German Admiral Schultze talks about his Military Career in WWI and WWII- September 1943

General Admiral Schultze No.1 General Admiral Schultze, No.1, first take. Please, Sir General Admiral. My naval career began on April 7th, 1900. At that time, I joined the Imperial Navy as a navy cadet. And came right in the middle of the build-up of the first large German fleet, which took place under the aegis of Grand Admiral von Tirpitz. It was a special privilege for any naval officer to take part in this build-up, and I remember a number of beautiful commands from that time. At that time, the German fleet still had cruiser squadrons and station cruisers all over the world, and so I was lucky enough to get a two-year command in the South Sea, on the station cruiser Condor, in the years 1906 to '08. The last two years before the First World War I attended the naval academy. And joined the World War as a Rollenoffizier on the battleship König. In the spring of 1915, I joined the U-boat branch, and from that time until the end of the war I belonged to this branch. In the years 1916 to 17 I was commander of the U-Boat U-63, operating with it first in the North Sea and then later in the Mediterranean. During warfare in the North Sea, like the Battle of Jutland, during which I was on…. uhm…. standby off the Firth of Forth. During the first major operation of the High Sea Fleet after the Battle of Jutland, in August 1916, I succeeded in finishing off the English small cruiser Falmouth with torpedoes. In the fall of 1916, I had to transfer my U-Boat to the Mediterranean, and then operated there until the end of 1917. In my last year of the war, I became first admiral staff officer with the BdU in the Mediterranean. My successes in the U-Boat war with 170,000 tons of merchant ship tonnage and one small cruiser were recognized by awarding me the Pour le Mérite in the spring of 1918. After the end of the war, I decided to remain loyal to my old branch and to participate in the reconstruction of the new Reichsmarine. In this time, this period between the two great wars, were a few important commands, then I was captain of the dreadnought Elsass from 1927 to '29, followed by four years as Inspector of Naval Education. During this time, I was primarily involved in the reorganization of the personnel... the officer personnel of the navy. My active naval career ended with the post as Commanding Admiral of the North Sea Navy Station in Wilhelmshaven. Where I was active until the fall of 1937. Over. Thank you. General Admiral Schultze No. 2 General Admiral Schultze, No.2, first take. Please, go ahead. When the second World War broke out, I was first recalled to my old peacetime post, to Wilhelmshaven, and spent the first months of the war there, as Commanding Admiral of the North Sea Navy Station. This was followed by a longer period of military inactivity until I was called up for the second time on March 1st, 1941, and was given the post of Commanding Admiral in France. The task that had to be solved there was first and foremost to secure the long coastline from the Spanish to the Dutch border, which is over 2000km long. And the enlargement of all existing ports for the purposes of our naval warfare. For this purpose, a great deal of harbor construction work had to be carried out, especially in the many destroyed harbors. From the Atlantic coast, in the west of the area, to construct bases for the U-Boat warfare. For that, the ports of Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Pallice, La Rochelle and Bordeaux were established there. The expansion and securing of these U-Boat bases became increasingly important as the war progressed. And the danger that the enemy, who had suffered heavy losses in merchant ship tonnage in the year ‘41 because of the U-Boat war, would choose these ports as the target of his attack, was becoming ever greater. The outbreak of the Russian war took place during my command. The consequence of this was that in the winter of 41/42, when the first crisis occurred in the East, large forces had to be withdrawn from the West, and from then on, the security tasks in the West had to be carried out with very limited resources. It became necessary to provide military training for the personnel of the navy, primarily the military personnel who worked in the shipyards and other coastal command posts, but also the shipyard workers themselves, and to deploy them for the tasks of coastal defense. In March 18…ehm, 19…in March 19…42, the English made the first attack by carrying out a landing attempt at St. Nazairre on March 28th. This attack was primarily repulsed with the means of the navy. Coastal artillery and the local naval AA- artillery deployed for coastal protection destroyed most of the landing craft during the approach. The boats that came ashore and dropped off several hundred British soldiers were completely destroyed when they le.... during the attempt to leave the area. The troops that came ashore were able to carry out a few important destructions, but they were then fought down or captured in hours of fierce fighting. The end result was that the important U-Boat base in St. Nazairre had remained fully operational for the war. The English then made a second landing attempt in the second half of August 19...1942, a few days after I had to give up my comman. In this case he undertook a longer landing…a greater landing maneuver with stronger forces near Dieppe, which was also completely repulsed. Since then, i.e. for over a year, he has not made another attempt, from which it can be concluded that the security measures on the canal and the Atlantic coast are so strong that he has lost the desire to do so. On August 16, 1942, I handed over my command in France to my successor, Admiral Marshall. Over. Thank you. General Admiral Schultze No. 3 General Admiral Schultze No. 3, first take. The result of the current war must be the unification of Europe under German leadership. It is to be hoped that this will put an end to armed conflicts on this continent. But wars will continue to be fought. In the future, they will be conflicts between the great world empires, between the united Europe, America, Greater East Asia and the Russian-Asian colossus. With the exception of the latter, all these wars will primarily be naval wars. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the German people now finally learn to understand the sea, to speak with Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, and after the conclusion of this war, acquire the naval armaments they need for the future. Whether the submarine will play the same decisive role in future wars as it did in this one cannot be predicted with certainty. In any case, it will remain an important factor in naval armament. However, this must be supplemented by a strong naval air force. Over.