Publisher's Synopsis
Karl Dönitz was a key figure at the start and the end of the Second World War. His masterly command of the u-boats in 1939 proved to be a serious problem for the Allies: their attacks were decimating food and fuel convoys that effectively kept Britain going. The country was close to starvation and Germany was effectively winning the war. In 1943, Dönitz was rewarded and promoted to Grand Admiral. As the war went on, Dönitz and the navy played less of a role. It was a surprise therefore that in his final testament in April 1945 Hitler had appointed Dönitz as his successor as the head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces. Dönitz was in charge a rapidly disintegrating army, with Germany under siege on both fronts. He knew the war was lost: the aim of the Dönitz Administration was try to stem the flow of blood, strike a deal with the Allies and avoid the Soviets at all costs. The Dönitz Administration marks a key period in the war ? Hitler?s suicide, the final chaotic weeks of fighting, the desperate flurry amongst the Nazi elite as they tried to save themselves, and the negotiations for unconditional surrender. Throughout, Walter Lüdde-Neurath served at the side of Dönitz. He brings an insider view of events as the Third Reich collapsed around them, and his memoir conveys the uncertainty of a post-war world.
