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Description: | obverse design : Vice-Admiral Count Maximilian von Spee, bust, full face turned to right, in uniform, positioned between
the uniformed busts of his two sons, Heinrich and Otto, both full face turned to right. Above the three busts, around upper edge,
text
obverse text : "DREI HELDEN ZUR SEE"
exergue : "ADMIRAL GRAF v. SPEE. GRAF OTTO. GRAF.HEINRICH"
reverse design : seascape, rolling waves, above which three seagulls wheel. Behind the seagulls a massive bank of cloud from behind which,
upper left, the obscured sun throws its rays
exergue : "8.12.1914"
First World War large format medal by Fritz Eue, commemorating the death in action of Vice Admiral Count Maximilian von
Spee, together with his two sons, Otto and Heinrich, at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, on 8 December 1914. The group portrait is one in a series a patriotic medallic tributes to German senior naval and military commanders produced by Eue during the war. On 1 November 1914, the German East Asiatic Squadron commanded by von Spee, sank the British warships 'Good Hope' and 'Monmouth' off the coast of Chile, near Coronel. 1,440 British sailors were drowned including the British commander, Sir Christopher Craddock. There were no German casualties. In response the British Admiralty dispatched a strong Royal Navy force under Admiral Sturdee to destroy the German Squadron. Sturdee's battle cruisers eventually located von Spee in December off the Falklands and in the ensuing action the 'Scharnhorst', 'Gneisenau' and the 'Nürnberg' were sunk and 2,100 German sailors (including Admiral von Spee and his two sons) were killed. The obverse
text is translated as 'Three heroes at sea'.
For a smaller version of this medal in silver see MED 525. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Spee Battle of the & 8/12/1914 Atlantic & Falkland Islands Otto von Heinrich von Maximilian von portrait / personification DE.N & German East Asiatic Squadron & SMS Gneisenau DE.N & German East Asiatic Squadron & SMS Scharnhorst DE.N & German East Asiatic Squadron & SMS Nürnberg commemorative First World War | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Ball's of Berlin | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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