“The” Battle of the River Plate PDF Download

Author: Richard Woodman
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
ISBN: 9781473845732
Category : River Plate, Battle of the, 1939
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval confrontation of the Second World War, and it is one of the most famous. The dramatic sea fight between the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the British cruisers Exeter, Ajax and Achilles off the coast of South America caught the imagination in December 1939. Over the last 60 years the episode has come to be seen as one of the classics of naval warfare. Yet the accepted interpretation of events has perhaps been taken for granted and is ripe for reassessment, and that is one of the aims of Richard Woodman's enthralling new study. 'This author has made it all so very riveting, it really is a book which is hard to put down until finished.' Royal Geographical Society 'Graphic, thought provoking - highly recommended.' Britain at War

Author: Dudley Pope
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1590136942
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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This tale of the Battle of the River Plate follows the machinations of the German war machine as Kapitan zur See Hans Langsdorff commands the pocket battleship Graf Spee on a mission to cripple British shipping. Through clever subterfuge and daring, the Graf Spee takes ship after ship, ultimately forcing the British Navy to send twenty ships in search of the elusive German vessel. Pope presents a true, enthralling account of the men, ships, and tactics that culminated in this naval action which so brilliantly began Britain's war at sea.

Author: Joseph Montague Kenworthy Strabolgi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: Great Britain. Admiralty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Rio de la Plata, Battle of the, 1939
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Author: Enrique Dick
Publisher: WIT Press
ISBN: 184564932X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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This is an indispensable book for anyone wanting to know more about the before, during and after the Battle of the River Plate, the naval tactics that were employed, the games of diplomacy, the honour of the captains and crews, and the ground- breaking technology involved. The book takes a balanced view of pre-war and post-war events that shaped those years and of Argentina’s willingness to take the crew of the Graf Spee in and offer them refuge, which proved to be beneficial to both communities. For those with an interest in social history, the book tells the fascinating story of the changes that the arrival of 200 young German sailors in the foothills of the Sierras de Córdoba meant for what in 1940 had been a small village, Villa General Belgrano, where their traditions still endure. The technical details of the Graf Spee are set out in an Appendix at the back of the book where readers with an interest in such things will be able to find a comprehensive description of her own fascinating story and details of her armaments and capabilities in both words and numbers. The illustrations have been carefully selected in an attempt to reflect what that era was really like and the context in which she was built. Contents include: The Kriegsmarine; Life on board; The outbreak of war; Battle stations; Buenos Aires to Capilla Vieja; Illustrious name, Illustrious ship and both the early and final years.

Author: Gordon Landsborough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Rio de la Plata, Battle of the, 1939
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Author: Eric Grove
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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"Naval scholar Eric Grove reassesses the first British naval encounter of World War II - the Battle of the River Plate. In late 1939, a force from the Royal Navy engaged the German battleship Graf Spee, which had been raiding commercial shipping in the southwest Atlantic. Though the Graf Spee was outnumbered, it inflicted serious damage to the British ships before taking refuge in the harbor at Montivideo, Uruguay. Four days later her commander, assuming a much superior force waited for him, scuttled his ship and then committed suicide. This controversial story of risk and naval strategy has been told before, but Grove has unearthed previously unpublished sources to provide a definitive account of the battle and throw new light on the motivation of the Graf Spee's captain. A thought-provoking book, it will attract naval historians and others with an interest in World War II."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Author: Robert C. Stern
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1473849357
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 535

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This naval history of WWII explores the advancing technology and tactics of battleships through a fascinating survey of ship-to-ship duels. While many naval battles of the Second World War were decided by the torpedo or the aerial bomb, there was a surprising number of traditional ship-to-ship engagements involving the big guns of battleships and cruisers. Big Gun Battles recounts some of the most significant and technically fascinating of these gunfire duels in a narrative that combines lively storytelling with an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing victory or defeat. Covering all theatres of the naval war from 1939 until the Japanese surrender, the selected incidents demonstrate the changing face of surface warfare under the influence of rapidly improving fire-control systems, radar, and other technologies. By 1945, battleships achieved the pinnacle of gunnery excellence.

Author: Peter Hore
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 9781526725295
Category : Admirals
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Henry Harwood is best known for his destruction of the Admiral Graf Spee at the battle of the River Plate in December 1939 about which Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, said: 'This brilliant sea fight takes its place in our naval annals and in a long, cold, dark winter it warmed the cockles of the British hearts'. Despite that great victory Harwood remains, until now, one of three great British naval commanders of the Second World War who is without a biography. Admiral Sir Henry Harwood's wider naval career was remarkable and epitomised the Royal Navy in the first half of the twentieth century. He became a naval cadet in 1903, specialised as a torpedo officer in 1911, and for his services in the First World War was awarded the OBE in 1919. He was one of the Navy's intellectuals, gaining first class passes in all his examinations and, during his interwar service on the South American station, learning Spanish. During his service in important staff appointments and at the Imperial Defence College, he made a particular study of international relations and, in the light of perceived fallings at sea in the First World War, of tactics and command. He was thus well-qualified when in 1936 he became commodore in command of the South American division of the America and West Indies station, and well prepared to meet and defeat the German pocket battleship _Admiral Graf Spee_ with his inferior force of cruisers in 1939. He was promoted assistant chief of the naval staff at the Admiralty, and, in 1942, appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in succession to Sir Andrew Cunningham. Then, commanding a fleet too enfeebled for its tasks, he found Montgomery plotting against him and Churchill loosing confidence in him before being relieved of his command. Invalided out of the Navy in 1945, and subsequently blamed by many for the Navy's perceived failings in the Mediterranean, he died a disappointed man in 1950. The author has been given exclusive and unique access to the Harwood family archives and, in the light of these previously unpublished papers, has set about rehabilitating the character, career and achievements of this great British admiral. For all historians and enthusiasts of the Royal Navy in the Second World War, this will be essential reading.

Author: Gordon Landsborough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Rio de la Plata, Battle of the, 1939
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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