Must-watchWorld War II · Film · 1981
Das Boot
In autumn 1941 a war correspondent sails from occupied France aboard U-96 and shares the boredom, filth and terror of a patrol that takes the crew from the North Atlantic to the Strait of Gibraltar.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 4 places.
Stop 1: La Rochelle
After a drunken last night ashore, the crew of U-96 marches to the pens and sails with a young war correspondent aboard.
Stop 2: North Atlantic convoy routes
Key location
Weeks of storms and empty sea end when the boat finds a convoy, attacks and must endure hours of depth charges from the escorts.
Stop 3: Vigo harbour
In neutral Spain the boat secretly refuels at night from an interned German merchant ship before heading for Gibraltar.
Stop 4: Strait of Gibraltar
Ordered into the Mediterranean, the boat tries to slip past British warships through the narrow strait.
What really happened
The film adapts Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel, based on his own patrol as a propaganda correspondent aboard U-96 in October to December 1941. By then the Battle of the Atlantic had turned against the U-boats: convoys were better escorted, and German submarines were being sent through the heavily guarded Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean.
Of roughly 40,000 men who served in German U-boats during the war, about 30,000 did not return, the highest loss rate of any German service. The real U-96 sailed from Saint-Nazaire rather than La Rochelle, and Buchheim merged events from different patrols; the film's secret refuelling in Vigo reflects Spain's real, covert help to the U-boat arm.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Das Boot
- Directed by
- Wolfgang Petersen
- Countries
- Germany
- Languages
- German, English
- Released
- 1981
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Atlantic & Arctic
- Themes
- Naval
- Combat
