THE GRAF SPEE ENGAGEMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 6

THE GRAF SPEE ENGAGEMENT

ADVENTURES OF A NEW ZEALANDER PRISONER ON WARSHIP I Per Preus Aseociation ] AUCKLAND, Jan. 18. , An account of how he was wound-1 ed and taken prisoner on board the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee, ' and the subsequent action resulting ' in the defeat of the warship by the' British cruisers Exeter, Ajax and : Achilles, is given in a letter from Mr. ■ A. D. Dixon, who left Auckland last ; October. The letter has been received by his mother. Mrs. Margaret Dixon, of Parnell. , Dixon, who had been in New Zea- ; land for the previous four years, left; Auckland with the intention of en- • listing with his old schoolfellows in ! England. At Sydney he joined the Tairoa and was working his way to j England as a deck hand. In his letter he said the Tairoa was ' on route to join a convoy when, at j 4.45 a.m. on December 3 the order ' | was given for all hands on deui:. A battleship had been sighted on the! horizon and the Tairoa signalled fori identification. The ship bore dow n on I them at 1.: i speed and they saw it I was German. The Tairoa sent out an i 5.0.5., but immediately there came ' the boom of a gun and a shell struck the wireless room. The crew iiad I been ordered to the bourn, lot as 1 Dixon went to iris station he was , struck in the ankle by a piece of ■ shrapnel. He reached the boat but as! it left the ship a launch from thei Graf Spee came alongside and ordered it back to-the Tairoa. I Dixon was taken aboard the Graf Spee with others of the Tairoa’s crew ! who had been wounded. He was well i treated in the warship's hospital and at the end of a week was transferred ! to a small messroom above the magazine, where there were 31 prisoners j from a number of ships. When the crew of the Graf Spee , were ordered to battle stations on De-! cember 13, the prisoners learned that three ships had been sighted on the horizon. The German warship made toward the ships, but when they were revealed as British cruisers the Graf ! Spee turned and made at full speed 1 toward the River Plate. It was a ( running battle for 16 hours, during 1 which the British scored 19 hits, one ( right on top of where the prisoners ( were situated. After the Graf Spee reached Monte- c video. Dixon was placed in the British r

hospital ashore and was making a good recovery at the time of writing. His wound was practically healed and i the shrapnel in his ankle was giving no trouble. He expected shortly to Heave for England with other exprisoners on a. British liner. It appeared from Dixon's account of the battle that an undertaking had oeen given not to refer to certain aspects of the engagement. Dixon’s elder brother is serving with the Royal Air Force in Britain. Another brother enlisted with the First. Echelon of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force.