From Spirit over Steel:
December 17, 1939: British deception operations about a massive buildup outside the River Platte fool the Captain of the Graf Spee – who is required by law to leave Montevideo but scuttles his damaged ship rather than getting his crew killed in a hopeless battle. Later, when Captain Langsdorf learns he was fooled, he takes his own life. Finnish troops cut off the 44th and 163rd Soviet rifle divisions; starving them of supply and leaving them strung out along several roads.
