A plan had to be found to ensure Langsdorff was kept in Montevideo longer.
0:31:23 > 0:31:30The man given responsibility for this was the senior British diplomat, Eugene Millington-Drake.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35My grandfather was a great eccentric, and a very colourful character.
0:31:35 > 0:31:43He was known for his enthusiasm for taking exercise and he was a great sportsman.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46And he would walk down
0:31:46 > 0:31:49the street and possibly stop suddenly
0:31:49 > 0:31:54on the way to the office, and do a few press-ups or a few stretches.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02Millington-Drake quietly recruited a band of British pensioners
0:32:02 > 0:32:06and sent them down to the harbour to spy on the new arrival.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11He then went to meet the Uruguayan foreign minister.
0:32:11 > 0:32:17And in a cunning move, invoked an international law, called the 24 hour rule.
0:32:17 > 0:32:24If a merchant ship sailed, a foreign warship was not allowed to sail within 24 hours.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28And the British used this mercilessly to try and keep Graf Spee
0:32:28 > 0:32:33in Montevideo, much to the disgust of the Uruguayan government.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41Millington-Drake secretly arranged for a British merchant ship to leave Montevideo every day.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Eventually the Uruguayans got so frustrated that they said,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47"You aren't allowed to send any more ships to sea."
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Because they could see how they were being manipulated by the British.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59Undaunted, Millington-Drake and Naval Intelligence kept up the pressure on Langsdorff.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06The British knew that their telephone line was tapped by the Germans.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11- Well, it's a matter of some urgency. - A call was deliberately put in to the ambassador in Buenos Aires,
0:33:11 > 0:33:16pretending to arrange for the imminent arrival of two more heavy British warships.
0:33:18 > 0:33:24As anticipated, the call was intercepted by German intelligence and reported to Berlin.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30The British also leaked the story to the press.
0:33:30 > 0:33:36The Germans were convinced that Harwood had major reinforcements arriving in the River Plate.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Millington-Drake had been pulling the strings again.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44He was, as I like to put it... "The man behind the curtain."
0:33:46 > 0:33:48And he was very good at it.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55My grandfather would have loved the cloak and dagger element of the diplomatic battle, of the drama.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58In particular,
0:33:58 > 0:34:05the need to create a lot of false intelligence which would cause the Germans
0:34:05 > 0:34:09to think that there is a huge force out there waiting.
0:34:09 > 0:34:15Langsdorff and his officers became totally of the view, that if they
0:34:15 > 0:34:20went out of the Plate they would run into a much more powerful force.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24The deception had worked brilliantly.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29And now time had run out for Langsdorff.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37Despite his appeals, the Uruguayan government insisted Graf Spee
0:34:37 > 0:34:40had to leave Montevideo before eight o'clock, Sunday evening.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43A second battle now seemed inevitable.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58It was clear from the outset that whatever was to happen,
0:34:58 > 0:35:04were the ship to leave the harbour and engage in battle, one way or another it meant destruction.
0:35:07 > 0:35:13Langsdorff signalled Berlin, explaining his predicament and asking for instructions.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17Inside Montevideo, we have Langsdorff,
0:35:17 > 0:35:22who is increasingly worried about the presence of allied capital ships.
0:35:22 > 0:35:28Outside the harbour, we have Harwood, who is only too aware that those capital ships have not turned up and
0:35:28 > 0:35:32are miles away, and is very, very concerned that if Langsdorff does
0:35:32 > 0:35:38come out he'll be able to get by him, out into the open ocean, and he'll be lost, and he might even get home.
0:35:41 > 0:35:47On board HMS Ajax, Harwood wrote of his fears in a letter to his family.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52"I have a most difficult problem to catch him again.
0:35:52 > 0:35:58"And if he escapes, all the good we have done will be upset. Not all, but a lot of it.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03"The mouth of the Plate is wide and there are so many ways out that it's very difficult.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06"Probably another battle, and who knows?
0:36:06 > 0:36:08"I hope for the best.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10"You'll know by the time you get this."
0:36:12 > 0:36:17If the worst happens, bring my sons up to be men.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Everybody was waiting for the battle to continue, naturally.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24That was the assumption.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26It's an unfinished battle.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30The Graf Spee cannot remain
0:36:30 > 0:36:33in Montevideo. The British are waiting outside,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37the German has to leave the port, naturally a clash has to occur.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46To begin with, nobody knew what was going to happen.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Is the Graf Spee going to set sail again?
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Will the Graf Spee try to reach another harbour?
0:36:52 > 0:36:58Will the ship engage in battle with the English ships anchored off the River Plate estuary?
0:36:58 > 0:37:01What is going to happen?
0:37:01 > 0:37:05The pressure on Langsdorff was becoming intolerable.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Again, he signalled Berlin for instructions.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11The reply was not helpful.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14He was ordered not to let the ship fall into enemy hands,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18but was given no direct orders as to what action to take.
0:37:24 > 0:37:31Why Langsdorff did what he did next is one of the enduring mysteries of the Second World War.
0:37:33 > 0:37:39But Timewatch has, for the first time, been given access to Langsdorff's personal archive.
0:37:46 > 0:37:55For 66 years, his daughter has kept his last letter home hidden away, secret even from her own children.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00"I am writing this letter on my last day as commander of this proud ship.
0:38:00 > 0:38:06"My decision was not an easy one, but two rules served as guiding principles.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09"Firstly, being prepared to take on any responsibility
0:38:09 > 0:38:13"as long as there was the slightest chance of harming the enemy.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17"Secondly, the dispassionate consideration not to send my men
0:38:17 > 0:38:25"to their deaths unnecessarily, but to maintain the ship's honour and the flag's honour to the last."
0:38:35 > 0:38:41The Graf Spee slowly started moving, just at sunset.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45It was very theatrical, you know.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47It was a beautiful summer day.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Half the population of Montevideo,
0:38:50 > 0:38:54hundreds of thousands of people, was concentrated along the Ramblas.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00Langsdorff's final showdown with Harwood now seemed inevitable.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05But as the crowds watched, most of her crew was transferred
0:39:05 > 0:39:10to tugboats before the pocket battleship slowly left the harbour.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18I remember this precisely.
0:39:18 > 0:39:2119.55, 7.55.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26The disc of the sun was slowly sinking on
0:39:26 > 0:39:28the ocean.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31And then
0:39:31 > 0:39:33the sound,
0:39:33 > 0:39:39an explosion, which at first it seemed like a cannon.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42People thought the battle had started.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46Others said, "No, that's only a smokescreen."
0:39:46 > 0:39:50No, actually it was a suicide.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52It was a suicide.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57The German ship was committing suicide.
0:40:00 > 0:40:06Langsdorff, outmanoeuvred, believed all was lost.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11With no clear orders forthcoming from Berlin, he disembarked the rest of his crew
0:40:11 > 0:40:14and scuttled the Graf Spee.
0:40:17 > 0:40:23The English have managed to surround us in such a way that leaving to engage in battle with an opponent
0:40:23 > 0:40:28overwhelmingly superior to us would lead to our certain demise.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40I think this was the deciding factor for Langsdorff.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47His conscience told him that it was pointless to sacrifice the lives
0:40:47 > 0:40:52of 1,000 young men in pursuit of a task that could not succeed.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58If he sailed, he was facing certain death.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02And a death that would mean dishonour, because the ship might well sink in shallow water.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07and a lot of his secret equipment, especially his radar, be captured.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10The Battle of the River Plate
0:41:10 > 0:41:13was over.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Harwood and his men would return home as heroes.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32Everyone wants to see these men who gave the Graf Spee such a beating.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36A memorable day for Londoners able to watch the sailors march past.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39The sinking of the Graf Spee was hugely important.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43It was the first major naval victory of the war, and was
0:41:43 > 0:41:47immediately used to full effect by the allied propaganda machine.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49And I may add,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53that in a dark, cold winter,
0:41:53 > 0:41:58it warmed the cockles of the British heart.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Langsdorff took his crew across the River Plate to Buenos Aires.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14On arrival, he was branded a coward by the press for not taking the
0:42:14 > 0:42:18fight back to the British, even though the odds were against him.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21When he landed in Buenos Aires, he came under great pressure
0:42:21 > 0:42:25from the press as to why had he come to Buenos Aires.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28And the pressures on the man must have been absolutely unbearable.
0:42:28 > 0:42:35He knew, that on his personal decision, he had thrown away one of the Germany navy's greatest assets.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39That instead of a victory, he'd suffered a defeat.
0:42:39 > 0:42:45And it was understandable, therefore, that he would decide that there was only one way out.
0:42:49 > 0:42:56Saying goodbye to me in Montevideo when I was transferred, he said, "Say hello to Germany for me.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59"Say hello to my family."
0:43:02 > 0:43:05There's a lot in that sentence.
0:43:11 > 0:43:17That was a truly moving moment for me when he said this, and said goodbye.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26On December the 19th, Langsdorff gathered his crew together in Buenos Aires and assured them
0:43:26 > 0:43:31they were now safe and would be looked after.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36That evening, he joined fellow officers in the senior ratings mess
0:43:36 > 0:43:40of the arsenal building where they had been stationed.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47He was said to have been at ease and in good spirits.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52He then retired to his room and wrote a letter home to his family.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54It would be his last.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57"Now, deep down inside me I am happy and content.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00"Everything is being prepared and I have the peace and quiet
0:44:00 > 0:44:05"in which to write you this letter, to bid you farewell and thank you."
0:44:08 > 0:44:15"If this is God's will, then I shall cheerfully meet my death, despite life having been so dear to me.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18"Because it gave me all that it had to offer."
0:44:20 > 0:44:27Then there are some very personal lines, and then in conclusion my father writes, "Be proud in your
0:44:27 > 0:44:30"grief, and prove yourself to be a true soldier's wife.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34"Give my love to Jochan and Inge."
0:44:34 > 0:44:36And then his signature.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40It still moves me.
0:44:48 > 0:44:54Some time in the early hours of the morning, Captain Hans Langsdorff shot himself.
0:45:01 > 0:45:08The captain of the pocket battleship Graf Spee was buried with full naval honours in Buenos Aires.
0:45:08 > 0:45:16His officers and crew were joined by Argentine armed forces in forming a guard of honour through the streets.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20German and Argentine dignitaries stood next to representatives
0:45:20 > 0:45:24of the British merchant sailors whose lives Langsdorff had spared.
0:45:27 > 0:45:34The Battle of the River Plate was the first great media event of the Second World War.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39The world looked on as Langsdorff made his fateful decisions.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44Many branded him a coward for not leaving Montevideo with all guns blazing.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46I think, in a way,
0:45:46 > 0:45:50Langsdorff was more heroic doing what he did
0:45:50 > 0:45:55than going out and immolating himself at the hands of the British.
0:45:55 > 0:46:01Because Langsdorff was very conscious that the young men in his crew should
0:46:01 > 0:46:07not pay the price for his error, for his disobedience, for his mistake.
0:46:11 > 0:46:17I maintain that Langsdorff's decision was the correct one at the time, that it was the
0:46:17 > 0:46:22correct one later on, and that it remains the correct one today.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29A thousand men owe their life to Langsdorff.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33But Langsdorff was only one of many victims.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38A total of 108 men lost their lives that day.
0:46:38 > 0:46:4366 years later, survivors from both sides joined together in a cemetery in Montevideo
0:46:43 > 0:46:48to remember those who fell in the Battle of the River Plate.
0:46:48 > 0:46:53They shall grow not old, as we are that are left grow old.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
0:46:57 > 0:47:03At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06We will remember them.
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