Against All Odds- by Robert Taylor

The signatures

Otto Kretschmer	matted wartime signature of Captain Otto Kretschmer
Kretschmer entered the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1930, joining the U-boat service of the newly named Kriegsmarine in January 1936. After the completion of his submariner training he was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See (senior-sub lieutenant/Lieutenant Junior Grade) on 1 June. Kretschmer's first operational experience on a submarine was as a lieutenant on the U-35 in 1937 as first watch officer under the command of Hans-Rudolf Rösing. While Kretschmer was discharging his responsibilities for the operational readiness of the deck gun, Rösing dived the boat, leaving Kretschmer stranded in the freezing water. He clung to the periscope in the hope of being seen through the optics. Kretschmer was soon missed and the U-boat surfaced to find him before he succumbed to the cold. On 1 October 1937, Kretschmer took command of U-23. Through the remaining Interwar period, he developed his own approach to combat, which can be summarized by the phrase "one torpedo, one ship". He dispensed with the standard practice of firing salvoes of torpedoes from long distances. The tactics implemented by Kretschmer resulted in a very effective usage of torpedoes, as each attack was designed to maximize the chances of a hit. In fact, out of 116 torpedoes fired in action, Kretschmer scored 74 hits (equivalent to a 69.8% success rate). The vast majority of Kretschmer's attacks - at least 83 - were launched on the surface. The German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 began the war in Europe. Karl Dönitz, Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU), ordered attacks on Allied shipping at sea, beginning the Battle of the Atlantic. From September 1939 until his capture in March 1941 Kretschmer sank 47 ships, including one warship, a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, among other awards. He earned the nickname "Silent Otto", both for his successful use of the "silent running" capability of U-boats and for his reluctance to transmit radio messages during patrols. Despite being captured just eighteen months into the conflict, Kretschmer was the most successful U-Boat commander of WWII.

Karl Dönitz	matted wartime signature of Admiral Karl Dönitz
Born in 1891, Karl Dönitz began his career in the Imperial German Navy before World War One. On 22 March 1916, Dönitz was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See, he then requested a transfer to the submarine forces, which became effective on 1 October 1916. He attended the submariner's school at Flensburg-Mürwik and passed out on 3 January 1917. He served as watch officer on U-39, and from February 1918 onward as commander of UC-25. On 2 July 1918, he became commander of UB-68, operating in the Mediterranean. It was during this period he began to formulate the concept of U-boats operating in attack groups Rudeltaktik (German for "pack tactic", commonly called a "wolfpack") for greater efficiency, rather than operating independently. On 4 October, after suffering technical difficulties, Dönitz was forced to surface and scuttled his boat. He was captured by the British and incarcerated in the Redmires camp near Sheffield. He remained a prisoner of war until 1919 and in 1920 he returned to Germany. By the start of WWII, Dönitz was supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat arm (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU)). In January 1943, Dönitz achieved the rank of Großadmiral (grand admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. Dönitz was the main enemy of Allied naval forces in the Battle of the Atlantic. From 1939 to 1943 the U-boats fought effectively but lost the initiative from May 1943. Dönitz ordered his submarines into battle until 1945 to relieve the pressure on other branches of the Wehrmacht. 648 U-boats were lost - 429 with no survivors. Furthermore, of these, 215 were lost on their first patrol. Around 30,000 of the 40,000 men who served in U-boats perished. On 30 April 1945, after the suicide of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with his last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as head of state in what became known as the Goebbels cabinet after his second-in-command, Joseph Goebbels, until Goebbels' suicide led to Dönitz's cabinet being reformed into the Flensburg Government instead. On 7 May 1945, he ordered Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), to sign the German instruments of surrender in Reims, France, formally ending the War in Europe. Dönitz remained as head of state with the titles of President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces until his cabinet was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May.
All below signed on the print.
Kapitanleutnant Karl-August Landfermann - Knights Cross

Korveitenkapitan Helmut Witte - Knights Cross

Oberbootsmannsmaat Rudolf Muhlbauer - Knights Cross

Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Schroeteler - Knights Cross

Kapitanleutnant Gerhard Bielig - Knights Cross

Kapitanleutnant Heinz Franke - Knights Cross

Kapitanleutnant Siegfried Koitschka - Knights Cross