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