THE RIVER PLATE BATTLE

Courage, Deception and Legacy

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It's an early start. The ferry goes at 7:15 a.m. from the seaport of Buenos Aires, which means a wake-up call at five a.m. The taxi is there; I swear he drives round the block a few times, as the port is so close. We check in with ease and head for Uruguay via the river estuary and the sea beyond. Important to me is the visit to a new city: Montevideo. It's a city that, for some reason, has always conjured up intrigue, spies, and Nazi survivors.

In 1939, a famous sea battle took place just after the start of World War II. The Admiral Graf Spee, the top and latest of the German pocket battleships, made a dramatic but strategic journey across the Atlantic to South America. Its main aim was to create the impression that Germany had a fleet of ships in the area, by sinking merchant ships supporting supplies to the British and its allies in Europe. The captain on this lone-wolf operation was Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff. He already had a distinctive German navy career. He swiftly sank numerous cargo ships leaving South America. Before he sank them, he told their crew to abandon ship. In many cases, he even picked up those who had abandoned their vessels.