Since this thread is turning nostalgic a little bit i feel a wish to share with you how i learned of U-96.
I was a boy of 12 or 13 years and just loved to pick up those weekly published "mini books" of 64 pages each or whatever that were so popular among little men at that time.
Besides picking up my regular share of "Perry Rhodans" i bought a copy of "Der Landser" one day. This turned out to be not my usual science fiction crap but a nicely written story about a real U-Boat performing real actions and all that. I was completely hooked instantly, but this wasn't a big surprise as i was that type of boy who used a pencil and lots of paper trying to bring back to life the battle of Jutland already, with an emphasis on torpedoes...
"Der Landser" was (or is, i don't know) a propaganda tool used by some... honorable gentlemen... to glorify war generally and especially pointing out the role the respectable German Wehrmacht played in WWII. Yes, nothing but cheap post war nazi propaganda.
But i still remember reading this booklet. I don't have it in my posession anymore, but i think it must have been written by Buchheim since there were way too many details presented in this booklet which made it into the movies.
And now for the easter egg. I remember reading about an attack on warships in this booklet which never made it into the movie.
If i recall correctly (been some 30 years since then) the submarine U-96 while operating west of England (no time given) spotted two smokestacks on the horizon. The boat approached the sighting which turned out to be an english Nelson type battleship with escorts.
Not many details were given, but from what i can recall the boat attacked the battleship by firing a spread of torpedoes. They did not score a single hit but they escaped without being detected.
I also remember reading about the Captain of the boat after the attack saying something like "there were more opportunities like this at the time".
My guess is that the Rodney or Nelson did not sail without something valuable to protect against, but this is pure imagination.
Would be interesting to hear if anybody else knows about this - oh well - epic failed attack!
