Karl Donitz. Photo by Unknown. Wikimedia Commons.

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Karl Dönitz


 

Karl Donitz was born on September 16th the year 1891 died on December 24th, 1980 at the age of 89.

He was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as the head of state in May the year 1945.

He held the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government following Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies days later.

In the year 1943 Donitz as the Supreme Commander of the Navy played a major role in the Naval history of World War II.

He was also the creator of the Reich’s German U-boat fleet and a very proactive Naval leader. Here are the top 10 interesting facts about Karl Donitz.

1. Karl Donitz was a Prisoner of war at the end of World War I

Donitz having served on battlecruisers and at an airfield, asked to be transferred to submarines in the year 1916.

Two years in aboard the U-B68 in the Mediterranean he was sunk and taken prisoner near Malta.

However, even though the war ended during his imprisonment he was not released from the prison of war camp near Sheffield in Great Britain until the year 1920.

2. Karl Donitz was not a member of the Nazi Party

Captain Fritz & Karlem Donitz. Photo by Peter. Wikimedia Commons.

However, though Donitz was not officially a Nazi party member he was Biased and a loyal follower of Hitler.

In a speech to the commanders in chief in February 1944, he said “German men and women! What would have become of our country today if the Fuehrer had not united us under National- Socialism?”

He later continued “Split into parties, beset with the spreading poison of Jewry and vulnerable to it, and lacking, as a defense, our present uncompromising world outlook, we would long since have succumbed to the burdens of this war and been subject to the merciless destruction of our adversaries.”

3. Karl Donitz’s micromanagement of his boats made work easier for Allied codebreakers

Leutnant Karl Dönitz . Photo by Unknown Kaiserliche Marine serviceman. Wikimedia Commons.

Karl Donitz was so particular about knowing everything his boats were up to therefore he contacted them 70 times a day.

He wanted to know where they were and how much fuel they had and also small details.

However, those 70 or more communications had 70 or more replies and all of that back and forth gave Allied codebreakers a lot of material to work with.

It also allowed Allied naval ships to ascertain their position and attack them easily.

4. Karl Donitz’s ultimate plan was to starve Britain

Donitz brought Britain to the edge of starvation with intense submarine warfare during the First World War.

He made sure he kept supply ships from Britain and his strategy was to sink as many ships as possible to cut off Britain’s food sources.

5. He was not the one to have compassion or honor

Admirał Karl Donitz. Photo by Schubert. Wikimedia Commons.

There are stories of Nazi officers, pilots, and soldiers valuing the lives of the wounded enemy soldiers or civilians caught in crossfire or pilots and sailors shot down or sunk Donitz was of them that would show compassion.

He said “No attempt of any kind must be made at rescuing members of ships sunk, and this includes picking up persons in the water and putting them in lifeboats, righting capsized lifeboats, and handing over food and water.

Rescue runs counter to the most primitive demands of warfare for destroying enemy ships and crews. Be hard; remember that the enemy has no regard for women and children when he bombs German cities.”

6. Karl Donitz devised his best strategy while a prisoner of war called the wolf pack method

His strategy was to have several U-boats lurking and waiting for Allied ships preferably in convoys to pass.

However, the first boat to spot an enemy ship would rally the others to converge like a wolf pack and attack.

Interestingly the tactic worked well for him until the Allies invented microwave radar.

7. Karl Donitz shared control of Germany Through Adolf Hitler’s last will until Joseph Goebbels committed suicide

Hitler became sophisticated with his top men Goring and Himmler.

So Hitler penned a will that would name Donitz as the President and Supreme Commander of the Armed forces and Joseph Goebbels as Chancellor and head of government.

However, when Hitler and Goebbels both committed suicide Donitz stepped into power and appointed Ludwig Schwerin von Krosigk as the leading minister.

Together they tried to keep the government intact so both of them made a hasty retreat from advancing forces and from their secured position in Flensburg Murwik.

They oversaw the surrender of the German armies to British or American forces as they feared the Soviets would deal with them more harshly.

8. Karl Donitz was astonished to be tried for war crimes

Karl in British Army custody. Photo by Malindine E G (Capt), No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit. Wikimedia Commons.

Karl Donitz believed it was hilarious to try a head of state for war crimes.

However, he claimed that he knew nothing of the treatment of the Jews and that in his service he committed no crime.

He said “The trail can only end in a mistake because it is founded on one.

How can a foreign court try a sovereign government of another country? If we had won the war, could we have tried your president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Secretary Henry Morgenthau or Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden? We could not have so and would not have.

The trying that went on would not have to be by the nation itself and the courts set up there.”

“I accept responsibility for U-boat warfare from 1933 onward, and the entire navy from 1934 on, but to make me responsible for what happened to Jews in Germany, or Russian soldiers on the east front is so ridiculous all I can do is laugh.”

9. Due to the support from the United States Admiral Nimitz may be the reason why Donitz only 10 years during his trial

During Donitz’s trial at Nuremberg, he said this in his defense” Your American admiral said that he held me in the highest esteem and thought that I conducted my defense perfectly.

He said through his chief of staff that my conduct was beyond reproach and he had the greatest admiration for me.”

However, Nimitz did provide an affidavit that stated that he too had engaged in unrestricted submarine warfare and he supported its use.

Furthermore, this it is seen as one of the major reasons Donitz received a far lighter sentence than other German officers.

10. Karl Donitz received a pension until his death

The government of West Germany did not think that Donitz deserved anything more than the pension of a captain but Donitz fought that decision.

However, the government’s position was he only reached the rank of admiral only because Hitler favored him and not by his own merit.

Donitz took it to court and won and he received the full pension of an Admiral until his death which was caused by a heart attack.

 

 

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