The Battle of The River Plate (film) - Historical Details

Historical Details

The use of real ships allows the film to pay particular attention to detail, including the bells ringing before each salvo, the scorching on the gun barrels after the battle, and the accurate depiction of naval procedures. However, the scene when Harwood meets with his captains on board Ajax is fictional, created for the movie in order to explain the tactical situation to the audience. The battle is seen entirely from the perspective of the British ships, plus that of prisoners (captured from nine merchantmen) held on Graf Spee. The film devotes nearly twenty minutes to the battle, which actually lasted little more than an hour before becoming a chase into Montevideo. The initial minutes from the spotting of Graf Spee at 0614, to her opening fire at 0618, and the British ships returning fire from 0620 are depicted in real time. In reality Graf Spee's gunfire did not "straddle" Exeter until 0623 after three salvoes, and her main armament fire was not "split" between the British ships until 0630, although these events are shown happening immediately. Exeter's Bridge and forward turrets were knocked out at 0630, but at this point the film begins to telescope the sequence of events.

Other interesting details include the fact that Commodore Harwood is shown wearing the shoulder tabs and sleeve rings of a Rear Admiral from the start, and not only after he had been promoted after the battle. This is historically correct, as 'Commodores of the first class' wore those insignia at the time. Exeter's chaplain is also correctly depicted wearing a civilian dark suit and clerical collar; it was not until later in the war that naval chaplains adopted military uniform as a security measure.

The Battle of the River Plate only hints at one aspect of the story: the death of Captain Hans Langsdorff, who committed suicide a few days after he scuttled his ship. Langsdorff is shown as subdued and depressed afterwards.