The scuttling of the Admiral Graf Spee, December 1939
Crowds watch the German warship at Montevideo; she burns in the estuary, a German officer talks with officers in white, and the wreck smokes.
Hundreds of spectators line the waterfront as a grey warship with a tower bridge lies between two sailing vessels in the roadstead; against an evening sky the ship burns, smoke pouring from amidships; a blond German naval officer with the eagle on his breast talks with officers in white uniforms amid a crowd; the torn and blackened hull rests in the shallows under a column of black smoke, and seen from the air the wreck lies in the silted water.
After the battle with three British cruisers on 13 December 1939, the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee sought refuge in neutral Montevideo. When Uruguay allowed her only a few days, Captain Hans Langsdorff took her out on 17 December and blew her up; his crew was interned in Argentina, and he shot himself three days later. The newsreel, released by MGM as News of the Day, told the war as its American audience was meant to see it.
Film Crowds on the shore watch the Graf Spee in the harbour
Film The Graf Spee burns after the scuttling charges
Film A German naval officer among officers in white
Film The burning wreck of the Graf Spee settles in the shallows
Film