1. Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee before and during the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay in 1939.
16 Facts About Hans Langsdorff
1. 2.
Hans Langsdorff was born on 20 March 1894 in Bergen, Germany on the island of Rugen.
3.
Hans Langsdorff was the eldest son in a family with legal and religious traditions rather than a naval tradition.
4.
Hans Langsdorff received the Iron Cross 1st Class sometime during the remainder of the war, but the exact date is unknown.
5.
In 1923, while posted to the navy office in Dresden, Hans Langsdorff met Ruth Hager.
6.
In October 1925, Hans Langsdorff was posted to the Defence Ministry in Berlin to coordinate relations between the navy and the army.
7.
In 1936 and 1937, while on board the new pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee as part of the staff of Admiral Boehm, Hans Langsdorff participated in the German support of the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
8.
Hans Langsdorff received command of the Admiral Graf Spee in October 1938.
9.
Hans Langsdorff adhered to the Hague Conventions and avoided killing anyone; his humane treatment won the respect of the ships' officers detained as his prisoners.
10.
Hans Langsdorff sought orders from Berlin, and was given instructions that the ship was not to be interned in Uruguay, or to be allowed to fall into enemy hands, but he was given no directive as to what action to take.
11.
Hans Langsdorff therefore considered that he could try to take the ship to the friendlier Buenos Aires in Argentina although it was thought that the channel was not sufficiently deep for the ship; he could take the ship out to sea to battle the British forces again ; or he could scuttle his ship.
12.
Hans Langsdorff decided to scuttle, largely to spare his crew further casualties.
13.
Hans Langsdorff was taken to the Naval Hotel in Buenos Aires, where he wrote letters to his family and superiors.
14.
Hans Langsdorff's body was buried in the German section of the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
15.
Hans Langsdorff died while piloting a Biber midget submarine in December 1944.
16.
Hans Langsdorff's craft was later recovered by the Royal Navy and is currently displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.