Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

the below mentioned patrol of u-552 conducted by Erich Topp might, for the first three weeks, be kind of a same “tour” u-96 under LWB had experienced in the late fall of the same year, - but here our charming Lady-genius on Das Boot from Greece is surely more qualified to elaborate -, Petersen, based on LGB’s book, had the job given by Eichinger to make a movie about.

So the skipper and his officers probably not only on the 24th visited the Bar Royal but till that night for a couple of days in a row before sailing on the 25th. And I’m pretty sure, as matter of fact just got it confirmed by a call from ET that on these night not only the IIWO of the crew got whacked as did the whole crew of the boat for the same period of time.

[www.ubootwaffe.net]
25.05.1941 - 02.07.1941
Fourth Sailing - active patrol
U-552 left St. Nazaire under the command of Erich Topp on 25th May 1941 for operations N of Ireland and returned five and a half weeks later to St. Nazaire on 2nd Jul 1941.
Erich Topp hit three ships on this patrol.
· On 10th Jun 1941 he sank the British 4,860 ton Ainderby.
· On 12th Jun 1941 he sank the British 8,593 ton Chinese Prince.
· On 18th Jun 1941 he sank the British 10,948 ton Norfolk
Well the “24th” was covered more or less extensively in the movie giving due credit also to the crew as to how their drinking-spree that night ended, namely, dutifully, exercising how to aim at moving targets with whatever type of simulated torpedoes available at this moment as they were supposed to once out in the sea again with the real things. These exercises were completed successfully twice as reported by the IWO in the Bar Royal to this boss. What a well trained crew!

So Petersen showed the most important “happenings” before sailing, a more or less complete sequence of the boat’s leaving St. Naziare until they were back to their daily routine in and on the boat when on patrol in the Atlantic.

Now, after that, u-552 had probably the same kind and length of a Gammelfahrt from the 25th until the 10th of Jun as u-96 had in the movie before mayor action could be taken. Since this time-period was more or less inherent in any of the patrols of theses days Petersen had to figure out on how to best bring across to the audience what happened in the boat to the men in this nerve-racking boredom;

- the constant fear of the crew this seemingly calm boredom, “Ferienfahrt”, could end by their sudden death because of being successfully attacked by aeroplanes;
- how after a few days because of narrowness within the boat and thus confinement of movement the guys tended to get on each others nerves;
- how after a few days this specific male “impulse” due to lack of real “targets” had to grounded somehow by telling each other what they accomplished f.e. in theses special locations be that true or not;
- how after a few days their food improved “remarkable” for the rest of the journey;
- how after a few days the diesel-crew still hadn’t seen the light of day still being confined to there small but disproportioned loud place of duty;
- how after a few days their daily duty looked like when not being assigned to a specific job;
- how after a few days the toilet-situation of ca. 50 men turned out to be, including “bathing, showering, toothbrush, shaving” etc.;
- how after a few days the discussions on the round table in the officers mess got more “intelligent” much to the dismay of the IWO;

and the on and so forth.

I believe Peterson and his actors did a superb job giving the audience this scenario what LGB depicted so very good in his book. Plus LGB in that respect couldn’t do wrong, because as some of his critics say he never saw action, like taken on the 10th of this patrol of u-552, only Gammelfahrt.

From my own experience I can report when I saw the movie version the first time I was disappointed because it gave a sense that Petersen chopped up the book and this mood was reflected by a lot of the professional critics. That all changed dramatically to the better when the long version was shown on TV with one of highest number of people ever in Germany watching a TV-series.

You all have a nice time watching the “whole nine yards”!
Sincerely Yours
Volker Erich Kummrow