U-boats Westward!
1941 film by Günther Rittau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
U-Boote westwärts! (in English: U-boats Westward!) is a 1941 German war film promoting the Kriegsmarine.[1] It centers on 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]
| U-Boote westwärts! | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Günther Rittau |
| Written by | Georg Zoch |
| Starring | Herbert Wilk |
| Cinematography | Igor Oberberg |
| Edited by | Johanna Meisel |
| Music by | Harald Böhmelt |
| Distributed by | UFA |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | 30,000 Marks |
Plot
The film opens aboard a U-boat as it returns from a mission. It then follows the crew onshore the day before they ship off for their next mission—meeting their families 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 as Kapitänleutnant Hoffmeister
- Heinz Engelmann as Olt. zur See Wiegand
- Joachim Brennecke as Lt. zur See v. Benedict
- Ernst Wilhelm Borchert as Olt. Griesbach
- Karl John as Matr. Ob. Gefr. Drewitz
- Clemens Hasse as Masch.-Maat Sonntag
- Ilse Werner as Irene Winterfeld
- Admiral Karl Dönitz as himself
Motifs
The British are shown as cowardly and duplicitous.[1] The film 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]
