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Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk
U-boatmen were not part of the Nazi from my understanding.
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Incorrect.First of all throughout the German armed forces there was never a requirement to be a member of the Nazi party.(excluding the SS) However this does not mean that in every branch of service that there where not card carrying Nazis present.
The U-boat force would have been no different.There where most certainly some members that where Nazi party members or supporters.
Some U-boat commanders where very dedicated Nazis.As a whole though the Kreigsmarine did have the lowest ratio of Nazi party members.
It would be hard to say for sure how many U-boat men where Nazis or pro Nazi just a s it would be hard to say how many US troops where democrats or republicans but you can be sure that some of them where.
In the end it matters little as in the German military as with most others(even the Soviet Army did not require it members to be card carrying communists) the mind set is obeying the orders handed down and completing the assigned mission.
Now the Allies incorrectly thought that the U-boat force was firmly Nazi and they treated POWs with much suspension and assumed that they where all hard core Nazis.This practice was not applied with Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht POWs.
Where some U-boat commanders Nazis?Sure. Where the majority? Most likely not.
That is the one cheesy part about Das Boot the young pro Nazi officer it would not have been that way in real life.The U-boat force had a some what liberal view (by Nazi standards) many of the officers and enlisted men included enjoyed jazz music.If an officer had a pro Nazi view he would have kept it to himself.I understand that political discussions of any kind where discouraged on U-boats.
Of course they where still dedicated fighting men as is plainly evident.
I think when you see films and books written they tend to either favor the wartime Allied view of the U-boat force being mostly Nazi or the opposite as shown in Das Boot that almost none where Nazis.I think the real middle ground was that the subject never came up on a u-boat they just carried out their orders and had no concern about the Nazi party.It would have had little bearing on achieving the mission.