Grossadmiral Erich Raeder Baton

Erich Johann Albert Raeder (24 April 1876 – 6 November 1960) was a German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank, that of Grand Admiral, in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank since Henning von Holtzendorff. Raeder led the Kriegsmarine for the first half of the war; he resigned in 1943 and was replaced by Karl Dönitz. At the Nuremberg Trials he was sentenced to life in prison but was released early due to failing health.

World War II

Raeder believed the navy was unprepared for the start of World War II by at least five years. The surface fleet was inadequate to fight the Royal Navy and instead adopted a strategy of convoy raiding. Raeder wanted the Kriegsmarine to play an active part because he feared the budget would be cut after the war. The smaller ships were dispersed around the world in order to force the Royal Navy to disperse their ships to combat them, while the battleships would carry out raids in the North Sea, with a view towards gradually reducing the Royal Navy's strength at home.

Raeder was unhappy with the outcome of the Battle of the River Plate and believed that Hans Langsdorff should not have scuttled the ship, but instead sailed out to engage the Royal Navy. Fleet commander Hermann Boehm was held responsible and was sacked by Raeder, who also issued orders that ships were to fight until the last shell and either win or sink with their flags flying.

The Allies were using Norwegian airfields to transfer aircraft to the Finns fighting against the Soviets in the Winter War, as well as mining Norwegian waters and the Germans were alarmed by these developments. If the allies were to use Norwegian naval bases or successfully mine Norwegian waters, they could cut off the vital iron ore imports from Sweden and tighten the blockade of Germany. The Allies also had made plans to invade Norway and Sweden in order to cut off the iron ore shipments to Germany. Admiral Rolf Carls, commander of the Kriegsmarine in the Baltic sea region, proposed the invasion of Norway to Raeder in September 1939. Raeder briefed Hitler on the idea in October, but planning did not begin until December 1939. The operation was in low-priority planning until the Altmark Incident, but found a new sense of urgency thereafter. The invasion proved costly for the Kriegsmarine, losing a heavy cruiser, two of its six light cruisers, 10 of its 20 destroyers and six U-boats. In addition, almost all of the other capital ships were damaged and required dockyard repairs, and for a time the German surface fleet had only three light cruisers and four destroyers operational in the aftermath of the Norwegian Campaign.

The swift victory over France allowed the Kriegsmarine to base itself in ports on France's west coast. This was strategically important as German ships would no longer have to navigate through the dangerous English Channel in order to return to friendly ports, as well as allow them to range farther out into the Atlantic to attack convoys. With the surrender of France, Raeder saw the opportunity to greatly enhance the navy's power by confiscating the ships of the French Navy and manning them with his crews. Hitler however, vetoed this idea, afraid that doing so would push the French navy to join the Royal Navy. British fears of Raeder's plan resulted in the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, where the Royal Navy attacked the French navy despite being at peace.

In January 1941, the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sent on a successful commerce raiding mission in the Atlantic. On 18 March, Raeder wanted to start firing on US warships even if unprovoked. He declined to invade the Azores on the grounds of the surface ship losses the previous year.

In April 1941, Raeder planned to follow up the success of Operation Berlin with an even larger mission involving a battleship, two battlecruisers and a heavy cruiser under the command of Lütjens, codenamed Operation Rheinübung. The original plan was to have the battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst involved in the operation, but Scharnhorst was undergoing heavy repairs to her engines, and Gneisenau had just suffered a damaging torpedo hit days before which put her out of action for six months. In the end only the Bismarck and Prince Eugen were sent out on the mission, which ended with Bismarck's sinking. The debacle almost saw the end of using capital ships against merchant shipping. Hitler was not pleased and saw the Bismarck as a poor investment.

In late 1941, Raeder planned the "channel dash" which sent the remaining two battleships in the French ports to Germany, for further operations in Norwegian waters. The plan was to threaten the lend-lease convoys to the Soviet Union, to deter an invasion of Norway, and to tie down elements of the Home fleet that might otherwise have been used in the Atlantic against the wolfpacks.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor Raeder, along with Field Marshal Keitel and Riechsmarschall Goring, urged Hitler to immediately declare war on the United States in view of the U.S. war plan Rainbow Five, and to begin the U-boat attacks off the U.S. east coast called the Second Happy Time.

Resignation

On 30 January 1943, following Hitler's outrage over the Battle of the Barents Sea, Karl Dönitz was promoted to Grand Admiral, and Raeder was named Admiral Inspector, a ceremonial office. Raeder had failed to inform Hitler of the battle, which Hitler learned about from the foreign press. Hitler thought the Lutzow and Hipper lacked fighting spirit, according to Albert Speer. The reorganisation fitted into Speer's goal of working more closely with Dönitz

Post war

Nuremberg trial

Raeder was captured by Soviet troops on June 23, 1945 and imprisoned in Moscow. At the end of July he was taken to Nuremberg to stand trial on the counts of:
(1) conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity;
(2) planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression;
(3) crimes against the laws of war.

Raeder was found guilty on all the counts and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was surprised as he had expected to be sentenced to death. Whilst in prison, Raeder was the constant companion of Dönitz, with whom he continued his feud. His wife, supported by German veterans, led several campaigns to free him until, on account of his ill health, he was released on 26 September 1955.

Freedom

Raeder wrote his autobiography using ghost writers. He enjoyed attending and speaking at veteran meetings.

He died in Kiel on 6 November 1960. His wife had died in 1959. He is buried in the Nordfriedhof (North Cemetery), Kiel.