Lanterna Rally

Author: Admiral Karl Doenitz

Publisher:

Published: 2012-12-27

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 9781481855563

This book also includes the Interrogation of Admiral Doenitz at the end of the war.KARL DOENITZ, the son of an engineer, was born September 16, 1891, at Gruenau, near Berlin. In 1910 he entered the Imperial Naval Academy as a cadet. In December 1916, at which time he was a lieutenant (j. g.), he was transferred at his own request to the U-boat service, and by 1918 had become commander of U-25, and later of U-68. In October 1918 he was captured at Malta by the British and taken to England for a year's imprisonment. Upon his return to Germany, he reentered the navy. In 1928 he was a lieutenant commander in charge of a torpedo boat; in 1934 commander of the cruiser Emden, and in 1935 captain of the Emden. In 1935 he was transferred from the Emden to the Weddingen U-boat Flotilla, Neustadt, and was ordered to rebuild the U-boat service. In 1939 he was advanced to the rank of rear admiral and appointed commander in chief of U-boats. In September 1940 he was made a vice admiral and in March 1942 admiral. In January 1943 he was named grand admiral and appointed to the supreme command of the German Navy, replacing Raeder. In May 1945 he took over Hitler's position as head of the government and as such sued for an armistice. Doenitz is credited with having invented the "wolf pack" technique of submarine warfare, of having supervised all submarine construction, and of having founded and directed a research bureau for counteracting improved British methods of submarine detection. He has written extensively on naval warfare, naval articles and the books, Die Fahrte des Breslau, which describes his experiences aboard the cruiser Breslau in 1913 and 1914, and Die U-Bootwaffe, published about 1939. Doenitz, classified by psychological tests as just below the genius class, is an independent thinker, clear and precise, and is an expert in his field. To the end he kept the navy free from all outside influences. He became interested in the Nazi Party in 1930, deciding that through the party Germany had a chance to regain her position in the world. He was on good terms with Hitler, but opposed Keitel and Goering. He is often referred to as "Der Loewe," his nickname among U-boat officers. In October 1945 it was reported that two brothers of Doenitz, one a butcher and the other a postal clerk, were residing in Halle-on-Saale, and two other brothers, farmers, lived at Woermlitz and at Albersroda. Both sons of Admiral Doenitz served during the war on U-boats.