A GROUP OF PHOTOGRAPHS RECORDING THE ATTACKS ON THE ADMIRAL...

A GROUP OF PHOTOGRAPHS RECORDING THE ATTACKS ON THE ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE AND OTHER BATTLESHIPS.
Collection of 55 eyewitness photographs of naval battles including 10 of the attack on the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee off Valparaiso, Chile, December 13, 1939. Notes in ink on verso of majority. Some buckling.
Completed in 1936, the Graf Spee sank nine enemy ships between September and December 1939 in the South Pacific before three British cruisers encountered it at the Battle of the River Plate on December 13. Despite inflicting heavy damage on its attackers, the Graf Spee too was hurt and was forced into the port of Montevideo where the commander ordered it to be scuttled. He had been misinformed that other heavy British naval forces were moving in to destroy the ship. These snapshots show the cruiser under attack as well as the damage caused by bombardment. Other photographs record other attacks on battleships (H. M. S. Auckland, H. M. S. Perth and H. M. S. Formidable) in the Mediterranean, 1941-1942; the sinking of the H. M. S. Defender by the Germans in 1941; Italian survivors in the Red Sea in 1941; and British and Russian flags flown together for the first time in history on the H. M. S. Queen Elizabeth.