Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz (September 16th 1891 with Berlin - Grenau - December 24th 1980 with Aumühle, the Schleswig-Holstein) was a Admiral and chair German Reich .

It reaches the row of large Admiral in the Nazi Germany, without to have however ever adhered to the Nazi party. It was useful as commander-in-chief of the Sous-marin S ( Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote ) of the Kriegsmarine during the Second world war. Under its command, the fleet of the U-boot took part in the battles of the Atlantic, while trying to deprive the the United Kingdom of the essential provisioning of the the United States and besides. It was useful finally during 20 days like president of Reich ( Reichspräsident ), after the suicide of Adolf Hitler. After the war, he was condemned at the time of the Procès of Nuremberg for war crimes and made 10 years of prison for his participation in the unlimited underwater war carried out by Germany.

Before the Second world war

Before the conflict, he insisted to convert the German fleet almost entirely into submarines. It defended the strategy to tackle only the merchant navy, targets relatively not very dangerous. He proposed that the destruction of the fleet of tankers would deprive the Royal Navy of its fuel to operate its ships, which would be as effective as to run them. At the beginning of the war when the the United Kingdom was only against the Axis, Dönitz calculated that if it ran: 500000 tons of British trading vessels, the United Kingdom could not hold well a long time considering it could only manufacture: 1500000 tons of ships per annum and that Roosevelt had already provided to Churchill more than 50 destroyers considered to be obsolete by the Congress. In spite of the entry in war of the United States, Dönitz continued to destroy a good part of the convoys of the Atlantic because those were badly protecteds. Several U-Boot patrolled even close to Florida and ran Liberty ship in front of thousands of bathers close to a beach. He affirmed that with a fleet of 300 of new the Type VII U-boot S, Germany would put the United Kingdom “on the key”. In order to neutralize and overpower the vessels of escort, he proposed a grouped attack. He lost his own son, lieutenant in U-Boot 954.

At the time much thought that it was a proposal for a weakness, including its hierarchically superior, the admiral Erich Raeder. Both were opposed constantly for the budgetary priorities. Raeder however adopted a rather pessimistic attitude; for example, apparently he did not believe that the battleships were really useful, considering their low number comparatively with the British fleet, saying in particular once all that they could make was to die valiantly. Dönitz did not have such a fatalism.

Role in the Second world war

When the war started in 1939, Dönitz had been recently named Kommodore (January 28th, 1939) and ordering submarines (September 1st, 1939).

The German navy was badly prepared for the war, having provided that it would start only in 1943. Forecast according to which was established the plan Z navy, which envisaged a fleet balanced with a great number of units of area, including aircraft carrier.

With the beginning of the Dönitz war had only 57 submarines, the majority with short operating range. Nevertheless, it did what it could with, harassed constantly by Erich Raeder and Hitler to act against the British fleet directly. These operations were generally ineffective, whereas the other vessels succeeded well against the merchant fleet.

As from 1941, the production of type VII was sufficient so that the operations have a significant effect on the economy of war of the the United Kingdom. Although the production of the merchant fleet increased, of better Torpille S, better U-boot and a strategy of sophisticated attack led to an increasing success. In December 1941, the the United States entered the conflict and, immediately, Dönitz made planning for the Opération Drumbeat against the navigation of the east coast, which was put in execution the next month, with remarkable results.

Suspecting that the Allies knew the code of communication of the Enigma, Dönitz ordered with its fleet to use a new standard of coding the 1942. That, even if the remainder of the German capacities used Enigma of origin, convinced of its invulnerability. During one moment, this change created a considerable confusion in the allied breakers of code. However, following an error of transmission in only one message, it was given that the new machine of Dönitz was Enigma with four rotors, and its code was still broken.

At the end of 1942, supply of the " VII" type; was such as the attacks of mass became possible, which was known like the “pack of wolves” ( das Rudel ). The losses of allied ships became enormous and questioned the British provisioning. In 1943, Dönitz replaced Raeder as commander-in-chief of the German navy ( Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine ).

In 1943, the war of the Atlantic became losing for the Germans, but Dönitz continued to push for more construction of U-boot and improvements technical. At the end of the war, the German fleet of submarines by far were advanced world and the models standard Unterseeboot XXI were used as model for Soviet and American constructions after the war.

In its final will, of April 30th, 1945, Hitler Dönitz chooses as its successor as a Head of the State (although the station is abolished since years with the profit of that of Führer), showing at which point it had become suspicieux against Göring and Himmler. It then directed a transitory provisional government known under the name of Gouvernement of Flensburg. Until its arrest on May 23rd with Flensbourg, Dönitz devoted its energy so that the German troops go to the Western Allies and not to Soviet in the hope to return to the German army an important place in the future confrontation between the Occident and the USSR that, like Hitler, he hoped.

Lawsuit

Dönitz was put in charge like war criminal at the time of the Procès of Nuremberg. Contrary to much, it was not blamed for Crime against humanity. The principal load was the order not to help the shipwrecked men.

For its defense, Dönitz produced in particular an official letter of the Admiral Chester Nimitz which affirmed that the the United States had used the same instruction and in particular when the safety of the submarines was in question. Despite everything, the court found it guilty “ crimes against the paix ” and of war crimes for which he was condemned, and made ten years with the Prison of Spandau.

Its memories, entitled Ten years and twenty days were published in Germany in 1958. It made all its efforts to answer the questions which his/her colleagues asked him with the passing of years. With its funerals, the delegations were numerous.

External bonds

the lawsuit of Karl Doenitz in Nuremberg - TRIAL WATCH

Random links: