DÖNITZ: I had preached to my U-boat commanders for 5½ years, that they should be hard towards themselves. And when giving this order I again felt that I had to emphasize to my commanders in a very drastic way my whole concern and my grave responsibility for the submarines, and thus the necessity of prohibiting rescue activities in view of the overwhelming power of the enemy air force. After all it is very definite that on one side there is the harshness of war, the necessity of saving one’s own submarine, and on the other the traditional sentiment of the sailor.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: You heard the witness Korvettenkapitän Möhle state in this Court that he misunderstood the order in the sense that survivors should be killed, and in several cases he instructed submarine commanders in that sense.
DÖNITZ: Möhle is...
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: One moment, Admiral. I want to put a question first. As commanding officer, do you not have to assume responsibility for a misunderstanding of your order?
DÖNITZ: Of course, I am responsible for all orders, for their form and their contents. Möhle, however, is the only person who had doubts about the meaning of that order. I regret that Möhle did not find occasion to clarify these doubts immediately, either through me, to whom everybody had access at all times, or through the numerous staff officers who, as members of my staff, were either also partly responsible or participated in the drafting of these orders; or, as another alternative, through his immediate superior in Kiel. I am convinced that the few U-boat commanders to whom he communicated his doubts remained quite unaffected by them. If there were any consequences I would of course assume responsibility for them.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: You are acquainted with the case of Kapitänleutnant Eck, who after sinking the Greek steamer Peleus in the spring of 1944 actually fired on lifeboats. What is your view of this incident?
DÖNITZ: As Kapitänleutnant Eck stated at the end of his interrogation under oath, he knew nothing of Möhle’s interpretation or Möhle’s doubts nor of the completely twisted message and my decision in the case of U-386. That was the incident which Möhle mentioned when the submarine met pneumatic rafts with fliers, and I voiced my disapproval because he had not taken them on board. A written criticism of his actions was also forwarded to him. On the other hand, some authority pointed out that he had not destroyed these survivors. Eck knew nothing about the interpretation or the doubts of the Möhle order, nor of this affair. He acted on his own decision, and his aim was not to kill survivors but to remove the wreckage; because he was certain that otherwise this wreckage would on the following day give a clue to Anglo-American planes and that they would spot and destroy him. His purpose, therefore, was entirely different from the one stated in the Möhle interpretation.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Eck said during his examination that he had counted on your approval of his actions. Did you ever hear anything at all about the Eck case during the war?
DÖNITZ: No. It was during my interrogation here that I heard about it, for Eck was taken prisoner during that same operation.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Do you approve of his actions, now that you know of them?