World War II · Film · 1956
The Battle of the River Plate
Three British cruisers hunt the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic, and after a battle off the River Plate the war comes to neutral Montevideo, where the whole world waits to see what she will do.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 5 places.
Stop 1: South Atlantic raiding grounds
Graf Spee stops British merchant ships, sinks them and takes their crews aboard as prisoners, treated with surprising courtesy.
Stop 2: Off the River Plate estuary
At dawn the three cruisers split up and charge the far more powerful German ship to divide her fire.
Stop 3: Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
Battered and burning, HMS Exeter limps south to the Falklands for emergency repairs.
Stop 4: Port of Montevideo
Key location
In neutral Montevideo, diplomats fight over the deadline while crowds, radio reporters and spies watch the damaged Graf Spee in the harbour.
Stop 5: River Plate estuary off Montevideo
With the deadline running out, Graf Spee weighs anchor and heads down the river toward the waiting cruisers.
What really happened
In the first months of the war the Admiral Graf Spee sank nine merchant ships in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean without killing a single sailor. On 13 December 1939 Commodore Henry Harwood's cruisers Exeter, Ajax and Achilles caught her off the estuary of the River Plate; Exeter was badly damaged, but Graf Spee was hit and ran into Montevideo for repairs.
Uruguay, neutral, allowed her only 72 hours. British diplomats and false rumours of a large fleet waiting outside persuaded Captain Hans Langsdorff that escape was hopeless, and on 17 December, watched by huge crowds on the shore, he scuttled his ship in the estuary. The film, shot with real warships including the original HMS Achilles, portrays Langsdorff's decency faithfully.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- The Battle of the River Plate
- Directed by
- Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
- Countries
- United Kingdom
- Languages
- English, German, Spanish
- Released
- 1956
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Atlantic & Arctic, The Americas
- Themes
- Naval
- Combat
- True story
