| U-Boote westwärts! | |
| Director: | Günther Rittau |
| Starring: | Herbert Wilk |
| Music: | Harald Böhmelt |
| Cinematography: | Igor Oberberg |
| Editing: | Johanna Meisel |
| Distributor: | UFA |
| Runtime: | 98 minutes |
| Country: | Nazi Germany |
| Language: | German |
U-Boote westwärts! (in English: U-boats Westward!) is a 1941 German war propaganda film promoting the Kriegsmarine.[1] 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, which would later play a major role in Operation Drumbeat.[2]
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.
The British are shown as cowardly and duplicitous.[1] It 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.[1]