Kapitan zur See Wolfgang Lueth commanded five U-boats (U-13, U-9, U-138, U-43 and U-181) sinking 47 ships for a total of 225,756 tons. He was one of the most complex personalities of the U-boat War.

On the one hand, he was an inspiring leader and tactician who got the most from his men and his boat; and on the other, he was an ardent and outspoken Nazi.

While interesting, this lecture is not comfortable reading. The reader is forced to confront Luth's dark side.

Lueth's general approach to leadership, that if you take care of your men they will take care of you, is universally accepted.

Many of the specific leadership techniques described by Lueth in this lecture were developed to maintain morale during the long cruises to distant waters typical for the type IX and IXD2 boats Luth commanded. These techniques were less useful during North Atlantic patrols made by the majority of U-boats.

This translation of Lueth's Lecture is by the Office of Naval Intelligence.

According to Jordan Vause, who wrote the excellent Luth biography, "U-boat Ace, the Story of Wolfgang Luth", the translation is poor but the reader will get a sense of Lueth's leadership style and a glimpse of life aboard a U-boat.

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A lecture given by the German Submarine Commander, Lt. Commander Lueth, German Navy, on 17 December 1943.

OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
Navy Department
Forward

The following is a lecture by Lt. Commander Wolfgang Lueth on the problems of leadership in a submarine, given at a convention of naval officers at Weimar on 17 December 1943. Lueth was one of the outstanding German submarine commanders.

He was born in 1913, and joined the German Navy in 1933. In August 1943 he received the swords and diamonds to the Oak Leaves award, worn with the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross; he was the seventh man to receive this decoration, and the first member of the Navy. At that time it was claimed that he had sunk forty-six ships totaling 254,000 GRT. In addition he was credited with sinking one enemy submarine, damaging two more ships and a destroyer, and executing a successful mining operation.

He made sixteen successful cruises, one of which is said to have been the longest submarine cruise of the war.

Lueth was given the nickname of "der grosse Jager", or "the great hunter".

Grand Admiral, Gentlemen:

It is my job as submarine commander to sink ships.

To do this I need a cooperative crew so that everything clicks. If the men are really to cooperate, they not only have to know their jobs well - all the little details of their daily routine - but they also have to like their work.

I wish to describe to you here a number of episodes which are to show you along what lines I have directed life aboard, and how we live. I have spent a long time on enemy missions, the entire four years. What I am going to tell here is based only on my own experiences; these are my own ideas. I shall try to skip basic principles, to avoid platitudes, and to relate only episodes which can serve as examples of how it can be done. Each trip was different, and each time I was surrounded by different officers and men. There is no formula which applies to all cases. I have learned new things during each of my sixteen missions, so that I had gathered considerable experience by the time I started on my last mission which lasted more than seven and one half months.

I am now going to describe to you briefly conditions aboard a submarine, because they are so entirely different from those aboard other naval vessels.

Life aboard is monotonous for long periods.

For many long weeks one must be able to bear failures, and when depth charges are added life becomes a "war of nerves" - which, however, affects principally the leaders.

We feel something like a flier in the air who is attacked, let us say, by three fighters. This man, however, must be able to hear clearly every shot which is intended for him, even if it misses, yes, even if it misses him by several thousand meters.

Therefore he feels not only the shots that hit home, but every single shot that is fired. All these blasts have a tormenting intensity.

Then the lights go out and he sits in the dark, and when it is dark all men become more afraid. Unlike the plane the submarine cannot fly away, but has to remain motionless with out being able to defend himself or shot back. All that requires stouthearted men.

To this must be added that life aboard a submarine is unnatural and unhealthy compared to life on a sailing vessel, just as unhealthy as city life compared to life in the country.

There is no constant change between day and night, for the lights have to burn all the time inside the boat.

There are no Sundays and no weekdays, and there is no regular change of seasons. Therefore life is monotonous and without rhythm, and the captain must attempt to compensate for these disadvantages as far as possible. Added to this is the continuous change of climate, which affects even the healthiest man after a certain length of time.

The boat passes from the trade wind zones to the tropics, from humid regions to clear weather zones, and touches one climate zone after the other, particularly on route to and from her zone of operations.

There is no regular time for sleeping, since most of the fighting is done at night. Continuous responsibility rests with the captain for weeks and he must be alert at all times. The stench on board, the racket, and the motion of the ship all add up to produce a bad state of morale. Smoking and drinking strong coffee are also factors which must not be ignored, for both affect the men’s stomachs and nerves, particularly if they indulge in them at night on an empty stomach. I have seen young fellows of twenty-three become unfit for submarine duty within two years.

Of course, one must not get drunk too often when ashore; that is a peacetime luxury. During my enemy missions I have never drunk that popular mid watch coffee, which tastes so horrible because it is much too strong; I have never smoked more than one to two cigars daily, and I have only seldom got drunk ashore.

The morale of the crew depends on the following factors:

Success.

If a commander is successful his crew will love him more, even if he is a numbskull, than one who is unsuccessful. However, for a commander who is not successful it is particularly important to have a crew with high morale.

A well-organized daily routine aboard.

The example and correct attitude of the officers.

Real spiritual leadership for the men, together with a genuine concern for their personal welfare.

It is the duty of the captain to see to it that a high esprit de corps prevails on his ship, and that the opinions of incompetent men count little. He should act aboard perhaps like a gardener who roots out the weeds and tends the good plants.

That is not too difficult, for we deal mostly with eager young men. The men are from twenty to twenty-two years old; the petty officers are twenty-three to twenty-five years old. It is also to our advantage that most of the men are skilled craftsmen who have served apprenticeships, and that there are hardly any intellectual misfits among them who got only part way through secondary schools because they were thrown out or were too stupid to continue. Such men can have a very adverse effect on the crew. However, if they are closely watched their talents can also be used to good advantage.

My crew included men from all regions of Germany.

Twenty percent of them came from the Rhineland and the rest came from all other parts of Germany, even from Austria and the Sudetenland; in my daily dealings I have had good and bad experiences with all of them. Most petty officers were married and the rest were honestly engaged.

I consider that an advantage. Though I know that a woman can break a man’s fighting strength, and I have often observed that married men returned from their leave particularly well rested for a new mission. Married petty officers must be told what is required of the wife of a fighting man. I was glad to have the opportunity at one time of inviting most of the wives of my men to my home for coffee.

I was glad to meet them and to be able to tell them that we expect them to be brave. I believe that afterwards several of them felt better able to bear their burden, and I asked my wife to write to them now and then and keep in touch with them.

Much has been written about the award of medals, and this subject will continue to be a controversial one.

This only shows the importance of the problem.

The fact must not be ignored that there are some men who, when decorated with the Iron Cross First Class, suddenly develop diseases which cannot be spotted by an X-ray machine and which are generally known by the watch word of heart and stomach ailments and rheumatism.

If every submarine man would submit to a conventional physical check-up, only few would be found fit for duty.

It is necessary to appeal to a man’s iron willpower to maintain his health and to overcome minor difficulties.

If two men are up for the Iron Cross First Class and only one can receive it, I prefer to give it to the man who stays on board rather than to the one who is lucky enough to be advanced to petty officer or chief petty officer and therefore has to leave the ship.

After all, the Iron Cross is not to be awarded for charity; it is a decoration for bravery before the enemy, and the bearer has to prove himself even more worthy of it after the award.

On a long mission I cannot apply the penal provisions of the disciplinary punishment regulations, because I cannot imprison anybody, and liberty restrictions or withholding of pay are also impractical.

If I punish a man with two weeks in the brig I have to say to him "In a few months we shall be home again, and then you will have to sweat it out." In the meantime we experience success and danger together in which the man proves his worth. We return home feeling triumphant having accomplished something. Am I to lock the man up then for an offense committed months ago?

I consider this unwise.

Nevertheless, I do hold disciplinary hearings while at sea. In the case of a grave offense all officers are present. I want everybody to be neatly and uniformly dressed.

If, for instance, a man was impertinent to a superior of committed some other infraction, an offense for which he might get three days, I deprive him for three days of his bunk.

In that case he has to sleep on deck without a mattress or a blanket, and, since this is uncomfortable, it is more effective than three days arrest. On long missions the younger men often break a lot of dishes. Admonitions, as you know, are of little avail, especially since mess duty is often very difficult during rough weather.

Now I have china muster every week, and if too much is missing the mess attendant has to eat out of a can for three days.

To deprive a man of the smoking privilege is also hard punishment. To forbid a skat fan to play for three days also works miracles.

On one trip our rations were short, yet one man obtained in an uncomradely manner additional rations in such quantities that I had to make an example of him. I punished him by giving him the silent treatment for two weeks, as used to be customary among cadets, and actually nobody talked to him and he slept on a hard bunk all that time. Afterwards the case was closed; nothing more was said about it, and comradeship was fully restored.

Once I had a chronic grumbler aboard who also liked to be disobedient towards superiors who could not handle him.

He crabbed about everything, similar to some types in civilian life. Once when we had no success for weeks and his grumbling threatened the morale of the crew I called a muster. I dived to forty meters, got everything well settled, left three good men in the control and electric motor compartments, addressed the man in a loud voice: "Either you return with me as my friend, or when you return I shall send you to a penal company at the Eastern Front. For the time being you will pull two weeks extra duty according to an exact schedule." I gave him this in writing and had him sign it. Then I had it printed in the ship’s paper which hangs on the bulletin boards, one across from the radio room and one at the head in the aft compartment where it can be read with the necessary leisure. The man performed the extra duty in the tropics to my full satisfaction.

He sorted out bad potatoes, cleaned up the bilges, shifted the supplies, and relieved his comrades of the kind of work that is necessary but is very unpleasant to perform.

He continued to do his work so well that he now wears the Iron Cross, and I have recommended him to my successor as combat helmsman.

I do not let the mess petty officer distribute fruit, chocolate, and similar things in a routine manner but I keep them under my thumb. Fruit as a reward for a job well done or withheld as punishment for greediness is a good means for education on a long trip.

These are all things which can be done very well on board. They are more effective when sensibly applied than the penalties provided by the disciplinary punishment regulations. It is important that the crew be notified of the punishment in a proper manner, either through the ship’s paper or the bulletin board, or at muster.

Any chicanery must be prevented, and the man must never notice that his captain is irritated. He must feel that in the end he is appreciated as an equal among comrades. Generally I had the tendency to punish as little as possible.

This cannot be done by putting your hands in your lap and letting everything take its course, but by taking particularly good care of one’s men, by truly leading and educating them, and by issuing clear orders to make obedience easier.

One day after I had received the Oak Leaves at sea my aft lookout spotted a destroyer too late. There was nothing for us to do but dive and wait. Our success was jeopardized, and we were exposed to unnecessary danger.

Nevertheless I did not punish the man.

We had so much stuff thrown at us that we could not surface for over fifteen hours. The looks he got from his comrades when the depth charges started to explode were punishment enough. The fact that I did not punish him paid off well. He is now an excellent man.

I have also had men with prison records aboard, and I got along well with them. Naturally they must not be thieves who stole from their fellow crew members or similar inferior types. At one time a destroyer was attacking us with depth charges, when suddenly at great depth a valve of the bilge water line burst. Water rushed into the boat. The electric switchboard at the central control station caught fire, and the lights went out. Fortunately I had a man with a prison record who wanted to redeem himself. He jumped into the fire and extinguished it.

He received the Iron Cross First Class and is now a petty officer. It was a bargain for both of us, for him as well as for me. In almost every case the purpose of punishment is to educate the man, not to destroy him. The chance to redeem himself is often a strong incentive for such a man.

It is obvious that a precise routine must be adhered to on board. It is a matter of honor that the watch is relieved on time. I also stress the observance of military courtesy aboard.

This necessarily applies more in port than at sea, where it must suffice to call "Attention" when the captain enters a compartment for the first time during the day, and to have the senior enlisted man report what is going on, just as the watch officer on the bridge has to report.

While lying in port muster must be stood at least once a day. I feel that a dignified color ceremony is particularly important.

From time to time a locker muster must be held at sea, too, and one must constantly check to see that all gear is properly stowed.

Besides this, it must be added that the captain must be accessible at all times aboard, so that important matters are not postponed out of misplaced respect for his person or fear of his bad mood.

The lookout is particularly important on a submarine.

His qualifications depend even more on his character than on his good eyes. During all my cruises we spotted far more than 100 planes but we were bombed only three times. Several times the lookout spotted planes even at night, and twice he even heard them in time.

Despite this, I permit the men to talk and smoke while on watch. I know that young crews must be forbidden to do so while in training at home, where not a word may be spoken during the watch. The lookout must first get a "solid foundation". But if you've been at sea for months, you can’t let the men stand watch for four hours without speaking a single word. When I know that they are alert, I permit them to sneak up to each other back to back and exchange a few words with their eyes on their binoculars.

Whether smoking is permitted at night is decided by the watch officer on the basis of visibility.

I should like to remark here that I forbid the younger men to smoke on an empty stomach before breakfast from 0400 and 0800.

During one cruise one of my men was killed and several others wounded. As replacement I picked a volunteer ordinary seaman from a German steamer at sea.

He was nineteen and had Served on German ships since he was fourteen.

He came aboard with a straw hat on his head and said: "Day, Cap'n, this is where I am supposed to get on".

He had no idea of military discipline.

I assigned him my best petty officer to teach him military discipline and the basic facts.

After two weeks we swore him in. For this occasion we submerged, decorated the bow compartment with flags, and turned this administration of the oath into a real ceremony.

The man had previously learned the oath by heart. In my address I told him about the duties of a German soldier. The crew attended uniformly dressed in brown tropical shirts.

Everybody got a decent haircut for the occasion. Appropriate songs for the ceremony had been prearranged, so that the singing really clicked. We also made the young seaman a present of the "Duties of a Man-of-War’s Man" which one of the men had carefully written down. One has to think of such trifles if ceremonies of this kind are being improvised and military ceremonies are necessary from time to time to stimulate the enthusiasm of the men. He became an excellent man who was awarded the Iron Cross and the submarine insignia, and he is staying on board without having to go through the usual basic training.

When he went on leave I sent a fellow crew member along for his protection so that he could tell him: "You must salute this man, he is a superior, watch your step, this man belongs to the railroad patrol; but the admiral over there in that beautiful uniform is a railroad man who wont brother you."

Normally no alcohol is allowed aboard.

However, the men are very grateful if they can take a swig from the bottle now and then on a special occasion, as when a steamer has been sunk, if it is someone’s birthday, or if somebody got soaked while working on the upper deck.

The closer the petty officers cooperate with their officers, the better will be the discipline aboard. Therefore I support the petty officers on board wherever I can. I tell them not only all the things that are forbidden and the things they cannot do to establish discipline, but rather how many possibilities there are and what means they have at their disposal to gain the respect of the men. Most of them are so young that they need that advice. Sometimes when we are submerged I call them together, instruct them in disciplinary problems, and indulge them to tell me all their troubles.

After you have had a heart to heart talk with them you reproach yourself for not having talked with them before to help them solve their problems. I also feel it is a mistake to treat a seasoned seaman like a boot. "A soldier must be self-confident" is an old axiom.

The seaman must, if possible, shoulder more responsibility than his younger comrades.

Success is easy to take; it raises morale.

My efforts on board, however, are directed toward keeping up the crew’s morale when things are not going well, too.

The good soldier can show his true mettle only when the odds are against him. On enemy missions things never go as well, or for that matter as badly, as you expect them to. You just have to have the guts to stick it out.

If you have success you have to let your crew share in it. It is a matter of temperament how a commander makes his crew feel their part in the fight.

It is difficult for the submarine man; he cannot actively participate in the fight or just go out and perform heroic deeds. However, if somebody makes a single slip the shot carefully prepared long in advance misses the target.

At one time I ran smack into a convoy in the middle of the night. I barely dodged a destroyer and sneaked close by a steamer into the middle of the convoy.

Visibility was limited, and I had not yet a clear view of the situation. I slowed down because I told myself that he who thinks slowly, must go slowly, or he might come to grief. After I had given the most important orders down into the boat I called the chief engineer who was in the central control station, to give him a short description of what was going on above, and he relayed it to the crew over the loud-speaker.

Since the men knew what the game was I did not have to drive them on. Before the boat turned for the attack I called down: "The run starts!".

This not only gives the crew a heightened feeling of confidence, but also prepares them for the climax of the attack. For instance, when the torpedo is on the way I add: "It will be at least forty seconds before it hits!".

When the entire boat counts together, the victory bottle is uncorked in anticipation and the victory march is prepared for playing over the loud-speaker, the seconds pass.

And if after two minutes there is still no explosion, the waiting is ended with the expression "Schiet!". If depth charges are dropped after a hit, there usually is also an opportunity to tell the men a few more interesting details about the attack. If one manages to keep on the surface, a few deserving crew members are allowed to come up on the bridge for a moment to watch the sinking steamer. By day, while at periscope depth, there are always situations in which one can let some of the men look through the periscope.

In the heat of battle such things are not often possible. For that very reason one should always take advantage of good opportunities.

One day, after I had received my diamonds, I spotted a large steamer which had the same speed as the submarine.

After a long chase I was able to sink her, so to speak in gratitude for the award. During such a long chase I gladly let the men take a look at the plotting chart and have them search through the ship register to try to identify the type and size of the steamer, so that the hunting fever gradually spreads through the entire boat. I permit a few men to come up on the bridge to pick up the steamer through the binoculars.

The entire crew must be able to participate in such experiences.

Before entering port, I dive once more in the Bay of Biscay and hold muster. I tell the men what they can tell at home and what is forbidden. Since every German thinks that only secrets are interesting.

I show them that many other things which are not secret can also be interesting. At one time I posted a sample letter on the bulletin board: "Dear Erika, I have returned safely. We were very successful and sank several steamers. Once we even caught a shark, and I won first prize in the chess tournament"" I add a lot of other things, and they can pick out whatever suits them best.

The ordinary daily routine must be perfectly organized.

The ship must become a home to the sailor. Naturally there must not be too much regimentation. Because rest periods are particularly necessary on a submarine, it is one of the submarine man’s main principles that his off-duty hours and his sleep are inviolable. The rhythm of a normal life must be preserved as much as possible. Since the change from day to night cannot ordinarily be felt on a submarine it must be brought about by artificial means.

During supper the dim lights are switched on, and we have evening concert on records from half an hour before the watch changes (2000) until half an hour afterwards. Sunday is always a special occasion and begins with a recorded program, initiated regularly by the song "Yes, this is my Sunday fun, to stay in bed at least until ten." The evening concert always ends with a fine record, the "Abendlied" sung by the Regenaburg Domspatzen. I tell my men: "If you do put on a clean shirt every once and a while, don’t do it on Tuesday or Friday; do it on Sunday, so at least some of you will run around in Sunday clothes." Every man brings along enough illustrated magazines so that it is possible to distribute six new ones every Sunday. We arrange it so that the last papers are given out when we reach port. Of course we also arrange the bill of fare accordingly and the menu will contain items whichindicate that it is a holiday.

The head may be a problem at the beginning of a mission when there are still a few inexperienced hands aboard who do not know how to work the pumps. For safety’s sake there is a sign there which reads: "Make it short!". There is also a notebook which every visitor has to sign.

If the head is not clean, I get hold of the last one and he has to pump. To make this measure seem less grim, everyone is allowed to write little verses in the book. Gradually these become so numerous that they can fill half an evening of entertainment.

Of course on a long mission it is necessary to have general ship cleaning. It is interesting that I was almost the only man aboard who really knew how to clean a ship, how to chip paint, and how to swab decks and benches. Hardly a member of the crew had ever been on a battleship, where you really learn these things. This general ship cleaning is done on Saturdays, accompanied by lively record music to make it more pleasant. The arrangement of the menu is difficult, for the men start to crab about the food all too easily. I therefore let the various compartments draw up the menu. Of course the longer we are out on a mission the closer I have to control the fare, so that all the best things will not be eaten up at the beginning.

I also insist that the men have decent table manners, especially in the petty officers’ quarters.

I do not insist on these things because I am an aesthete, but because I believe that the authority of the petty officers suffers if they do not take care of themselves under all circumstances.

I have seen petty officers who sat down at the table with dirty hands and unbuttoned clothes, or who snapped at a mess attendant because the plate was not absolutely clean while at the same time a man was sitting next to them who dirtied his plate with his greasy hands.

Such a difference of standards makes the mess crew feel insecure and leads to constant friction, and this can easily be avoided.

One must see to it that the men crab about the food rarely and only in justified cases.

Bread is also baked aboard. Because our baking oven was out of order this was a difficult affair. We remedied the situation by arranging a baking contest. Four men who were professional bakers had to compete with each other, and we gave each new loaf of bread so much publicity over the radio and in the ship’s paper that it could not have been done better at the Reichstag elections.

This way we finally did get decent bread after all. But there are also other minor details which you have to remember. If you have neither indelible ink nor name tags, and therefore the laundry which is hung up to dry in the electric motor compartment is not marked, it gets lost occasionally and unnecessary annoyance is caused.

Experience has shown that it takes about two weeks for it to turn up again. The ship’s store must also be watched; it must be run on the basis that every man gets an equal share, the captain not more than the youngest seaman.

If exceptions are made in certain articles the men must be told about it very frankly. In all these problems the watch officer must really be the men’s best comrade and the link between captain and crew. However, he can only inform the captain of any dissatisfaction if the men tell him about it, thus he must have their full confidence.

We did not hold sick call aboard.

I feel that this is not necessary for fifty healthy men.

But have always trained my men to see the doctor or the captain even about trifles. Not because they feel sorry for themselves or want to shirk their duty but, on the contrary, in order always to be fit for duty. It is every submarine man’s duty to stay healthy. It is better to have a boil treated immediately than to wait until it has become too big for fear of being called a sissy.

A healthy way of life is necessary on board.

I not only order every man to wear his woolen waistband, but I also do not permit drinking ice water in the tropics. I have forbidden young hands to smoke on an empty stomach, and I see to it that the mid watch coffee is not made quite as strong as is usual in the Navy.

On one mission we had a case of diphtheria.

Fortunately we did not notice it until the man was already completely paralyzed and the danger of contagion had passed. Otherwise we would have been so worried that we would have that we would all have gargled until our throats were sore. After many weeks the paralyzed man was fit for duty once more, and during the last two months he did full duty although he had been lying in the aft compartment all this time and had scarcely seen day light. Upon arrival in port he was declared unfit for submarine duty for some time.

I was angry about that; there are physical defects in spite of which one can be a good submarine man.

There are doubtless many submarine men who have been declared unfit for duty in keeping with the regulations, when nobody wanted to take the responsibility of sending them against the enemy again, though it would have been possible. But when so many soldiers are risking their lives, others should have to risk their health in this tough war. I have also had cases of gonorrhea and even syphilis on board which, however, could be cured by the doctor. Three days before shoving off I stop all shore leave without previous notice so that the men will not make a last quick visit to a whorehouse.