Das Boot - what 'boot' is it?

[Nopileo]

Thanks guys!

Hmm.. Reading some of the stories under the links you provided indicates that the story of 'Das Boot' could actually be a true story, while I thought it was purely fictional (although based on real events).

But I'm not so sure anymore. Was there a U-96 that experienced what we see in the movie?

This part is especially interesting:

Buchheim was ordered aboard as an official artist to send back renderings of the German Navy in action for propaganda purposes. A camera was to aid his work. Over 5,000 photos survived the war and 205 of these form the epic photo-essay U-Boat War. All the photographs in U-Boat War were taken by Buchheim with the exception of a few taken by U-96 engineering officer Fritz Grade.

Anyone know if these pictures are available somewhere?