Raeder stood the impassioned onslaught in silence, then tendered his resignation. Hitler immediately changed his tone, but Raeder stood by his decision. In his place Hitler chose the thrusting commander of the U-boat arm, Admiral Karl Dönitz, who had impressed him as much by his fanatical commitment and optimism when reporting at Führer headquarters as by the successes his boats had achieved against allied merchant shipping. Bar the ‘miracle weapons’ under development, U-boats were Hitler’s last hope for bringing the Anglo-Saxon powers to terms by cutting the Atlantic supply lines on which
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