Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz (German: [ˈdøːnɪts]; 16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who played a major role in the Naval history of World War II. Dönitz succeeded Adolf Hitler as the head of state of Germany.

He began his career in the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) before World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of UB-68, the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner. While in a prisoner of war camp, he formulated what he later called Rudeltaktik ("pack tactic", commonly called "wolfpack"). At the start of World War II, he was the senior submarine officer in the Kriegsmarine. In January 1943, Dönitz achieved the rank of Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine).

On 30 April 1945, after the death of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as Staatsoberhaupt (Head of State), with the title of Reichspräsident (President) and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. On 7 May 1945, he ordered Generaloberst Alfred Jodl to sign the German instruments of surrender in Rheims, France.Großadmiral Dönitz remained as head of the Flensburg Government, as it became known, until it was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May. At the Nuremberg trials, he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment; after his release, he lived quietly in a village near Hamburg until his death in 1980.