MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Following on the “Dresden” course

A German television crew working from Punta Arenas is re-editing the last months of the First World War I German Navy light cruiser Dresden which participated in the battle of Colonel, was the only survivor of the Royal Navy victory in Falklands and spent months hiding in south Chile before being discovered.

Jurgen Stumpfhans and Thomas Bresinsky are working in a documentary for The Discovery Channel which should be aired next December depicting the four months the Dresden hid in Southern Chile's fiords while she was being tracked by several vessels from the Royal Navy with the help from other countries until when found in Juan Fernández island she was scuttled by her own crew.

The German team together with Punta Arenas British Consul John Rees and Gerardo Pagels, son of a German farmer in south Chile who helped the Dresden with vital information, as well as Chilean businessman and professional diver Francisco Ayarza, who has visited the underwater remains of the light cruiser, left this weekend in the yacht "Chonos" for an eight days investigation cruise along the Magallanes channels.

Mr. Stumpfhans has been working for the last two years in the German, British and Chilean navies records to have a clear picture of the 1914/1915 saga of the Dresden. Next September/October the German team is scheduled to travel to the island of Juan Fernandez where the light cruiser was finally captured by three vessels from the Royal Navy, HMS Glasgow, Kent and Orama.

Some historical background

Dresden took part in the Battle of Coronel on 1st November 1914 when the Germans inflicted a crushing defeat on the Royal Navy and on the 8th December was the only German ship to survive the Battle of the Falklands. Escaping from the battle, Dresden took a wide sweep around Cape Horn to attempt to escape into the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. On the 9th December she sailed into Sholl Bay in Cockburn Sound where wood was collected to supplement her dwindling coal supplies. She was moved on by a Chilean destroyer and headed for Punta Arenas where, with some difficulty, she obtained coal.

She now hid in the deserted backwaters of Hewett Bay in the Gonzales Channel. Searches by Royal Navy warships failed to find her but two weeks later she was spotted by a passing vessel so she moved north to Wienachts Bay. On 19th December she was replenished by the Sierra Cordoba. By now the British warships were searching all the inlets around the southern tip of South America and no further coal replenishments were able to be organised. On 14th February, Dresden set out in a driving rainstorm and, keeping about 200 miles off the Chilean coast, she headed north into the Pacific. She sank only one ship in the next few days and on the 19th February she steamed slowly toward the Juan Fernadez Islands. On March 7th, 1915, while she was coaling, she was discovered by HMS Kent but she managed to escape. However she had so little coal left she was forced to anchor close by in Cumberland Bay on Mas a Fuera. However the lighthouse keeper informed the British of the Dresden's presence.

On the morning of 14th March the Dresden was lying quietly in Cumberland Bay when she was sighted by HMSs Glasgow, Kent, and Orama. Unable to escape, she surrendered and then scuttled herself with explosive charges at 12.15pm. Remains of her wreck still remain.

The crew of the Dresden was interned by the Chilean Navy in Chilean territory, but many of them managed to escape and returned to Germany taking advantage of the many German settlers in southern Chile and Argentina. Among them was a young officer who would have an outstanding intelligence and military career during the Second World War, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris.

Battle of the Falklands

Following the British defeat at Coronel, the British battle-cruisers HMS Inflexible and Invincible were dispatched to the Falkland Islands, where they combined with the armored cruisers Carnarvon, Kent, Cornwall, and the light cruisers Bristol, and Glasgow.

Admiral Maximilium Graf von Spee had decided to raid Port Stanley and destroy the wireless station. This was in contrast to the wishes of his captains who thought that the fleet, now low on ammunition, should continue on towards Germany and try to avoid action. At 8am on 8th Dec 1914, as two of Graf von Spee's ships neared Port Stanley, the lookouts were horrified to see the tripod masts that could only mean British battle-cruisers. Meanwhile, Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee who commanded these ships, was preparing to sail to the Magellan Straits when the German ships were reported approaching the islands.

Admiral Graf von Spee knew he was no match for the battle-cruisers and decided to flee southward to escape, but months of growth on the hulls of his ships had slowed their speed dramatically and it was no use. At 12:45 the battle-cruisers opened fire at 16.000 yards. Hits were scored about half an hour later and Admiral Graf von Spee ordered his cruisers to break off and flee while Scharnhorst and Gneisenau tried to divert the British.

The German light cruisers were immediately pursued by the Kent, Cornwall, and Glasgow. Gneisenau was hit by 12" shells and suffered damage to her boiler rooms and soon fires were raging at the bow and stern. Scharnhorst was badly holed and on fire and sank at 4.17pm. Gneisenau managed to survive a little longer, fighting on to give the light cruisers a better chance of escape, and finally sinking at 6:07pm. Only 190 of her crew were rescued. Admiral von Spee went down with his ship.

The German light cruisers were now suffering machinery failure due to the speeds they were trying to maintain and slowly the Royal Navy cruisers began to overtake them. HMS Kent sank the Nurnberg at 5:26pm and Glasgow and Cornwall sank the Leipzig at 8.30pm. There were few survivors in the icy sea, while Dresdenmanaged to elude her attackers by disappearing in the darkness.