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Donitz only ordered the "total war" command after the U-boat that sank the Laconia (I think) was helping survivors, while a huge red cross was draped over the U-boat, then being attacked by a US bomber. This plane not only attacked the U-boat, but also killed the civilian passengers in 2 rescue boats. The U-boat commander risked his boat and the lives of his men. After the attack, then and only then did he issue that order. Out of necessity.
You, sir, are absolutely correct. The ship that was sunk was the Laconia. Dönitz only issued the order as a result of everything which transpired after the vessel sunk, and his submariners went in to rescue the vessel's survivors, and were still attacked by allied forces
Not only this but the submarine commander put a call out on open air waves knowing that it would be intercepted by allied command (hoping that the allies would come and help). He asked that any Uboats in the area help him rescue survivors. Two other Uboats, possibly more, answered the call and also flew the red cross attempting to help rescue survivors. On a side note, it was an American Liberator. It also circled the Uboats at low altitude allowing it to see that not only were the Uboats rescuing survivors, not shooting at the plane but also flying the Red Cross on their conning towers. After it circled them a few times, it began strafing them.
He was complying with the "Cruiser Rules" dictated by the treaty of Versailles which stated that a submarine had to allow the crew to stop and disembark into lifeboats before sinking their ship. I agree though, the guy that bombed the U-Boats that were trying to save people was an A-hole It's amazing how things often hinge on relatively small mistakes made by small people. Hitler never intended that the Luftwaff bomb London. It all started because one German bomber flown by a rookie flew off course.
The order not to assist survivors of sinkings was as a direct result of the "Laconia incidence " understandable when the actions of the Allies in that event are taken into account.
Perhaps more prosaically, it would be quite difficult to host a significant number of survivors of a ship into or on the deck of a type 7 sub, considering that such would have the battle capability of the sub rendered zero until the survivors were passed onto shore some couple of weeks later.
@@charlesrousseau6837 Correct. In this instance the submarine captain radioed for help and promised not to attack any vessel that might come to help. But instead the allies sent out a bomber to attack the sub. Because of this the order was given not to assist survivers of sinkings as it put the survival of the u boat and its crew at risk.
It's interesting that one of the people brought in regards to Donitz's orders about unrestricted submarine warfare. Chester Nimitz had to defend him saying that the U.S submarines operating in the Pacific were under the same orders. Nimitz himself spending part of his early navy career in submarines.
Donitz was doing his job, stopping war supplies from reaching England. Our submarine fleet did the same thing to Japan with the same goal, make them surrender.
Definitely He was a Very Accomplished Man with a very High intelligence Level too go with His Eventual success in His Naval Career. Thank You for Sharing this Documentary on Him.
Donitz and my grandfather were close colleagues and friends in Aumühle after the war. My grandfather served as a chief engineer on various ammo/transport ships during WW2. He was technically a civilian. It sucks my grandfather died when I was too young to care and pump him for information on such a significant figure such as Karl Donitz.
I know it sucks. I wish I could have a chance to talk to my grandmother's family but they were all gassed in Treblinka within 30 min from arrival from Warsaw's ghetto. But first everything was stolen from them, they were terrorized and humiliated. The german shit killed also my grandmother's niece, she was 4 years old. Those who did just followed orders.
Bet your Grandfather would be interesting, my Uncles never said much about WW2. One got shot at & missed, the other one got shot up and hit several times. He was the cool one & joked around about getting shrapnel in his back & losing his bird finger.
As a man who gave his life and two sons in the 39-45 war, Karl Doenitz was only one man who was there at the time to take on his duties. Many British officers did the same thing in India and many parts of Africa, the Sudan and South Africa to name but teo.
Sharing your research about Adm. Donitz is appreciated. He was a fine sailor an was also one who was respected for his naval warfare skills. Thank you.
@@BCSoHappyThere were no children on merchant ships transporting military hardware. Only sailors. They didn’t target ferries and hospital ships either, Uboat commanders and sailors were not cruel.
57:45 German u-boats would pick up prisoners and in one case German U-boat captain pickup hundreds of people from a ship that had sunk, with people inside the submarine and outside, preventing it from diving The U-boat captain even called on the radio on a open channel for other vessels to help In The rescue but the US air forces chose to attacked the German U-boat nevertheless and after that incident Dönitz gave orders to not pick up survivors their after.
That was the infamous Laconia Incident in late 1942 where U-156 picked up survivors from the ship RMS Laconia which was transporting Italian prisoners of war. Saving the survivors of sunken ships was discouraged by this point in the war, in fact Germans submarines were violating the Cruiser Rules by attacking civilian merchant ships without warning. This incident reaffirmed Doenitz's position on the matter.
According to war journalist James P O' Donnell in his book "The Berlin Bunker" Hitler only started inquiring about Donitz after he felt betrayed by his generals when Stiener didn't initiate the counter offensive to liberate Berlin because at that time he seldom trusted anyone in his inner circle after Himmler and Goring's betrayal so he opted to give the only military commander who wasn't involved in the politics of the Reich the Presidency in his final will and testament which was typed by Martin Bormann in the bunker and not because Donitz's Nazi affiliation
And Goebbels was #3 in line until after both Goering and Himmler pissed Hitler off. I can't believe they missed/neglected that part, as it's common knowledge among WWII geeks.
@@cpfs936 recall a Hitler quote asking one of his secretary's to "rack your brains" for a successor in or around 1943. Nobody was ever going to be up to Hitler's personal standards of leadership especially late in the War. But obviously by April 29, 1945 Hitler had no illusions that any of these leadership roles that he put in his Last Will would be acceptable. The most surprised man in the world was Donitz himself, and it probably earned him 10 years at Spandau Prison.
Karl Donitz was NOT a Nazi ; in fact he refused ever to give the Nazi salute and always used the naval one ; there is a famous picture of Hitler inspecting Battleship Bismarck and Doenitz giving the naval salute while others around him gave the nazi one .
I wonder how many lives were spared on both sides by Admiral Karl Dönitz when he as the Reich President surrendered to the Allies? He was a sailor that took orders and served his country. I honestly feel that he should not have been tried for war crimes let alone having to serve time in prison.
Watched from Jamaica thou far away from the front yet Donitz's hands were felt here. His U-boats patroled our waters sank and damage ships. One particular ship(I believe it's name was the Web Star) that was sank, the crew was aided by submariners and after giving them a loaf of bread a ship crew looked on the lable and say that it was from Huntinson Barkery, Cross Road, Kingston, Jamaica! Those U-boat crew would secretly come ashore and enjoy themselves. I know of one U-boat that was attacked and probeble sank off out east coast U-759 by US navy plane VP-32. and I know of another US navy squadron (VS-60) that attacked 2 sub while based at Vernam Field (Jamaica). I think he was treaded fairly.
Submarine warfare had already certainly made enough of an impact even before the second world war... to the point where back in 1919, the US government decided to purchase several Caribbean islands from the Dutch, and is how the United States Virgin islands came to be. Obviously there were numerous different reasons which motivated the decision for them doing it, but initially in the very beginning, the primary purpose behind the US acquisition of these little islands was so they could construct military (especially naval) installations, and could be used both as a sort of defensive position (along with several other places throughout the area), as well as a place with which they could execute launch/recovery, refuel/rearm/resupply, maintenance/repair, etc operations of US naval vessels, especially submarines. I actually used to work at & live near the former naval (submarine) facilities, down by the main harbor on the southern coast of St. Thomas. And although it hasn't been an actual active US navy yard/installation for many years now, to this day, all of the locals & anyone else who knows the area still refer to it just as "sub base"
Donitz is an interesting person to study. Since he shows many of the weaknesses of the Germany Navy, which in my opinion was still looking at WW1 and using older obsolete ideas. He did as well he could with his U-Boats. He a good group of well trained officers and men at the start of the war, but no real reserves. Like the Japanese Naval Aviators. By 1994, the old-U-boats that started the war were obsolete. It was waste to continue to send them on patrols with an almost zero chance to survive. I suspect he knew more about the slave labor camps and other activities then was brought out at Nuremburg. He was lucky to get only 10 years, but it helped he had the best lawyer of all the defendants.
He also sent daily messages to all his boats at sea as he likewise loved his men. The allies were able to break the naval enigma code in no small part due to that. Some Uboat skippers figured it out and stopped replying. Once the boat replied the allies could pinpoint the boat's location even before they broke the naval enigma. This may all be mentioned. Still watching so who knows haha.
the brittish code crackers "anchor" was was north east west south weather etc and so on in a decending scale of importance. Also the german dictionary of words in decending order. They only used statistical methods when cracking.
through the years I never heared a documentary about USA intelligence in these years... what did they achieve if anything basic? No the brittish really fought this war well on all fronts. Nothing to complain about. Also ASDIC needed to be mounted on the vessels to hunt uboats. ( you know this from the movies ) But this is the problem of superpowers ... you think that you have a great design , and you field them in numbers .... then things change .... the cost to replace them with a brand new design is too high. So you modify the vehicles you got. And in this case fielding as much ASDIC as you possibly can in a hurry. the destroyers were desired everywhere by commanders so they might not be there but the corvettes sure was .... so usually mathematically the destroyers be ahead and on the flanks and the corvettes further back since once the uboat dowe underneath finally the corvettes could catch up. But the destroyers were desirable and maybe the formation was only denfended by corvettes. Germans note so many uboat crews died what about allied crews?
@@madgavin7568 This is a specious argument. While Grossadmiral Doenitz did adhere to the policies of the NSDAP, there is no evidence that he was ever a party member and he achieved all of his promotions in rank through military proficiency rather than political influence. In fact, it was contrary to law in the Reich for serving members of the Wehrmacht to hold NSDAP membership. Along the same lines, have you researched the political sympathies of senior Allied military officers such as Field Marshal Montgomery, General Eisenhower, Admiral Nimitz or Marshal of the RAF Sir Arthur Harris? What of Marshal Georgy Zhukov of Stalin's Red Army? Is there any possibility he may have harboured communist beliefs or sympathies? Standards which are not applied equally are not really standards at all.
Sorry, but the Royal Oak was not off Scapa Flow, she was inside Scapa Flow at anchor. U 47 penetrated the harbor, sank a battleship and escaped. Actually quite a feat.
Donitz is far more complex carecter and his men respected him for a good reson as they knew he cared and tryed his best for them,ironicly the german marine did not get as much of a bad wrap as the other branches of the german milletery
Haha, slave labour (Italian POW's) were used in South Africa, by the British, to build roads and mountain passes. So WHILE the British were doing that, they accused the Germans of the same thing.
Not only this but the submarine commander put a call out on open air waves knowing that it would be intercepted by allied command (hoping that the allies would come and help). He asked that any Uboats in the area help him rescue survivors. Two other Uboats, possibly more, answered the call and also flew the red cross attempting to help rescue survivors. On a side note, it was an American Liberator. It also circled the Uboats at low altitude allowing it to see that not only were the Uboats rescuing survivors, not shooting at the plane but also flying the Red Cross on their conning towers. After it circled them a few times, it began strafing them.
This 'biography' of Karl Doenitz is at best marginal. It is riddled with inaccuracies and omissions. In fact, there are so many issues, I don't know where to begin. This comment is not meant to defend or condemn him, but rather to clear up some of the mistakes here. The narrator claims that Doenitz committed war crimes by attacking civilian and neutral shipping. While he very well gave orders to that affect, so did Admiral Chester Nimitz, who in fact appeared at Nuremberg to testify on the behalf of Doenitz, stating that he himself issued similar orders of unrestricted submarine warfare. Also it should be noted, if attempting to blockade Britain and starve the British into submission was a war crime, then why have the British never been held to that standard when they did the same to Germany during WW1 when countless people starved as a result of deploying the same methods? Furthermore, Admiral Erich Raeder was not fired, he resigned as a consequence of Hitler's incompetence and constant meddling in Raeder's affairs. Raeder kept insisting on the expansion of German naval surface forces by building not only battleships, but also aircraft carriers. A fact that didn't sit well with Goering, who saw all of Germany's air forces his exclusive domain and did not approve of Raeder's control over a separate naval air force and Hitler sided with Goering and kept reallocating valuable raw materials to other projects such as monstrous size tanks and field artillery, which did absolutely nothing to win the war. All of these disagreements eventually led Erich Raeder to throw in the towel and he resigned. There are a number of other mistakes and/or omissions, but naming them all would mean I'd have to write a novel here, so I'll leave it at this
@@patxiotsoaIt is because they didn’t get trialed. If you want to show that you have the moral high ground, you have to be perfect in that role. These trials were more about the winning side bullying the losing side regarding Dönitz to the point that the jury made bullshit regarding the RMS Laconia incident and tried to get him hanged because of that. They got called out on their own bullshit and the best they could do is 10 years in prison for Dönitz after that. Imagine being the « democratic » good side while having a rigged jury 😂
@@patxiotsoa while condemming others, it is reasonable to take ones own actions into account. When doing a "documentary" about how evil germany was in ww2, it would be befitting to compare that to the evil that the allies did.
According to war journalist James P O' Donnell in his book "The Berlin Bunker" Hitler only started inquiring about Donitz after he felt betrayed by his generals when Stiener didn't initiate the counter offensive to liberate Berlin because at that time he seldom trusted anyone in his inner circle after Himmler and Goring's betrayal so he opted to give the only military commander who wasn't involved in the politics of the Reich the Presidency in his final will and testament which was typed by Martin Bormann in the bunker and not because Donitz's Nazi affiliation. As a man, who gave his life and two sons in the 39-45 war, Karl Doenitz; was only one man who was there at the time to take on his duties. Many British officers did the same thing in India and many parts of Africa, the Sudan and South Africa to name few. best wishes Aijaz from Pakistan
my dad was in the british merchant navy, carrying 17,000 tonnes of munitions, cross the atlantic, then the med to resupply monty. he survived lots did not. some ppl say the canandian converted fishing boats turned the tide. not so the british destroyers got radar and sonar. and got an enigma machine.
Those men are unsung heroes and your Dad was very brave. If you watch documentaries like "Victory at Sea", you"ll see examples of the atrocious conditions they had to fight in, in the North Atlantic. Ships tossed by waves hundred feet high and coated with ice. Torpedoed ships spilled flaming oil and men into that oil in the sea. So in a freezing sea, men essentially burned to death or escaped and froze to death. Horrible.
My uncle was in the German navy. He retired to France. He said in the navy his two armpits helped him retire early. Momma explained it to me. But my uncle seemed happy with the 5 navy men he lived with on that ship in the harbor.
In early 1940 Karl Doenitz with his U-boot has successfully created big problems in Atlantik. Hundreds of British cargo ships, merchant ships and particularly tanker ships have been sunk during the legendary “Battle of Atlntic”. Until Winston Churchill the British PM expressed that he was so frightened by U-boot menace
He should have been more frightened by his so called ally, Stalin, what a mistake. We still have Russia pointing nuclear weapons at us today! I have a very low opinion of what the Allie’s did since 1918, they made a mess of everything, and claimed they know what they were doing. Bologna! 🤣
The most sad thing about Carl Dønitz beside the fact he nearly drowned in world war 1 when the uboat he served on was bombed out of the water - but what i mean is that the way he tried to manage and control the uboat fleet by demanding them to report back to base quiet often by radio without not ever suspects the enigma code maschine was breached already in the year of late 1942 by the team at blechy park - the system briefly was working without the allied could listen with becauce the germans exspanded the enigma kode maschine with 2 ekstra wheels making the coding more safe but some time in 1943 it was able to read the messages from Dønitz to the uboat and from the uboat back to the navy headquater making it possible to trace the boats and sink them rather effective - if the uboats had secret messages on papers it would have been safer overall - maybe the only person not to see that was Dønits
From May 43 to May 45 german uboats went to a New stage that Dönitz himself called total undersea war. Equipped with schnorkels uboats hid in the shallow waters around Britain and the US East Coast. They could stay under water for up to 70 days. Uboats lost to airpatrols dropped dramatically and blechley park had less material to work with since uboats became almost radio silent
The Germans did the same, but just not on the scale the Allies did. Rotterdam bombing was an outrage at the time, but the German's already bombed civilians in the Spanish Civil War.
Dönitz deserved what he got. It is tragic that the Allies at the end of the war for political reasons didn't focus enough world attention on the Holocaust and crimes against the Jews and Romani. This was due to them wanting to shift focus on the cold war and Stalin. It is unfortunate. I think Dönitz does fall into the category more of Rommel as someone devoted more toward excellence as a military strategist than on Nazi ideology. Rommel pushed back against Hitler and Nazi antisemitism whereas Dönitz did not. I think Dönitz was treated fairly as stated in the video he did bring a swift end to the war when he found himself in a position to do so after the death of Dr. Goebells...
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Professional class A research project!!! Donitz down fall was his stupidity/arrogance failing to grasp 👊 the fact that Bletchley park's code breakers. Did just that/ broke the enigma code. Not to mention the fact he didn't have enough submarines. To cut ✂ off Britain's supply line for survival. Along with advancements in sonar/convoy escorts after 1942 the Uboat advantage quickly deteriorated.
It is not at all strange that Hitler became so popular. When you study the Versailles treaty and the impact it had on the German population, it has to be clear that anyone who took action against this treaty would become a hero with the masses. You also have to take into account that Jews were not generally liked in all of Europe before WWII. I'm old enough to have spoken with people from that era and this anti Jews sentiment was quite common.
Carl, as with so many others in the German military, was a brilliant Officer, dedicated to his country and people. Erwin Rommel was sentenced to death by Hitler. For opposing Hitler on the camps killing and being falsely accused of joining the underground plotting his assassination. Hitler killed 84 of his own Officers before destroying Germany and Europe. He created an atmosphere that so many would be blamed for his actions. The military was under orders, as any veteran knows what can happen when you disobey orders. It is all very tragic but the Nazi Party was fighting Communists in the streets before Hitler came to power. Now, the world is again fighting Communists infiltrating many governments including America.
Love this channel and thank you! However, I don't want ads, or a "quick word from x and y" please. I already pay RUclips premium specifically so videos I watch are not interrupted. Thanks 👍
War is war. He clearly wasn’t doing anything about land based atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. He served time. Can you imagine if the allies lost the war, what penalty would be given to the man who dropped nuclear weapons in Japan? Or the us officials running the concentration camps in American soil for Japanese people? War is a horrible occurrence and neither side of ww2 was innocent in that regard. The Russians, the western allies, Italy, Japan, everyone committed atrocities. We only hear about one side as history is written by the victors.
Last day before he surrended when he arrived at his office 2 young guards were missing and had gone home to their mothers. He ordered their arrest and they were court mashaled and executed the same day al 1:02:23 l on Donets orders Nice guy. All totally legal. When questioned about the incident he said "i'd sent to many good men to their death to let those two deserters live"
These documentaries always leave out how the Poles played a crucial role in cracking the enigma code. The British always seem like they want all the credit.
I am a firm believer that had donitz gotten the 300 u boats he asked for and the enigma not been compromised , the war would have went a very different way. Before you correct me on the number of U-boats I wrote know I am just estimating. Donitz didn't receive close to the amount he wanted
Even had he got that many subs and had maintained secrecy, the U-boots were slow. Once the convoys could be escorted by aircraft carriers and as SONAR and antisub weapons improved, the effectiveness of U-boot warfare dropped off substantially. The war would have been extended probably and then Germany just might have received their own unwanted atom bomb.
Yeah, but then Hitler would have had to give up some of his beloved Tiger tanks, which ate up steel resources like crazy! Not to mention fuel. C'mon! Behemoth tanks can be SEEN! And HEARD! Not like those sneaky subs which wouldn't inspire ANYbody! Gotta have showmanship!
@@fazole the only reason the u boat effectiveness stopped was because the allies had the code book. Everytime a uboat surfaced and gave a weather report their position was instantly triangulated. So them being slow meant nothing. The allies were on the verge of stopping the convoys but the code book and enigma were recovered from a uboat. Thats why I said if the enigma wasn't compromised it could have changed the war. Underwater sonar technology In WW2 was years away from being decently effective.
@@lokensga they say Hitler had almost no knowledge of naval doctrine and avoided it as much as he could. In reality he was just a corporal in the infantry. If he listened to Donitz and didn't omvade Russia he could have had all of europe
Informative documentary coverage video about Donits print fingers through leading Nazism nevagation efforts .especially submarines weapons ...he became 3rd Riech Chancellor ....in last times of Nazism regimes period...thanks for sharing
Not quite accurate regarding Donitz succession to Hitler. When President Hindenburg died in 1934 Hitler, who was already Chancellor, assumed the duties of President as well. Hitler appointed Donitz as President and Goebbles as Chancellor, thereby reestablishing the old model. With Goebbles suicide on May 1, 1945, Donitz assumed the powers of Chancellor more or less by default. Not that it really mattered much. Donitz was not, however, named as Goebbles successor by Hitler in his will.
In war you do whats needed. The alies also blockaded the resource shipping to germany. They also killed millions of suviliens in ar raids. The even sank a u boat that carried hundreds of alied survivors, but none of those people were on trail.
I truly feel that Karl Donitz was a soldier and not a politician. I don't think he was in anyway involved in the holocaust. He did bring the war to a swift end,and this could be the reason he was given a funeral with full military honor 🎖 upon his passing.
I think Karl Donitz had plausible deniability I am surprised the allies were able to make the charges stick, beyond reasonable doubt. When he became the German Chancellor he should of retracted all War Crimes breaches.
A fantastic piece....ive never heard of him until i saw this......i think his punishment of 10 years was fair only due to the fact that he was a dog of war following orders...
This argument is always made. But I don’t think anyone alive now can actually understand the mindset of world leaders after 6 years of total war. The case was made at the time that Hiroshima Was a legitimate target because of the factories with in the city. I myself am personally of the opinion that thousands were dying every day and Anything that could Stop it was a good and necessary thing
@@davidhatton583 The Joint Chiefs told Truman it would have taken 1.5 million US GIs to invade and conquer Japan, because they believe every Japanese civilian would be fighting in the streets, they estimated at least 750,000 GIs would die in this scenerio. Truman had no appetite for that. So they went the route of the bomb.
Doenitz was never Chancellor, as stated early on in this film; he was the nominated head of state; the chancellor after Hitler was (briefly) Goebbels, and then - in fact if not in title - Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk.
Karl Dönitz knew that he did not have enough submarines to defeat UK or prevent Baltic Fleet or Black Sea Fleet from defending Sevastopol or Leningrad. Reason why he went along with it was his personal ambition and possibly believe that Luftwaffe and Heer could cover what the Kriegsmarine lacked.
Good documentary but completely left out that he became a leader in the post war Bundesmarine and was very much respected by his men. History is written by the victor- imagine the war trials of ‘Bomber Harries’ and others killing civilians…
It is not menthioned that during the Nuremberg trails, US Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz signed a declaration stating that Admiral Donitz acted under the rules of engagement and did not commit any war crime. Donitz once in position as leader of the German country made great efforts in order to save as many lives as possible moving his troops and civilians west to the US and British front. Their is no doubt that hes was a very interesting actor of WWII and therefore he received the last recognition at his funeral.
While Chester Nimitz did advise allied prosecutors that the USN did often resort to harsh measures in the Pacific, but only after multiple incidents of Japanese sailors being rescued and then detonating grenades onboard US subs, or attempting to kill US sub crew. Here are the only two documented instances of the SAME British RN sub commander being reprimanded for killing sinking survivors HMSub Torbay (Lt Comm Anthony Miers) 4th July 1941 , unnamed Cretan schooner (~50 tons) 36'01N,23'06E HMSub Torbay (Lt Comm Anthony Miers) 4th July 1941 , unnamed Cretan schooner (~50 tons) 35.43N,23.12E His actions on the 4th & 9th July 1941 at resulted in Torbay's commander (Lt Com Anthony Miers) being severely reprimanded and ordered to cease such actions by Adm Max Horton. The are a larger (but still a relatively small number) of incidents of German U-boats gunning survivors, U-37 (KL Victor Oehrn) 23 August 1940, British ship "Severn Leigh" (5242grt) 54'31'N,25'41W U-552 (KL Erich Topp) 3 March 1942, US ship "David H. Atwater"(2428grt) 37'57N, 75'10W U-126 (KL Ernst Bauer) 8 March 1942 Panamanian Tanker "Esso Bolivar" (10389grt) 19'38N,74'38W U-172 (KL Carl Emmermann) 24 June 1942 Colombian Sailing Vessel "Resolute"(35grt)13'15N,80'30W U-754(KL Johanns Oestermann) 28 July 1942 US Fishing Vessel "Ebb"(259grt) 43'18N,63'50W U-852(KL Heinz-Wilhelm Eck) 13 March 1944 Hellenic Steamship "Peleus"(4695grt) 02'00S,10'00W U-532(FK Ottoheinrich Junker) 27 March 1944 British Ship "Tulagi"(228grt) 11'00S,78'40E the most egregious of which (known as the "Peleus incident" and committed by the U-852 (KptLt Eck) resulted in the post war execution of Eck and two of his crew members for the massacre of 33 survivors. The war in the pacific was FAR harsher on survivors of sinkings with both US & Japanese captains far more likely to kill defenceless survivors.
I had an idea to open a chain of Donut shops called "Karl's Donuts", but I couldn't get any funding. I was going to sell Sinkers and Luftwaffles. I still think it was a great idea.
Just my humble opinion, but I think Hitler chose him as successor, not only because he trusted Doenitz, but also, that Hitler thought the U-boat leader was the only person left that could save what was left of Germany from the Soviets and negotiate whatever was left with the allies.
Raeder wasn't sacked - he insisted on retirement against Hitler's wishes; although if Hitler had wanted to insist he remain, it would have been impossible for him to do anything else. In that respect only, he could be said to have been dismissed. Doenitz did not succed Goebbels, he succeeded Hitler - Goebbels was never head of state. As for whether he was treated leniently or not - it's a bit late now to get worked up about it, but compared with comparable war crimes by the Russians, and, arguably, the blanket bombing of Hamburg, Wurzburg and Dresden, there was at least an element of victor's justice, even if his defence didn't really stand up on the 'just obeying orders' front. This was a good documentary - pronunciation of German names correct, for once, and so far as I'm any judge, broadly accurate. The inaccuracies aren't that important, but still need correction.
I believe sadly that Doneitz was perhaps entirely reasonable in his submission that the two deserters face the ultimate penalty, no matter the war was at an end
3:08 it is just strange as an American to see my country’s military 110 years back right there, and then compare it to to now . Just pretty wild how far we have come. NATO❤
Dönitz...Yeah. During the war, German submarines sank all kinds of merchant ships. They only made an exception for the ships of Aristotle Onassis... Why?... After the war, the US Congress began an investigation into this strange fact. Two months after the investigation began, it was abruptly terminated, without fanfare or explanation.
Another military blunder: Hitler had no Naval force of any serious consequences. Wolf submarine forces disrupted British shipping however that is far from, conversely, the British juggernaut naval forces of 1938-45.
"Warcrimes" says the man who ignores maritime law, a ship at sea is a ship at war, when you use "civillian" liners to transport military material you open your civilian shipping to attack. The NSDAP is guilty of a lot but calling standard maritime war actions as war crimes smacks of "Victor writing the history" not proper historical analysis.
"Starve the civilian population by attacking shipping" yeah and we weren't doing that with the fire bombing of civilian targets? Jesus people, would it kill you not to try and make every firgue from regimes you dislike into a comic book villain? History is far more complex than black and white descriptions.
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@C L it's just a disgusting robot voice you dits
I prefer the "Warmongerer" webtoon.
juss sayin'.
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😢😮😢😢😢😊😮😮😮😮🎉😮@Donnell Okafor😢😢😢 😢😮🎉🎉😢
@Donnell Okafor 😊zz😊😊😊
Donitz only ordered the "total war" command after the U-boat that sank the Laconia (I think) was helping survivors, while a huge red cross was draped over the U-boat, then being attacked by a US bomber. This plane not only attacked the U-boat, but also killed the civilian passengers in 2 rescue boats. The U-boat commander risked his boat and the lives of his men. After the attack, then and only then did he issue that order. Out of necessity.
You, sir, are absolutely correct. The ship that was sunk was the Laconia. Dönitz only issued the order as a result of everything which transpired after the vessel sunk, and his submariners went in to rescue the vessel's survivors, and were still attacked by allied forces
Not only this but the submarine commander put a call out on open air waves knowing that it would be intercepted by allied command (hoping that the allies would come and help).
He asked that any Uboats in the area help him rescue survivors. Two other Uboats, possibly more, answered the call and also flew the red cross attempting to help rescue survivors.
On a side note, it was an American Liberator. It also circled the Uboats at low altitude allowing it to see that not only were the Uboats rescuing survivors, not shooting at the plane but also flying the Red Cross on their conning towers. After it circled them a few times, it began strafing them.
Thanks for that information, never heard that before. Amazing how 1 titbit of information changes everything
@ssmerican
He was complying with the "Cruiser Rules" dictated by the treaty of Versailles which stated that a submarine had to allow the crew to stop and disembark into lifeboats before sinking their ship. I agree though, the guy that bombed the U-Boats that were trying to save people was an A-hole It's amazing how things often hinge on relatively small mistakes made by small people. Hitler never intended that the Luftwaff bomb London. It all started because one German bomber flown by a rookie flew off course.
The order not to assist survivors of sinkings was as a direct result of the "Laconia incidence " understandable when the actions of the Allies in that event are taken into account.
Perhaps more prosaically, it would be quite difficult to host a significant number of survivors of a ship into or on the deck of a type 7 sub, considering that such would have the battle capability of the sub rendered zero until the survivors were passed onto shore some couple of weeks later.
@@charlesrousseau6837 Correct. In this instance the submarine captain radioed for help and promised not to attack any vessel that might come to help. But instead the allies sent out a bomber to attack the sub.
Because of this the order was given not to assist survivers of sinkings as it put the survival of the u boat and its crew at risk.
It's interesting that one of the people brought in regards to Donitz's orders about unrestricted submarine warfare. Chester Nimitz had to defend him saying that the U.S submarines operating in the Pacific were under the same orders. Nimitz himself spending part of his early navy career in submarines.
Very true and nice that an American stepped up to defend him.
@@dorienberteletti2129 ĺ
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Donitz was doing his job, stopping war supplies from reaching England. Our submarine fleet did the same thing to Japan with the same goal, make them surrender.
He was a wwi hero and kept the u boot service honorable
He was a true man.
Our? Only Americans can watch this?
@@chrissmith3509 🙄🤡
@@chrissmith3509 relax I’m sure he/she didn’t mean that. Allied would have been a better word.
@@chrissmith3509 stop being a cry bee otch U know exactly what that person was saying
Definitely He was a Very Accomplished Man with a very High intelligence Level too go with His Eventual success in His Naval Career.
Thank You for Sharing this Documentary on Him.
Your videos are so well searched and narrated! Thanks for them!
Greatest work
Thanks. Been waiting for doenitzs videos by you for almost a year. Good job.
Hard to get history without judgement. As Sgt. Joe Friday would say, “Just the facts ma’am “. Thanks!
Donitz and my grandfather were close colleagues and friends in Aumühle after the war. My grandfather served as a chief engineer on various ammo/transport ships during WW2. He was technically a civilian. It sucks my grandfather died when I was too young to care and pump him for information on such a significant figure such as Karl Donitz.
😅😊
That's life mon cher.
I know it sucks. I wish I could have a chance to talk to my grandmother's family but they were all gassed in Treblinka within 30 min from arrival from Warsaw's ghetto. But first everything was stolen from them, they were terrorized and humiliated. The german shit killed also my grandmother's niece, she was 4 years old. Those who did just followed orders.
Bet your Grandfather would be interesting, my Uncles never said much about WW2. One got shot at & missed, the other one got shot up and hit several times. He was the cool one & joked around about getting shrapnel in his back & losing his bird finger.
@@nikkiboyer8971Shrek Face reaction image
As a man who gave his life and two sons in the 39-45 war, Karl Doenitz was only one man who was there at the time to take on his duties. Many British officers did the same thing in India and many parts of Africa, the Sudan and South Africa to name but teo.
Sharing your research about Adm. Donitz is appreciated. He was a fine sailor an was also one who was respected for his naval warfare skills. Thank you.
Well, he should be. It isn’t every man who is strong enough to sink ships with civilians, children, no way to defend themselves
@@BCSoHappyif the americans didnt filled those ships with weapons that would have never happened
@@BCSoHappyThere were no children on merchant ships transporting military hardware. Only sailors. They didn’t target ferries and hospital ships either, Uboat commanders and sailors were not cruel.
57:45 German u-boats would pick up prisoners and in one case German U-boat captain pickup hundreds of people from a ship that had sunk, with people inside the submarine and outside, preventing it from diving
The U-boat captain even called on the radio on a open channel for other vessels to help In The rescue but the US air forces chose to attacked the German U-boat nevertheless and after that incident Dönitz gave orders to not pick up survivors their after.
That was the infamous Laconia Incident in late 1942 where U-156 picked up survivors from the ship RMS Laconia which was transporting Italian prisoners of war. Saving the survivors of sunken ships was discouraged by this point in the war, in fact Germans submarines were violating the Cruiser Rules by attacking civilian merchant ships without warning. This incident reaffirmed Doenitz's position on the matter.
Very Interesting! UBoat picking up survivors, deliberately attacked, resulting in Uniate command forbids u-boat from picking up survivors
I think Karl Donitz was a miltary man of the highest honor. He did the same thing the Allies did. The man lost two sonsw in this war.
the highest honor?? pfffft. odd thing to say about a committed nazi.
@@c7flat13 He was not politically active but strictly a military man. Were the admirals in Staliin's navy
not all committed communists?
@@jacksonreilly3441 no. not necessarily.
@@c7flat13 He did what was ordered of him just like any GI in Iraq.
@@jacksonreilly3441 Stalin killed or removed his generals, promoted only colonels that were devoted commies.
According to war journalist James P O' Donnell in his book "The Berlin Bunker" Hitler only started inquiring about Donitz after he felt betrayed by his generals when Stiener didn't initiate the counter offensive to liberate Berlin because at that time he seldom trusted anyone in his inner circle after Himmler and Goring's betrayal so he opted to give the only military commander who wasn't involved in the politics of the Reich the Presidency in his final will and testament which was typed by Martin Bormann in the bunker and not because Donitz's Nazi affiliation
I've always thought it odd that it would be a Naval Officer who would be appointed as the last leader of Nazi Germany 🇩🇪
That’s a good post. It was certainly a slap at the Wehrmacht leadership.
And Goebbels was #3 in line until after both Goering and Himmler pissed Hitler off. I can't believe they missed/neglected that part, as it's common knowledge among WWII geeks.
@@cpfs936 recall a Hitler quote asking one of his secretary's to "rack your brains" for a successor in or around 1943. Nobody was ever going to be up to Hitler's personal standards of leadership especially late in the War. But obviously by April 29, 1945 Hitler had no illusions that any of these leadership roles that he put in his Last Will would be acceptable. The most surprised man in the world was Donitz himself, and it probably earned him 10 years at Spandau Prison.
Karl Donitz was NOT a Nazi ; in fact he refused ever to give the Nazi salute and always used the naval one ; there is a famous picture of Hitler inspecting Battleship Bismarck and Doenitz giving the naval salute while others around him gave the nazi one .
I wonder how many lives were spared on both sides by Admiral Karl Dönitz when he as the Reich President surrendered to the Allies? He was a sailor that took orders and served his country. I honestly feel that he should not have been tried for war crimes let alone having to serve time in prison.
Watched from Jamaica thou far away from the front yet Donitz's hands were felt here. His U-boats patroled our waters sank and damage ships. One particular ship(I believe it's name was the Web Star) that was sank, the crew was aided by submariners and after giving them a loaf of bread a ship crew looked on the lable and say that it was from Huntinson Barkery, Cross Road, Kingston, Jamaica! Those U-boat crew would secretly come ashore and enjoy themselves. I know of one U-boat that was attacked and probeble sank off out east coast U-759 by US navy plane VP-32. and I know of another US navy squadron (VS-60) that attacked 2 sub while based at Vernam Field (Jamaica). I think he was treaded fairly.
The U-Boats probably had their greatest success in the Caribbean.
Submarine warfare had already certainly made enough of an impact even before the second world war... to the point where back in 1919, the US government decided to purchase several Caribbean islands from the Dutch, and is how the United States Virgin islands came to be. Obviously there were numerous different reasons which motivated the decision for them doing it, but initially in the very beginning, the primary purpose behind the US acquisition of these little islands was so they could construct military (especially naval) installations, and could be used both as a sort of defensive position (along with several other places throughout the area), as well as a place with which they could execute launch/recovery, refuel/rearm/resupply, maintenance/repair, etc operations of US naval vessels, especially submarines. I actually used to work at & live near the former naval (submarine) facilities, down by the main harbor on the southern coast of St. Thomas. And although it hasn't been an actual active US navy yard/installation for many years now, to this day, all of the locals & anyone else who knows the area still refer to it just as "sub base"
Donitz is an interesting person to study. Since he shows many of the weaknesses of the Germany Navy, which in my opinion was still looking at WW1 and using older obsolete ideas. He did as well he could with his U-Boats. He a good group of well trained officers and men at the start of the war, but no real reserves. Like the Japanese Naval Aviators. By 1994, the old-U-boats that started the war were obsolete. It was waste to continue to send them on patrols with an almost zero chance to survive. I suspect he knew more about the slave labor camps and other activities then was brought out at Nuremburg. He was lucky to get only 10 years, but it helped he had the best lawyer of all the defendants.
1944*
Another excellent video! Thanks!!👍
Adding the little I know , Dönitz was liked by the sea men, he also had a tendency to come and welcome u-boats from their mission.
He also sent daily messages to all his boats at sea as he likewise loved his men. The allies were able to break the naval enigma code in no small part due to that.
Some Uboat skippers figured it out and stopped replying. Once the boat replied the allies could pinpoint the boat's location even before they broke the naval enigma.
This may all be mentioned. Still watching so who knows haha.
@@joem3999 yes the brittish code crackers needed a larger statistical sample of words to work on.
The more radio traffic better for the code crackers.
the brittish code crackers "anchor" was was north east west south weather etc and so on in a decending scale of importance.
Also the german dictionary of words in decending order.
They only used statistical methods when cracking.
through the years I never heared a documentary about USA intelligence in these years... what did they achieve if anything basic?
No the brittish really fought this war well on all fronts. Nothing to complain about.
Also ASDIC needed to be mounted on the vessels to hunt uboats. ( you know this from the movies )
But this is the problem of superpowers ... you think that you have a great design , and you field them in numbers .... then things change .... the cost to replace them with a brand new design is too high. So you modify the vehicles you got. And in this case fielding as much ASDIC as you possibly can in a hurry.
the destroyers were desired everywhere by commanders so they might not be there but the corvettes sure was .... so usually mathematically the destroyers be ahead and on the flanks and the corvettes further back since once the uboat dowe underneath finally the corvettes could catch up. But the destroyers were desirable and maybe the formation was only denfended by corvettes. Germans note so many uboat crews died what about allied crews?
@@MajSolo At what point did I mention Americans or British or ANYONE else by name? I said "Allies" did I not?
It's ok to be proud, but not an idiot.
Thanks!
Thank you!
I always disagreed with Admiral Karl being charged for doing the same thing as the US and Britain did.
😂The US and Britain didn’t use slave labor to build their ships and ports and materials did they? Idiot.
@@Mike-tu7uw Semantics. If you wanted to eat you had to work.
@@BasementEngineer 😂 Wow. If you don’t want to be murdered you worked for the Nazis
Every country did the same crooked nasty shit. But the side that wins get to decide who was the bad guy
He was a loyal commander he deserves respect for that.
He was a hardcore Nazi.
@@raulm1961 So?
@@jacksonreilly3441 Really.. 6 million butchered men women and children
@@jacksonreilly3441 So it sullies his otherwise high reputation as a skilled naval commander.
@@madgavin7568 This is a specious argument. While Grossadmiral Doenitz did adhere to the policies of the
NSDAP, there is no evidence that he was ever a party member and he achieved all of his promotions in rank
through military proficiency rather than political influence. In fact, it was contrary to law in the Reich for
serving members of the Wehrmacht to hold NSDAP membership. Along the same lines, have you researched the
political sympathies of senior Allied military officers such as Field Marshal Montgomery, General Eisenhower,
Admiral Nimitz or Marshal of the RAF Sir Arthur Harris? What of Marshal Georgy Zhukov of Stalin's Red Army?
Is there any possibility he may have harboured communist beliefs or sympathies? Standards which are not
applied equally are not really standards at all.
Excellent video. At 55 and a history buff i didnt even know who he was.
Fantastic content, People Profiles! Thank you
this is one of the best WWII docs I've ever watched front to back.... Well done.
Excellent still-motion photography pictures. Enabling viewers to better understand what the orator is describing-!!!😉
Sorry, but the Royal Oak was not off Scapa Flow, she was inside Scapa Flow at anchor. U 47 penetrated the harbor, sank a battleship and escaped. Actually quite a feat.
This is the first and only "The People Profiles" video I've seen.
Bravo.
It is astounding what is absent: bullshit. Thank you.
The small hats have not yet spread their hate here
The regime was as crooked as a dog's hind leg, but there were men in service who actually seemed to have integrity and pride in what they were doing.
Donitz is far more complex carecter and his men respected him for a good reson as they knew he cared and tryed his best for them,ironicly the german marine did not get as much of a bad wrap as the other branches of the german milletery
I made a comment 1 hour before this got released asking for a video on the grand admiral ! Wow
Heavy losses of uboat because Donitz fail to aware that british captured their enigma machine
He served 10 years in prison.
He knowing approved of slave labor to build his U-boats. He was in no way an innocent.
Haha, slave labour (Italian POW's) were used in South Africa, by the British, to build roads and mountain passes. So WHILE the British were doing that, they accused the Germans of the same thing.
My father's boss, U-boot commander Ernst Jürgen Vanselow (1918-2006). My brother (Peter) and miself (Klaus) still alive and kicking...jeje😂
Not only this but the submarine commander put a call out on open air waves knowing that it would be intercepted by allied command (hoping that the allies would come and help).
He asked that any Uboats in the area help him rescue survivors. Two other Uboats, possibly more, answered the call and also flew the red cross attempting to help rescue survivors.
On a side note, it was an American Liberator. It also circled the Uboats at low altitude allowing it to see that not only were the Uboats rescuing survivors, not shooting at the plane but also flying the Red Cross on their conning towers. After it circled them a few times, it began strafing them.
Regarding war crimes and Grand Admiral Donitz: No. He carried out orders and commanded the Kreigsmarine to the best of his ability in war.
People think since this is a documentary, it must say 100% truthful things which is not the case. People tend to forget what critical thinking is.
This 'biography' of Karl Doenitz is at best marginal. It is riddled with inaccuracies and omissions. In fact, there are so many issues, I don't know where to begin. This comment is not meant to defend or condemn him, but rather to clear up some of the mistakes here. The narrator claims that Doenitz committed war crimes by attacking civilian and neutral shipping. While he very well gave orders to that affect, so did Admiral Chester Nimitz, who in fact appeared at Nuremberg to testify on the behalf of Doenitz, stating that he himself issued similar orders of unrestricted submarine warfare. Also it should be noted, if attempting to blockade Britain and starve the British into submission was a war crime, then why have the British never been held to that standard when they did the same to Germany during WW1 when countless people starved as a result of deploying the same methods? Furthermore, Admiral Erich Raeder was not fired, he resigned as a consequence of Hitler's incompetence and constant meddling in Raeder's affairs. Raeder kept insisting on the expansion of German naval surface forces by building not only battleships, but also aircraft carriers. A fact that didn't sit well with Goering, who saw all of Germany's air forces his exclusive domain and did not approve of Raeder's control over a separate naval air force and Hitler sided with Goering and kept reallocating valuable raw materials to other projects such as monstrous size tanks and field artillery, which did absolutely nothing to win the war. All of these disagreements eventually led Erich Raeder to throw in the towel and he resigned. There are a number of other mistakes and/or omissions, but naming them all would mean I'd have to write a novel here, so I'll leave it at this
I'm not sure that "the allies also committed war crimes" is exculpatory.
@@patxiotsoaIt is because they didn’t get trialed. If you want to show that you have the moral high ground, you have to be perfect in that role. These trials were more about the winning side bullying the losing side regarding Dönitz to the point that the jury made bullshit regarding the RMS Laconia incident and tried to get him hanged because of that. They got called out on their own bullshit and the best they could do is 10 years in prison for Dönitz after that. Imagine being the « democratic » good side while having a rigged jury 😂
@@patxiotsoa while condemming others, it is reasonable to take ones own actions into account. When doing a "documentary" about how evil germany was in ww2, it would be befitting to compare that to the evil that the allies did.
According to war journalist James P O' Donnell in his book "The Berlin Bunker" Hitler only started inquiring about Donitz after he felt betrayed by his generals when Stiener didn't initiate the counter offensive to liberate Berlin because at that time he seldom trusted anyone in his inner circle after Himmler and Goring's betrayal so he opted to give the only military commander who wasn't involved in the politics of the Reich the Presidency in his final will and testament which was typed by Martin Bormann in the bunker and not because Donitz's Nazi affiliation. As a man, who gave his life and two sons in the 39-45 war, Karl Doenitz; was only one man who was there at the time to take on his duties. Many British officers did the same thing in India and many parts of Africa, the Sudan and South Africa to name few.
best wishes Aijaz from Pakistan
I think some of his relatives have settled here in Australia, and have a shop called "Dunking Donutz"
The reason Dönitz was not executed was a letter from Admiral Chester Nimitz asking that he not receive the death penalty.
my dad was in the british merchant navy, carrying 17,000 tonnes of munitions, cross the atlantic, then the med to resupply monty. he survived lots did not. some ppl say the canandian converted fishing boats turned the tide. not so the british destroyers got radar and sonar. and got an enigma machine.
Those men are unsung heroes and your Dad was very brave. If you watch documentaries like "Victory at Sea", you"ll see examples of the atrocious conditions they had to fight in, in the North Atlantic. Ships tossed by waves hundred feet high and coated with ice. Torpedoed ships spilled flaming oil and men into that oil in the sea. So in a freezing sea, men essentially burned to death or escaped and froze to death. Horrible.
Admiral Donny a true naval officer lost two sons in the great war. Allies respected him. Hence he was shown leniency
My uncle was in the German navy. He retired to France. He said in the navy his two armpits helped him retire early. Momma explained it to me. But my uncle seemed happy with the 5 navy men he lived with on that ship in the harbor.
In early 1940 Karl Doenitz with his U-boot has successfully created big problems in Atlantik. Hundreds of British cargo ships, merchant ships and particularly tanker ships have been sunk during the legendary “Battle of Atlntic”. Until Winston Churchill the British PM expressed that he was so frightened by U-boot menace
He should have been more frightened by his so called ally, Stalin, what a mistake. We still have Russia pointing nuclear weapons at us today! I have a very low opinion of what the Allie’s did since 1918, they made a mess of everything, and claimed they know what they were doing. Bologna! 🤣
The most sad thing about Carl Dønitz beside the fact he nearly drowned in world war 1 when the uboat he served on was bombed out of the water - but what i mean is that the way he tried to manage and control the uboat fleet by demanding them to report back to base quiet often by radio without not ever suspects the enigma code maschine was breached already in the year of late 1942 by the team at blechy park - the system briefly was working without the allied could listen with becauce the germans exspanded the enigma kode maschine with 2 ekstra wheels making the coding more safe but some time in 1943 it was able to read the messages from Dønitz to the uboat and from the uboat back to the navy headquater making it possible to trace the boats and sink them rather effective - if the uboats had secret messages on papers it would have been safer overall - maybe the only person not to see that was Dønits
Wiah he had drowned with all the other nazis
Good luck getting a secret message on paper to a U-boat in the Atlantic
From May 43 to May 45 german uboats went to a New stage that Dönitz himself called total undersea war. Equipped with schnorkels uboats hid in the shallow waters around Britain and the US East Coast. They could stay under water for up to 70 days. Uboats lost to airpatrols dropped dramatically and blechley park had less material to work with since uboats became almost radio silent
The alies never considered unrestricted bombings on German cities like the nuclear bomb of japan a war crime
To the victors go the spoils.
The Germans did the same, but just not on the scale the Allies did. Rotterdam bombing was an outrage at the time, but the German's already bombed civilians in the Spanish Civil War.
but it was.
Dönitz deserved what he got. It is tragic that the Allies at the end of the war for political reasons didn't focus enough world attention on the Holocaust and crimes against the Jews and Romani. This was due to them wanting to shift focus on the cold war and Stalin. It is unfortunate. I think Dönitz does fall into the category more of Rommel as someone devoted more toward excellence as a military strategist than on Nazi ideology. Rommel pushed back against Hitler and Nazi antisemitism whereas Dönitz did not. I think Dönitz was treated fairly as stated in the video he did bring a swift end to the war when he found himself in a position to do so after the death of Dr. Goebells...
very excellent docu. thsank you for a great job. cheers from Greenland.
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Professional class A research project!!! Donitz down fall was his stupidity/arrogance failing to grasp 👊 the fact that Bletchley park's code breakers. Did just that/ broke the enigma code. Not to mention the fact he didn't have enough submarines. To cut ✂ off Britain's supply line for survival. Along with advancements in sonar/convoy escorts after 1942 the Uboat advantage quickly deteriorated.
It is not at all strange that Hitler became so popular. When you study the Versailles treaty and the impact it had on the German population, it has to be clear that anyone who took action against this treaty would become a hero with the masses. You also have to take into account that Jews were not generally liked in all of Europe before WWII. I'm old enough to have spoken with people from that era and this anti Jews sentiment was quite common.
great effort
Another superb bio.
Carl, as with so many others in the German military, was a brilliant Officer, dedicated to his country and people. Erwin Rommel was sentenced to death by Hitler. For opposing Hitler on the camps killing and being falsely accused of joining the underground plotting his assassination. Hitler killed 84 of his own Officers before destroying Germany and Europe. He created an atmosphere that so many would be blamed for his actions. The military was under orders, as any veteran knows what can happen when you disobey orders. It is all very tragic but the Nazi Party was fighting Communists in the streets before Hitler came to power. Now, the world is again fighting Communists infiltrating many governments including America.
Nazis and Commies both are radical left. And the leftists deny it.
Love this channel and thank you! However, I don't want ads, or a "quick word from x and y" please. I already pay RUclips premium specifically so videos I watch are not interrupted. Thanks 👍
Now you gotta do some Italian commanders in WW2
Can't find any.
War is war. He clearly wasn’t doing anything about land based atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. He served time.
Can you imagine if the allies lost the war, what penalty would be given to the man who dropped nuclear weapons in Japan? Or the us officials running the concentration camps in American soil for Japanese people?
War is a horrible occurrence and neither side of ww2 was innocent in that regard. The Russians, the western allies, Italy, Japan, everyone committed atrocities. We only hear about one side as history is written by the victors.
Last day before he surrended when he arrived at his office 2 young guards were missing and had gone home to their mothers. He ordered their arrest and they were court mashaled and executed the same day al 1:02:23 l on Donets orders Nice guy. All totally legal. When questioned about the incident he said "i'd sent to many good men to their death to let those two deserters live"
These documentaries always leave out how the Poles played a crucial role in cracking the enigma code. The British always seem like they want all the credit.
I am a firm believer that had donitz gotten the 300 u boats he asked for and the enigma not been compromised , the war would have went a very different way. Before you correct me on the number of U-boats I wrote know I am just estimating. Donitz didn't receive close to the amount he wanted
Even had he got that many subs and had maintained secrecy, the U-boots were slow. Once the convoys could be escorted by aircraft carriers and as SONAR and antisub weapons improved, the effectiveness of U-boot warfare dropped off substantially. The war would have been extended probably and then Germany just might have received their own unwanted atom bomb.
Yeah, but then Hitler would have had to give up some of his beloved Tiger tanks, which ate up steel resources like crazy! Not to mention fuel. C'mon! Behemoth tanks can be SEEN! And HEARD! Not like those sneaky subs which wouldn't inspire ANYbody! Gotta have showmanship!
@@fazole the only reason the u boat effectiveness stopped was because the allies had the code book. Everytime a uboat surfaced and gave a weather report their position was instantly triangulated. So them being slow meant nothing. The allies were on the verge of stopping the convoys but the code book and enigma were recovered from a uboat. Thats why I said if the enigma wasn't compromised it could have changed the war. Underwater sonar technology In WW2 was years away from being decently effective.
@@lokensga they say Hitler had almost no knowledge of naval doctrine and avoided it as much as he could. In reality he was just a corporal in the infantry. If he listened to Donitz and didn't omvade Russia he could have had all of europe
Thanks.
Great video!
Informative documentary coverage video about Donits print fingers through leading Nazism nevagation efforts .especially submarines weapons ...he became 3rd Riech Chancellor ....in last times of Nazism regimes period...thanks for sharing
Not quite accurate regarding Donitz succession to Hitler. When President Hindenburg died in 1934 Hitler, who was already Chancellor, assumed the duties of President as well. Hitler appointed Donitz as President and Goebbles as Chancellor, thereby reestablishing the old model. With Goebbles suicide on May 1, 1945, Donitz assumed the powers of Chancellor more or less by default. Not that it really mattered much. Donitz was not, however, named as Goebbles successor by Hitler in his will.
In war you do whats needed. The alies also blockaded the resource shipping to germany. They also killed millions of suviliens in ar raids. The even sank a u boat that carried hundreds of alied survivors, but none of those people were on trail.
I truly feel that Karl Donitz was a soldier and not a politician. I don't think he was in anyway involved in the holocaust. He did bring the war to a swift end,and this could be the reason he was given a funeral with full military honor 🎖 upon his passing.
I think Karl Donitz had plausible deniability I am surprised the allies were able to make the charges stick, beyond reasonable doubt.
When he became the German Chancellor he should of retracted all War Crimes breaches.
A fantastic piece....ive never heard of him until i saw this......i think his punishment of 10 years was fair only due to the fact that he was a dog of war following orders...
My view, Karl Dönitz: He was in it for the naval thing, not the political thing.
Hitler's successor though. He was definitely into the politics
@@destubae3271 you are not bright
@@music2872 Or you didn't watch this video and base your knowledge on assumptions on him vs the reality of his views.
Dropping a nuclear bomb on civilians is not considered a war crime?
This argument is always made. But I don’t think anyone alive now can actually understand the mindset of world leaders after 6 years of total war. The case was made at the time that Hiroshima Was a legitimate target because of the factories with in the city. I myself am personally of the opinion that thousands were dying every day and Anything that could Stop it was a good and necessary thing
@@davidhatton583 The Joint Chiefs told Truman it would have taken 1.5 million US GIs to invade and conquer Japan, because they believe every Japanese civilian would be fighting in the streets, they estimated at least 750,000 GIs would die in this scenerio. Truman had no appetite for that. So they went the route of the bomb.
The role of the novel centimetric radar in detection of U-boats should be emphasized.
Doenitz was never Chancellor, as stated early on in this film; he was the nominated head of state; the chancellor after Hitler was (briefly) Goebbels, and then - in fact if not in title - Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk.
Always the go-getter, the Great Submariner's nickname from childhood was "Dunkin'".
'Dunkin Dontiz' 😅
@@bravosierra2447 Lol
Karl Dönitz knew that he did not have enough submarines to defeat UK or prevent Baltic Fleet or Black Sea Fleet from defending Sevastopol or Leningrad. Reason why he went along with it was his personal ambition and possibly believe that Luftwaffe and Heer could cover what the Kriegsmarine lacked.
He just being a naval officer what choices did he have his options were very limited.
Good documentary but completely left out that he became a leader in the post war Bundesmarine and was very much respected by his men. History is written by the victor- imagine the war trials of ‘Bomber Harries’ and others killing civilians…
Outstanding
It is not menthioned that during the Nuremberg trails, US Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz signed a declaration stating that Admiral Donitz acted under the rules of engagement and did not commit any war crime. Donitz once in position as leader of the German country made great efforts in order to save as many lives as possible moving his troops and civilians west to the US and British front. Their is no doubt that hes was a very interesting actor of WWII and therefore he received the last recognition at his funeral.
While Chester Nimitz did advise allied prosecutors that the USN did often resort to harsh measures in the Pacific, but only after multiple incidents of Japanese sailors being rescued and then detonating grenades onboard US subs, or attempting to kill US sub crew.
Here are the only two documented instances of the SAME British RN sub commander being reprimanded for killing sinking survivors
HMSub Torbay (Lt Comm Anthony Miers) 4th July 1941 , unnamed Cretan schooner (~50 tons) 36'01N,23'06E
HMSub Torbay (Lt Comm Anthony Miers) 4th July 1941 , unnamed Cretan schooner (~50 tons) 35.43N,23.12E
His actions on the 4th & 9th July 1941 at resulted in Torbay's commander (Lt Com Anthony Miers) being severely reprimanded and ordered to cease such actions by Adm Max Horton.
The are a larger (but still a relatively small number) of incidents of German U-boats gunning survivors,
U-37 (KL Victor Oehrn) 23 August 1940, British ship "Severn Leigh" (5242grt) 54'31'N,25'41W
U-552 (KL Erich Topp) 3 March 1942, US ship "David H. Atwater"(2428grt) 37'57N, 75'10W
U-126 (KL Ernst Bauer) 8 March 1942 Panamanian Tanker "Esso Bolivar" (10389grt) 19'38N,74'38W
U-172 (KL Carl Emmermann) 24 June 1942 Colombian Sailing Vessel "Resolute"(35grt)13'15N,80'30W
U-754(KL Johanns Oestermann) 28 July 1942 US Fishing Vessel "Ebb"(259grt) 43'18N,63'50W
U-852(KL Heinz-Wilhelm Eck) 13 March 1944 Hellenic Steamship "Peleus"(4695grt) 02'00S,10'00W
U-532(FK Ottoheinrich Junker) 27 March 1944 British Ship "Tulagi"(228grt) 11'00S,78'40E
the most egregious of which (known as the "Peleus incident" and committed by the U-852 (KptLt Eck) resulted in the post war execution of Eck and two of his crew members for the massacre of 33 survivors.
The war in the pacific was FAR harsher on survivors of sinkings with both US & Japanese captains far more likely to kill defenceless survivors.
I had an idea to open a chain of Donut shops called "Karl's Donuts", but I couldn't get any funding. I was going to sell Sinkers and Luftwaffles. I still think it was a great idea.
English had war crimes but were never brought to court. Doenitz was a hero for German people.
Arthur Seyss Inquart maybe
Interesting documentary
All very interesting and well presented. But shops are ‘sunk’, not sank!
Just my humble opinion, but I think Hitler chose him as successor, not only because he trusted Doenitz, but also, that Hitler thought the U-boat leader was the only person left that could save what was left of Germany from the Soviets and negotiate whatever was left with the allies.
Very well done wow this should grow huge
Did he have a brother Dunkin Donitz?
No, that was Sunken Donuts, his boat sank.
Raeder wasn't sacked - he insisted on retirement against Hitler's wishes; although if Hitler had wanted to insist he remain, it would have been impossible for him to do anything else. In that respect only, he could be said to have been dismissed. Doenitz did not succed Goebbels, he succeeded Hitler - Goebbels was never head of state. As for whether he was treated leniently or not - it's a bit late now to get worked up about it, but compared with comparable war crimes by the Russians, and, arguably, the blanket bombing of Hamburg, Wurzburg and Dresden, there was at least an element of victor's justice, even if his defence didn't really stand up on the 'just obeying orders' front.
This was a good documentary - pronunciation of German names correct, for once, and so far as I'm any judge, broadly accurate. The inaccuracies aren't that important, but still need correction.
Karl was my great grandpas great grandpa. Interesting asf
nope!
Donitz sent 80% of his submariners to their death.
They volunteered for U-boat duty. they all knew the risks.
Wow, ho can say that soliders duty is to die if necessary 😅
@@kulrul9180 … aside from Kamikaze pilots who else than Donitz’s submariners had a higher fatality rate?
@@Idahoguy10157 you say this as if the men who went werent willing
Hows tel aviv today?
I think the confederate states will give you a good argument for the first powered submarine
The British got there first ENIGMA machine in 1939 from the Polish
Dontiz would have been sentenced more harshly for his war crimes had the allies not also commited some of those same crimes.57:52
I believe sadly that Doneitz was perhaps entirely reasonable in his submission that the two deserters face the ultimate penalty, no matter the war was at an end
3:08 it is just strange as an American to see my country’s military 110 years back right there, and then compare it to to now .
Just pretty wild how far we have come.
NATO❤
Dönitz...Yeah. During the war, German submarines sank all kinds of merchant ships. They only made an exception for the ships of Aristotle Onassis... Why?... After the war, the US Congress began an investigation into this strange fact. Two months after the investigation began, it was abruptly terminated, without fanfare or explanation.
Another military blunder: Hitler had no Naval force of any serious consequences. Wolf submarine forces disrupted British shipping however that is far from, conversely, the British juggernaut naval forces of 1938-45.
"Warcrimes" says the man who ignores maritime law, a ship at sea is a ship at war, when you use "civillian" liners to transport military material you open your civilian shipping to attack. The NSDAP is guilty of a lot but calling standard maritime war actions as war crimes smacks of "Victor writing the history" not proper historical analysis.
"Starve the civilian population by attacking shipping" yeah and we weren't doing that with the fire bombing of civilian targets? Jesus people, would it kill you not to try and make every firgue from regimes you dislike into a comic book villain? History is far more complex than black and white descriptions.
So is amerika, uk, ussr. China
We will rise again. S. H. Viktoria
I am quite sure Donetz was aware of Nazi atrocities and should have been given 15-20 years
Allegations of German atrocities were nothing but war propaganda.
RIP Donitz
Obviously, you believe in "thought crime".
Rip Admiral
Jack Parsons n von brauns occult side of notaspaceagency would b a great show
Parsons was really into it! As was JFC Fuller, the British founder of Blitzkrieg tactics which Guderian read.
Hero