Falkland Islands

Occasional Paper 58: Postcards Home

July 6, 2019

July 2019

An interest in philately has led to a collection of post cards from a century past showing the Pacific colonies of the German Empire. These help bring to life the story of the transit of the German Asiatic Squadron from its base at Tsingtao across the Indian and Pacific Oceans until its eventual demise off the cold and dark waters of the Falkland Islands. This article summarises an award-winning exhibit at the Canberra Stampshow 2014 held in March.

The Colonies

Germany was a latecomer to overseas colonies but made up for lost time in the latter part of the 19th century. To help penetrate world markets a series of colonies was acquired between 1884 and 1899 extending from southern China through chains of oceanic islands to New Guinea. These comprised Chinese concessions at Kiautshou and Chefoo, and colonies/ protectorates at Bougainville Island, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, German New Guinea, Solomon Islands and German Samoa. A naval base and small garrison was established at the Chinese concession with an administrative centre at Tsingtao. A further administrative centre was at Rabaul in New Pomerania, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland (German New Guinea).

SMY Hohenzollern

Kaiser Wilhelm II had a great attachment for his navy, epitomised by his royal yacht Seiner Majestät Yacht Hohenzollern. With a length of 390 ft (116 m), 46 ft (14 m) beam, 19 ft (5.7 m) draught, displacing over 4,300 tons and capable of 22 knots with a complement of 600 officers and men this was indeed a stately floating palace. She was used extensively taking the royal party on summer cruises and fleet reviews. In twenty years of active service the Kaiser is said to have spent over four years onboard. In June 1914 at the Kiel Regatta officers of the British fleet were entertained on board only two months before the outbreak of WW I. Importantly in philatelic circles the Hohenzollern image was used as the definitive design for nearly all German colonial postage stamps issued between 1900 and 1919.

The Homeward Journey

The first post card which shows the cruiser SMS Gneisnau was posted from Tsingtao on 13 March 1913. In translation this reads: Dear Parents, One day after I sent my last letter to you, this was 13th March, received your parcel by the steamer York containing the bag for a telescope and other nice things. Naturally I was very glad about it and thank you very much and I send my best wishes. Your warm hearted son, Ernst.

On 23 August 1914 Japan declared war on Germany and promptly blockaded Tsingtao but by this time Vice Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee and his German Asiatic Squadron had departed. Following a bitter struggle supported by British troops the Japanese claimed the German concession. There is a post card from this period showing the Japanese cruiser Soya. She had an interesting history, being built in the United States as Variag for the Russian Navy. Being badly damaged in the Russo-Japanese war she was scuttled but salvaged and repaired by the victors. Soya then served as a cadet ship until 1916 when sold back to the Russians. After refitting in Britain she served as a depot ship until wrecked on her way to the breakers in 1920.

Next is a post card from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force of 1,383 men who effected an unopposed occupation of Samoa on 29 August 1914. Life in this quiet backwater was interrupted on 14 September by the arrival of the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. An intended dawn raid to destroy Allied shipping and cut communications did not eventuate when it was discovered the only vessel in harbour was an American sailing ship. The cruisers withdrew seeking better game.

A postcard dated 21 September which in part reads: ‘Things are pretty deadly in Samoa and the heat is awful and the bugs, ants and mosquitoes make night hideous and none of the boys are feeling too well and next month when the rainy season commences many no doubt will be down with fever. Two big German warships entered the harbour last week and alarmed the Corps but they cleared out without a fight. They are still off the coast, however, so we may yet have a scrap. Everyone is sick of Samoa and we all want to go to Europe, but suppose we will have to stick it out here for months yet.’

By 22 September the German cruisers had reached Tahiti where they conducted a half-hearted bombardment. This was answered by a shore battery of 4-inch guns taken from the gunboat Zelee. The gunboat had been scuttled to block the harbour and the stockpile of coal set alight. The Germans again withdrew but by this time their intentions were becoming clearer in making for South America.

Following the decisive Battle of Coronel where the German squadron defeated a Royal Naval squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, the victors called at Valparaiso primarily to coal ship. From here a post card was sent from the Captain of SMS Nurnberg to the Mayor of Nurnberg dated 3 November 1914. Translated, this reads: ‘A quick note to say the SMS Numberg sank the English heavy cruiser Monmouth on the night of 1st November off the coast of Coronel (Conception Bay, Chile). The weather was stormy. The conditions of the whole engagement was excellent.’ This card most likely went in diplomatic mail via the German Consulate.

The revenge by a superior Royal Naval force over von Spee’s squadron off the Falklands on 8 December 1914 is well known. Only one warship, SMS Dresden (a sister ship of Emden), escaped to hide in the expansive Chilean fiords, until she too was cornered by HM Ships Glasgow and Kent at Juan Fernandez Island (famed home of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe).

Finally there are two postcards of British manufacture showing Dresden at Juan Fernandez, taken before her magazine detonated. One card shows a ship’s boat approaching Dresden and the other a close-up of shell splinter damage. On 14 March 1915 after a few shots were fired by both sides Dresden’s Kapitan zur See Ludecke, knowing his situation was hopeless, raised the white flag and sent Leutnant Wilhelm Canaris (later Admiral) to negotiate with the British. However, this was merely a ruse to buy time so that the crew could abandon ship and scuttle her by detonating the forward magazine. Dresden then sank with her battle ensign flying and most of her crew were saved to be interned in Chile.

Publication December 2014 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
By Peter Brigden

Book Review: No Picnic

June 9, 2002

Title: No Picnic – An Account of the 1982 Falklands War by

Author: Royal Marine Maj Gen Julian Thompson

Publisher: Cassell. ISBN: 0-304-35647-6

This book, a revised edition of a book first published in 1985, gives an authoritative account of the action on the ground during the Falklands War between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982, and fills that missing link in the many historical accounts of the campaign so far published. It gives a detailed and interesting insight into land operations by commando, paratroop and special forces.

The author, Major General Julian Thompson Royal Marines, was commanding 3 Commando Brigade at that time and designated commander land forces during the conflict.

The account opens with the author describing the inner workings of 3 Commando Brigade, which forms the major part of the combined United Kingdom/Netherlands Landing Force contribution to the Amphibious Forces of the NATO Alliance, and the dramatic call to deploy, in view of post campaign reports that Fleet Headquarters Northwood had received intelligence on the 31 March 1982 that the Falkland Islands would be invaded by Argentina on the 2 April.

This was one of many incidents throughout the book where Fleet Staff actions at Northwood were questionable, in particular the non-appointment of a theatre commander for the conflict, leading to some command difficulties between the Naval and Land components involved in the campaign.

As the story unfolds with 3 Commando Brigade and the Parachute Regiment landing on the Falkland Islands, the difficulties of trying to run the show from Northwood is clearly illustrated, when Fleet Staff give direction to the Naval Force to take up an anti-submarine defensive posture during landing operations, leading to some amphibious units being pulled out of the landing area, resulting in weapons being landed without ammunition in some instances. This also made a mockery of the careful planning of the 3 Commando Brigade logistics team, and indicated a lack of confidence in the ability of the people on the spot to make decisions that they had been trained for over many years. In spite of the difficulties encountered during landing operations, the professional qualities and fighting spirit of the troops made it a success.

The reader gets some appreciation of the rugged and inhospitable terrain of the Falkland Islands, when front line troops like the Marines and Paratroops would take several hours to traverse a distance that in the Brecon Beacons would take only minutes, during their advance on Stanley. However, this they did, dislodging a much bigger and heavily armed force on the way, by courage and fighting prowess. It was interesting to read that the soldiers’ boots leaked, after all that testing by the Ministry.

Throughout the campaign the author is under constant pressure from senior staff back at Northwood and in Whitehall to finish the campaign in short time, treating it like a skirmish, displaying a poor knowledge of the environment, which had they sought it, was available, and the standard tactical doctrine of the British Army. It would appear that recklessness by Northwood also leads to a near disaster for the troops on the ground, after classified tactical information is given to the BBC to announce to the World that a new forward position had been established on the mainland, giving the precise location. The Argentinians wasted no time in plastering the position with bombs, leaving many dead and wounded British troops.

The main and individual battles of the participants, tactics and hardships in this conflict are vividly conveyed and present an epic story. An excellent book, very well documented and good reading.

Newspaper Report: Battle of the Falklands – December 1914

June 9, 2002

[Ed: This is an extract from an unknown Australian newspaper of the time.]

Every now and then there return to Australia men who have served their King and Country on deep water. They are not received by Red Cross ladies nor are they acclaimed by the public, or given receptions. The motto of the Navy is: “We do our duty!” And, therefore, these heroes of the Seven Seas come home to Australia unheralded, practically unhonoured, most certainly unsung.

One such recently came back to his native land and had a thrilling story to tell – the first-hand story of how Admiral Sturdee’s fleet out-manoeuvred and sank Admiral Von Spee’s fleet off the Falkland Islands on December 8, 1914. Like all the rest of these boys in the navy, he will not allow his name to appear. Officers and men of the A.I.F. can do this with impunity, but the man who serves in the senior arm of the service is, like the late Lord Roberts, a “man who does not advertise.”

Anyhow, this warrant officer had a good story to impart. He stated that Admiral Sturdee’s fleet got news at home that it was to be ordered out for certain, but unspecified, work, and off it went.

“When we left the home shores,” said this officer, “our orders were secret, and all wireless messages, incoming or out, were jammed. The Admiral knew his orders, and beyond these he was not going to bother about anything. We were put through the severest training conditions from the start, and they were only slightly relaxed when we “crossed the line,” going south, and the time-honoured observances were permitted for one day. In fact, it was almost arranged that the Admiral himself should be dealt with faithfully by Father Neptune, but he was not. On September 7 at 6 pm, we raised Port Stanley and prepared for coaling, not having the faintest idea that the Germans were anywhere in the vicinity. There was a big British fleet in this part, and at 5.30 the next morning we started coaling ship, and then went to breakfast. We had no sooner finished than the shore station reported enemy cruisers in sight. We stopped coaling, sluiced down the ships, and stood out to meet the enemy, full steam having been raised in the meantime, though we had nothing like taken on our full lot of coal.

HMS Inflexible, one of Admiral Sturdee's two battlecruisers at the Battle of the Falklands, 1914 — HMS Inflexible, one of Admiral Sturdee’s two battlecruisers at the Battle of the Falklands, 1914

“Once outside the harbour we could see the enemy ships and a great cloud of smoke. The moment the enemy spotted us coming their way they bolted. Every ounce of steam was demanded by the Admiral and we surged forward – the leading ship of the line-at 27 to 28 knots. On the stroke of 11 o’clock we passed the Nurnberg and Leipzig at this pace, leaving them standing. They were not worth our fire, being only light cruisers and quite easily dealt with by our ships following. We were after bigger game. My position was in the forward turret, and I fired the first shot of the action at 20,500 yards. It went over the enemy. I could only see the hull of the vessel, and fired according to the range given. At this shot the Germans swung off again and showed flight. We closed up with our superior speed, and opened again at 18,000 yards. The Germans swung around again, but we had got their range and lobbed shell after shell on them. We picked out the Scharnhorst, their flagship, and dealt with her while our smoke screened our following ships. The Germans, however, were very clever in their manoeuvring, and when we corrected sight they would dash in and our shells as a consequence would go over them. Their guns, too, being hand-loaded, could fire more quickly than ours, and their broadsides won’t blind our `spotters’ as far as our hits and their ships were concerned.

“The enemy found us in their third salvo of eight guns, and the shells struck the turret I was in. Seven of the men and the officer were knocked insensible owing to the concussion and I, with a few men, was left to carry on. Luckily the fire of their guns saved us the need of a fire-party, as their shells subsequently, all falling short, drenched us and the ship with spray, which sometimes rose masthead-high, and, falling on our decks, put out all fires. The spray from these shells blurred our telescope sights in the turret, and a ship’s boy, 16½ years of age, was sent out on to the outside of the turret to keep the glasses clean. He went out like a shot, and in the heat of the engagement we forgot all about him. He stayed out there for over four hours, and when the German fleet was a thing of the past he dropped down into the turret, as black as the ace of spades, from the smoke of our guns and simply asked, “Did I keep the glasses clean, sir?” He was recommended for, and has since received, the D.C.M. He ought to have had the V.C. It’s the coolest action ever read or heard of in the whole story of the British navy. Just fancy the little kid straddled over our telescope on the outside of a turret in action, with shells bursting all round him, calmly keeping our sights clean so that we could ‘plug’ the enemy. No words can express adequately such heroism, and that of only a lad of tender years.

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The Two Falkland Islands Wars – 1982 (Part 2)

March 12, 1994

Battle for Falkland Islands – 1982

British Task Force - Big Picture — British Task Force – Big Picture

The Argentine seizure of the Falkland Islands (las Islas Malvinas) on 2 April 1982 took place at a time when the British Royal Navy was under threat of cuts imposed by the new Secretary of State for Defence, John Nott. Despite warnings from the Royal Navy that the ice patrol ship Endurance was a cost-effective reminder to Argentina not to press her claim to the islands with excessive force, she was listed for early scrapping. At the same time the ruling military junta in Argentina was under internal pressure from popular unrest at economic problems, and when they saw what appeared to be the first sign that Britain was at last prepared to withdraw her claim to the islands, they decided that the time had come to use force to accelerate the process and at the same time divert public attention to an external issue.

Both sides paid dearly for their miscalculations. The British government, outraged at what they saw as a violation of international law, immediately dispatched a powerful task force to repossess the islands, while a divided group of senior Argentine military officers tried to fend off or escape the consequences of their actions by haphazard diplomatic efforts. One by one the diplomatic initiatives collapsed, as they came up against two hard facts: the British regarded the islands as theirs legally, and the Argentine military junta’s precarious prestige could not survive a climb-down.

Maps of the sea and land battle - 1982 — Maps of the sea and land battle – 1982

We now know that the junta finally accepted that hostilities were inescapable when on 1 May a single RAF Vulcan bomber flew from Ascension Island to bomb the runway at Port Stanley. Believing that the British intended to bomb Buenos Aires, the Argentine high command gave permission for two naval Super Etendard aircraft to launch a missile strike against the British next day, in the hope that a severe loss would force the British task force to withdraw. A small British detachment had already recaptured South Georgia, 800 miles beyond the Falklands, but the facilities there could not support a fleet, and on the advice of Admiral Anaya the junta believed that the British would soon be forced back to Ascension.

The Super Etendard sortie was launched but was abandoned when the two aircraft failed to rendezvous with their tanker, but in the meantime the nuclear hunter-killer submarine HMS Conqueror had found the old cruiser General Belgrano steaming just outside the Total Exclusion Zone which the British had proclaimed around the islands. With-some units of the task force already on the south-western side of the islands, and two Exocet-aI’med destroyers escorting the cruiser, Admiral John Woodward and his superiors at Fleet HQ, Northwood, decided that the Belgrano task group was a threat and, after consultation with the British government, Conqueror was given permission to sink her. Some 350 of the Argentinian crew went down with the ship or succumbed to exposure before they could be rescued.

Two days later the Super Etendards made another sortie and this time one of their AM39 Exocet missiles hit the air defense destroyer Sheffield. A fierce fire took hold and about five hours later the fire parties abandoned the ship. In fact the gutted hulk stayed afloat for another six days but when the weather worsened she was scuttled.

Contrary to Argentine predictions the British did not withdraw, and during the next 17 days Sea Harrier strike aircraft and individual ships probed the defenses, bombarding Port Stanley’s airfield, sinking any Argentine ships still in the Exclusion Zone and ‘inserting’ SAS and SBS forces ashore. On the night of 15 May a raid on Pebble Island destroyed aircraft and fuel dumps, and incidentally confused the defenders about the point of assault. At dawn on 21 May the main land forces under Major General Jeremy Moore RM landed at San Carlos on the western side of East Falkland. They had achieved the ideal amphibious landing, taking the defenders by surprise and not losing a man.

After a week to consolidate the troops broke out of the bridgehead and captured Goose Green, but the speed of advance was hampered by lack of heavy-lift helicopters. Air attacks by Argentine Air Force Mirage fighter-bombers and Navy Skyhawks had sunk two frigates and damaged a number of ships in San Carlos Water, culminating in a massive series of raids on 25 May. Once again the Super Etendards were in action and their Exocets crippled the big transport SS Atlantic Conveyor. In the fire which engulfed her three Chinook and 12 Wessex helicopters were destroyed, as well as a vast quantity of military stores.

A Sea Harrier hovers above the landing pad on the Atlantic Conveyor. Both the British and US Navies are looking at ways to carry out similar conversions to container ships in the future.

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The Two Falkland Islands Wars – 1914 (Part 1)

March 12, 1994

Battle of Coronel – 1914

The Battle of Coronel - 1 Nov. 1914 — The Battle of Coronel – 1 Nov. 1914

Although the Royal Navy outnumbered the German navy by a huge margin in 1914, British strength was concentrated in the North Sea, leaving small isolated detachments on overseas stations to protect shipping and strategic targets such as cooling stations. Although the German Far Eastern Squadron’s base at Tsingtao in China was neutralized by Japan’s entry into the war on Britain’s side, the squadron’s cruisers slipped away to inflict whatever damage they could to British commerce. Under their bold and dashing leader, Count Maximilian von Spee, the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the light cruisers Dresden, Leipzig and Nürnberg made a landfall on the coast ‘of Chile in October 1914, when they took on coal in a secret rendezvous with German colliers.

The British soon had wind of Spee’s arrival on the Pacific coast, and Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock took his South America squadron around Cape Horn to bring the German ships to batty. On paper his squadron was stronger, since in addition to the armored cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto he could also count on the battleship Canopus. But the battleship was too slow to keep up with his squadron, the two big cruisers were old and weakly armed and the Otranto was a vulnerable ocean liner hurriedly armed with eight 4.7-inch guns.

When the two squadrons met on 1 November it was late in the day, and in heavy weather. The British ships were silhouetted against the setting sun, while Spee’s ships grew steadily harder to make out against the darkness. The British admiral doggedly tried to bring his squadron’s firepower to bear but HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth were raked by accurate enemy gunfire without being able to make an effective reply.

The Good Hope sank at 1957, after being completely silenced by an internal explosion. The Monmouth turned her stern toward the rising seas in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, but her captain gallantly ordered the light cruiser Glasgow to make her escape rather than try to take the Monmouth in tow. Having largely escaped the attention of the German cruisers, the Glasgow was able to get clear and re-unite with the Otranto.

German shells fall around Sturdee's flagship. — German shells fall around Sturdee’s flagship.

Battle of the Falklands Islands – 1914

Although small detachments had been overwhelmed before, the Royal Navy had forgotten the taste of defeat in a century of unchallenged supremacy and the sense of humiliation after Coronel was acute. To restore both their own and the Royal Navy’s prestige the Board of Admiralty immediately ordered two dreadnought battlecruisers, the Invincible and Inflexible to head for the South Atlantic, where they were to form the nucleus of a powerful squadron to find and destroy Spee’s cruisers.

In a remarkably short time the two 18,000 ton ships were refitted and sailed across the Atlantic to the Falkland Islands, arriving at Port Stanley on 6 December 1914. What was even more remarkable was the total secrecy of the operation; von Spee was planning to attack and destroy the coaling station, with no idea that two very powerful capital ships had arrived.

On the morning of 8 December 1914 the German ships approached Port Stanley without suspecting that anything was wrong. At first it was assumed that the clouds of smoke drifting across Port Stanley’s anchorage were from burning coal stocks, and only when it was too late did a lookout report that he could see tripod masts – the trademark of dreadnoughts. The old battleship Canopus was the first to open fire, from the mudflats in the harbor, where she had been beached to provide a steady gun-platform.

Although critics were to say later that von Spee might have done better to hold his course and try to damage Vice Admiral Sturdee’s battlecruisers as they emerged from the harbor entrance, the German commander headed southeast as fast as he could go, for he must have known that his hours were numbered. The action quickly turned into a long chase, with the British battlecruisers building up to full speed and overhauling the Germans slowly but surely, and Rear Admiral Stoddart’s armored cruisers bringing up the rear. The British had the day in front of them, the weather was cold but clear, and time was on their side.

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Falkland Islands

July 2019

Battle for Falkland Islands – 1982

Battle of Coronel – 1914

Battle of the Falklands Islands – 1914

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