Lüth - the Nazi fanatic. He was known for his constant interference in the lives of his men and authored a tract on how to command the crew of a U-Boat according to the principles of National Socialism titled, "Problems of Leadership." In what would be laughable if it weren't so serious, Lüth cautioned readers of his book against listening to jazz, a form of music condemned by the Nazis as "degenerate Negro Jungle Music." Wrote Lüth, "a German must not like jazz. It has nothing to do with whether or not he really likes it. He simply must not like it, just as a German man must not like a Jewess."
Grand Admiral Dönitz ordered a copy be given to every U-Boat Kommandant. Lüth felt all men should be married and constantly encouraged his crewmen to get married and lectured them against patronizing brothels and getting drunk while on leave. They ignored these lectures. He was something of a prude and would not allow any "naughty" photographs of beautiful girls in the crew quarters.
Curiously, he almost ruined his career before his greatest achievements came to him. In October of 1940, Lüth was appointed Kommandant of U-43, a large type IXA boat. After one war patrol, he returned to Lorient and the boat underwent required maintenance. On 21 February 1941, a few hours before the boat was to leave on its second war patrol, U-43 sank at its moorings due to a series of small mishaps which went unnoticed by the six man harbor watch. Lüth was not aboard at the time but a captain is responsible for his ship and he was lucky Dönitz did not relieve him of command especially because Dönitz happened to be on an inspection tour of Lorient at the time.
Lüth came ashore in January of 1944 after fifteen war patrols, an astonishing number not only to make but to survive, and commanded the 22nd U-Boat Training Flotilla in Gdynia (Gotenhafen to the Germans). He ended the war as Kommandant of the Marineschule Mürwik - the German Naval Academy in Flensburg/Murwik. This was the last official seat of the government of the Third Reich. In his political testament, dictated before he committed suicide on 30 April 1945, Hitler appointed Dönitz as Reichspräsident and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The Naval Academy was the logical place to house the government since that's where Dönitz had fled, it hadn't been blown to bits, and there was room in the gymnasium for the government to set up operations.
On 8 May 1945, the German High Command signed an instrument of unconditional surrender. That document stated:
"The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval, and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European time on 8 May and to remain in the positions occupied at that time. No ship, vessel, or aircraft is to be scuttled, or any damage done to their hull, machinery, or equipment."
(Central European Time is Greenwich Mean Time plus one hour). Dönitz issued such orders in radio broadcasts and other media to all German military units. Although Germany had surrendered, the Dönitz government continued on at the Marineschule for another twelve days.
Lüth was charged with securing the grounds of the Marineschule because of the unsettled conditions - to put it mildly - in the vicinity with released POWs, slave workers, refugees from the Soviets, and desperate humanity of all kinds milling about. With the permission of the British Army, which had just moved into the area on Eisenhower's orders to keep it out of the hands of the Soviets, the German sentries were armed. Everyone was tense, everything was uncertain, no one had slept more than a few hours a day for weeks. Lüth and the officers responsible to him in the guard unit took their duties very seriously.
A Board of Inquiry met almost immediately and quickly determined it was an accident. The idea, postulated by some, that Lüth committed suicide by allowing the sentry to shoot him is dismissed by his biographer, Jordan Vause, in his outstanding work: U-Boat Ace: The Story of Wolfgang Lüth. I give this biography five stars and recommend it without reservation.
In what I personally find sickening and inexplicable, Kapitan zur See Wolfgang Lüth was then given a full state funeral, conducted by Dönitz in his uniform of Grand Admiral, with an honor guard of six U-Boat commanders - five days after the Germans surrendered to the Allies. This last state funeral of the Third Reich was carried out with the permission of the local British commander. With swastikas abounding, the last tawdry spectacle of this criminal régime was conducted. On 23 May 1945, Dönitz and all members of his government, including the reptilian Albert Speer, were arrested by the British and the Dönitz government dissolved.
To look at the photographs of Lüth's funeral is to wonder if the
Lüth was the most vocally pro-Nazi of any of the famous U-Boat aces. This put him at odds with the custom of the officer corps of the German Navy. Officers had traditionally stayed out of politics and were not allowed to vote or belong to any political party including the Nazi Party. And while many sympathized with Hitler's aims, many did not.
There is justice in the accidental death of Wolfgang Lüth. As the scripture reminds us, "for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
In July 1945, the German state was dissolved by an inter-Allied declaration. It would not be until 15 March 1991 that the four victorious Allied powers: Russia, France, Great Britain, and the United States would renounce all rights they had in Germany by virtue of the original armistice and of edicts issued by the Allied Control Commission after victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Only then, was the German state finally able to be fully sovereign on their own territory.
Charles McCain is a lifelong student of World War Two. He grew up in South Carolina and is a graduate of Tulane University. An Honorable German is his first novel. After surviving a bout with cancer 3 years ago, Mr. McCain is at work on several writing projects. He lives in Washington, DC.
