[Dilbert56]

Britain bluffed. They invoked some weird rule that would force the Graf Spee to sail (it was only supposed to stay a minimum number of hours in a neutral port). Meantime they pretended to have a large fleet wiating over the horizon. The captain and German embassy fell for it. The captain (Langsdorf?) scuttled to save his crew and then blew his brains out.

[gcruse]

I love psychological warfare. Rommel was another master of it.

[Wombat101]

The "weird rule" was established international law -- beligerent warships entering a neutral port could stay for a maximum of 48 hours to conduct necessary repairs or for humaitarian reasons.

Britain's bluff was to convince the Germans that the Royal Navy had a task force bearing down on Montevideo to sink or capture the Graf Spee as she emerged from Montevideo harbor.

British intelligence agents in Uraguay (a hotbed of pro-Nazi sympathy) leaked the story of the fake task force knowing that German agents or sympathizers would pick it up and transmit this information back to Germany, and the Kreigsmarine (German Navy).

The bluff worked. The Graf Spee's Captain, under pressure from international law and the belief that a British surface force was coming to pound his ship, scuttled his vessel and then took his own life, after ensuring that his crew made it ashore.