Karl Dönitz. Kriegsmarine. Wolf packs. Battle of the Atlantic.

Karl Dönitz — German grand admiral, submarine officer, commander of the Kriegsmarine. The last leader of the Third Reich and the president of this country. Born September 16, 1891, in Grünau. He decided to connect his future with the army, or rather with the German navy, which could be significantly influenced by the patriotic traditions of the Dönitz family, which were cultivated for years.

In 1911 he joined the Imperial Navy, beginning his long career. A year later, he was enrolled in the crew of the Breslau cruiser, on which he served until 1916. Then the service-connected him with submarines and commanded the UC-25 ship.

Fought in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In 1918, his ship sank, and the survivors were rescued by the British and taken prisoner. Dönitz served a year in prison, and only in 1919 was able to enjoy his freedom again and return to serve in the German fleet. In the 1920s he commanded a torpedo boat, and then a torpedo fleet. Later he moved to staff work.

He was the first officer of the headquarters of the North Sea Command. After Adolf Hitler came to power, the Third Reich armaments program appeared, which also included the navy. The Reichsmarine was renamed the Kriegsmarine, and the strengthening and expansion of the Reich naval forces, weakened and limited by the Treaty of Versailles, began.

In 1934, Dönitz was appointed commander of the Emden cruiser. A year later, he returned to his path, taking command of the 1st submarine flotilla. At that time, he was working on projects related to the development of submarines, not only with their technical improvement but also with a change in submarine warfare tactics that would increase the effectiveness of submarines.

Although the Treaty of Versailles significantly limited the size of the German fleet, the Germans still had the opportunity to train crews and personnel for their needs. The Reich fleet was strengthened after 1936 when a new British-German agreement was concluded, in which Germany was guaranteed the opportunity to have a fleet with a tonnage equal to 35% of the tonnage of the British fleet.

Karl Dönitz was appointed commander of the submarine fleet of the Kriegsmarine shortly before World War II. Thus, he received the recognition of Hitler, who appreciated his enthusiasm for work and commitment to the tasks performed. Thus, it was Karl Dönitz who from that moment determined the course of submarine warfare. Initially, the forces at his disposal were not impressive — only 57 low-tech submarines could not wage a large-scale war. Despite this, German submarines from the first days of the war achieved very impressive success. For example, Gunther Prien on U-47, sank the battleship Royal Oak, breaking deep into the harbor of Scapa Flow.

Dönitz was seriously engaged in the development of combat tactics with the help of submarines. He invented a special system of interaction, when, when an enemy was detected, a special signal was transmitted to the headquarters in Lorient, from where information was sent to other crews. The unfortunate target was then surrounded by several submarines, with a usually tragic outcome for it. This tactic is known to everyone as the tactics of the wolf packs.

On January 30, 1943, there was a change in the commander-in-chief of the German fleet. Since then, the Kriegsmarine has been under the command of Dönitz, who replaced Erich Raeder in this place. In addition, Dönitz was promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral. Thus, it became clear that Dönitz would continue to stick to his strategy, and that the concept of battles at sea would be especially associated with the use of submarine forces (after all, heavy German ships could no longer compete with the usually better equipped and increasingly numerous units of the Royal Navy).

Despite the concentration of forces and resources, the battle for the Atlantic was getting out of control of the Germans. This was due to the Allies’ use of modern sonar and radar, and the strategic use of air power, which essentially eliminated the submarine threat. In addition, over time, it became increasingly difficult to produce modern combat units that could turn the tide of the war in the Atlantic Ocean.

Moreover, the Luftwaffe failed to provide adequate support to the Kriegsmarine, which put Dönitz in an even worse position. In the end, the naval war and land operations were lost by the Germans. However, in the last days of the Second World War, Dönitz took a position that no one expected. By the will of Adolf Hitler, on April 30, 1945, Karl Dönitz was appointed the new leader of the Third Reich.

The Dönitz government settled in Flensburg. The military command and civilian institutions recognized Dönitz as head of state and also submitted to him. The admiral quickly devised a plan of action, deciding to ignore the Red Army for as long as possible and surrender to the Anglo-American forces. The commander of the Kriegsmarine saw that in the west the population greeted the invaders as liberators, while in the east of the country they fled in panic from the invading Soviets.

Dönitz sends his men to the apartments of Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, announcing his surrender. The same applies to the headquarters of General Dwight Eisenhower. Finally, on May 7, 1945, the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich was signed. Dönitz’s government is abolished on May 23, 1945, and he is imprisoned by the victorious Allies.

Dönitz cynically responds to the accusations against him: “None of the points of this accusation bothers me at all. A typical example of American humor.” During the trial at Nuremberg, Dönitz failed to escape responsibility for criminal orders, such as the order of September 17, 1942, in which he declared that attempts to save the crews of sinking ships should be stopped.

Before the tribunal, he was responsible for crimes against peace and humanity, planning and inciting aggression and hostilities, as well as crimes against the law of war. The court ultimately found Dönitz guilty of the crimes under the second and third indictments. He was acquitted of responsibility on the first charge. The court took into account the violation of the Geneva Convention and the fact that Dönitz knew about the existence of Nazi concentration camps. Karl Dönitz was sentenced to 10 years in prison (in Spandau). After his release, he wrote down his memoirs about the period of his activities in the Kriegsmarine, entitled: “10 years and 20 days.”