Disclaimer: this is a wartime German propaganda film, made during WWII, that contains fascist-era imagery and content. Viewers are advised that Periscope Film has provided this content for historical value, and does not in any way endorse the content or ideas portrayed or espoused in the film. Part 1: https://youtu.be/x8iVRUHnaLY Loosely based on a book of the same title by World War I U-boat commander Ernst Hashagen, "U-Boote Westwärts!" (in English: U-boats Westward!) is a German propaganda film, and one of five "combat" films produced by German studios in 1941. The action here is updated from Hashagen's book, with the story taking place during WWII's Battle of the Atlantic. An astute viewer will note that the film still offers some of the strategy from the First World War, with the Germans shown interdicting and boarding a merchant ship, and inspecting it for contraband cargo. The film was produced by UFA, the German film studio, and like most propaganda films of this era, it heavily promotes the glory of the Kriegsmarine while simultaneously denigrating the British Royal Navy. The film even feature an appearance by Commander-in-Chief Karl Dönitz. The U-boat U-123 was utilized for filming of the movie. This was a type IXB boat laid down in 1939, scuttled in 1944, and re-christened and used by the French Navy post-war. During its time in German service, the U-123 made 12 war patrols and sunk 42 merchant ships and one warship. The British destroyed portrayed in the film is actually an obsolete German escort destroyer (Flottenbegleiter) F7 which was outfitted with fake guns and torpedo tubes. The film was directed by Günther Rittau and written by Georg Zoch, and stars 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 and features Admiral Karl Dönitz as himself. The music for the film was composed by Harald Böhmel, with lyrics by Robert A. Stemmlet. Highly innovative for its day, the production utilized special, small and mobile camera systems developed by Rittau that permitted filming inside an actual U-boat. Wolfgang Peterson's "Das Boot" (1981) was almost certainly influenced by "U-Boote Westwärts!", and viewers who are familiar with that film will find many similarities, not only in terms of plot lines, but in the physical look of the protagonists. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

• published: 18 May 2022
• views: 351