"Absolute Command"
We are influenced by this idea from our parents in childhood, forming a state of mind and spirit that has been cultivated in Germany since the Prussian dynasty, and which has played a major role in prussia's strength and political security.
Perform your duties and behave in a disciplined manner, then you will be a free person no matter what kind of external environment. On the contrary, if you act prudently according to your conscience in violation of the "absolute command" to perform your duties, then no matter how respectable you may seem in the external environment at the time, you will feel bound and unfree inside.
- Marshal Dönitz
Karl Doenitz (16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980), born in Grenau, a small town on the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, was a prominent German admiral, military figure, commander-in-chief, President of Germany, Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht, and Marshal of the Navy during World War II.
Dönitz was born on 16 September 1891 in the town of Glinau, on the outskirts of Berlin. My mother died early. His father was an engineer, always urging him to study hard and pay attention to cultivating his interest in learning.
In April 1910, after graduating from high school in Weimar, Dönitz joined the German Navy, training on board the cruiser Herta before being admitted to the Flensburg-Mowick Naval School. After graduating in the fall of 1912, he was assigned to the cruiser Breslau as an alternate officer.
In 1910, Dönitz enlisted in the Imperial German Navy, became a naval cadet on 4 April, and on 15 April 1911 was promoted to probationary officer in the Navy, serving for a year on the cruiser Hella. In the autumn of 1912 Dönitz was appointed acting second lieutenant of the Navy on the cruiser HMS Breslau.
first world war
In 1914, when World War I broke out, Breslau and Goeben were sold to the Ottoman Empire and renamed Midili and Yanjun Salem respectively, while Dönitz followed the Midili to participate in the battle against Russia and gained practical combat experience.
On 22 March 1916 Dönitz was promoted to lieutenant and later sent to Garibaldi as an aircraft observer, and in May Dönitz married Ingopo Weber, the daughter of a German officer. In October of the same year, Dönitz was transferred to the Submarine Force of the German Navy, and in 1918 he was a duty officer for the submarine U-39, and from February to October 1917 he cruised at sea and performed well.
In February 1918, he served as captain of the submarine UC-25, sinking five transport ships and receiving the Knight's Cross; in July, he served as the captain of the UB-68 submarine, where he was severely damaged by an escort ship during an attack on the British Mediterranean merchant ship regiment on 4 October, and was captured in Yorkshire, England for 10 months.
World War I ended on 11 November 1918, but Dönitz was not released until July 1919, and he remained in Britain until 1920, when he returned to Germany and joined the German Navy again. Under the limits of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany could only have a very small navy, not submarines, and a naval personnel of only 1500 people, while Dönitz, as a lieutenant, was promoted to major on November 1 of the same year as captain of the T-157 torpedo boats in the national navy of the Weimar Republic.
On 1 September 1933, Dönitz was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in September 1934 he was put in command of the light cruiser Emden. After the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement between Germany and Great Britain in 1935, Germany was able to have a submarine force. In October 1935 Dönitz returned to service in the submarine force and was promoted to colonel;
In the same year, the "National Navy" of the Weimar Republic was renamed the "War Navy". Since his return to China, Dönitz has devoted himself to the study of submarine tactics, using the experience of the First World War and cooperating with foreign countries during the interwar period to privately develop research submarines and train submarine personnel to revive German submarine forces. Dönitz recalled his experience and ideas in World War I, when he attacked convoys with the maximum range of torpedoes on a single submarine, which was very dangerous and the results achieved were relatively limited; Dönitz used the concept of "multiple submarines assembling to attack the fleet" as the core concept, and created the "wolf pack tactic" (wolf pack tactic is the British name, Germany is called "assembly tactic"), with multiple submarines navigating at night on the surface of the water, attacking ships with the smallest range of torpedoes, So Dönitz began advocating the construction of a submarine fleet in the navy.
second world war
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Britain and France declared war on Germany, beginning World War II. Originally expected to break out in 1945, not 1939, the German Navy was completely caught off guard by the war. At that time, the Dönitz U-submarine force had only 57 ships, many of which were short-range types, and only 22 ocean-going types could cross the ocean.
On October 1, 1939, Dönitz became rear admiral and submarine commander, and from July to October 1940, due to the lack of British radar and anti-submarine equipment, unable to counter the underwater killer U-boats, 1.49 million tons of supplies were sunk, a time known to the Germans as the "First Happy time"; Dönitz was also promoted to vice admiral for his excellent performance in leading submarines, and by 1941, The newly delivered U-boat Type VII gave a significant impact on Britain's wartime economy.
On December 11, 1941, Hitler declared war on the United States, extending the scope of the Battle of the Atlantic to the east coast of the United States, and Dönitz immediately planned operation drumming, allowing U-submarines to begin attacking ships on the east coast of the United States. Due to the lack of preparation for anti-submarine warfare in the United States, it suffered huge losses at the beginning of the war, and the German army called it the "second happy hour".
By the end of 1942, due to the increase in the production of U-boats VII, Dönitz was finally able to carry out large-scale submarine group attacks, with wolf pack tactics causing a significant increase in Allied shipping losses, and for a time short of fuel and supplies for Britain.
In January 1943, the German Navy failed to attack the fleet bound for the Soviet Union, the battlecruiser Lyzov and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper were severely damaged, and the commander-in-chief of the navy, Erich Redel, was relieved of his duties. Dönitz was highly regarded by Hitler as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and was awarded the rank of Admiral in the same year.
Since mid-1943, Dönitz's submarine losses have not diminished with his promotion. His deputy, Albert Gord, who succeeded him as commander-in-chief of the submarine fleet, was powerless to turn the tide and abandoned the wolf pack tactic in favor of a single-ship cruise.
Hitler's heir
At 6 p.m. on April 30, 1945, when Dönitz returned to Ploen's garrison, the adjutant presented him with a telegram taken in the top-secret code of the Navy, which read: "Admiral Dönitz: The leader has appointed you, Mr. Admiral, as his heir, in place of former Reich Marshal Goering." A written letter of appointment is now on the way and you must immediately take all measures adapted to the needs of the current situation. ”
Hitler believed that the German Army (for not carrying out Hitler's order to "fight to the last man"), the Air Force (Air Force Commander-in-Chief Goering made peace with the Allies in private) and the SS (SS National Leader Himmler also had private contact with the Allies, and SS General Steiner did not carry out Hitler's attack orders) had betrayed him, and only the Navy could trust him.
On 1 May, Goebbels committed suicide, and Dönitz became the only representative of the impending Collapse of the Third Reich and attempted to form a new government. When the eastern part of the Third Reich was about to be invaded by the Red Army, Dönitz planned and implemented a large-scale retreat, Operation Hannibal, which rescued 2 million civilians and 300,000 soldiers to the West, hoping to reach a unilateral truce with the West, but was rejected by the Allied commander-in-chief Eisenhower.
On the verge of the demise of the Third Reich, Dönitz formed a new government in Flensburg to replace the Nazi regime in an attempt to negotiate peace with the Allies. On 7 May, Dönitz authorized Hans-Georg von Fried, William Keitel and Hans-Jugen Stoop to sign the instrument of unconditional surrender in Berlin.
During the Nuremberg trials, Dönitz was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and while serving his sentence in Spandau prison in West Berlin, Dönitz was described as "doing gymnastics and reading books without regret and with hatred". The British reporter commented: "Admiral Dönitz has never regretted his performance, he remains the most dangerous figure in Spandau. ”
On October 1, 1956, Dönitz was released and lived in a village in northern Germany. Dönitz died of a heart attack on 24 December 1980 at the age of 89, the last of 27 field marshals (1 Reich field marshal, 19 field marshals, 2 admirals of the navy, and 5 air marshals) in Nazi Germany.