by David Grier
44.Skl, “XIV. Rüstungs-Besprechung am 28.6,” RM 7/1099, 130; Skl KTB, 9 Dec. 1944, 208; Skl KTB, 13 Jan. 1945, 224; “Organization of German Submarine Construction,” NavOpArch, NAVTECHMISSEUR, series IV, box 42, 20.
45.USSBS, “Interview No. 49, Otto Merker,” 20 June 1945, NA, RG 243, entry 6, box 723; USSBS, “Questionnaire Submitted by a British Commission to Albert Speer with Answers Supplied by Speer while He Was at Dustbin,” ibid., box 999; Tarrant, Last Year of the Kriegsmarine, 185–89.
46.“Organization of German Submarine Construction,” NavOpArch, NAVTECHMISSEUR, series IV, box 42, 38–40; Rössler, U-boat, 251–52.
47.USSBS, “Interview No. 59, Dönitz,” 28 June 1945, NA, RG 243, entry 6, box 1000.
48.Skl KTB, 12 Apr. 1944, 268; ibid., 9 Sept. 1944, 239; ibid., 21 Dec. 1944, 526; ibid., 1 Jan. 1945, 2–3; ibid., 25 Mar. 1945, 364.
49.Ruge, In vier Marinen, 256; “Niederschrift der Unterredung des Herrn Admiral a.D. Werner Fuchs, durchgeführt am 16. Dez. 1951 mit Dr. Frhr. von Siegler im Auftrage des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte,” IfZ, ZS 41, 20–21; Speer, Infiltration, 113–14, 124.
50.“German Submarine Design,” NavOpArch, NAVTECHMISSEUR, series IV, box 32, 13; “Organization of German Submarine Construction,” ibid., box 42, 38; Glennon, “The Weapon That Came Too Late,” 86, 91–92; Rössler, U-boat, 241–42; Oelfken, “Schwierigkeiten beim Bau der U-Boote Typ XXI, XXIII, XXVI,” N 518/5.
51.Skl KTB, 27 Dec. 1944, 635; ibid., 25 Jan. 1945, 458; OKW KTB, 8: 1577–80; “Organization of German Submarine Construction,” NavOpArch, NAVTECHMISSEUR, series IV, box 42, 24; Glennon, “The Weapon That Came Too Late,” 92; Rössler, U-boat, 240–45.
52.Schulze-Wegener, Kriesgmarine Rüstung, 126, 202; Skl, “XIV. Rüstungs-Besprechung am 28.6,” RM 7/1099, 130; Chef Mar.Rüst, “Meldung an ObdM betr. Rü-Sitzung vom 12.7.1944,” RM 7/99, 13; “Organization of German Submarine Construction,” NavOpArch, NAVTECHMISSEUR, series IV, box 42, 38–40.
53.Schulze-Wegener, Kriesgmarine Rüstung, 198–99; Hessler, U-boat War, 1: 108.
54.Skl KTB, 9 Dec. 1944, 208; ibid., 13 and 16 Apr. 1945, 208–13, 262–63; Hessler, U-boat War, 1: 108; USSBS, “Interview No. 49, Otto Merker,” NA, RG 243, entry 6, box 723; “Organization of German Submarine Construction,” Sept. 1945, NavOpArch, NAVTECHMISSEUR, series IV, box 42, 38; Cremer, U-boat Commander, 201; Lagevorträge, 647; Tarrant, Last Year of the Kriegsmarine, 47–50, 190.
55.Oelfken, “Schwierigkeiten beim Bau der U-Boote Typ XXI, XXIII, XXVI,” N 518/5; Lagevorträge, 393; OKW KTB, 4: 1279.
56.Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, “An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Primary Anti-Submarine Measures in Countering Type XXI Submarines,” 4 Apr. 1949, NavOpArch, OEG, box 99; “Tactical Kinematic Capabilities of the Type XXI Submarine,” 3 Mar. 1950, ibid., box 71.
57.Building a U-boat of a similar size by the old methods would have taken 460,000 hours; Schulze-Wegener, Kriegsmarine-Rüstung, 136, 141.
58.Ibid., 135; Ruge, “German Supreme Command-OKW,” 17 Nov. 1948, NavOpArch, GNR, box T 69; Weinberg, World at Arms, 1033 (note 92). Similarly, the V-2 program devoured resources equivalent to 24,000 combat aircraft; Murray, “Betrachtungen zur deutschen Strategie im Zweiten Weltkrieg,” Die Wehrmacht, 321.
59.Rohwer and Monakov, Stalin’s Ocean-Going Fleet, 136–37; Salewski, “Die Verteidigung der Ostsee 1918–1939,” 394.
60.Germany and the Second World War, 4: 656–57; Ackasov, “Der Durchbruchs-Operation der Baltischen Rotbanner-Flotte von Reval auf Kronstadt,” 26–45; Rohwer, “Der Minenkrieg im finnischen Meerbusen, September–November 1941,” 94.
61.“Skl I op 1556/41,” 21 Sept. 1941, T-608/1/664; Rohwer, “Der Minenkrieg im finnischen Meerbusen, September–November 1941,” 97–100; Rudel, Stuka Pilot, 31–44; Skl, “Lage Kriegsmarine am 28.9.1941,” T-608/2/472.
62.OKW KTB, 6: 1418; “1/Skl IE 2326/43,” 13 Aug. 1943, RM 31/M522.
63.Skl KTB, 25 and 29 Sept. 1943, 504, 565–66.
64.Anlage zu 1/Skl 950/44, “Bestand der russischen Ostseeflotte, Stand Mitte März 1944,” RH 19 III/15, 96.
65.9.Sich.Div., KTB, “Schlussbetrachtung zum 30. Sept. 1944,” RM 67/v.149; 1/Skl, “Weisung für die Seekriegsführung in der Östlichen Ostsee,” 29 Sept. 1944, RM 7/162, 106–109; OKM, “Feindlagebericht Ost vom 1.9. bis 30.9.1944,” 16 Oct. 1944, RM 7/162, 13–14.
66.MOK Ostsee, KTB, 3 Oct. 1944, RM 31/3217, 249; Skl, “Besprechung Chef Skl mit Chef Genstb.d.H.,” 15 Dec. 1944, RM 7/261, 117; MOK Ostsee, “B.Nr. 1035,” 30 Nov. 1944, RM 7/163, 163.
67.Skl KTB, 20–22 Feb. 1945, 209–15, 233–34, 242.
68.Ibid., 15 Mar. 1945, 203.
69.Ibid., 26 Mar. 1945, 385.
70.Ibid., 14 Mar. 1945, 195; ibid., 13 Apr. 1945, 201–202.
71.MOK Ostsee, “Rückblick auf die wesentlichsten Ereignisse und Aufgaben im Bereich MOK Ost im Kriegsjahr 1944,” 17 Mar. 1945, RM 7/90, 415–16.
72.Achkasov and Pavlovich, Soviet Naval Operations, 251–54.
73.Ackasov, “Die sowjetische Kriegsflotte im Verlauf des ‘Grossen Vaterländischen Krieges,’” 270.
74.Basically, an “old school” strategy envisioned gaining command of the sea with a battle fleet composed of heavy surface vessels. A “young school” approach regarded large surface vessels as obsolete, being vulnerable to smaller vessels.
75.Herrick, Soviet Naval Strategy, xxvii, 40.
76.Kabath, “Seebrückenköpfe,” 274.
77.Gemzell, Raeder, Hitler und Skandinavien, 275–77, 289–90; Salewski, Seekriegsleitung, 1: 177–80, 192–93; Lagevorträge, 82, 85.
78.OKW, “Nr. 44141/41,” 15 Feb. 1941, T-608/1/457.
79.Lagevorträge, 288, 334–36.
80.Germany and the Second World War, 6: 423–25; Lagevorträge, 341. On Hitler’s constant fear of an invasion in Norway, Salewski, Seekriegsleitung, 2: 2–36.
81.Lagevorträge, 347–48; Der Führer, “Nr. 55493/42,” 14 Mar. 1942, T-77/786/5514473.
82.Ziemke, German NTO, 252–57; Warlimont’s comments to entries from 19 Oct. 1942 and 23 Jan. 1943 in OKW KTB, 4: 841, 5: 66; Hitlers Lagebesprechungen, 441, 446–47; OKW KTB, 6: 1387–88; Lagevorträge, 569.
83.OKW KTB, 5: 66 (Warlimont’s comments), 6: 1219, 1226, 1238, 1243–44, 1271–72, 1394, 1401; Dönitz, “Die Schlacht im Atlantic in der deutschen Strategie des Zweiten Weltkrieges,” 71–72.
84.OKW KTB, 8: 1060; Ziemke, German NTO, 300–309.
85.Skl KTB, 18 Oct. 1944, 431–32; Lagevorträge, 616.
86.Ob MOK Ost, “O6753,” 31 Oct. 1944, RM 7/163, 259–60; Skl, “Die Notwendigkeit, zusätzliche Mittel für Kriegsmarine und Handelsschiffahrt einzusetzen,” RM 7/261, 69.
87.Skl KTB, 31 Oct. 1944, 752.
88.Ibid., 13 June 1944, 329–30; ibid., 13 Aug. 1944, 316.
89.“Vortrag des Chefs der Skl bei der Besprechung der Oberbefehlshaber in ‘Koralle’ am 24./25.8.44,” RM 7/100, 170; Chef der Skl, “Seekriegsbasis Norwegen,” 2 Sept. 1944, RM 7/131, 582–83; Anlage zum KTB des BdU v. 18.9.44, RM 87/43, 63.
90.Lagevorträge, 618; Ziemke, German NTO, 309; OKW KTB, 8: 1092.
91.Guderian, Erinnerungen, 336, 374; Skl KTB, 1 Feb. 1945, 3; OKW KTB, 8: 1309–10, 1899; Steinert, 23 Days, 142, 304 (note 9).
92.Skl KTB, 1 and 3 Mar. 1945, 10–13, 44–47; OKW, “Stellungnahme Seekriegsleitung zur Studie ‘Birkhahn,’” 5 Mar. 1945, T-78/786/5514693–95; Lagevorträge, 671.
93.Skl KTB, 28 Mar. 1945, 401.
94.MOK Norwegen, “03800,” 27 Apr. 1945, RM 7/851, 148; “1/Skl I op 9611/45,” 27 Apr. 1945, ibid.
95.1/Skl I op, 4 May 1945, RM 7/854, 25; “Abschrift von Abschrift einer dokumentarischen Niederschrift von Admiral a.D. Godt, zur Verfügung gestellt von Dr. Walter Baum-Oldenburg,” Nachlass Weichold, N 316/v.29, 3; Ziemke, German NTO, 313.
96.“OKM Documents at Glucksberg,” NA, RG 243, entry 6, box 731.
97.Skl, “3404/43,” 13 Nov. 1943, T/608/1/1044; Skl KTB, 22 Dec. 1943, 357; Skl KTB, 20 Nov. 1944, 443; Lagev
orträge, 572.
Chapter 10: Hitler and Dönitz
1.Portions of this chapter appeared in an abbreviated form in Grier, “The Appointment of Admiral Karl Dönitz as Hitler’s Successor,” in Steinweis and Rogers, The Impact of Nazism, 182–98; and Grier, “Army Group Kurland,” in Kelly, World War II, 145–55.
2.Dönitz, Ten Years and Twenty Days, 433.
3.Meisel to Assmann, 6 Oct. 1949, Nachlass Meisel, N 537/v.18.
4.Lagevorträge, 653, 655–56.
5.Skl KTB, 29 Jan. 1945, 506–507; ibid., 4 Feb. 1945, 29; ibid., 2 Mar. 1945, 24.
6.Ibid., 28 Feb. 1945, 339–42; Lagevorträge, 664; Dönitz, “Die deutsche Seekriegführung,” 6 Aug. 1945, RM 6/374, 56.
7.IMT, TMWC, 13: 296, 397.
8.Posner, Hitler’s Children, 160. Dönitz’s party membership form is now at the German Federal Archives in Berlin-Lichterfelde. According to this document the request for membership was made on 7 March 1944, but Dönitz’s admission into the Party, with Party Number 9664999, was backdated to 1 Feb.
9.Weichold, “Die deutsche U-Bootskrieg 1939/45,” Nachlass Weichold, N 316/v.9, 39; “Abschrift von Abschrift einer dokumentarischen Niederschrift von Admiral a.D. Godt, zur Verfügung gestellt von Dr. Walter Baum-Oldenburg,” ibid., N 316/v.29, 1; Ruge, In vier Marinen, 268.
10.Raeder, “Mein Verhältnis zu Adolf Hitler und zur Partei,” Nachlass Raeder, N 391/3, 50–51.
11.Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 541. Following his release from Spandau, Speer was quite critical of Dönitz. Despite this animosity, many of Speer’s observations about Dönitz ring true.
12.Der Ob der HGr Süd, “Nr. 404/45,” 5 Feb. 1945, RH 2/332, 41–42.
13.ObdM, “Kurzlage ObdM Nr. 4,” 6 Oct. 1944, RM 7/100, 352.
14.IMT, TMWC, 13: 392; Thomas, German Navy in the Nazi Era, 236.
15.IMT, TMWC, 13: 393.
16.Taylor, Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials, 406.
17.Thomas, German Navy in the Nazi Era, 243.
18.“Admiral Doenitz re Pastor Niemoeller, 24 July 1945,” IfZ, ZS 1810/II, 18.
19.IMT, TMWC, 13: 392–93; Thomas, German Navy in the Nazi Era, 232; Sereny, Speer, 390, 638.
20.Peter, “Euthanasia Programme,” Oxford Companion to WWII, 344.
21.See Ruge’s and Wagner’s comments in Lagevorträge, 7, 449; IMT, TMWC, 13: 321; 35: 291–301.
22.Salewski, Seekriegsleitung, 2: 551.
23.Fuchs to Baum, 30 Dec. 1956, IfZ, ZS 41, 27.
24.Lagevorträge, 642–43, 645, 652, 662, 668, 699.
25.Baum, “Marine, Nationalsozialismus und Widerstand,” 25–30, 39; Speer, Spandau, 334–35; AdmFHQu, “Lageunterrichtung 6/9,” 6 Sept. 1944, T-1022/1709/PG32122-A; Lagevorträge, 604, 686. Hitler had apparently forgotten about the scuttling of the pocket battleship Graf Spee.
26.Hitler and His Generals, 631; Raus, Panzer Operations, 339.
27.Speer, Spandau, 335; Lagevorträge, 533, 535, 549, 571–72, 589.
28.Skl KTB, 22 Oct. 1943, 439.
29.Speer, Spandau, 163, 334–35; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, 119; Irving’s notes of an interview with Puttkamer from 21 Nov. 1967, IfZ, ZS 285/II, 70–71, 77; Puttkamer to Uhlig, 16 Apr. 1952, IfZ, ZS 285/I, 20; Below, Als Hitler Adjutant, 410–11; TBJG, 15: 383, 505, 557, 571; Keitel, S ervice of the Reich, 197; OKW KTB, 8: 1666–69.
30.Meroth, “Vorschuss auf den Endsieg,”88–92; Goda, “Black Mark,” 413–52.
31.Although Raeder was the one who suggested this date for his retirement, to express his and the navy’s loyalty, Hitler agreed; Bird, Raeder, 203. On Hitler’s sensitivity to timing, Hitlers Tischgespräche, 423–24; Speer to Fest, 13 Sept. 1969, BA/K, Nachlass Speer, N1340/17; Fest, Speer, 49.
32.Lagevorträge, 538.
33.Oven, Mit Goebbels bis zum Ende, 2: 180–81.
34.“Interrogation of Grand Admiral Dönitz, 21 July 1945,” IfZ, ZS 1810/II, 3.
35.“Testimony of KARL DOENITZ, taken at Nuremberg, Germany, on 22 October 1945, 1030–130 by Lt.Col. Thomas S. Hinkel, IGD, OUSCC, Comdr. John P. Bracken, USNR, and Lt. Michael Reade, RN,” NavOpArch, Bracken Papers, box 1, 20–21.
36.Unterredung Meckel-Doenitz, IfZ, ZS 1810/I, 18, 32.
37.Speer, Spandau, 42, 58, 77–78, 217, 334–35; Mason, “PW Grand Admiral Dönitz” [July 1945], IfZ, ZS 1810/II, 18; Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, “Report on Interrogation of German Prisoners of War,” 23 Aug. 1945, NA, RG 38, entry 98c, box 8; Kraus, “Karl Dönitz und das Ende des ‘Dritten Reiches,’” 4.
38.Steinert, 23 Days, 21, 145–46, 304 (note 17); “Politische Angelegenheiten,” BA/BL, R62/10, 2–5; Padfield, Dönitz, 415; Thomas, German Navy in the Nazi Era, 251; Knopp, Hitlers Helfer, 329; Topp, “Manning and Training the U-boat Fleet,” 216–17; Peifer, Three German Navies, 10, 16, 37–38. Peifer estimates 2,500–6,000 German sailors were executed in World War II.
39.Kraus, “Karl Dönitz und das Ende des ‘Dritten Reiches,’” 1; Müller and Ueberschär, Kriegsende, 103; Steinert, 23 Days, 120–28.
40.Dönitz, Ten Years and Twenty Days, 441–42; IMT, TMWC, 13: 305. For Dönitz’s private talks (or in very small groups) with Hitler, Lagevorträge, 604–605, 616–17, 621, 630, 638, 696.
41.Speer, Spandau, 295, 335.
42.IMT, TMWC, 13: 402–403.
43.Meisel to [Kurt] Assmann, 6 Oct. 1949, N 537/v.18.
44.Irving’s notes from an interview with Puttkamer from 20 Nov. 1967, IfZ, ZS 285/II, 55.
45.Weinberg, “Der Überfall auf die Sowjetunion im Zusammenhang mit Hitlers diplomatischen und militärischen Gesamtplanungen,” in Foerster, Unternehmen Barbarossa, 184–85.
46.Goldensohn, Nuremberg Interviews, 127.
47.KTB des Führungsstab Nord, 22 and 26 Apr. 1945, OKW KTB, 8: 1454, 1458; “Politische Angelegenheiten,” BA/BL, R 62/10, 7.
48.Last Witnesses in the Bunker, 11–15; Bullock, Hitler and Stalin, 887–91.
49.OKM, “Grossadmiral Dönitz Schlussansprache auf der Tagung für Befehlshaber der Kriegsmarine in Weimar am Freitag, dem 17. Dezember 1943,” RM 7/98, 34–37.
50.1/Skl, “Ansprache des Ob.d.M. vor den Oberbefehlshabern am 15.2.44,” 1939–45, 456–58; Pruf-Nr. 1535, “Vortrag des Oberbefehlshabers der Kriegsmarine über den Tonnagekrieg gehalten am 19. Oktober 1944 vor führenden Persönlichkeiten der Politik, Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft,” RM 7/848, 300–301; Ruge, In vier Marinen, 260–61.
51.Conot, Justice at Nuremberg, 416.
52.“Tagesniederschriften der Reichsregierung vom 2.–17. Mai 1945,” 9 May 1945, BA/BL, R 62/15, 12.
53.Beck, Under the Bombs, 182; IMT, TMWC, 35: Document 650-D, 304–808; Admiral beim ObdM, KTB des ObdM, 25 Apr. 1945, RM 6/115, 8–9.
54.Hitler and His Generals, 737–38; AdmFHQu, “Lagebeurteilung 26.4.1945,” BA/BL, R 62/10, 49.
55.Steinert, 23 Days, 293–94 (note 56); OKW KTB, 8: 1468.
56.“Hitlers politisches Testament,” OKW KTB, 8: 1666–69.
57.Baum, “Marine, Nationalsozialismus und Widerstand,” 44–48; Thomas, German Navy in the Nazi Era, 241, 262; Rust, Naval Officers under Hitler, 11–12, 173; Topp, “Manning and Training the U-boat Fleet,” 218.
58.“Abschrift von Abschrift einer dokumentarischen Niederschrift von Admiral a.D. Godt, zur Verfügung gestellt von Dr. Walter Baum-Oldenburg,” Nachlass Weichold, N 316 /v.29, 1; Sjöstedt, “Kapitulation eller strid till sista man?”
59.Keitel, Service of the Reich, 227.
60.“Tagesniederschriften der Reichsregierung vom 2.–17. Mai 1945,” 2 May 1945, BA/BL, R 62/15, 2.
61.Senger und Etterlin, Neither Fear Nor Hope, 306; Müller and Ueberschär, Kriegsende, 100–102.
62.See the unpublished entry from Spandau Diaries for 22 Jan. 1955, BA/K, Nachlass Speer, N 1340/450.
63.Voices from the Third Reich, 182, 186; Topp, Odyssey of a U-boat Commander, 107–108.
64.1/Skl I op, 4 May 1945, RM 7/854, 25; “Abschrift von Abschrift einer dokumentarischen Niederschrift von Admiral a.D. Godt, zur Verfügung gestellt von Dr. Walter
Baum-Oldenburg,” N 316/v.29, 3.
65.OKW, “Nr. 89001/45,” 3 May 1945, RW 44 I/109; de Maizière, Oberstleutnant i.G., “Punkte für den mündliche Vortrag bei den Ob. und Chefs der HGr Kurland und des AOK Ostpreussen,” 3 May 1945, ibid.
66.“Tagesniederschriften der Reichsregierung vom 2.–17. Mai 1945,” 6 May 1945, BA/BL, R 62/15, 9.
67.Ruge, “German Supreme Command-OKW,” 17 Nov. 1948, NavOpArch, GNR, box T 69.
68.Maizière, In der Pflicht, 105–106.
69.Kapitel 6, Kuerzungen, F. Hitler als Feldherr und Politiker, 10 Feb. 1954, BA/K, Nachlass Speer, N 1340/385, 40.
70.Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, 123; Breit, Staats- und Gesellschaftsbild, 215–16.
71.See untitled folder in BA/K, Nachlass Speer, N 1340/384, 5–6; “Protokoll 1: Adolf Hitler (1 August 1945),” Speer: Die Kransberg-Protokolle, 88–89.
72.Sereny, Speer, 82.
73.Wilhelm Meisel, “Betr: Hitler und die KM,” IfZ, ZS 1739, 6.
74.Fröhlich, “Hitler und Goebbels im Krisenjahr 1944,” 197–98, 208–209.
75.Fest, Inside Hitler’s Bunker, 74, 131; Fest, Speer, 240–41, 248; Kershaw, Hitler: Nemesis, 1026 (note 40).
76.Rohwer, “Introduction,” in Dönitz, Ten Years and Twenty Days, xiii–xiv.
77.Salewski, Seekriegsleitung, 2: 383–400; see also reports for the period Feb.–Apr. 1944 in “Auszug aus Vortragsnotizen H.V.O. Genst.d.H. bei Ob.d.M. und Chef Skl,” T-608/1/1554–74.
78.Lagevorträge, 571, 578; 1/Skl, “Bemerkungen des ObdM über die Bedeutung von Odessa für die Kriegführung im Südosten,” 24 Mar. 1944, T-77/778/5503979–87.
79.Salewski, Seekriegsleitung, 2: 245–68; Thomas, German Navy in the Nazi Era, 230; Adm.FHQu, “Lagebeurteilung 7/9,” 7 Sept. 1944, T-1022/1709/PG 32122-A.
80.Lagevorträge, 616, 647–48, 653; Skl, “B.Nr. 1/Skl I op a 30696/44,” 9 Oct. 1944, RM 7/131, 464; Westphal, Heer in Fesseln, 100. There are undoubtedly other examples. Aside from the Baltic, all cases of Dönitz’s intervention in army operations are merely examples the author discovered by chance.
81.Wagner rather lamely maintained that Dönitz’s plan bore no hostile design but intended full agreement on the part of Spain; Lagevorträge, 505–506.