U-boats westward!
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | U-boats westward! |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1941 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK none |
| Rod | |
| Director | Günther Rittau |
| script | Georg Zoch |
| production | Ulrich Mohrbutter for UFA |
| music | Harald Boehmelt |
| camera | Igor Oberberg |
| cut | Johanna Meisel , Wolfgang Wehrum |
| occupation | |
| |
U-boats westward! is a German war film by director Günther Rittau from 1941.
It is a reserved film from the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation . It is part of the foundation's portfolio, has not been released for distribution and may only be shown with the consent and under the conditions of the foundation.
action
After only a few hours home leave, the crew of a submarine of the Kriegsmarine received a new order for action. On patrol, the submarine stops a neutral Dutch steamer. The cargo is checked. Instead of the sewing machines declared in the shipping documents, there are aircraft parts. The prize regulations , the steamer is accordingly prepared for sinking using explosives, when suddenly a British torpedo boat appears that as escorting a located nearby Allied serves convoys. Commander Hoffmeister can just bring his boat to the diving station. The four men of the prize squad are no longer able to get off the Dutch steamer in time. The submarine barely escapes an attempt to ram the torpedo boat and the subsequent depth charges . But the prize squad was captured by the British.
A little later, Hoffmeister succeeds in sinking several freighters from the convoy, and the English torpedo boat runs in front of the torpedo tubes. The English warship sinks, but the German prisoners manage to escape from the sinking ship. Lieutenant Benedict is seriously injured. Meanwhile, the submarine managed to escape. During the night the commandant shows up to look for his comrades, whom he finally discovers, but Lieutenant Benedict succumbs to his injuries. In the further course of the patrol, further sinkings succeed, and with nine sinking flags on the periscope the boat successfully returns.
background
The film was shot on real submarines and with original submarine crews as extras; also , Karl Doenitz , commander of the submarine fleet, played himself.
A Type IX submarine is used in the film. His depth gauge shows a maximum depth of only 80 meters, although Type IX submarines could dive to over 250 meters. The actual diving depth was still a secret when the film was made, in the middle of World War II. It was therefore veiled in order not to give the enemy any useful clues through the film.
Availability
The film is now in the holdings of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation and is listed there as a so-called reserve film , as it is a war propaganda film from the time of National Socialism that is not commercially exploited by the foundation and only in closed events , with an introduction by a speaker.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a shortened Super 8 copy of the film was freely available (3 reels, each 120 meters in length, about 50 minutes running time, Büscher film, Essen). Today, copies (often in poor image quality) of the film are circulating on the Internet. A restored DVD version has been released in the USA.