Recognition of Gallantry

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 3, 29 December 1939, Page 5

Recognition of Gallantry

Honour Paid SENIOR OFFICERS. The Admiralty announces that in recognition of their gallantry in the successful action fought by the cruisers Achilles, Ajax and Exeter against the German battleship Graf Spee, the King has been pleased to confer the following honours: MOST HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH. Knight Commander. Commodore Henry Harwood, Commodore in command of the squadron. Companions. Captain W. E. Parry, of H.M.S. Achilles. Captain C. H. L. Woodhouse, of H.M.S. Ajax. Captain F. S. Bell, of H.M.S. Exeter. Commodore Harwood has also been promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, to date from December 13, the date of the action. The Admiralty has called for recommendations from Rear-Admiral Harwood in respect of .good conduct and forwardness in the action of officers and men in the squadron under his command. The promotion and honours announced by the Admiralty are assured of enthusiastic endorsement by the public, which has greeted the news of the engagement as a brilliant vindication of British sea traditions. Extracts; from the foreign press which have reached London show that the significance of the action is also widely appreciated abroad. The skill of the British commanders is the subject.of much comment in the neutral press. The verdict which recurs frequently finds typical expression in the remarks of the St. Louis “Post Dispatch,” which says that the bogey of the pocket battleship seems to have been deflated. The same idea occurs in the conclusion reached by the Latvian journal, “Sewodnia,” that, the British “habit” of naval victory has been revived.