# Talk:Bombardment of Papeete

I can find no source that refers to this action as the battle of papeete. To the contrary every source i have read has refered to this specifically as the bombardment of Papeete. Can anyone find a source stating to the contrary?XavierGreen (talk) 05:55, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Bombardment of Papeete/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Ian Rose (talk) 06:23, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose):  b (MoS): 
You have Maxime Destremau linked in the infobox but not in the main body of the article - should be consistent, one way or the other.
FixedXavierGreen (talk) 01:08, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references):  b (citations to reliable sources):  c (OR): 
Your first entry under References doesn't appear to be cited, in which case it should appear under Further Reading.
It is cited as forestry throughout the text.XavierGreen (talk) 01:08, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects):  b (focused): 
I realise a bit more on the background has been added since I first peer reviewed this but I still think we need a slight expansion, maybe just an extra phrase or sentence. Specifically, what had von Spee and his force been doing in Tsingtao or, in other words, what was that action that turned out to be the last they'd see until Papeete?  I expect to see something like "Having seen no action at all since leaving Tsingtao, where they... etc, etc, the men of the German East Asian Squadron..."
The only signifigant event that occured with Spee's main force after leaving Tsingtao was when he tried to catch the Samoa Expeditionary Force in port at Apia, but they had already left the colony by the time he arrived so he moved on without attempting to dislodge the New Zealanders occupying the territory. I added a little bit to the opening sentence of the section to reflect this.XavierGreen (talk) 01:18, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
a (fair representation):  b (all significant views): 
It is stable.
No edit wars etc.: 
It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
a (tagged and captioned):  b (lack of images does not in itself exclude GA):  c (non-free images have fair use rationales): 
Overall:
a Pass/Fail: 
All up I think this is very good, as before when I peer reviewed for MilHist.   If you can look at the minor points raised I'll have no problem passing it shortly. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 06:23, 4 February 2010 (UTC)
Okay, all points addressed - passed and well done. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 01:35, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
Thanks!XavierGreen (talk) 01:47, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Was digging around in some French sources for more on Maxime Destremau and the bombardment of Papeete, and I found the following:

Amblans-et-Velotte (location of Destremau's grave)
Timbres de Polynésie française 2007 (stamp was issued featuring the Zélée)
Forum discussion on the bombardment (includes some nice pictures of Destremau).
Another Destremau biography (includes family tree)
Les ÉFO dans la Première Guerre Mondiale from the Association des Historiens Géographes de Polynésie Française - that document tells us there are streets in Papeete named after the gunboat Zélée and after Destremau.
Tourist website, says one of the cannons is still there on display.
Of course, not all those sources will be reliable, but it might give ideas for where to look in other sources. Hope that helps. Carcharoth (talk) 01:17, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

A few more things:
Which ship was Spee on during all this? Other articles say his flagship was Scharnhorst.
He was on Scharnhost, ive added this to the text.
Where was Spee when he heard of the outbreak of war? Other articles say he was at Ponape.
Yes he on the Scharnhorst at Ponape, but left for Pagan to rendevouz with the fleet.XavierGreen (talk) 19:54, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
You have a picture of the ship that was sunk. Would pictures of one or other or both of the German ships involved be overdoing the pictures?
I readded the original picture of Scharhorst that used to be on the page.XavierGreen (talk) 02:38, 12 February 2010 (UTC)
You link to German Empire in the infobox and for "German". Might it be an idea to link to French Third Republic for France in the infobox and for "French" in the article, rather than link to France?
I fixed this.XavierGreen (talk) 19:54, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
Some of the linking is repetitive and the first instances of something are not being linked but later ones are.
I created Arthur W. Jose as a redirect to Arthur Wilberforce Jose (1863-1934), who is the author of the work you have cited. What you have cited is volume IX of the 9th edition (1941) of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. The page cited tells us that Jose was "writing in the 1920s" (volume IX was first published in 1928), so that needs to be taken into account when comparing the dates of the sources. I have no idea what changes were made between editions of that official Australian history.
Carcharoth (talk) 02:02, 10 February 2010 (UTC)Updated: 06:32, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

From your citations, you have referred to Appendix number 14 - The German Cruiser Squadron at Papeete, an appendix to the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 - Volume IX – The Royal Australian Navy, 1914–1918. That appendix has some fascinating bits. Some factual stuff from there could easily be added to this article to expand it (e.g. the signal fires on Moorea, the cheeky farewell to the French brigadier at Bora-Bora by hoisting German colours, the mining of the harbour, the volunteer corps of Taihitians, and the number of shells - stated in this source to be 49). I was a bit surprised to read there that the shelling of the town seems to have been almost an afterthought, "to impress the natives". I presume this is contradicted by other sources, as the impression from this article is that the decision to withdraw was only taken after the shelling. Of course, the people that could really tell us what the German sailors were thinking nearly all died at the Falklands battle, so quite how the later historians work out what Spee's intentions and decisions were, I don't know (actually, seeing the pictures of Spee being received at Valparaiso, he must have left reports there, or otherwise transmitted reports - there is a footnote referring to the official German history of this encounter). Carcharoth (talk) 06:58, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

An interesting article about a battle that's new to me. Thanks for writing and, later, editting it.
What rank was Destremau? The article identifies him as a lieutenant and a captain. If he's French Navy, that's a huge rank spread. 
What makes armored cars "armored" is not weapons, as the article states "Several Ford trucks were turned into impromptu armored cars by mounting them with Zélée's 37-mm guns..." but armor. Were they armored or merely armed? 155.213.224.59 (talk) 15:22, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

In reference to the cars, the source states that they were impromptu armormed cars. The source states that the ford trucks were mounted with 37 mm guns taken off the Zelee, it does not mention the addition of any armoured plates to the trucks. So they may indeed not have been armoured and in fact were likely just an early version of the modern day technical.XavierGreen (talk) 18:45, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

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