SPECTACULAR RISE

Evening Star, Issue 25473, 2 May 1945, Page 5

SPECTACULAR RISE

DOENITZ'S NAVAL CAREER

" MURDERER OF MERCHANTMEN"

The rise of Karl Doenitz in the Nazi hierarchy has been spectacular and rapid. A vice-admiral at the beginning of the war, he was commander of the German submarine fleet, and earned the title of " boss of the U-boats and murderer of the merchantmen." In 1943 he replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as commander of the German navy, his appointment heralding an increasing emphasis on U-boat warfare in the German naval strategy. Born in 1892, Doenitz entered the German navy at the age of 18. Shortly after the outbreak of. the last war he took part in the dramatic escape of the cruiser Breslau and the battleship Goebeu. He spent a year in lazy shore life in Turkey, and then asked to be transferred to the submarine service. He saw some action in the Black Sea and became a U-boat commander. In 1918, as commander of the crack sub-

marine U 63 he operated in the Mediterranean, and succeeded in engaging a British sloop trawler. His submarine was forced to the surface and scuttled and Doenitz fell into British hands. After a few mouths' imprisonment he feigned madness, and was one of the first German officers .repatriated at the end of the war. FRIENDSHIP WITH NIEMOLLER. Back in Germany Doenitz became allied with Raeder, and together they worked to rebuild the German navy, throwing in their lot with the Nazis. Goebbels was supposed to dislike Doenitz because of his close friendship with the daring, one-time U-boat commander, Pastor Martin Niemoller, whose services in Berlin he attended until the pastor was imprisoned. Dociiilz is credited with successfully building up au effective U-boat force by introducing important improvements and l creating a valuable liaison system' bejtween submarines and planes. He also secured greater efficiency by insisting on more friendly relations between officers and crews of the U-boate. He was the inventor of the so-called " wolf-pack " technique of submarine operations that gained a fair measure of success against Allied anti-submarine measures. Success .waned, however, as the war continued.

Kaeder and Doenitz were reported early in 1942 to be at loggerheads, Doenitz charging his superior with responsibility for the " miscarriage of the submarine warfare." In the subsequent bitterness Doenitz appears to have carried the day with the Nazi war lords, who promoted him and retired Raeder. DOMINATING FIGURE. A ruthless and dominating figure, Doenitz adopted Tirpitz's motto of " The deed is all." The words became the creed of the Üboat fleet, and explain the brutality of the submarine crews and commanders in unrestricted warfare against unarmed merchantmen. Doenitz is described by those who know him as a hard-working man. Descriptions of him mention his closecropped hair, overhanging eyebrows, cruel and deep-set eyes, beacon-like uose. lined cheeks, ugly mouth, and even uglier chin This is the man who has become supreme leader of a defeated' Germany, who declares his intention of continuing the struggle against Bolshevism, and who presumably will endeavour as his predecessor did vainly before him to split the United Nations into warring factions.