Overview

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 Cordoba 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.

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9781845649326

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Enrique Rodolfo Dick was born in 1950 in a beautiful hilly area at the geographical heart of Argentina. He studied first at the German Elementary College in Cordoba, later attending a Military Lyceum, a prestigious secondary school run by the Argentine Army, which demands famously high academic standards of its students. In 1968 he enrolled in the Army Military College from where he graduated with the rank of Second Lieutenant. He went on to serve with several parachute units and later graduated as a Mechanical and Weapons Engineer from the Army University in Buenos Aires. Enrique then continued his studies in France, where he obtained a degree in Aeronautics from ENSAE (the National Higher School of Aeronautics and Space) in Toulouse. After his return to Argentina in 1986 he worked at the Argentine Armed Forces Institute for Scientific and Technical Research (CITEFA). At around this time, and whilst continuing with his scientific research and publications, he also began to pursue more literary interests, which started with his fulfilling a promise he had made to his father who had been a member of the crew of the pocket battleship Graf Spee, which had been dramatically scuttled in the River Plate in December 1939. This was Enrique's first foray into non-technical writing, being a biography-cum-history of his father's life and times, an account of the great ship's commerce raiding activities, the famous battle and its aftermath, all seen from the unique point of view of an ordinary German sailor serving with the Kriegsmarine. The Spanish original has become a best-seller.

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