The son of a simple engineer, who inherited analytical thinking from his father, Karl Doenitz was an independent, strong-willed and loyal person. These qualities, coupled with the ability to clearly follow the plan, a keen sense of perspective and the ability to defend his opinion, made Dönitz the "Fuhrer of submarines" and Hitler's successor. He lived a long life and witnessed many fateful events of the Second World War for the whole world. After the war, having honorably accepted the punishment, he will begin to write - the memoirs of Karl Doenitz will become a valuable source of information about the Second World War.
Denitz's childhood and youth
The future Grand Admiral Doenitz was born in September 1891. He was the second and last child in the family of optical engineer Emil Doenitz, who held a position in the well-known firm Zeiss. The birthplace of Karl Doenitz was the city of Grünau, located near Berlin. The boy was left without a mother early, but his father tried to make every effort to give the children a decent upbringing.
Little Carl studiedfirst in Zerbst, and later entered a real school in Jena. At the age of 19, Karl becomes a cadet at the Naval Academy, which will determine the direction for his entire future life.
As a cadet, Karl was known as a devoted duty and Motherland and a highly moral person. In addition, he was a hardworking and quiet young man. However, these qualities did not help him win the respect of his peers and establish himself among the cadets. Perhaps, the excessive seriousness of the boy and the constant desire to act in accordance with the rules and regulations affected.
In 1912, Doenitz was transferred to a school in Mürwik, and then sent as a watch officer on the Breslau cruiser. On it, Doenitz will become a participant in the Balkan crisis and take part in the blockade of Montenegro. A year after the events in the Balkans, Karl Doenitz is promoted to lieutenant.
Dönitz in WWI
It was on the Breslau cruiser that Doenitz was caught by the First World War. In the Black Sea, the cruiser joined the fleet of the Ottoman Empire and fought against Russia with great success.
In 1915, luck changes the Breslau, which by that time had sunk many Russian ships. In the Bosphorus Strait, the cruiser is blown up by a mine and left for a long repair. During the repair of the cruiser, Doenitz is sent to train as a submarine officer, which will play a decisive role in the biography of Karl Doenitz.
By the end of Doenitz's training, it became clear that the German submarine fleet was failing at the front and was easily destroyed by the British, who had developed a system of convoys and depth charges. But Doenitz manages to distinguish himself and sink the ship of Italy (althoughpeaceful). Returning to base, Doenitz runs the submarine aground, but he is still awarded an order for sinking an Italian ship.
When the submarine was repaired and refloated, Doenitz again led her to the sea. The new campaign was a great success for Germany and, as a reward, Karl Doenitz was assigned to command a new high-speed submarine. Unfortunately, she was unstable when diving, and the crew that Doenitz got along with the submarine was untrained and inexperienced.
Soon this played a cruel joke on the submarine. When attacking a British convoy, due to incorrect actions of a mechanic, the submarine quickly rushed to the bottom. Huge pressure threatened the ship and crew. In a critical situation, Doenitz gave the order to change the position of the rudders at full speed. As a result, the submarine stopped at a depth of 102 meters (more than 30 meters below the legal limit). But the team did not have time to raise the ship - because of the pressure, tanks with compressed oxygen burst, and the submarine was thrown to the surface. The crew was not injured, but it soon became clear that the boat surfaced in the center of the British encirclement, and the British immediately opened fire on Doenitz's submarine. By order of the commander, the crew hastily left the boat. The mechanic who had sunk her hesitated for a moment inside. A second's delay caused the sinking boat to take him with it. The picture of his death haunted Grand Admiral Doenitz until the end of his days.
Karl Doenitz's temporary insanity
The British captured sailors from the Doenitz submarine. Himself, as commander of the submarine,sent to the camp for officers. There were several ways to get out of it: for example, wait until the end of the war or become seriously ill. Despite the fact that there were fairly good conditions in the camp for captured officers, Doenitz wanted with all his might to return to his homeland in order to continue military service.
In order to return to Germany as soon as possible, Doenitz came up with the idea of feigning insanity. For a long time he behaved like a child, played with empty cans and collected china dogs, which greatly astonished his comrades-in-arms, who did not at all expect insanity from such a person. In the end, not only familiar officers, but also the British authorities believed in the severe mental illness of Karl Doenitz. In 1919 he was allowed to return to Germany and released from the camp. Many years later, officers who saw Grand Admiral Doenitz in British captivity wondered how this madman could rise through the ranks and take high government posts.
Denitz's political views
20s of the 20th century became a difficult time for many countries. In Germany, the monarchy fell, Hitler came to power. Many young officers quickly accepted the new authority. But not Karl Doenitz. By his convictions, he was and remained a monarchist. Such views did not prevent him from growing his career in the new Germany, since, according to his convictions, he defended his homeland, which was, is and will be, regardless of political games. Hitler himself said sarcastically that the naval forces in his country were entirely Kaiser's, not German. Doenitz continued to carry out military service with honor, returningto the military base in Kiel. His dream was the revival of the German submarine navy, banned after the defeat in World War I by the Treaty of Versailles.
Denitz's career growth
Under Hitler, Doenitz continued to serve in the navy, but transferred to torpedo boats. Very quickly, Doenitz became a lieutenant commander, and after that he was invited to the civil service to assist in the development of a depth bomb. In 1924, Karl Doenitz took a short officer's course and transferred to Berlin to work on a new naval charter. Constant interaction with the government developed in him an aversion to politics, the methods of influence in which were very different from his usual army directness.
Karl Doenitz has proven himself to be a diligent and demanding person. Having distinguished himself in training maneuvers, he attracted the attention of the military "tops". Rear Admiral Gladish, having duly appreciated the qualities of Doenitz, invited him to work on secret preparations for submarine warfare.
The Fuhrer of Submarines
In 1935, Hitler gave the order to start building submarines. Six weeks later, he announced that Germany refused to comply with the articles of the Treaty of Versailles and restrain the country's military potential.
Karl Doenitz was appointed "Fuhrer of submarines". The first submarine flotilla was in his power. A few months later, Doenitz was promoted to captain.
Denitz's position was not to be envied. Opponents of the submarine fleet, who did not understand its advantages and potential, had great weight in the military administration. Many of Karl Doenitz's ideas remained misunderstood by his contemporaries. Doenitz's plan, according to which the attack was to be carried out by a group of small and fast submarines, was severely criticized by the "giantomaniac" admirals, who could only fight the old fashioned way, on large ships.
In the end, with great difficulty, the U-boat Führer managed to convince the government to give preference to small, maneuverable and inexpensive submarines. The Second World War confirmed the correctness of Doenitz in this matter. Because of Karl Doenitz, the Reich submarine fleet was able to successfully wage war.
Beginning of World War II
Dönitz foresaw the approach of a new war, but the news of its beginning was met with a stream of obscene abuse: after all, who better than the Fuhrer of submarines to understand what a plight the submarine fleet is in! Nevertheless, having actively entered the war, the submarines under the command of Doenitz began to successfully operate in the arena of water battles.
With his assistance, the English battleship Royal Oak was sunk, which was a great success. For this operation, Doenitz was promoted to Rear Admiral. Thanks to the actions of Doenitz, soon the number of ships sunk by England, which at that moment was the enemy of Germany, began to exceed the number of built and repaired.
War of the Poor
Denitz's success at the front was all the more surprising because the German fleet at that time was extremely weak. Most ofships were damaged by bombs, ice or rust. Some of the ships were only suitable for use as "bait" and floating targets. The situation changed somewhat by 1940, but even then the lack of specialists and finances was acutely felt in the submarine fleet. The government gave all funding to the construction of large ships, still not believing in the prospects of using submarines. Therefore, the submarine wars of that period received the sonorous name “war of the poor.”
In the summer of 1940, Karl Doenitz moved his command post to Paris. His office was distinguished by Spartan conditions, it never had luxury and excesses. Karl Doenitz was very strict with himself: he never ate or drank excessively and tried to live according to the regime. He took great care of the people entrusted to him: he personally met all the boats returning to the base, personally congratulated the graduates of the diving school, arranged sanatoriums for submariners. Not surprisingly, the sailors soon began to hold their admiral in high regard. Among themselves, they called him Papa Carl or Leo.
Denitz submarine warfare strategies
Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz developed an extremely simple yet effective war strategy: raid enemy ships as quickly as possible and retreat to a safe zone.
Denitz successfully fought against England, but on December 11, 1940, Hitler declared war on the United States. A strong American fleet could only mean defeat for Germany.
Feeling the end
Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz knew how to objectively assessenemy. He realized that against the US, the probability of victory for his small fleet was practically nil. Waging war against the United States, the Doenitz fleet, of course, sank enemy ships. But the damage inflicted on Germany by America was incommensurably great.
Karl Doenitz was powerless to fight against these circumstances. To support his spirit, Hitler decides to make Doenitz a Grand Admiral. So, in just three years, Doenitz grew from captain to full admiral.
He moved his headquarters to Berlin and continued to sink the ships of America and England. True, now there was no hope of victory: every ship sunk by the United States or the British Kingdom took a German ship with it. And Dönitz was well aware of what this meant for Germany.
Nuremberg trials
Admiral Karl Doenitz always supported Hitler in his decisions. This came from his upbringing: he strictly followed the military chain of command and therefore did not have the right to criticize the decisions of his leader. When Adolf Hitler committed suicide, according to the will, the position of Fuhrer was transferred to Karl Doenitz. Of course, these actions could no longer stop the fall of the Reich. Doenitz tried to stop the war, actively contributed to the salvation of the Germans from the Soviet troops, took out refugees. On May 23, his short reign came to an end. US Major General Lowell summoned Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz to his ship. Instead of the usual reception between the representatives of the two countries, Doenitz was announced that he was a war criminal. The admiral, now the Fuhrer, was immediately arrested.
Soon he appeared before the tribunal. Karl Doenitz was perhaps the only one who behaved at the Nuremberg trials with dignity. As befits a military man, he did not begin to criticize Hitler and answered many questions that he was obliged to follow the order. The memoirs of Karl Doenitz also do not contain criticism of the regime.
During the meetings in Nuremberg, many submariners personally came to speak in defense of the admiral. American judge Francis Biddy was on the side of the defendant. Indeed, all this time he waged an honest war and never interfered and was not interested in political affairs. His sentence was a compromise: he received 10 years in prison, but saved his life. The book "Ten Years and Twenty Days" by Karl Doenitz tells in detail about this period of his life.
After Confinement
Karl Doenitz endured his 10 years and 20 days stoically: he was no stranger to Spartan conditions. In prison, he became interested in growing vegetables, and, as usual, achieved great results with painstaking work. He served his sentence in full and, having left Spandau, found his wife and continued to lead a peaceful life.
Books by Karl Doenitz
Doenitz devoted all his free time to literary activity. The most popular book was his autobiographical work, describing a military career, war and a short service as the Fuhrer. Karl Doenitz's book "Ten Years and Twenty Days" was named after the number of days he spent indetention.
In addition to "Ten Years", Karl Dönitz is writing his autobiography "My Exciting Life", a book on naval strategy and several other works on naval topics.
Death of Karl Doenitz
In 1962, Doenitz's wife dies. The loss of a loved one affected the lifestyle of Admiral Doenitz. He became a zealous Christian, regularly visiting church and his wife's grave. Towards the end of his life, Doenitz became a quick-tempered and self-absorbed person. He stopped visiting old comrades in the service and spent more and more time at home or in the chores of his funeral: Doenitz could not accept that, due to the government’s ban, he could not be buried with military honors and in military uniform. Outside of military service, he could not imagine himself: even in the photo of Karl Doenitz it is difficult to see without a uniform.
He died in the winter of 1981, at that time he was the last German Grand Admiral. Dozens of his comrades came to say goodbye to him.
