This image is the cover for the book Battle of the River Plate, Campaign Chronicles

Battle of the River Plate, Campaign Chronicles

A study and reassessment of the major World War II battle in the South Atlantic between the British and German navies.

The Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval confrontation of the Second World War, and it is one of the most famous. The dramatic sea fight between the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the British cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles off the coast of South America caught the imagination in December 1939. Over the last sixty years the episode has come to be seen as one of the classics of naval warfare. Yet the accepted interpretation of events has perhaps been taken for granted and is ripe for reassessment, and that is one of the aims of Richard Woodman’s enthralling new study.

Praise for The Battle of the River Plate: A Grand Delusion

“This author has made it all so very riveting, it really is a book which is hard to put down until finished.” —Royal Geographical Society

“Graphic, thought provoking—highly recommended.” —Britain at War

Richard Woodman, Christopher Summerville

Richard Woodman is a distinguished, prize-winning maritime author. He served at sea from the age of sixteen, spent eleven years in command, spent six years in operational management and is today an Elder Brother of Trinity House. The author of a number of novels, his historical studies include Arctic Convoys 1941-1945, Malta Convoys 194-1943, The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943 and a five volume History of the British Merchant Navy.

Pen and Sword