10/27/39
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.
10/15/39
Gunther Prien, German Submarine Ace (October 1939)
Gunther Prien
15 October 1939
We have effectively destroyed the HMS Royal Oak! Our efforts of penetrating into the enemy’s heart and Scapa Flow have been successful. The intelligence received has informed us that the British had inadequately defended the anchorage of their home fleet and therefore this was signal for us to strike. I had openly volunteered for this task, and even mastered to the best of my abilities the charts that I did not even have to refer to the charts when the mission was underway. Ha! The spirit of the U-47 cannot be broken. However, it was not as easy as a task as it seemed. Our expectation of Stauwasser, or calm seas, was made problematic by the necessity to remain submerged for extended durations and thus we eventually needed to attack with the current. Upon entering the Scapa Flow we had observed 3 guard ships, and had encountered a situation of our rudder being caught by the current whilst attempting to manoeuvre between the 45 degree angle at which the anchors of the guard ships were and the shore. This was resolved by my order to blow out the flooded diving tanks and to surface. After subsequent directional changes, we had found our target and launched an all- out attack upon it. However, even though we managed to get them, we had to fire more than three torpedoes to finally destroy the target. I wonder what these firing errors seem to signify. Perhaps there are issues with the system itself. But now is the time to celebrate, and then return to duty. It shows truly that Germany has been able to find a response to the misery our scuttling fleet after the First World War. Let them never underestimate the Kriegsmarine.
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