Agreed. Doenitz came up thru the ranks from a young age and was “military/navy”. Hitler wasn’t so interested in Naval power (except the U-Boats) If you watch the movie
“Das Boot” you will likely pick up on some of the remarks that indicate that.
Doenitz had wanted a huge U-Boat fleet but didn’t get it. So he spread out the numbers on the U-Boats to give a false impression to the Allied forces that there was this huge fleet. But for Doenitz, it was a struggle to get more subs built to assign numbers in between the existing number.
It is probably what led Churchill to state, “During the War the U-Boats were the only thing that really scared me”. Doenitz had a lot of respect for Churchill as he realized he knew Navy and the waters of the region. The British had not focused on building lots of U-Boats In the terms of peace after WW1 with Germany. A painful lesson for them.
All of this and more would be revealed to the reader of Doenitz book.
In the opening of the movie “Das Boot”, there is a text statement that of nearly 40,000 U-Boat sailors who went to sea, only 10,000 returned. A 75% casualty rate. Nearly 800
subs sunk. The implementation of Radar the most likely reason. Doenitz wasn’t that worried about ASDIC (sonar) although it could be effective against U-Boats in certain conditions.
In the links to Doenitz Epilogue,(posted a few replies back) he discusses the valor with which the U-Boat men fought against such odds stacked against them and did such a formidable job in their service. So many of those sailors & Captains were in late teens and twenties.
I would be prudent with these self-memoirs from former major pillars of the regime. They may explain interesting things, but unfortunately “forget” all other nasty ones. They just survived the Nurnberg trials for some strange reasons…
As Speer’s memories, Hitler’s in-house architect, and organizer of the Atlantic Wall; or, the later American national, Wernher von Braun, the organizer of the V-1 and V-2. They all knew perfectly, that their work could only be done, using the workers out of the KZs or other political prisons.
The Navy HQ was far from the ideology-infested Berlin. Hitler loved Dönitz, as long as the U-Boots were successful; then he needed the Kriegsmarine as the only surviving protection of the coasts and against the incoming bombers.
Dönitz was prudent for himself, but not a good man, he knew to deflect all personal attacks to other top shots, like the Luftwaffe-Göring or the Army-Keitel. In his last days, Hitler installed him as his successor, as the only (by Hitler) trust worthy top shot…
True. For any of the top officers of that regime to claim to be ignorant of what was going on with the forced labor is the same as claiming they were either stupid or not politically connected enough to know such things which is simple BS.
At All Costs: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II.
Story of Operation Pedestal and the men who saved the SS Ohio.
Sea Wolves - The extraordinary story of Britain’s WW2 submarines
I picked up Sea Wolves at the RN Submarine museum last year. After reading nearly every book written on submarines (except for sissy boats) I consider this among the best. It really personalizes the men who took them to sea.
Just finished reading **ONE SQUARE MILE OF HELL, The battle for Tarawa. Some pretty ordinary writing couldn’t detract from the heroism and horror of the combat and the sacrifice of so many young men.
I was unaware that a New Zealand Officer, Major Frank Holland had warned that the tides at Tarawa were unpredictable on the date of the assault. He claimed he never thought anyone would be foolish enough to land on a neap tide and contended that less than three feet of water would greet the invasion force.
General Julian Smith consider delaying the operation. Admiral King pressured Admiral Nimitz to disregard the objections.
Without the Amtracks the whole operation would have been a disaster and as it was so many marines died on the reef and while wading ashore without cover.
From Dec 1940 to Dec 1941, this story speaks of the sincere efforts to avoid a war as well as sincere efforts to start one. A story of heroics and blind incompetence.
Those who have watched the movie, “Tora Tora Tora” may want to give this a read. Quite a difference in stores.
The Japanese had wanted FDR to meet with Prime Minister Konoye but FDR wouldn’t do it. (he had already seen how it went with Neville Chamberlain & Hitler)
The Japanese calculated the Americans wouldn’t fight and that an air raid attack on the American’s sinking their “pride” those battleships at Pearl
would so intimidate them that they cower and resist fighting with the Japanese.
Yamamoto counseled the hierarchy of the Navy that he had lived in the USA and learned about the Americans ways and how mistaken they were in their beliefs about the American’s fighting ethic. Even in Germany and Italy many making the decisions about invading the enemy had little true knowledge of them.
In reading this book you can sort of see the Japanese waging a war of intimidation in the beginning. Like a Sumo challenge. Unfortunately the allied
leadership were not so well coordinated within their own ranks.
FDR saw it coming, and relented to a small degree to the nonpartisan “politicians” who wanted to avoid war with the Japanese. They sure were brain surgeons. As was Cromwell regarding the Germans “promises”. FDR sent that old fleet of destroyers to England on Lend Lease well before war was declared against the USA. He and Churchill were not golf partners, but had a similar vision of what this bullshit was turning into. Our Merchant Marine suffered heavy losses supporting something we did’nt want to come to our shores. God blees them and the 142.
Cromwell? It was bit late for his participation, he had been dead for close to 300 years.
Cromwell was, however, the British codeword for warning of an imminent invasion and was announced during the height of the Battle of Britain when it looked like German airpower might prevail.
