Here are a few useful links, including an article covering the movie and another on the attempts to raise the
Graf Spee:
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1373/n...1/article.jhtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat...he_River_Plate http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/10/...l?from=storyrhs http://www.members.tripod.com/~marcin_w/index-soam.html
A related story concerns the bulk of the British seamen captured by the
Graf Spee. In addition to the ships' officers held on the
Graf Spee, many ordinary crew members were captured. Most of these were tranferred to the
Graf Spee's supply ship, the
Altmark. Conditions on the
Altmark were pretty bad.
When returning to Germany, the
Altmark was pursued by the Royal Navy and took refuge in a Norwegian fjord, where they were rescued by Captain Phillip Vian's
HMS Cossack, in breach of Norwegian neutrality.