The Third Reich was ending in political rubble and rabble. But even death demands an undertaker. To head the rump Reich appeared a rump FührerGrand Admiral Ivarl Doenitz, a fanatical Nazi, and Hitler's master planner of submarine warfare. Seconding him was Albert Speer, also a fanatical Nazi, and Hitler's brilliant Minister of War Production.
The pair were like snakes within a narrowing circle of fatal fire. From Hamburg Doenitz broadcast his only policy: "It is my first task to save the German people from destruction by the Bolsheviks.... As long as the British and Americans hamper us from reaching this end,...