Our talk on Tuesday 10th March was The Battle of The River Plate, given by David Bickerton.
It’s good to know that at the time of the battle, which was December 1939, there was still a gentlemanly attitude, even though this was war – if a ship needing repair had to go into a harbour of a neutral country, then, when the ship set sail again, the opposing navy was supposed to allow it 24 hours before engaging! Give it a sporting chance!
It was details like this, and further examples below, that lifted this talk into the realm of the really enjoyable.
Graf Spee’s spotter aircraft were being maintained and not able to fly when the British ships were spotted, so the Graf Spey captain was unable to realise that they were warships rather than commercial targets, and he sailed blindly into trouble.
If Graf Spee had sailed into an Argentinian harbour for repairs, rather than a Uruguayan one, then they might have been welcomed and protected. If the captain of the Graf Spee hadn’t believed the false information that more British warships were on their way then maybe an escape would have been possible. If, if, if. Such are the chances, the spin of the coin, when at war.
This was a very enjoyable talk, and even though we knew the outcome, the speaker was skilful and kept us captivated throughout.
