BOOK REVIEW
“TEN YEARS AND TWENTY DAYS”
BY GRAND ADMIRAL KARL DOENITZ
1. Introduction
to the Book. The book was first published in German language by Anthenäum – Verlag Junker und Dünnhaupt in 1958. It was later translated by
R H Stevens and the English version was published by Weinfeld and Nicolson, London. The book is a
hardbound edition with five hundred pages, divided into a total of twenty three
chapters and contains fourteen illustrations, five maps and six appendices.
2. The
Author. Grand Admiral Doenitz
(1891 – 1980) was a pioneer in evolution of strategy of submarine warfare. He
headed the German Navy’s U-boat
arm in World War II and his forces were responsible, despite being vastly
outnumbered, for the sinking of 2907 ships, including 148 warships, to the
bottom of the sea. The gross tonnage of sunken vessels was more than fourteen
million tons. He developed ‘Wolf Pack Tactics’ for submarines and transformed
these into an offensive weapon par excellence.
3. Contents
of the Book
a. Unlike other memoirs and autobiographies,
this book hardly contains any personal information pertaining to the Grand
Admiral. It would be more appropriate to call it a Biography of the German
U-boat Arm.
b. The book can be divided into four distinct
portions. The first portion, which is spread over first five chapters, deals
with the Pre World War II era including a brief about U-boat warfare of World
War I. It also briefly mentions the elevation of Captain Karl Doenitz to the
command of U-boat arm and the developments that were undertaken, both in
technical and tactical fields. The portion has very elaborately discusses the
formulation of this elite arm under various restrictions, that were manifested
upon Germany,
being the vanquished of the World War I. It tells us about the treaties,
formulated by the then superpower Britain,
and how these restricted the development of Germany as a whole and German Armed
Forces in particular. The Grand Admiral has thrown ample light on his
methodology for the training of the U-boat men and how these brave men went on
to rewrite the manuals of submarine warfare. Reading of this portion gives us an insight
into the futuristic thinking of the genius, who was able to apply the lesson of
past war to the impending one, with an effect that was near fatal for the
allies. It also tells us about the technical acumen of the Grand Admiral when
we read how he was able to master the problems ranging from the design,
fabrication, command and control aspects of the U-boats.
c. The second portion of the book, starting
from the sixth chapter and going upto the sixteenth chapter, deals with the
rise of U-boats in World War II. It covers the start of war in 1939 and tells
the reader about the successful conduct of operations by this arm of German Navy
till the end of 1942. In this part, the Grand Admiral tells us about the
outbreak of hostilities and how the U-boats, despite the odds of being vastly
outnumbered, inflicted heaviest of losses to the shipping of the allies. Very
honestly, the author has admitted, initial teething problems of this arm and
how were these alleviated. He tells us with realistic narration about various
famous encounters that transformed this scantily equipped naval subsidiary into
a dreadful nightmare for the navies of the allies. For example, in chapter six,
the incident of Scapa Flow, the anchorage site
of Royal Navy, is described. The author has narrated this operation, a real
epic as regards to the courage and ingenuity, where a single U-boat entered
into the home base of Royal navy and sunk a battleship ‘Royal Oak’. In chapter seven, the details of
campaigns in the vicinity of Norway
have been discussed. In this particular battle, the U-boats were let down by
the inadequacies of the torpedoes in use. The Grand Admiral has, very lucidly,
analyzed this highly complex technical problem. Proceeding further, the battles
of U-boat in various oceans and seas are described in various chapters. In
order to give credence to his accounts, the Grand Admiral has quoted references
from the war diaries of his own Headquarters as well as war diaries of
individual U-boats. He has also described in detail the problems he encountered
in various phases of war and also about the resistance he had to face from
various quarters of the Third Reich. Notable among these is his rivalry with
Reich Marshall Herman Goering, who as head of Luftwaffe (German Air Force)
denied U-boats the required cooperation that could have greatly enhanced the
effectiveness of these potent vessels. Although this portion mainly deals with
the high points of U-boat war, it never turns into a one-sided account of
heroics that is normally observed in case of autobiographies; rather it
maintains a neutral course of description in a most objective manner.
d. The third portion of the book, Chapter
seventeen to twenty one, starts with the appointment of Grand Admiral Doenitz
as the Chief of German Navy in January 1943. This was a phase when the German
war machine had already reached its ebb and was fighting a losing war and the same
was true for U-boats. This failure had nothing to do with the competence of
Doenitz or his men, rather it was a manifestation of the past mistakes and
oversights of the regime. In this portion of the book, the author has discussed
his role as the Naval Chief in the days when war potential of his country was
fast declining. He mentions about the collapse of U-boat war and the transformation of
offensive strategy into one of defence. Even in these days, the Grand Admiral
went on to salvage his U-boats by way of new inventions like snorkel, air
defence innovations and air-independent propulsion of submarines, however, it
was too late.
e. The last two chapters of the book deals
with the appointment of Grand Admiral as successor to Hitler and the way he
handled the crisis of surrender of Germany. In the end he has eulogized the
great services rendered by the German soldiers in general and U-boat men in particular. He has also
clarified the non-involvement of professional soldiers in the heinous crimes of
Third Reich in the persecution of Jews.
4. Conclusion. The book makes an interesting reading for
anyone interested in war history, particularly those army men, who want to
diversify their knowledge. To end, it would be appropriate to quote Sir Winston
Churchill, who signifies the role of U-boats in World War II with following
worlds’
“The
only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril”
Vol
II, p. 529
‘The Second World War’
W. S. Churchill
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