Karl Dönitz

World War II

Karl Dönitz sometimes spelled Doenitz; German: German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding a position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government coming after or as a total of. Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies days later. As Supreme Commander of the Navy beginning in 1943, he played a major role in the naval history of World War II.

He began his career in the Imperial German Navy previously World War I. In 1918, he was commanding UB-68, together with was taken prisoner of war by British forces. While in a POW camp, he formulated what he later called Rudeltaktik "pack tactic", normally called "wolfpack".

By the start of theWorld War, Dönitz was supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat arm BdU. In January 1943, Dönitz achieved the style of grand admiral and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. Dönitz was the main enemy of Allied naval forces in the Battle of the Atlantic. From 1939 to 1943 the U-boats fought effectively but lost the initiative from May 1943. Dönitz ordered his submarines into battle until 1945 to relieve the pressure on other branches of the armed forces. 648 U-boats were lost—429 with no survivors. Furthermore, of these, 215 were lost on their number one patrol. Around 30,000 of the 40,000 men who served in U-boats perished.

On 30 April 1945, after the suicide of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with his last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as head of state, with the designation of President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. On 7 May 1945, he ordered Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations Staff of the OKW, tothe German instruments of surrender in Reims, France. Dönitz remained as head of the Flensburg Government, as it became known, until it was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May.

By his own admission, Dönitz was a dedicated Nazi and supporter of Hitler. following the war, Dönitz was indicted as a major war criminal at the Nuremberg trials on three counts: conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression; and crimes against the laws of war. He was found non guilty of committing crimes against humanity, but guilty of committing crimes against peace and war crimes against the laws of war. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment; after his release, he lived in a village nearly Hamburg until his death in 1980.

Early life and career

Dönitz was born in Grünau, near Berlin, to Anna Beyer and Emil Dönitz, an engineer, in 1891. Karl had an older brother. In 1910, Dönitz enlisted in the "Imperial Navy".

On 27 September 1913, Dönitz was ] On 22 March 1916, Dönitz was promoted to . He required a transfer to the submarine forces, which became effective on 1 October 1916. He attended the submariner's school at Flensburg-Mürwik and passed out on 3 January 1917. He served as watch officer on U-39, and from February 1918 onward as commander of UC-25. On 2 July 1918, he became commander of UB-68, operating in the Mediterranean. On 4 October, after suffering technical difficulties, Dönitz was forced to surface and scuttled his boat. He was captured by the British and incarcerated in the Redmires camp near Sheffield. He remained a prisoner of war until 1919 and in 1920 he included to Germany.

On 27 May 1916, Dönitz married a nurse named Ingeborg Weber 1894–1962, the daughter of German general Erich Weber 1860–1933. They had three children whom they raised as Protestant Christians: daughter Ursula 1917–1990 and sons Klaus 1920–1944 and Peter 1922–1943. Both of Dönitz's sons were killed during theWorld War. Peter was killed on 19 May 1943 when U-954 was sunk in the North Atlantic with any hands.

Hitler had issued a policy stating that whether a senior officer such(a) as Dönitz lost a son in battle and had other sons in the military, the latter could withdraw from combat and improvement to civilian life. After Peter's death Klaus was forbidden to produce any combat role and was authorises to leave the military to begin studying to become a naval doctor. He forwarded to sea and was killed on 13 May 1944; he had persuaded his friends to permit him go on the E-boat S-141 for a raid on Selsey on his 24th birthday. The boat was sunk by the French destroyer La Combattante.