Graf Spee's Raiders: Challenge to the Royal Navy, 1914-1915

Finally a fascinating account of the fall of the German Far Eastern fleet in the early days of the Great War, fought in the unforgiving freezing waters of the south Atlantic. Yates is superb in his decriptions of the main characters, especially the patrician admiral Graf Von Spee. Read about courage, chivalry and a sense of honor which the brutal cannon could not extinguish. The fate of the German Far Eastern Fleet hanging on the thread of the admiral's fateful decision... For those who enjoy great history telling and a balanced coverage of both sides, there is no better account!

The story of the German East Asia Cruiser Squadron in the first months of World War I is largely forgotten. Mr. Yates brings to life the story of the courageous men who served under Admiral von Spee, and the equally courageous men who sought, fought, and, ultimately destroyed the Kreuzergeschwader. It is a story of great courage, seamanship, and nobility on the high seas. Mr. Yates does not sugar coat in his analysis of the blunders made, first by the British Admiralty, in sending a force of antiquated cruisers, with conflicting orders, to meet von Spee, which results in a crushing German victory at Coronel--the first sea battle ever fought by the German navy. This nasty blow to British pride in turn leads to the Admiralty's decision to send two of their most modern battle cruisers to hunt von Spee. Yates relates to the reader the sense of inevitability that pervaded the German force after Coronel, awfully realized at the Falklands, where the British finally destroy the German East Cruiser Squadron. Yates also tells the story of the other German cruisers who preyed on the high seas in the opening months of the war: the Emden, Karlsruhe, and Konigsberg, all of whom had succesful careers as raiders before meeting their respective fates. However, the fulcrum of the book remains the exploits of the German East Cruiser Squadron, and its remarkable, brief, and violent career. It is a book that leaves you with nothing but admiration for the men who sailed in the German and British ships, their selflessness, and their courage.

The book is well written. It's about how the Royal Navy hunted down and destroyed the Far Eastern Asiatic Sqaudron of the German Empire between the start of the war in August 1914, and the sinking of the last German raider, *Karlshure* in March of 1915. I used it as a source for my senior history paper, and and enjoyed the details which made everything more tragic than heroic. For example, the Vice Admiral Graf von Spee shocked a club full of pro-german well wishers by proposing a toast to the men of the British warships *Monmounth* and *Good Hope*. The room was full of patroitic militarists, and von Spee would have none of it. Von Spee was actually fighitng the war, and could have no enthusiasm for it.