U-Boote westwärts
| U-Boote westwärts ! | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Günther Rittau |
| Written by | Georg Zoch |
| Starring | Herbert Wilk |
| Music by | Harald Böhmelt |
| Cinematography | Igor Oberberg |
| Editing by | Johanna Meisel |
| Distributed by | UFA |
| Release dates |
|
| Running time | 48 minutes |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
U-Boote westwärts ! (in English: U-boat Westward!) was a 1941 German war propaganda film promoting the Kriegsmarine.[1] It concerns a U-boat mission in the Battle of the Atlantic and was produced by UFA. The U-boat used for the film was U-123, which would later play a major role in Operation Drumbeat.[2]
Plot
The short film (48 minutes) opens aboard a U-boat as its returns from a mission. It then follows the crew onshore the day before they ship off for their next mission—meeting their family and sweethearts, spending a last night at a club, and so forth. Then they ship off, soon sighting and boarding a Dutch merchant ship, which they inspect for contraband. The boarding of the ship is shown being done professionally and in a non-confrontational manner. While they are aboard the Dutch ship, a Royal Navy ship spots them and tries to torpedo them, but the U-boat ends up sinking it.
Cast
- Herbert Wilk: Kapitänleutnant Hoffmeister
- Heinz Engelmann: Olt. zur See Wiegand
- Joachim Brennecke: Lt. zur See v. Benedict
- Ernst Wilhelm Borchert: Olt. Griesbach
- Karl John: Matr. Ob. Gefr. Drewitz
- Clemens Hasse: Masch.-Maat Sonntag
- Ilse Werner: Irene Winterfeld
- Admiral Karl Dönitz: himself
Motifs
The British are shown as cowardly and duplicitous.[1] It also glamorizes death in battle: the British ship was torpedoed even though it had German POWs, and one dies, speaking of the honor of dying for the fatherland.[1]
See also
- List of German films 1933-1945
- List of World War II films
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hertzstein, Robert Edwin (1978). The War That Hitler Won. New York: Putnam. p. 284. ISBN 0-399-11845-4.
- ↑ Gannon, Michael (1991). Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-boat Attacks Along the American Coast In World War II. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 11. ISBN 0-06-092088-2.