Download or read book Hitler Donitz and the Baltic Sea written by David Grier and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2013-07-10 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The popular conception of Hitler in the final years of World War II is that of a deranged Fuhrer stubbornly demanding the defense of every foot of ground on all fronts and ordering hopeless attacks with nonexistent divisions. To imply that Hitler had a rational plan to win the war flies in the face of widely accepted interpretations, but historian Howard D. Grier persuasively argues here that Hitler did possess a strategy to regain the initiative in 1944-45 and that the Baltic theater played the key role in his plan. In examining that strategy, Grier answers lingering questions about the Third Reich's final months and also provides evidence of its emphasis upon naval affairs and of Admiral Karl Donitz's influence in shaping Hitler's grand strategy. Donitz intended to starve Britain into submission and halt the shipment of American troops and supplies to Europe with a fleet of new Type XXI U-boats. But to test the new submarines and train their crews the Nazis needed control of the Baltic Sea and possession of its ports, and to launch their U-boat offensive they needed Norway, the only suitable location that remained after the loss of France in the summer of 1944. This work analyzes German naval strategy from 1944 to 1945 and its role in shaping the war on land in the Baltic. The first six chapters provide an operational history of warfare on the northern sector of the eastern front and give evidence of the navy s demands that the Baltic coast be protected in order to preserve U-boat training areas. The next three chapters look at possible reasons for Hitler's defense of the Baltic coast, concluding that the most likely reason was Hitler's belief in Donitz's ability to turn the tide of war with his new submarines. A final chapter discusses Donitz's personal and ideological relationship with Hitler, his influence in shaping overall strategy, and the reason Hitler selected the admiral as his successor rather than a general or Nazi Party official. With Grier's thorough examination of Hitler's strategic motives and the reasons behind his decision to defend coastal sectors in the Baltic late in the war, readers are offered an important new interpretation of events for their consideration.
Download or read book D nitz s Crews written by French L. MacLean and published by Schiffer Military. This book was released on 2009 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With dozens of historical documents and over 400 photographs, the author not only presents a comprehensive history of U-boat crews and the undersea war, but also shows how those with an interest in the U-boat war can find U-boat-related artifacts and how they can trace many to specific boats - and then research what those boats and crews accomplished.
Download or read book D nitz written by Peter Padfield and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2001 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished naval historian and biographer paints a riveting portrait of Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, the Supreme Commander of the German Navy and mastermind of World War Two's devastating submarine war. As Germany slid inexorably towards defeat in 1945, the Fuhrer rewarded his most loyal supporter by appointing Donitz his successor--the Third Reich's final leader. "Compellingly readable...conveys a flavor of Nazi leadership unmatched by anything outside the memoirs of Albert Speer. It is difficult to frame higher praise."--John Keegan.
Download or read book Doenitz written by David T. Zabecki and published by Merriam Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book D nitz U boats Convoys written by Jak P. Mallmann Showell and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-08-21 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique WWII history combines the memoirs of a Nazi Admiral with secret British naval reports for a comprehensive view of the U-Boat war. The memoirs of Admiral Karl Dönitz, Ten Years and Twenty Days, are a fascinating first-hand account of the Battle of the Atlantic as seen from the headquarters of the U-boat fleet. Now, noted naval historian Jak P. Mallmann Showell has combined Dönitz's memoirs in a parallel text with the British Admiralty's secret Monthly Anti-Submarine Reports to produce a unique view of the U-boat war as it was perceived at the time by both sides. The British Monthly Anti-Submarine Reports were classified documents issued only to senior officers hunting U-boats. They were supposed to have been returned to the Admiralty and destroyed at the end of the War, but by chance a set survived in the archives of the Royal Navy's Submarine Museum in Gosport. They offer significant and hitherto unavailable insight into the British view of the Battle of the Atlantic as it was being fought. With expert analysis of these firsthand sources from opposing sides of the conflict, Jak P. Mallmann Showell presents what may be the most complete contemporary account of the desperate struggle in the North Atlantic during the Second World War.
Download or read book Donitz and the Wolf Packs written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-07-30 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 17 September 1942 Admiral Karl Donitz, C-in-C U-boats, issued the following directive:??To all Commanders - 'All attempts to rescue members of ships sunk, therefore also fishing out swimmers and putting them into lifeboats, righting capsized lifeboats, handing out provisions and water, have to cease. Rescue contradicts the most fundamental demands of war for the annihilation of enemy ships and crews'.??This order ended what had hitherto been a war in which the opposing factions treated each other with a certain respect, seaman to seaman, showing mercy where mercy was due. It also marked the point at which the Battle of the Atlantic became a dirty war of attrition, with the U-boats hunting in packs snarling and snapping at the heels of the hard-pressed convoys. Ships began to go down like corn before the reaper, men were dying in their hundreds in the cold grey waters of the great ocean. This was a battle without quarter. A battle the U-boats would have won had it not been for the grit and determination of the convoy escorts and the unflagging resilience of the men who manned the vulnerable merchant ships.??This book faithfully records the progress of the Battle of the Atlantic, which began within hours of the declaration of war on 3 September 1939 and continued without let-up until the last torpedo was fired on the night of 7 May 1945, just one hour before Germany surrendered. The story is told from both sides of the periscope.
Download or read book D nitz s Last Gamble written by Lawrence Paterson and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-07-23 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The tragic final year of Hitler’s once highly effective U-Boat campaign against Allied shipping is graphically and grippingly told here.” —Work Boat World By the end of 1943 the German submarine war on Atlantic convoys was all but defeated, beaten by superior technology, code-breaking and air power. With losses mounting, Karl Dönitz withdrew the wolfpacks, but in a surprise change of strategy, following the D-Day landings in June 1944, he sent his U-boats into coastal waters, closer to home, where they could harass the crucial Allied supply lines to the new European bridgehead. Caught unawares, the British and American navies struggled to cope with a novel predicament—in shallow waters submarines could lie undetectable on the bottom, and given operational freedom, they rarely needed to make signals, neutralizing the Allied advantages of decryption and radio direction-finding. Behind this unpleasant shock lay an even greater threat, of radically new submarine types known to be nearing service. Dönitz saw these as war-winning weapons, and gambled that his inshore campaign would hold up the Allied advance long enough to allow these faster and quieter boats to be deployed in large numbers. This offensive was perhaps Germany’s last chance to turn the tide, yet, surprisingly, such an important story has never been told in detail before. That it did not succeed masks its full significance: in the Cold War that followed, the massive Soviet submarine fleet—built on captured German technology and tactical experience—became a very real menace to Western sea power. In this way, Dönitz’s last gamble set the course of post-war antisubmarine development.
Download or read book Unconditional Surrender written by Walter Ludde-Neurath and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2010-06-14 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first English-language translation of a crucial memoir of the dying days of Hitlers Third Reich. Walter Ludde-Neurath was an accomplished officer, who served with a variety of torpedo boats and destroyers, slowly rising through the ranks. In September 1944 he was selected to be the new adjutant to Grand Admiral Donitz. He enjoyed a close relationship with Donitz over what proved to be a crucial period: the formation and dissolution of the Flensburg Government (named after the headquarters Donitz was using at the time of the appointment). The memoir details the discussions within the new cabinet, which was created after Hitlers suicide, and records how Donitz believed he would rule a new Germany and reach an accommodation with the Allies. Ludde-Neurath details the fighting amongst the candidates - in particular, the confrontation of Donitz with Himmler (for which Donitz kept a revolver within his reach). Ludde-Neurath was present when the British Royal Hussars carried out Operation Blackout, surrounding and arresting the fledgling government and records how Donitz was asked if he had any comment. Donitz responded: Any words would be superfluous' and was taken into custody.
Download or read book The Conduct of the War Of Sea An Essay written by Großadmiral Karl Dönitz and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Admiral Dönitz’ essay on the Conduct of the War at Sea is published... for several reasons. It has historical significance as a review of the German Navy’s participation in World War II. Also, from the standpoint of naval science, the opinions of an enemy naval officer of Dönitz’ caliber merit study and consideration. Still more important is the forceful presentation of Hitler’s fatal error in disregarding or underestimating the necessity of sea power as a prerequisite to a major political power engaging successfully in war of any magnitude - or, by the same token, defending successfully its own political and economic boundaries and rights. In order to assist in the analysis of the essay, this publication includes a biographical sketch of the author, introductory remarks concerning the essay’s background and contents and a list of subjects in the form of a table of contents Doenitz was interrogated in order to amplify certain portions and theories of the essay, and his interrogation is also published herewith . His reaction to such interrogation and to analyses made of the essay is set forth in the Introduction.
Download or read book The End written by Ian Kershaw and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-08-28 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of To Hell and Back, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost the Second World War, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital questions of how and why the Third Reich did not surrender until Germany had been left in ruins and almost completely occupied. Drawing on prodigious new research, Ian Kershaw, an award-winning historian and the author of Fateful Choices, explores these fascinating questions in a gripping and focused narrative that begins with the failed bomb plot in July 1944 and ends with the death of Adolf Hitler and the German capitulation in 1945. The End paints a harrowing yet enthralling portrait of the Third Reich in its last desperate gasps.
Download or read book Doenitz at Nuremberg a Reappraisal written by Harold Keith Thompson and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 7th U Boat Flotilla written by Angus Konstam and published by Ian Allan Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series looks at the cutting edge of war, and deals with units capable of operating independently in the forefront of battle. Each volume examines the chosen unit's origins and history, its organisation and order of battle, its battle history theatre by theatre, its insignia and its markings.
Download or read book Memoirs Ten Years and Twenty Days written by Karl Doenitz and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2012-04-19 with total page 547 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the last world war, as told by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz himself. His memoir covers his early career with submarines in the First World War and follows both his successes and failures through the Second World War, with great detail on the way the U-boat campaign was waged, as told by the man who invented U-boat tactics. Doenitz includes details of the U-boat campaigns during the Second World War as well as the opinions, ideas and commentary on the period. Of particular interest are the comments regarding British and American conduct during the war. An important social document, and an invaluable source for any student of the last war. He became the last Führer of Germany after Hitler's suicide in May 1945 and the books subtitle, Ten Years and Twenty Days, is a direct reference to the time Karl Doenitz spent in Spandau Prison having been convicted of war crimes following trial at Nuremberg.
Download or read book Karl Doenitz and the Last Days of the Third Reich written by Barry Turner and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2015-09-03 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the military leaders of the Second World War, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz remains a deeply enigmatic figure. As chief of the German submarine fleet he earned Allied respect as a formidable enemy. But after he succeeded Hitler – to whom he was unquestioningly loyal – as head of the Third Reich, his name became associated with all that was most hated in the Nazi regime. Yet Doenitz deserves credit for ending the war quickly while trying to save his compatriots in the East – his Dunkirk-style operation across the Baltic rescued up to 2 million troops and civilian refugees. Historian Barry Turner argues that while Doenitz can never be dissociated from the evil done under the Third Reich, his contribution to the war must be acknowledged in its entirety in order to properly understand the conflict. An even-handed portrait of Nazi Germany's last leader and a compellingly readable account of the culmination of the war in Europe, Karl Doenitz and the Last Days of the Third Reich gives a fascinating new perspective on a complex man at the heart of this crucial period in history.
Download or read book Memoirs Ten Years and Twenty Days written by Karl Doenitz and published by . This book was released on 2012-04-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the last world war, as told by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz himself. His memoir covers his early career with submarines in the First World War and follows both his successes and failures through the Second World War, with great detail on the way the U-boat campaign was waged, as told by the man who invented U-boat tactics. Doenitz includes details of the U-boat campaigns during the Second World War as well as the opinions, ideas and commentary on the period. Of particular interest are the comments regarding British and American conduct during the war. An important social document, and an invaluable source for any student of the last war. He became the last Führer of Germany after Hitler's suicide in May 1945 and the books subtitle, Ten Years and Twenty Days, is a direct reference to the time Karl Doenitz spent in Spandau Prison having been convicted of war crimes following trial at Nuremberg.
Download or read book Grey Wolf Grey Sea written by E. B. Gasaway and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside story of life aboard the deadly Nazi U-Boat that sank forty-nine ships. The history of one of World War II’s most successful submarines, U-124, is chronicled in Grey Wolf, Grey Sea, from its few defeats to a legion of victories. Kapitanleutnant Jochen Mohr commanded his German submarine and navigated it through the treacherous waters of one of the most destructive, savage wars the world has known.
Download or read book U Boats off the Outer Banks Shadows in the Moonlight written by Jim Bunch and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2017 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From January to July 1942, more than seventy-five ships sank to North Carolina's "Graveyard of the Atlantic" off the coast of the Outer Banks. German U-boats sank ships in some of the most harrowing sea fighting close to America's shore. Germany's Operation Drumbeat, led by Admiral Karl Donitz, brought fear to the local communities. A Standard oil tanker sank just sixty miles from Cape Hatteras. The U-85 was the first U-boat sunk by American surface forces, and local divers later discovered a rare Enigma machine aboard. Author Jim Bunch traces the destructive history of world war on the shores of the Outer Banks.
