''U-Boote westwärts!'' (in English: ''U-boats Westward!'') is a 1941 German war film promoting the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...
''.
It centers on a
U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
mission in the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...
and was produced by
UFA. The
U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
used for the film was , which would later play a major role in
Operation Drumbeat.
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
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
ship spots them and tries to torpedo them, but the U-boat ends up sinking it.
Cast
*
Herbert Wilk as
Kapitänleutnant
, short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...
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
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
Karl Dönitz as himself
Motifs
The British are shown as cowardly and
duplicitous.
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.
See also
*
List of German films 1933–1945
*
List of World War II films
References
External links
*
''U-Boote westwärts'' YouTube - Russian listing
1941 films
1940s war films
Films of Nazi Germany
Films directed by Günther Rittau
World War II submarine films
Nazi World War II propaganda films
U-boat fiction
German black-and-white films
UFA GmbH films
1940s German films
1940s German-language films
Films scored by Harald Böhmelt
Nazi-era films restricted in Germany
German-language war films
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