Word: langsdorff
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...during which Exeter was crippled, the English task force damaged Graf Spee so severely that she was forced to take refuge in the neutral harbor of Montevideo. But the government of Uruguay would not permit the Graf Spee to remain there for more than 72 hours, So Captain Langsdorff took his ship out and, precisely at sunset on December 19, scuttled her. That night he shot himself...
Just like any other movie, a war picture must, if it is to be dramatically effective, tell the story of men, not just of ships. The obvious figure around which The Pursuit of the Graf Spee should have been built is that of Captain Langsdorff, whom Churchill himself described as "a high-class person." But the screen play of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger scarcely shows what happens on the German warship during the fateful engagement, and does not mention the captain's suicide at all. A potentially tragic figure thus never becomes even really interesting...
When the authorities declared him and his men prisoners for the war's duration, Langsdorff's spirit seemed to break. He visited his men in their barracks, addressed them quietly in three groups. That evening he called all his officers around him, talked with them for three hours. He shook hands all around before retiring. He asked not to be disturbed that night, sat up late writing letters to his wife, parents and the Ambassador. His fellow officers did not need to be told what his aide found next morning: Langsdorff dead, with a bullet from...
...himself voluntarily. . . . From the first moment he made up his mind to share the fate of his magnificent ship. . . ." In Berlin, the German Admiralty explained: ". . . After bringing his crew to safety, he viewed his work as finished and followed his ship. The Admiralty understands and honors this step. Captain Langsdorff as a fighter fulfilled the expectations put upon him by his Führer, the German people and his Navy...
...only his own letters could reveal whether Hans Langsdorff understood and honored the end which Adolf Hitler decreed for his ship, and thus for him. And last Week those letters were not made public...