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At 51, Doenitz is still vigorous (despite gastric ulcers). By radio, his U-boat commanders can always get in touch with him. He is frequently on the move between his headquarters, the fleet's ports and production centers, but he knows exactly what actions are taking place. When a U-boat comes into port, Doenitz is frequently there to greet the commander. He carefully studies the logs of the cruises, notes every detail of combat, and applies their lessons in future orders.
The Weapon's Men. Four years ago Doenitz wrote of his crews: "With men who have been tried in long U-boat service you can get the devil himself out of hell. They are soldiers and sailors of the best kind."
How many submarines and men the Nazi U-boat fleet has lost, only the Germans and Allied Intelligence know. According to unofficial Allied estimates, more than 12,000 trained officers and men have been lost or taken prisoner; and crews are more difficult to replace than ships. The U.S., habitually mum on the subject of U-boat sinkings, last week revealed for the first time the capture of a submarine contingent: the Coast Guard cutter Icarus last June depth-charged a U-boat, blew it to the surface, rescued 33 of the crew. The shattered sub sank into the depths which German underseamen call "God's Cellar."
Nazi U-boat crews still have the highest morale of any branch of the German armed forces. They are tough, hardened sailors, inured now to the discomforts and nerve-racking moments of life in the submarines. Doenitz labored to level the usual barriers between officers and men, and there have been no signs of the bitterness which contributed to a revolt of German crews in World War I.
The Weapon's Deeds. Doenitz knew that the convoy system licked the U-boats in World War I. When he was building his fleet for World War II, he guessed that the same tactics would be used again by the Allies, and trained his men accordingly.
Instead of one attacking U-boat cruising more or less haphazardly, he used a number of them working as a unit. The wolf pack was expanded; by last year he had the U-boats working in "echelons of divisions," patrolling in three lines or more abreast, the center line ahead of the two flanks, the U-boats strung out in a herringbone pattern astern of the leader. In perfect coordination, this array of underwater raiders lay in wait for convoys previously spotted by scouts or long-range air reconnaissance. By night, submerged, they moved under the convoy. When they came up, a few of them would draw the convoy's escort vessels off. The rest could then pick off their targets at leisure, firing by direct control from their conning towers.