MEMOIRS: Ten Years and Twenty Days

by Admiral Doenitz ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

These war memoirs of Admiral Karl Doenitz might be considered the official history of the German U-boat service which he recreated in 1935 and brilliantly commanded until 1943-45 when he became Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. They are an impersonal but subjective, carefully rationalized recitation of the growth, operation, successes and losses of his cherished submarine service- and the defeat of his country. They describe the very effective submarine strategies evolved by Doenitz, who, had he his way when he called for the construction of 300 undersea craft (Germany entered the war with only 57 U-boats), might have altered the course of the conflict. They tell of the many factors which impeded his success. Often he attempts to substantiate the correctness of most of his own thinking and neglects the opportunity to give his impressions of important personalities he dealt with. Instead of fully materialized memoirs, he has provided naval history with a paean to the German U-boat service and the admittedly brave men who destroyed more than 14, 000, 000 tons of Allied shipping. He also provides a portrait of an emotionless, a- political Prussian military man whose narrow, nationalistic devotion to duty kept him blind to a truer, natural patriotism based on deeper, humanistic principles. For those interested in the naval aspects of the last war and this phase in particular.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1959

Categories: NONFICTION