The Key WWII Battle That Took Place In South America

Battle of the River Plate

(By Commander R.D. Ross — http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205225945This photograph HU 43488 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49622615)

South America was one of the few places to escape World War II almost entirely unscathed. Despite some offshore commerce raiding and a few adventurous units that decided to deploy to the distant battlefields, South America wisely chose to sit World War II out. Despite South America’s insistence that the war was not for them, it didn’t prevent a significant battle from unfolding around Argentina and Uruguay in 1939.

When Hitler declared war on Poland on September 1st, 1939, one of Germany’s best warships was deployed far from Europe. The ship, Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee, was ordered to commence commerce raiding in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Admiral Graf Spee immediately alarmed British officials. Since the ship was already at sea, it was difficult to track, and it could not be bottled up by the Royal Navy operating in the North Sea and North Atlantic, watching the shipping lanes flowing out of Europe.

(By Royal Navy official photographer — This photograph HU 205 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums(collection no. 4007–03), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2804777)

The British quickly ordered Force G, a cruiser squadron, to begin an earnest search for the wayward German warship. The mission was simple — find, track, and destroy the Admiral…