Commander of the U Boat arm of the Kriegsmarine, Karl Doenitz (October 1939)

Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz

Commander of the U Boat arm of the Kriegsmarine,

October 1939.

War is upon us. The Kriegsmarine, with a strong and proud reputation preceeding us, has been thrust into this great conflict. Our first class officers and men shall do us proud. I am confident that the U-Boat arm shall-despite all the previous fears of our men that it may be a weapon mastered by anti-submarine defence-emerge as an instrument of great significance. We have a dire need to expand the numbers of ships and submarines and should attempt to produce as many submarines as we can especially, because it will cause considerable damage in sinking great amounts of enemy tonnage.

It is the best possible torpedo carrier. We must carry out our attacks with massed U-Boats as they will inflict larger damage. This will allow us to strike more decisively on a convoy or a formation of warships. Commander Godt, my Chief of Staff, has been of great assistance. My book, published this year, Die U Bootwaffe, is testament to my openness with which I am confident that U boat surface attacks at night are to prove most beneficial. These are not to be kept secrets. I had also held war games from 1938-39 which made me realize the importance of communication if we are to have a successful co-ordinated attack. The Z plan proposed to build 233 U-Boats by 1948, but by the spring of this year, I was confident that we must push through productions rapidly. There is no choice but to fight a war of this scale with sufficient firepower and warships.

Surely enough, the command from the Naval High Command on September 3 1939 was "commence hostilities against Britain forthwith".

As war has come upon us, I believe that our commanders shall follow the strict regulation that only enables us to sink merchant ships if and only if they fall under the conditions of the Prize Ordinance. However, I will not hesitate to allow our men to destroy merchant ships which are being escorted by enemy warships, those who do not wish to submit to inspection and transports on active service. British First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Churchill, in explicit terms, has in fact ordered all steamships to ram German submarines.

There are problems identifying the difference between ordinary merchant vessels and the Q ships or an armed vessel, this possibly explaining the behaviour of U-30 in sinking the British liner Athenia on September 4 1939. The ship had been steaming without lights and zig-zagging. This has led to the Fuehrer calling us not to attack passenger liners, even with escort. Although we should understand that commanders may make mistakes due to difficulties and conditions (since we aim to surface and strike at night), our men should remember to follow the orders through.The U-boat arm shall continue to persevere and fight hard to win this war. We are true submariners, and shall make sure we remember our loyalty to the nation.