Dear Herr Dunke,

I refer to your e-mail concerning Wolfgang Ott and his book 'Haie und Kleine Fische' ('Sharks and Little Fish').

Wolfgang Ott (that is his real name) was a U-Boat officer, Class of 1941. He wrote his book in 1956 and it was such a rivetting book that it was made into a 119 minute film of the same name in 1957 with HansGeorg Felmy as the hero Teichmann (Ott based Teichmann upon his own cadet and U-Boat experiences) and Wolfgang Pruess as Kapitan Lutke (Pruess was a well known German actor who also starred in many other European films). The film was made as close to the book as possible and is available on DVD (try Belle & Blade Studios, 124 Penn Avenue, Dover New Jersey 07801, USA for a copy in both German and dubbed English, actually dubbed American!). The technical expert for the film was none other than Erich Topp, Captain of U57 and U552 ('Red Devil' Boat). The stock footage used in the film matches up very well with the acting and studio scenes and puts you in the action.

The film, like the book, was, and is, far more gritty and realistic than 'Das Boat' (Ott was a serving officer, Lothar-Gunther Bucheim who wrote 'das Boat' only saw one voyage as a Kriegsmarinebeamter, naval war correspondent!). Unfortunately, Germany was going through a redemption phase when the film came out and other U-Boat veterans did not like the message Ott supposedly made in the book and film about why should one die for a lost cause and Ott had such adverse comments and hostility from fellow veterans that he ceased attending class reunions (his book is not even in the U-Boote Archiv in Cuxhaven). He wrote many other books on different subjects but never another U-Boat book or, indeed, any other wartime novel which is a tragedy.

I have no idea if Herr Ott is still alive and would welcome any information on him as I have, under a pen name, written a modern Royal Navy Diesel submarine fiction novel that was inspired by both 'Sharks and Little Fish' and the fictional and factual books of the late RN Sumarine skipper Alastair Mars, D.S.O., D.S.C. and Bar. Just awaiting a publisher so that I can donate a percentage of the proceeds to the Submariners memorial at the RN Submarine Museum, HMS 'Dolphin' and other service charities.

I hope that the above information concerning Herr Ott will be of some interest and use to you.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Earl.