FUEHRER CONFERENCES
ON NAVAL AFFAIRS 1941
(Documents captured by British and American
Intelligence Officers at Tambach)
THE ADMIRALTY, London, 1947
A rare original British Admiralty publication, produced in 1947 from the German archive documents captured by British and American Intelligence Officers during the war. The
Fuehrer Conferences were produced as a detailed and comprehensive seven volume set, each volume covering one year of the war. This is the volume covering the events of 1941, including exceptionally interesting details and eye witness accounts of the sinking of the
Bismarck in May 1941. All the signals to and from the Bismarck are included. These are some of the last ones sent:
26.5.1941: 2140 ‘Ship no longer manoeuvreable. We fight to the last shell. Long live the Fuehrer’ Fleet Commander
2358 ‘To the Fuehrer of the German Reich, Adolf Hitler. We fight to the last in our belief in you my Fuehrer and in the firm faith in Germany’s victory’. Fleet Commander
Facing defeat in 1945,
Adolf Hitler ordered that every official military document should be destroyed. Admiral Karl Donitz, then supreme commander-in-chief of the Navy, felt differently. He believed the German Navy had waged an honourable war, and that posterity would agree with his judgement. As a result, the Naval records were not destroyed and fell into Allied hands. Were it not for Donitz’s fateful decision, these remarkable documents would not exist.
Fuehrer Conferences on Naval Affairs 1941 is a first-hand account of Hitler s meetings with his Navy commander-in-chief,
Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, and a handful of other high-ranking officers. Such was the nature of these meetings that even secretaries were excluded, and both Raeder (and later Donitz) personally checked the typescripts of the meeting-notes before approving them. The conferences concerned either subjects upon which Hitler requested information, or topics that the commanders-in-chief wanted to bring to the Fuehrer’s attention. This is, therefore, an authentic and intimate account of the views of Axis high command upon naval strategy and its execution at the height of WW2, covering such key events as the Battle of the Atlantic, the plans to invade Russia, and the sinking of the Bismarck.
Hitler’s comments and decisions are noted throughout, making this book a fascinating and invaluable reference work on the Naval War as waged by the leadership of the Third Reich during WW2.
Condition:In good condition. The card cover is in good condition, with general signs of wear and use. The binding is good and secure. The text is in very good condition, with a few Imperial War Museum ‘Withdrawn’ ink stamps.
Published: 1947
Khaki card cover with black titling
Dimensions: 200mm x 325mm
Pages: 145
