Doenitz succeeded Hitler as the last leader of the Third Reich. He is still a potent symbol of division with Germany - regarded by admirers as one of the greatest of all German war leaders, and by detractors as "the devil's admiral", responsible for the staggering death-toll of young men he sent out in U-boats to fight the Battle of the Atlantic. Charting the influences and pressures that moulded Doenitz and led him to put all his trust in Hitler, this biography then provides an account of the pressures and inner struggles he experienced as the U-boat admiral, Supreme Commander of the Navy, and Hitler's most trusted confidant. The author is a naval historian whose other books include "Armada", "Himmler" and "Hess".