Word: nitze
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Before committing suicide in his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler made a will naming as his successor one of his most ruthless military associates: Grand Admiral of the German Fleet Karl Dönitz. Known as der Löwe (the Lion), Donitz had masterminded the submarine campaign that destroyed about 15 million tons of Allied and neutral shipping, with a loss of tens of thousands of Allied lives in World War II. "Kill and keep on killing," jug-eared, ice-blue-eyed Dönitz had exhorted his U-boat captains. "Remember, no survivors. Humanity is a weakness...
...radio Dönitz told the German people that Hitler had died a hero's death in besieged Berlin. Said Dönitz: "The fight goes on." Captured by the British three weeks later, he was arraigned as a war criminal at Nürnberg. His sentence: ten years. At Spandau prison in West Berlin in July, 1947, he clicked his heels and handed over to the warders his diamond-studded grand-admiral's baton, a silver alarm clock and 15,000 gold marks, donned prisoner's uniform. Unrepentant and spouting hatred, he took exercise to keep...
Near war's end the British were able to estimate the life expectancy of any U-boat 40 days. "Forty days was generous," says Author Schaeffer. But Admiral Dönitz, who lost two sons in the submarine service, kept sending the U-boats out. Schaeffer was assigned to commanders' training school just before the sub in which he had been on duty was sunk with all hand...