Battle of the Atlantic

Karl Dönitz and the Kriegsmarine

Karl Dönitz was a German military that participated in the First and Second World War. During the Second World War he commanded the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany between January 30, 1943 until the end of the war. He was appointed as successor to his country Reichspräsudent by Adolf Hitler, a power he was in charge for 23 days, between April 30^th and May 23 on 1945.  He made many changes during the Battle of the Atlantic, leading the Kriegsmarine.

Before the Second World War, Dönitz had pushed for the German fleet was based on submarines and ships, conceived as vulnerable surface and also he thought that the British Army was much powerful in this type of surface vessels. Dönitz wanted to pull Britain out of the war and gain mastery of the Atlantic Ocean required a fleet of 300 submersible allies to cut off supplies.

Dönitz found that the fleet was not prepared for war. Just had 50 submersibles, some short-range or coastal, as the U-Boot Type II. The Führer requested that such units were designed to fight the British Army units, instead of attacking supply units.

Donitz was promoted on January 31, 1943 to the rank of Grand Admiral, equivalent to General Feldmarschall of Heer and Luftwaffe. This gave rise to, the position of Paramount Chief of the Kriegsmarine. Karl Dönitz got the position he wanted to beat Great Britain, and seize the Atlantic Ocean, Dönitz had become in charge of the Kriegsmarine

Despite the lack of submersibles, the Germans became nightmare waters of the North Sea and the Atlantic between 1939 and 1942. Good preparation of crews and their motivation, despite the tough life on board, and the outstanding design class VIIC German U-boats forced the allies to create huge convoys escorted by all type of vessels, from cruise up even fishing armed with small cannons and machine guns. They confiscated everything that could float and carry a watch and cannon.

Karl Dönitz was arrested by the Allied Forces and taken to the city of Nuremberg, where he was accused for war crimes such as instructing his troops in peace moments. He was accused also for being responsible for the Order #154 that had developed by the unlimited submarine warfare, making a violation of the principles of the naval warfare.

Finally at the end of the war Karl Dönitz and the Kriegsmarine were defeated, all the last German submarines operating models were captures intact by the allies. The formed the basis for developing classes of submarines equipped with the advances of German naval engineering.

Karl Dönitz died on December 24^th of 1980, when he was 89 years old.

In my opinion Karl Dönitz did a great job, because he found the weaknesses of their opponents, so we can beat them, but did not get to fully achieve breakthroughs made ​​with Germany, leaving a mark also of that battle, and leaving Germany with a brand and also the Battle of the Atlantic.

Written by: Rafaela Hermoza