Posted on 10/20/2009 4:44:37 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
It’s a Combo Police/SS Rank Title
Captain of Police/Major of the SS
Ordnungspolizei ranks were based on local police titles and were considered a separate system from the ranks of the SS.
It was also possible for Orpo members to hold dual status in both the Orpo and the SS, meaning that two ranks could be held simultaneously.
“Hauptsturmbannfuehrer” was an accepted title and rank for SS member with police powers.
The Nuremburg trials heaped praise on him for being a non-political line officer:
“He was a line officer performing strictly tactical duties.”
Then proceded to persecute him for being too effective at what he did.
From the Nuremburg Verdict:
“Although Doenitz built and trained the German U-Boat arm, the evidence does not show he was privy to the conspiracy to wage aggressive wars or that he prepared and initiated such wars. He was a line officer performing strictly tactical duties.
He was not present at the important conferences when plans for aggressive wars were announced, and there is no evidence he was informed about the decisions reached there. Doenitz did, however, wage aggressive war within the meaning of that word as used by the Charter.”
They basicly sentenced him for declaring Exclusion zones in which Neutral shipping was attacked, and ordering his boats not to pick up survivors of sunk ships, even though the British were ATTACKING U-boats that stopped to pick up survivors.
This was EXACTLY the same policy carried out by U.S. Submarines, but they lost, we won...
“The argument of the Defense is that the security of the submarine is, as the first rule of the sea, paramount to rescue and that the development of aircraft made rescue impossible.
This may be so, but the Protocol is explicit. If the commander cannot rescue, then under its terms he cannot sink a merchant vessel and should allow it to pass unharmed before his periscope. These orders, then, prove Doenitz is guilty of a violation of the Protocol.”
Most Historians now agree that Donitz should never have been sentenced at Nuremburg, but, the Politicians wanted a scapegoat, and they couldn’t try Hitler. And it was a role that Donitz accepted.
Of actions listed "today," ships I could check out survived the war, except this one:
December 15, 1941: "Hit by salvo of torpedoes fired by U557 whilst entering swept channel 30 miles NW of Alexandria [Egypt]. Sank In three minutes. 150 survivors were rescued by HMS GRIFFIN and HMS HOTSPUR."
U557 was accidentally sunk that same day by an Italian torpedo boat, all hands lost.
Model of Type VIIC:
469 died on her...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Galatea_(71)
HMS Galatea (71) was an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland), with the keel being laid down on the 2 June 1933. She was launched on the 9 August 1934, and commissioned 14 August 1935.
Well... he was going to be sentenced, and for the crime of unrestricted submarine warfare. But since the allies had all done the same thing, they felt a bit embarrassed about it, and so they said he was guilty of other things -- things which to our eyes seem like nothing more than doing his military duty.
But two points in answer: One, Dönitz was the first to order unrestricted submarine warfare. That counts for something, I think. Second, it truly does s*ck to lose a war, and considering that the vast majority of Dönitz's submariners were killed in action, Dönitz' personal fate was not so terrible, I'd say.
Speaking of which, this interesting note on his death and funeral:
"Dönitz lived out the rest of his life in relative obscurity in Aumühle and died there of a heart attack on 24 December 1980. As the last German officer with the rank of Grand Admiral, he was honored by many former servicemen and foreign naval officers who came to pay their respects at his funeral on 6 January 1981. However, he had only received the pension pay of a captain because the West German government ruled all of his advances in rank after that had been due to Hitler.
"He was buried without military honors and soldiers were not allowed to wear uniforms to the funeral."
The German government did that, not allied "victor's justice."
With Tensions rising fast, Finn’s step up Air Force Pilot Training Programs with this cass beginning October 20, 1939:
Reservin aliupseeriohjaakurssi 6 (Res.AOK 6) Course Leader Lt. K. Lahtela
(Reserve NCO Pilot Course 6)
20.10.1939 - 25.1.1940 / 10.2.1940
30 trainees, 15 were moved to T-LentoR 2, seven to T-LentoR 4 on 25.1. and between 10.2. - 14.2.1940.
Five pilots stayed at ISK as auxiliary trainers. Between 9.12.1939 - 21.1.1940 course was at Menkijärvi.
Course was altered and shortened due to war.
20 October 1939:
German Officials seize the Turkish AY-Class Submarine “Batiray”, a heavily modified type-IX U-boat, being constructed in the Germania Naval Yard, and is renaimed “U-A”.
The AY-Class was a German-built Turkish mine laying submarine of 1044 tons displacement launched in 1939. The Batiray was powered by two sets of Burmeister and Wain diesel engines providing a top speed of 20 knots surface and 9 knots submerged.
She carried a complement of 47 and was armed with one 4 inch gun; one 20 mm anti-aircraft gun; four 21 inch torpedo tubes in the bow and two 21 inch torpedo tubes in the stern. She also carried 40 mines.
She will eventually complete NINE War Patrols, including one off the coast of America, before being scuttled at Kiel on May 3, 1945.
great post. did you catch the article about the pilotless planes being developed? hmm... grandaddy of the predator?
also, the tag that the german pilots shot down were buried with full military honors including having the RAF sew up some nazi flags with swastikas. i guess it was early in the war. bet that didnt last after the bombing of englands cities started.
The way it is described sounds kind of like a combination predator/smart bomb/cruise missle. I haven't heard of anything like this being used by our side in WWII. Maybe the practical problem was how the mother plane steered the drone. If they were clsoe enough to maintain visual contact the would have been dodging flak and fighters as well as steering.
As for the burial of German aviators, read tcrlaf's excellent post #34 from last Saturday.
You are correct. Things changed as the war wore on.
yes, it was a good post. pretty incredible. even at this stage with the war 2 months underway people have no idea the horror, or how it will burn out of control.
i am struck by how the war is evolving, turkey, russia, japan etc.
i guess churchill is not yet PM.
No, he still has six months or so as First Lord of the Admiralty. Though judging by some of the memos he sent out he has a rather broad interpretation of his duties in that post.
“people have no idea the horror, or how it will burn out of control.”
People ARE dying, but for the English, it’s mostly at sea, out of sight. The horrors of the war in Poland are just far off places in black and white print, obscured by propaganda from both sides.
Two post-war trials involving submarines with “pot and kettle” trial tactics. Doenitz relied upon American submarine tactics as his defense. He even managed to get into evidence an affidavit from Chester Nimitz esentially confirming that Donitz’ orders to his skippers were the same orders the US Navy issued to theirs.
In the United States, the Navy called Japanese submarine captain Hashimoto to testify against Charles McVay during McVay’s Court Martial for the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
The whole issue of “Unrestricted Submarine Warfare” was fading, even in 1939. In 1917, it sufficed to bring the United States into a war. Twenty two years later it was nowhere near enough. Twenty four years later, within six hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States Navy issued the following Order to all units: Commence Unrestricted Air and Submarine Warfare Against Japan.
By 1945, it was considered a moot issue. The prosecution at Nuremberg made more hay out of Doenitz’ anti-semitic statements and knowledge of the concentration camps, and he was convicted of waging aggressive war and military atrocities.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.