Admiral Graf Spee (Battleship)

Date: 1939

By: Palmer, Margaret, active 1940-1997

Reference: PAColl-5483

Description: Photographs taken in Montevideo harbour in December 1939, showing the funeral of the dead from the Admiral Graf Spee, the Admiral Graf Spee before, during and after scuttling, HMS Exeter, and the Altmark. The photograph of HMS Achilles was taken on her return to Auckland on 23 February 1940. Quantity: 9 b&w original photographic print(s).

Date: 1939-1944

From: McKenzie, Gordon Melville 1898-1978 :Albums compiled while serving as chaplain of HMNZS Achilles and HMNZS Tamaki, 1939-1945

Reference: PA1-q-893

Description: Album compiled by Gordon McKenzie during his service as a chaplain on HMNZS Achilles during the 1939-1945 war. Includes photographs of the sinking of the Admiral Graf Spee, scenes in Fiji and Tahiti, Australian monuments and wildlife, and events on board the HMNZS Achilles. Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).

Date: 1940-1943

From: Jeffries, J Kenneth (estate) :Photographs relating to NZ Engineers in Middle East, WW2

Reference: PA1-o-913

Description: The content fields have been constructed from what can be seen of the album without removing the photographs. It should be noted that most of the photographs do have information written on their backs but that this can only be accessed by removing them from the photo corners which attach them to the pages Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).

Date: 1939-1940

From: New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency

By: McKenzie, J S (Private), active 1940

Reference: PA1-q-293

Description: Photographs of New Zealand military personnel in New Zealand, England and Egypt, taken 1939-1940 and compiled for official use. Most of the images have good captions, and most of the names noted are listed above. The album includes a number of British Official Photographs. Scenes include New Zealanders in the advance party sailing from Melbourne in December 1939; shipboard scenes of the First Echelon arriving in Egypt; Freyberg welcoming the troops on arrival with Anthony Eden (Secretary of State for the Dominions) and Sir Miles Lampson; the train service between the NZ camp and Cairo; Egyptian workmen helping construct the camp, and women doing the laundry; Divisional Signallers lined up on motor bikes. Battle practice and army life in the desert: anti-tank & anti-aircraft practice; bren guns; vehicle maintenance; blacksmiths; operating the telephone exchange; engineering work; sorting mail; manufacturing field oven; chopping wood for the oven; food preparation; boot mending; camp cinema; various games including cards, bowls, cricket, swimming, boxing; disinfecting plant for killing pests in soldiers' blankets; digging trenches; erecting tents. Opening of the Kiwi Club at Helwan, formed through the efforts of Lady Lampson. Three photographs taken by a sergeant of the Royal Marines, showing action related to the battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the Battle of the River Plate (p 65, 111, 133) New Zealanders resident in England who volunteeered at the outbreak of war are shown training with the Eastern Command; manoevres with the 2nd Echelon in Britain, and the opening of a new club for New Zealanders in Charing Cross Road; Winston Churchill visiting Australian and New Zealand troops in 1940; NZ armourers and wireless operators working for the RAF; information about the longest non-stop reconnaisance flight made in a Vickers Wellington bomber, piloted and crewed by members of the RNZAF Bomber Squadron (5 crew + 1 officer from the Navy to assist in ship identification); and Winston Churchill visiting Australian and New Zealand troops. In Libya scenes show a motor rail car which patrolled the rail to Matruh; "Whare Kiwi" dugout in the Libyan Desert; The first air raid experienced in a small village in the Cairo area. NZ airmen arrive in Canada for training in the Empire Air Trianing Scheme; haka led by Pine Takarangi. Transportation of troops and equipment across inland water, use of collapsible assault boats and building bridges. Western Desert battle; Italian and Libyan prisoners of war; captured tanks and vehicles; view of the Italian defence line; also the surrender of Traghen when the whole population of the Libyan Fort marched out in surrender. Various hospital scenes, both in England and in Egypt, including occupational therapy activities. Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s). Physical Description: Album with faded blue cloth cover, black corners and spine; 34.5 x 22.0 cm

Date: 1939

From: Waters, Sydney David, 1883-1965 : Maps from Papers

By: Waters, Sydney David, 1883-1965

Reference: MapColl-785hkm/1939/Acc.49788

Description: Map showing manoeuvering by the Ajax, Archilles, Exeter and Admiral Graf Spee (all colour-coded), with annotations describing situation and actions including speeds, firing and ranges, smokescreens, and hits taken. Scale half inch = 1 mile Quantity: 1 manuscript map(s). Physical Description: Ink on dressed linen, 21.7 x 33.2 cm.

Date: 1939-1949

From: New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency

Reference: PAColl-4161-01-221

Description: Assortment of official and unofficial photographs, most without captions Includes: NZ YMCA with J-Force (lounge); series of photographs pasted onto card - Signing of the surrender at Toyko Bay; Peter Fraser leaving a Naval Transport Service plane near Pearl Harbour in company with Admiral Chester W Nimitz (USN, Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas) and Vice Admiral Robert L Ghormley (USN Commandant Fourteenth Naval District and Hawaiian Sea Frontier); unidentified underground miners; training in the Kaimai Ranges; Home Guard training; Brigadier General Patrick Hurley (American Minister to NZ) with Hon Peter Fraser, Lord Halifax, Hon Walter Nash, and Cordell Hull, 1942; Winston Churchill and others; village of Ag Demetrios, Greece, 1941; the Admiral Graf Spee sinking after she had been scuttled in the River Plate, Dec 1939; coffins of German sailors killed in the River Plate Battle photographed at Montivideo, Dec 1939; unidentified chaplain. Woman pilot; General Montgomery; Helen Keller and her companion Polly Thompson arriving at Imperial Hotel, Tokyo; Milford Track; Second Mounted Rifles moving past the saluting base at Foxton when they were reviewed by the Inspector-General of Forces, Major-General Sir Andrew Russell; Auckland Gas Company's gasometers in Freeman's Bay; Bill Boyce; unidentified NZ buildings (possibly office of Scientific and Industrial Research); view of Wellington from hills above Tinakori Road looking south. Other unofficial photos from the collections of W E King of Tauranga; E B Hamilton; Sandy Crichton; H Sharples. Some taken in Italy Quantity: 53 b&w original photographic print(s).

Date: 1939-1940, 1943

By: Pinkney, Frank, 1901?-1943

Reference: PAColl-9762

Description: Photographs of the Battle of the River Plate, collected by Royal Marine Frank Pinkney (d 1943), who served on HMNZS Achilles. Includes: photographs of HMNZS Achilles taken on board showing non-combat activities, photographs of damage to HMNZS Achilles, and portraits of the HMNZS Achilles; photographs of the heavily damaged HMS Exeter after the Battle of the River Plate; photographs of German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, including full portraits, closer views showing damage, as well as a series of images showing it burning soon after scuttling and in various stages of sinking; photographs of Captain Langsdorff participating in funeral proceedings in Montevideo, wider views of the funeral proceedings of German casualties in Montevideo, and marshalling of German servicemen for internment in Buenos Aires; views of the public welcome to crew of HMNZS Achilles in Auckland, and a portrait of Frank Pinkney on a farm near Matamata with another Royal Marine named Lennard John Fowler wearing the uniform of a corporal Source of title - Title supplied by Library Quantity: 57 b&w original photographic print(s). Physical Description: Photographs Transfers: Collection as a whole received into Photographic Archive; material transferred to other sections from here - To Book Collections - NZRSA Review special commemorative issue, THe King's Navy, Life in New Zealand (1939-1950), Battle of the River Plate - To Drawings & Prints Collection - Cap badge of Marine Pinkney of HMS Achilles.

Date: 1940

By: Lloyd, Arthur John, 1882-

Reference: D-017-014

Description: The H. M. S. Achilles in the foreground, with shells bursting in the water around her, her guns blazing. The Graf Spee is in the background in the distance to the left, the Ajax in the distance to the right. The incident took place during the battle of the River Plate Supplement to Weekly News special Christmas 1940 Same as C-055-004 Quantity: 1 b&w art print(s). Physical Description: Photolithograph, coloured, 318 x 485 mm

Date: Dec 1939

From: New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency

Reference: DA-00611-F

Description: Photograph from HMNZS Achilles showing Graf Spee action. Shells from the Graf Spee burst on the water. Taken December 1939 by an official photographer. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Cellulosic film negative

Date: 1940

By: Lloyd, Arthur John, 1882-

Reference: C-055-004

Description: The H. M. S. Achilles in the foreground, with shells bursting in the water around her, her guns blazing. The Graf Spee is in the background in the distance to the left, the Ajax in the distance to the right. The incident took place during the Battle of the River Plate, in the South Atlantic, off the coast of Uruguay Supplement to Weekly News special Christmas 1940 Same as D-017-014 Quantity: 1 b&w art print(s). Physical Description: Photomechanical reproduction, 318 x 485 mm