Admiral Karl Doenitz was navy to the core, yet as World War Two drew to its inevitable end, he became the titular head of the Nazi regime in a move that is still shrouded in mystery... . UNCLE KARL: GRAND ADMIRAL WHO BECAME HITFLER’S SUCCESSOR By Blaine Taylor n April 30, 1945, Grand Ad- miral and Commander-in- Chiet of the German Navy Karl Doenitz received the following telegram from Nazi Party Secretary to the Fuhrer Martin Bor- mann: “Grossadmiral Doenitz, In place of the former Reichsmarschall Goering, the Fuhrer appoints you, Herr Grossadmiral, as his successor. ‘Written authority on the way. . .” Doenitz, then 3 and renowned as the long-time commander of Nazi Germany's U-boat fleet, was stun- ned, as_were Armaments Minister Albert Speer and the Admirals na- val aides who were present. All the top leaders of the Nazi Party—Her- ‘mann Goering, Rudolf Hoss, Josef Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler— German Navy Grand Admiral Karl Doenite seen here as an Allied prisoner-of-sar In late May 1945, was Hitler's designated successor as Reich Prosident. Tho ‘main alm of his “operetta government” was to secure a peace with the Western Allies on favorable terms that would deprive tho Russians of more German prisoners. Unlil his death In 1980, Doenitz insisted that he was stl Germany's legal head of state. (US Army Signal Corps. photo) had been mentioned in past years as Adolf Hitler's possible successor to lead the crumbling Third Reich, but never Karl Doenitz, a carcerist jin the German Navy since 1910. ‘Tho next day, another telogram— jointly signed "by Bormann and Geobbels—arrived, and Doentiz now officially became head of the Ger- man State: “Fuhrer died yesterday 1580, Testament transfers to you the office of Reichspresident, Dr. Gocb- bols the office of Reichechancellor, Reichsleiter Bormann the office of Party Minister. . .” As this surprising news burst forth in the headlines and airwaves of the world, Doenitz. set about structuring immediately his own Reich govern- ment that would rule Nazi Germany for a scant three weeks. Sines Goeb- bels and Bormann both remained in bombed-out, burned and Russian oo- cupied Berlin, Doenitz’s first thorny problem was how to get rid of SS Reichsfuhrer (National Leader) Himmler, who had powerful Waffen (Armed)’ $8 formations at his com- mand, Unless this career naval offi- cor settled the situation delicately, a ‘Nazi civil war might break out even fas the Allies overran the country. Doenil, in typically blunt fashion, met the dilemma head-on, and sim: SEA CLASSICS 21ply fired Himmler following a tense, all-night meeting with the $8 leader. After a futile attempt to arrest Himmler, the Grand Admiral allowed him to eseape, then set about ending ‘the Second World War in the most advantageous way possible for Ger- many, stalling the Western Allios’ demand for unconditional surrender until ever-larger numbers of German troops fleeing from the Russians in the East could escape into the West- ern-occupied areas of the Reich. ‘This accomplished, Germany sur- rendered, and Doenitz stood trial with the other Nazi War Criminals beforo the International Military ‘Tribunal at Nuremberg. Sentenced to ten years in prison, he served out his full term at Spandau Prison outside Berlin, which today houses its sole inmate, Nazi Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess, Released in 1956, Doenitz pub- lished his Memoirs: 10 Years and 20 Days, followed by two more vol- umes, My Changeful Life (1968) and 40 Questions to Karl Doenitz (1969). Despite these tomes (and an earlier book, The U-Boat Arm, pub- lished in 1939), documentary’ films and TY shows and books devated to his ships’ activities during the war, however, the personality of Doenitz himself~and why Hitler selected him in 1945 as his crown prince— have both remained enigmas ever ‘Much of Doenitz’ eventful career that spanned two world wars and several complete eras in German his- tory in the 20th Century (ie, Im- perial, republican, Nazi and repub- lican again) has remained shrouded in mystery and_ misinterpretation, For instance, one of the central epi- sodes in historian Barbara Tuch- ‘man’s otherwise well-researched (and Pulitzer Prize-winning!) book The Guns of August is the voyage of the German Imperial Navy cruisers Goeben and Breslau. Doenitz, then a young officer on the 1914 expedi- tion, later wrote a book on his ex- periences, published three years later as Voyages of the Breslau in the Black Sea, but Tuchman fails to even note his prosence! ‘Why did Hitler pick Doenitz? Sim- ply put, the Grand Admiral was the Jone leader among the military in 1945 who saw the lost war Hitler's 22 SEA CLASSICS The “Western” Surrender: At 2:41 a.m, 7 May 1945, & German delegation ‘surrendered to the Allies in a rocreation hall 30 feot square ins red brick boys" school that served as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters at Rhelms, France. The delegation consisted of, from Ieft to right, Major Wilhelm: 4 May 1945: An early German “partial” surrender takes place on Lunoborg Hoath in a tem near Hamburg, the head fof British Fleld Marshal sir Bernard L. Montgomery (seated, right, ‘wearing glasses). The German delegation (acing the camera and seated) are, {rom left to right, Rear Admiral Gerhard Wagner end Adm. Hans-Georg von Friodoburg. This surrender included all German forces In Denmark, northwest Germany, the Netherlands and the French port of Dunkirk. Von Friedeburg ‘was fated to surrender twice more: To Eleenhower at Rhelms, France and to Russian Marshal Zhukov In Berlin—and then committed suleise. (Photo trom ‘the’ Imporlal War Museum, London) Oxenlus, an alde to Army Col. Gen. Altrod.Jod! (contor, standing) at ‘Navy Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg. In the background stand members of the Allied press corps. This le the coremony recognized todey in the West a8 the “official” surrender. (Photo trom the way. The Army generals had been iscredited after the July 20, 1944 bomb plot (in which the Navy had (tle to do) against Hitler had failed, the Luftwaffe (Air Force) factotum, Goering, was in total dis- grace even before it was revealed that he might be trying to usurp Hitler's authority in the closing days of the Reich, and Himmler had ac- ‘tually opened negotiations with the enemy! Speer, after trying to per- suade Hitler to surrender, revealed at Nuremberg that he'd’ followed this up with an attempt to suffocate Hitler in the Berlin Fubrerbunker. ‘That left only Doenitz, and theDespite BISMARCK’s sinking of the HOOD In May, 1941, Hitler's thoughts at ‘sea Increasingly tumed away trom Raeder’s capital ships toward Doenitz's cheaper and far more effective tuntersesboots. This German war palnting Is by artist Schmitz-Westerholt from the US Army Combat Art Collection In Virginia. Grossadmiral received Hitler's Nazi mantle because he believed in the Fubrer’s mission against decadent Western capitalism, Russian Bol- shevism and international Jewry (all of them favorite targets of Hitierian wrath), and was prepared to follow this créed to the end. Aside from con- templating suicide himself for the honor of the Navy before Hitler named him to head the Reich, Doc- nitz lost a brother burned to'death in an Allied bombing raid, as well as ‘two sons killed in the ‘naval war he led. Still, he marched in lockstep with ‘the fotmer World War One Army corporal to the bitter end—and be- yond—defending Hitler in books long after the war's end. As Doenitz told his sailors in 1944, “Bach soldier has to fulfill the tasks of his position regardless, So our calling and our fale is to fight fanatically, and bound up with it is the task for each of us ‘to stand fanatically behind the Na- tional Socialist (Nazi) state.” Although not a member of the Nazi Party himself, Doenitz believed also in Hitler's goal of exterminating the Jews and other so-called “in- ferior” races, as exemplified by his attendance at Himmler’s notorious speech to tho Nazi Gaulteiters, or district leaders, at Posen in German- occupied Poland in October, 1943, given as the advancing Russian mies promisod retribution for a erim- inal policy almost unmatched in the history of mankind. Doenitz later being present during the speech—as Albert Speer did, also— ‘and, indeed, even knowing anything at all about genocide, which was the standard Nazi defense at Nuremberg. ‘Accused of plotting and waging aggressive war at, Nuremberg (is there a purely defensive war? one wonders), as well as ordering the machinegunning of helpless sailors at sea, Doenitz narrowly escaped the hangman’s rope. ‘Who was Karl Doenitz? The Grand ‘Some of the principal characters in tho drama of tho Naz! surrondor negotiations In 1948: From left to right are. Fubrer ‘and Roleh Chancellor Adott Hitler, SS Relchstubrer (National Leader) Helnrich Himmler (center, with glasses) and SS. Gen. Kar! Wolff (hands on hips). Betwoon Hitler and Himmler Ie Wilhelm ‘Admiral was only one of six men to hold this title in the entire history of the German Navy, and his trained officers today command the West German Navy. ‘Doenitz entered the Navy at the precise moment in history when the building program of the Kaiser, Wile helm II, and his top admirals was coming to fruition, as the German dreadnoughts slid’ down the ways to challenge the British for mastery of the seas and, with them, the world. Raised by’ a widowed father in the Prussian qualities of national- istic love of country, strict adherence to orders “from above” and bravery | own right. Brucknor (Hitler's longtime personal jutant), while photographer Heinrich Holtmann stands at right with hands clasped In front. This photo, trom the Eva Braun Hier Albums in the US National Archives In Washington, D. was taken in 1941, during the of Hitler's Invasion of the Sov) jn the face of the enem: Joined the Navy at a time when flogging was still practiced, Before the First World War be- gan, sailor Doenitz (who always, odd- ly, referred to both himeelf and other sailors as soldiers”) had traveled to Turkey, Syria, Albania, Egypt and ‘Malta, After initial surface battles against both the English and Rus- sians, Doenitz. was drafted into the infant U-Boat arm, attended the academy at Flensburg (where, a lost war later, he would serve as’ in- term German chief-ofstate), and became a U-Boat commander in his SEA CLASSICS 2His vessel was sunk in September 1918, and he learned of Germany's defeat while an English prisoner-of- war, a traumatic event for him. Even worse, upon his return to the shat- tered "Reich of the exiled Imperial Hohenzollerns, was the knowledge that it was the embryonic German Navy that had mutinied and begun the Revolution that had overthrown the dynasty and helped end the war. Doenitz, a8 well as the other officers of his ‘generation, was determined that, this would never happen again jin “the next war,” for which they began planning as early as 1919! ‘The advent of Adolf Hitler on the German. political scene, therefore, found ready adherents ‘within the ranks of the Navy, which Doonitz almost left during ‘the early 1920s when faced with a family somehow to support on his meager pay, a common difficulty in any service in any nation, then and now. He remained in the Kriegsmarine, however, and became head of the U: Boat arm in 1936, three years after Hitler took power and three more before the outbreak of the naval war in 1939 that the Fuhrer had pror ised his service chiefs wouldn’t begin until 1943! ‘Already, though, Doenitz and other “Onkel Karl's" men—the officers and crew of the Nazi U-38 pass in review at Withotmshaven, with the Reich War sped the sha tactics that hedevilled shipping on the high seas in 1943, just after he'd succeeded Grand Admiral Frich Racder as C-in-C ‘Navy, Doonitz belioved that he need ‘ed 300 U-Boats to win the sea war, but, by the time he got them, the Were Assy! 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(Photo trom Imperial War ‘Museum, Londen) initiative was in Allied hands and the war on the way to being lost on land, at sea and in the air, as well as industrially. ‘The Nazi victories of 1939-40 pro- vided Doenitz an expanded European coastline from which to raid English (and later, American, shipping), but the U-Boat war had begun on Sep- tember 3, 1939 with the sinking of the British ship Athenia, Because Hitler wished to koop the US out of this fact was denied by Goebbels’ propaganda machine, even to the point of falsifying the U- Boat’s log. ‘The heady early victories, caused the German admirals to revive. the Kaiser’s old dream of a world dom- inated by the Reich’s Navy, leading even the German Army's dour Chief of the General Staff, Colonel Gen- eral Franz Halder, to lament, “These people dream in continents... . they simply assume that according to the whim of the moment we can simply decide whether and when we will move overland from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf, or drive... through Egypt to the Suez Canal... . One is wasting one's breath talking to them.” Ironically, the Gernian admirals welcomed war with the United Statos in 1941 ag much as the field fay-clad Army Generals dreaded it, since the men in naval blue felt the US Navy and merchant marine was an adjunct to those of England any- way. They marvelled at how easy it was to sink US shipping in 1942 before any real consultation took place between the Allied navies. As e of war turned against Ger- , however, the Allies correctedgoing over the edge: The order “Rescue no one and take no one with you!” gave way to deliberately killing stranded sailors from sunken ships, in open defiance of interna. tional Iaw, as well as women and children, ‘As soon as Doenitz was elevated to the supreme naval command by Hit ler after the Fuhrer clashed with Raeder, he issued the order that “The sea war is the U-Boat war,” but it was already too late. In terms of Germany's sizable capital ship fleet, the Fuhrer thought them out- moded, and wanted the battleships, pocket’ battleships and cruisers all scrapped to provide steel for more U-Boats and shore guns for his vaunted, but, largely non-existent, Atlantic Wall to face the expected Allied invasion of 1944. Surprisingly, however, — Doenitz persuaded Hitler to retain the surface fleet, even though—in contrast to the Imperial Fleet’s meeting in bat- tle the English Navy at Jutland in 1916—few actual surface engage- ments were fought. Most of the Ger- man ships were sunk at anchor by A U-boat with lis prize—a captured British mechantman. (Photo trom Imperial Wer Museum, London) their carlicr mistakes, developed so- nar and employed the convoy sys- tem to the detriment of the wolf their deaths in the North Atlantic and other Allied and neutral ship- ping lanes. packs. Bombs from Allied aircraft and depth charges from destroyers claimed a fearful toll of the U-Boats and the young, often untrained and drafted crews that Docnitz. sent to ‘As the hopes of Nazi vietory grew ‘ever more forlorn, fanaticism and talk of “will” replaced "rational thought, with hysteria and paranoia verging’ on the criminal—and then Allied aircraft or scuttled by their crows at war's end. ‘Through all this, Doenitz—nick- (Contiaued on page 75) Warship International The foremost magazine featuring ails about ships Warship International is the world’s ofthe word's navies. The intrmation you ned to know. most unique naval publicaticn. This was the first publication of its type and is still the finest naval publication avail- able. Each quarterly issue gives you 100 pages packed full of drawings, photos ‘and information. A one-year subscription is ONLY $18.00, the best bargain by far in today's naval literature. We feature iron and steel warships of all periods, all navies. Our informative articles are written by naval officers, teachers and leading authorities on the ‘world’s navies. The work of leading draftsmen illustrate many of the jf articles, and some of the drawings are of the fold-out type. We feature full-color covers and our photo illustrations are gleaned from leading private sources 5) and some of the world’s 7 finest public archives ~ and official sources. For more information waite to: Dept. 80-6.07 George F. D Warship International .0. Box 9248, First St. Station Radtord, VA 24143, USA $4.00 enclosed, US funds '$18.00 enclosed, US funds © Send sample copy 1 Enroll as. a member SEA CLASSICS 25UNCLE KARL _ ‘(Continued trom page 28) named “The Lion” and “Uncle Karl” by his aides—maintainod close contact with the men at sea, a definite boost to German naval morale to the very end. “Whenever he visited us, he left us feeling het- ter,” said one of his sailors. He en- couraged debate and criticism within his staff—even to his faco—to a de- gree rare within the upper strata of the Third Reich's leadership corps (Rommel never permitted this, for instance), but was guilty of an an~ tiquated staffing and organizational handling of both surface and under- ‘sea battles. The one and only great German capital ‘ship victory of World War Two was tho ‘inking of the British battleship HMS HOOD on 24 May 1941 off the coast ‘of Greenland by the Nazi batteship BISMARCK, photographed in action here from her escort ship, the cruiser PRINZ EUGEN (Prince Eugene). AA previously unpublished view of Nazi Relchsleter Martin Bormann at one of the Nez! Parly Nuremberg rallies nthe 1830s. The negative was damaged of this photo when selzed by US troops Invading the Third Reich during. the collapse of 1945. (Photo trom the Heinrich Holtmann Albums in the US National ‘Archives, Weshington, D.C.) Hitler signed the pact of stee! with ‘Mussolini in 1939 largely on the basis of the paper strength of the Royal ttalian Navy (seen here in 2 demonstration for ‘him during his. 1938 vit to Haly), and yet it saw very little actual combat ‘action during the entire war. (Photo from the Heinrich Hotfmann Albums in the US National Archives, Washington, D.C.) Beaten technically, strategically, and scientifically by the Allies, he was also bested at crisis manage- ment, He never blamed himself or the Navy for their defeats, either, hut frequently used Goering and the stricken German Luftwaffe as scapegoats. Still, as defeat loomed ever larger ‘on the’ war's horizon, the Navy per- formed truly impressive tasks, such as the “German Dunkirk” evacua- tion of trapped Army units from Kurland on the Baltic Sea in 1945, As the collapse approached, Doe- nitz—revealing his lifelong insecuri 1 was Brlish RAF Swordlish panes ‘such as this one that helped sink the BISMARCK and botle up the battleship, TIRPITZ and cruisers SCHARNHORST ‘and GNEISENAU snd PRINZ EUGEN Hoa ty and search for a father figure— clung ever tighter to the hem ff Hitler’s imperial garment, and ‘Each reinforced the other's cosmic delusions, ‘When Speer tried to draw Doenitz into considering the wider implica- tions of the Reich’s wartime leader- hip, Doenitz. cut him short, stating, T am here to represent the Navy. All the rest is not my business. ‘The Fuhrer knows what he is doing.” Deserters found away from their units were hung from trees and lampposts by squads of roaming sail- (Contioued on page 76) throughout much of the Second World War that so frustrated Hitler's naval (Photo from the Imperial War ‘Museum, London) ‘SEA CLASSICSUNCLE KARL ors on shore duty. Doenity, himself left his own command headquarters only just ahead of advancing Soviet tanks. On the way to his new head- fat Flensburg, the Reich quarters Neither Hitler (let) nor Goering under- ‘stood naval warfare, thus immensely damaging both Raeder and Doenite throughout the war In thelr ability to wage war at sea against the Allis. In 1940, when faced with the prospect of crossing the English Channel to Invade Britain, the Fuhrer told Army Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, "On land 1am a horo, but on water Lam a coward.” Here, he and Goering fare at Rheln-Malnz airport in a drizzle, 1940. (Photo trom the Heinrich Hoffmann Albums, US National Archives, Washington, D. President and his recently.appointed Foreign Minister had to dive into a ditch to escape strafing Allied ai craft, an inauspicious start to his 20 days as Germany's last Fuhrer. After the surrender, he tried to somehow separate the German Armed Forces from the atrocities committed by the Nazi Party, but he went into the dock at Nuremberg with the oth- ex Reich military leaders just the same. He was acquitied of the charges of planning aggressive war, which to the end of his life he quite naturally charged was a purely po- litical indictment. ‘At Spandau Prison, he passed his decade as a conviet by dreaming of being restored to power after his re- lease, of adopting children and rais- ing puppies, while sweeping the prison corridors with brooms. with the other six imprisoned Nazi lead- ers. Before leaving, he accused Speer of being responsible ‘for his ‘succeeding Hitler, a charge Speer later denied in his own memoirs. As hhe checked out of jail in 1956, Doe- 76 SEA CLASSICS (Continued trom page 28) the last light was fading, the bearing of the smoke off the bow had made a rather significant change. From one... to two... to three... to four points to poit (45 degrees) as the sub moved into position for attack. Tt was very dark by now and the forward gun crew reported by tole- phone to the gunnery officer, who was on the flying bridge, that they ‘could hear aircraft engines. So, many pairs of eyes were tumed skyward to see if anything could be spoited Tf T had been on deck and had heard those sounds things might have turned out @ little differently, if (and that’s a big if) Captain Me- Caw had. given any weight tomy opinion. ‘The sounds were a “chug- ah-ta ... chug-chug” noise. Not the smooth drone of aircraft engines but the throbbing’ sound of diesel en- gines, the sound that ‘a_submarine makes while on the surface. Tt is very possible that T would have ree- ognized the diesels for what they were because T was so familiar with that sound. I had gone to high school at Admiral Billard Academy in New London, Connecticut, where the Navy has its submarine school. 1 srew up listening to the sounds of Doonite ‘predecessor as Grand Admiral the only two Nazi Germany possessed throughout the Third Reich—was Erich Raeder, who, although x momber of the ‘Naz! Party, foll out with Hitor early in 1943 over the Fuhrer's plan to scrap ‘all German capital ships to make their guns into shore defenses for the Atlentic Wall. Convicted at Nuremberg Jn 1846, he served time with Doonitz at ‘Spandau, was reloased In 1955 because of il health and died on 6 November 1860. (Photo trom the Heinrich Hotfmann Albums in the US National Archives, Washington, D.C.) subs moving in and out of port. ‘Submarines, however, were the furthest thing from my thoughts that evening, as I concentrated on the task at hand, writing a letter to a girlfriend back home in Broo lyn, New York. I had just. com: ted to paper a few words of allusion to the color of her hair—mentioning that I hadn't seen any blond mer- maids yet, but T was still looking. As my pen moved down to start a new paragraph there was a terrific shudder and shaking of the ship. No sound of an explosion but just that terrible movement of the ship ‘as though we had hit something or run aground... or. ... been tor- pedoed! ‘The first torpedo was soon followed by a second. The sub had fired a spread of at least two and both found their mark. Tt's funny, T had never been torpedoed before but {just instinetively knew what it was, no doubt in my mind at all. General quarters sounded and T immediately headed for the bridge. Although none of us knew it at that ‘moment, the ship was doomed. Later I found out that the first “fish” had hit us in number two comparment and the.second one had impacted little further towards the stern of the ‘Stag Hound, in number four com- partment. Both two and four con- tained general cargo. The compart ment between, number threo, held 2000 tons of dynamite! nitz was told by the Prison Com- mandant, “Sign here, number two,” followed’ by, “So, that ends that, Admiral Doenitz, His wife Ingeborg died in 1962, ‘and the aging former Grand Admi- ral-cum-Fubrer spent his last years seeking public rehabilitation, which he achieved to a certain extent. Be- fore his death on Christmas Eve, 1980, Doenitz wrote, “My_ position would have been completely differ- ent if I-had not been Hitler's suc- cessor, but no one asks. me today, “What would have happened had Himmler been appointed to my po- sition in the last days of the Reich?” I did everything humanly possible in a chaotic time.” ‘After his funeral, an article on his career written for the U-Boat Asso- ciation provided, perhaps, Doenitz? best epitaph: “By his soldiers tev- ered, by the enemy respected, in ‘own land almost forgotten’ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Blaine Taylor is a Baltimore free lance writer interested in history, Diography, polities and military science. %