Tuesday 3 March 2020

U-Boote westwärts! (1941)


U-boats Westward!


Directed by: Günther Rittau
Written by: Georg Zoch
Starring: Herbert Wilk
Music by: Harald Böhmelt
Cinematography: Igor Oberberg
Edited by: Johanna Meisel
Distributed by: UFA
Release date: 9 May 1941
Running time: 98 minutes
Country: National-Socialist Germany
Language: German

Starring:

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

U-Boote westwärts! (in English: U-boats Westward!) is a 1941 German war film promoting the Kriegsmarine. 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.

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 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.

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