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Re: Das Boot
Posted by: Feargal Craven ()
Date: January 20, 2004 11:59PM

<HTML>At the moment I'm reading Clay Blair's "Hitler's U-Boat war" which is complete history of the war boat by boat.It's very detailed and comes in two volumes but it's very absorbing.I've gotten my hands on almost every submarine book I can find but the supply of books in Ireland isn't huge so I'm gonna have to get me a credit card and get on the net.As yet I've been unable to find any of his other material.

The first submarine book that I read was about the sinking of the Kursk in 2000 and my interest grew from there.I'm interested in nuclear submarines as well but you can't get truly detailed information on the majority of them.I'm studying engineering so I'm into pretty much anything mechanical but I find U-boats the most compelling.I'm into classic cars so I suppose you could say U-boats are classic submarines.

Like I said the most striking element of the film is the human story.These were men who were doing their duty which is what they signed up to do.One interesting thing is that for some reason to become an officer in the Kriegsmarine you didn't have to be a member of the Nazi party,which was mandatory in all of the other branches.I've heard stories of U-boat crews aiding victims of sinkings though most were confined to the earlier part of the war before Allied escorts became more numerous.

If you liked Das Boot and havn't already done so I can highly recommend "Iron Coffins" by Herbert Werner.Werner commanded his own U-Boat quite late in the war and the story follows his career from first watch officer on.Again the overiding impression is that he too was a man determined to do his duty in the name of his country,as much as any officer of the Allied navies.

It probably sounds trite but it remains overlooked that behind the barbarism of the Nazi war machine were people no different than you and I.It can be hazardous to voice said opinion in most circles but one cannot study the U-Boat war without seeing that out of 40,000 men the U-Boat force lost 32,000.They may have been the enemy but they were allies to some others, and their grief is no less important.

I'm sure my great great grandfather would find my interest in U-boats quite amusing seeing as he served in the Royal Navy during world war 1.The fact that I've been on a U-Boat should keep him spinning in his grave til the day I die!!!

I often wondered about what it would be like to be a U-Boat commander but having seen Das Boot I know that it is a job I could never do.Another war movie I liked was "A bridge too far" but like the majority of war movies it tends to glamorize war for the sake of plaudits.Das Boot is one of but a handful of war movies that strove to show just how godawful war really is and the courage those men had.Even today taking a 750 ton vessel into a North Atlantic storm seems insane,dspite the wealth of navigational aids available.It certainly didn't try to glamorize the men but Das Boot did highlight how arduous their task was,one with no equal for any service,on any side in that war.

I think Iv'e prattled on long enough for now so my apologies in advance but no one I know appreciates Das Boot the way you obviously do.

Yours

Feargal</HTML>

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Subject Written By Posted
Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/19/2004 08:15PM
Re: Das Boot Wiljan Bakers 01/20/2004 05:06PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/20/2004 06:40PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/20/2004 07:19PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/20/2004 07:48PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/20/2004 08:13PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/20/2004 11:59PM
Re: Das Boot Ken Dunn 01/21/2004 03:03AM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/21/2004 03:59PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/21/2004 05:39AM
Re: Das Boot ROBERT M. 01/21/2004 07:20AM
Re: Das Boot Steve Roberts 01/21/2004 11:43AM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/21/2004 04:06PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/21/2004 04:13PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/21/2004 08:09PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/21/2004 08:21PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/22/2004 04:07PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/23/2004 04:19AM
Re: Das Boot Io Chrysafidou 01/25/2004 06:51PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/27/2004 01:56AM
Re: Das Boot Volker Erich Kummrow 01/27/2004 01:26PM
Re: Das Boot Volker Erich Kummrow 01/27/2004 04:19PM
Re: Das Boot ROBERT M. 01/27/2004 11:03PM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/28/2004 12:41AM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/21/2004 04:09PM
Re: Das Boot Steve Roberts 01/22/2004 11:23AM
Re: Das Boot Meg Rosenfeld 01/22/2004 01:40PM
Re: Das Boot ROBERT M. 01/22/2004 02:16AM
Re: Das Boot PaulHughes 02/03/2004 08:58PM
Re: Das Boot PaulHughes 02/03/2004 09:24PM
Re: Das Boot J.T. McDaniel 02/04/2004 12:26AM
Re: Das Boot PaulHughes 02/04/2004 05:46PM
Re: Das Boot Wiljan Bakers 01/21/2004 04:48PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/21/2004 07:52PM
Re: Das Boot Wiljan Bakers 01/22/2004 06:03PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/22/2004 08:30PM
Re: Das Boot Wiljan Bakers 01/23/2004 01:00PM
Re: Das Boot Feargal Craven 01/23/2004 08:11PM
Re: Das Boot LuisMM 02/03/2004 09:15PM
DO U KNOW WHERE WAS U-96 ELSE USED EXCEPT DAS BOOT ELIAS EKONOMOU 02/15/2004 01:34PM
Re: DO U KNOW WHERE WAS U-96 ELSE USED EXCEPT DAS ROBERT M. 02/15/2004 03:59PM
Re: DO U KNOW WHERE WAS U-96 ELSE USED EXCEPT DAS Ian Stapley 02/16/2004 01:12PM


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