THE GRAF SPEE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 December 1939, Page 7

THE GRAF SPEE

COMMANDER INTERVIEWED INCIDENTS OF COMMERCE'. RAIDING. VARIOUS DISGUISES USED. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON. December 18. The Buenos Aires correspondent of the "New York Times” says the Admiral Graf Spee’s young crew 'were convinced that only Hood, Renown or Repulse could touch their ship. They were therefore sure she would not be embroiled in a naval action. They weie amazed to find themselves fighting three cruisers and even more amazed to find they were getting the worst of With the torn and twisted wreckage of the Admiral Graf Spee still burning 20 hours after its scuttling, and with occasional explosions continuing to emphasise her melodramatic end, her weary officers and crew, surrounded by thousands of curious spectators, learnt that the fate which they had hoped to escape in Uruguay had none the less overtaken them the moment they reached the Argentine Republic—internment. . Captain LangsdorfT upon his arrival with his men from the other side of the mouth of the River Plate said: "I am satisfied that I saved all my men." Captain LangsdorfT plainly showed the strain of his ordeal. The crew, mainly youngsters of from 18 to 21. similarly showed fatigue and tension. In an interview with the Associated Press of America Captain Langsdbrfff said that while preying on merchantmen he once disguised the Admiral Graf Spee as the Renown, changing the superstructure and adding a dummy funnel. He laughed ruefully and said: "But maybe the joke was on us. Perhaps we fooled nobody. The Admiral Graf Spee was also camouflaged frequently to pass as the Deutschland or Admiral Scheer. "Once we actually did pass for the Admiral Scheer." he said. This was when the Clement was sunk off Pernambuco, i Captain LangsdorfT admitted that he was not short of fuel when he took re-