Documentary

In 1939, Commodore Henry Harwood commanded a small fleet of three cruiser ships in pursuit of the Admiral Graf Spee - the pride of German Navy - issued months before the start of World War II to patrol and attack allies’ ships on the shores of South America.

A very touching story about the sinking of Graf Spee, the most impressive pocket battleship at his time, this documentary was based on the letters and ship logs wrote both by the German and the British captains and testimonials of survivors of both sides involved in this nerves battle.

After sinking several British merchant ships Graf Spee is caught in a battle with three Royal Navy cruisers in the middle of the South Atlantic. Even have beating her three attackers the ship was badly damaged, and she set sails to Montevideo, the nearest seaport around for repair. The subsequent events are surprisingly moving. A history of how you, even fighting along the wrong guys, can be a decent human being and a soldier of honor.

Hundreds of average archive images of WWII sea battles and some recent footage at Montevideo, British Isles and Germany.

• Direction: James Hayes
• Production: James Hayes
• Narration: Michael Praed
• Historical Consultant: Dr. Eric Grove

Part of the Time Watch TV Series, 2006. Co-production of BBC / The Open University.
Distribution: BBC.

Total time: 47:44 minutes.

Recommendation: Must see.