Deception in War by Latimer Jon

Author:Latimer, Jon
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
Published: 2016-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

THE BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE

The introduction of air power and submarines radically transformed naval warfare. The submarine was eventually defeated by the convoy system among other things, but the threat posed by the pocket battleships of the Kriegsmarine was something very different. The escorts normally assigned to convoys might be able to deal with submarines, but destroyers and corvettes would be defenceless against the 11-inch (280mm) guns mounted by Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland, both of which had put to sea before the outbreak of hostilities in August 1939.

Graf Spee sank just nine ships in her short career, but the success of commerce raiders is not measured merely in terms of sinkings. They completely disrupted commerce simply by being at sea and the Royal Navy was forced to deploy no fewer than nine hunting groups to look for her, most of them withdrawn from other theatres. They affected the operations of soldiers and airmen serving as far apart as Egypt and Singapore, and the Allies were reaping the benefits of her destruction as late as 1944.15 After operations in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans Graf Spee developed engine problems and Kapitän zur See Hans Langsdorff, anxious to increase his score before heading for Germany for repairs, made for the River Plate, where he expected to intercept a convoy. Commodore Henry Harwood, commanding Force G (the light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles and the cruiser HMS Exeter), anticipated the move. After an eighty-minute battle fought on 13 December, Exeter was forced to withdraw and Ajax and Achilles forced to disengage.

However, Graf Spee was also badly damaged and fled to the Plate estuary, where she sought refuge in neutral Montevideo. Both sides now faced dilemmas. An estimated four days were required for the repairs Langsdorff needed, but international law would only grant him seventy-two hours unless the German embassy could persuade the Uruguayan government otherwise. Alternatively, he could make a break for neutral but friendlier Buenos Aires farther up the estuary or out to the open sea. Meanwhile, the British wished to keep Graf Spee in harbour for at least four days while reinforcements rushed to the scene. If Graf Spee made a break for the ocean, it could easily sink Ajax and Achilles in the process. In this instance a deception was needed to hide British weakness.

While Achilles, the only ship visible from shore, sent a string of messages as if other ships were waiting just over the horizon, British diplomats loudly demanded that the Graf Spee should leave within twenty-four hours, to suggest that the British were keen to finish her off.16 For a few days at least it would be possible to prevent her doing just that by the timing of departing British merchant ships, which could each claim twenty-four hours' grace under the Hague Convention. Meanwhile, rumours were planted by the diplomats in waterfront bars and casual conversation with other diplomats to the effect that the battlecruiser HMS Renown and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal had left Cape Town on 12 December and would shortly be on station.

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