Das Boot Query

[Sea Hawk]

I've bought the Das Boot DVT (original uncut version)

Just finished watching it - brilliant, not seen it since I was a teenager when it was first aired on the BBC as a mini serial.

I've just 1 major query.

At the end why did the boat stop in the open when the submarine bunkers were soooo near?:06:

[Platapus]

That is a very good question. Although it is tough to keep track of the camera angles, it *appears* that there was room in the bunker for the U-96.

Perhaps the reason is because the director wanted the ship destroyed and it would have been unlikely it would have been if it were in the bunker.

[Sea Hawk]

So in reality the boat would have made straight for the antiaircraft sub-pen if room was available?

[Platapus]

I would think so. I can't see any justification of parking a sub outside a bunker when there was room inside.

That would be like waiting outside an air raid shelter.

[Jaman]

I would think so. I can't see any justification of parking a sub outside a bunker when there was room inside.

That would be like waiting outside an air raid shelter.
Maybe for "ceremonial" purpose, give the returning crew some "honors" or something like that.
Off course this is only a guess, i have no idea the routine they did follow upon their return to port.

Probably just a "cinematic license" the director took to make that ending.

[Kapt Z]

Actually, according to some photos I'm looking at right now it seems pretty common practice. The book is Type VII U-Boats by Robert Stern.

There are at least 7 photos from different bases at different times in the war each showing the returning u-boat with bearded crew tying up to a pier that is obviously outside. There is at least one that even shows the pens in the background, far in the background. There is also one that shows a later type VII with extended wintergarten(must be '43 or later) tied up outside with crew assembled on deck and crowds of onlookers and brass on the pier at a time when you would think air raids would have been a real threat.

I couldn't verify it, but I have this idea that I read somewhere that the operational crew would be released at the pier and a relief crew would then move the boat into the pen later.

Again, I cannot verify that.:hmmm:

[Torplexed]

This is really a question for Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, the author of Das Boot. Sadly now deceased. That's the dramatic and futile ending he chose for the book when it was published in 1973, so that's why the movie ends on the same note.

And there in the haze I see the Old Man, streaming with blood, his sweater and shirt torn to shreds. His eyes, which were always narrowed, are wide, wide open. At almost the same moment we sink to our knees, bracing our arms on the splintered stones, and face each other like two Sumo wrestlers. The Old Man opens his mouth as though to let loose a great shout. But all that gushes from his lips is blood.

--The End.

[Bent Periscope]

Brilliant observation, of course I missed it.

[Jimbuna]

Quite a dramatic ending when all said and done.

[Sailor Steve]

I think the bunkers were mainly for the repair and rearming of the boats, and with limited space they had to wait their turn. Also, I believe it was the job of the refitting crews to turn the boat around and back it into the pen (as pointed out by Kapt Z).

As to Jaman's comment on ceremony, I agree there also. Remember that the raid starts just as an actor playing "Onkel Karl" himself is about to board the boat.

[minute]

I would also think that an air raid alarm would have been sounded much earlier than just when the planes were over the harbour. The germans also had radars, spotters, etc. Maybe a lone plane would have gone undetected but not a big air raid IMHO

But granted, an air raid is a most appropriate ending to the whole film... Loved every minute of it

[DaveU186]

The conning tower slipping under the water. :cry:

[Hawk U-375]

I thought they did it because of the wounded navigator. The ambulance comes right away.....and he's the first guy off. Also the Ceremony......:hmmm: