U-96 -The book

[SG]

Hi,
I finally received my copy of Luc Braeuer's U-96. A magnificent book. Actually, THE ultimate book about U-96. If you are a fan just like me, and if your interest and passion for U-boats was born watching "Das Boot" (40 years ago!), this is a book you can't miss.
The book is written in french. Every aspect of the boat's history is covered: the crew, the patrols, the goodlife between patrols at La Baule, etc. A special attention was given to U96 commander, Lehmann-Willenbrock and to his long-standing friendship with Lothar-Gunther Buchheim. All is set in Luc Braeuer's top notch style, with hundreds of pictures, most of which colourized and belonging to private albums of the crew members. Colour profiles, maps and documents complete the picture. The special contribution by legendary LI Friedrich Grade, now 104 yo is a plus. The final chapter of the book is a gem: the making of the book and  the movie "Das Boot" and the presence on the set of both Buchheim and Lehmann-Willenbrock. Anecdotes, people and the real episodes belonging to different U96 patrols, put in the not-so-much-fictitious epic patrol we know so well are finally dealt with. And it was a pleasure to discover them after so many years.
A masterpiece. Highly recommended!





https://u.cubeupload.com/SGm/IMG8371.jpg


Cheers,
SG

[falo]

Hello SG,

Thank you for the book tip, unfortunately I can't read a word of French and hope that an english or german translation may be in the works. If you click on the Youtube link, you will be taken directly to the "making-of" of the film "Das Boot" from the 80s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWq6KBH9Eic

Regards
falo

[SG]

Falo! good to read from you, mate!

oh yess!    I had seen the "making-of" already, amazing! thank you for posting the link anyway, especially for the people in the forum that havent seen it yet.


I hope the book will be translated in english, but the french language shouldn't be deterrent, the over 500 pictures in the book are the universal language that makes it worth to have.


Cheers,


SG

[dougie47]

Hi SG,
Thanks for the review. I should have picked this book up when I saw it at a model show but I spent my money on a Russian Su-34. His Lorient books are really good. Good you are making progress with your 88mm.
Falo - thanks for the link on the making of Das Boot. There is a really good view of the large mock up at 12 minutes, also views of the badly damaged tower at the end.

Have you both read the Das Boot novel? It is a superb book. For me it complements Nicolas Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea which is also an amazing read. Buchheim was on board U 96 and U 309, Monsarrat served on Flower class corvettes, so they brought authentic experiences to their writing.
Buchheim's book "The U-Boat War" is also brilliant with lots of real photos he took on board U 96's seventh patrol.
Cheers,
Dougie

[SG]

Dougie,
I agree, both "Das Boot" and "The cruel sea" are amazing novels that complement themselves. They have a special place in my bookshelf, actually next to a book that you probably know already, "Gunther Prien and U47", can't recall the author's name though..
Also the film adaptation "The cruel sea" is worth to see, the Compass Rose was portrayed by a real flower corvette. A very realistic, jolly-good movie.
Havent read "The U-boat war", I'll include it in my "to do" list.
Thanks for dropping by, good suggestion.
Cheers,
SG


https://u.cubeupload.com/SGm/IMG8529.jpg

[falo]

@ SG:
Thank you for your kind words 
 
@ Dougie and SG:
Yes, of course I read the novel, in the early 80s shortly before the film version was released. I was a little disappointed by the cinema version, but when the multi-part series version came on public television years later, I was reconciled. The multi-part version could, of course, take more time to tell the story. Buchheim himself describes the cinema version as an "underwater western", but I don't know what he said about the longer television version. Buchheim himself was a controversial guy who was not sparing with his criticism of Doenitz and could therefore be sure of the opposition of the surviving submariners who stood by Doenitz. Take a look at Buchheim's Wikipedia entry, he is actually a draughtsman and painter, in other words an artist:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar-G%C3%BCnther_Buchheim

Best regards
falo

[SG]

Falo,
you bring me back to the eighties when I asked my father to record (VHS ) the television version of Das Boot that was broadcasted by our national television in several episodes. Good memories! I agree with you, the longer version is definitely a more complete work, closer to the novel than the movie or the director's cut. I miss the longer version, i saw that it's been re-released recently but it's quite difficult to find.
And I agree with you about Buchheim being an artist and a nonconformist too. In the U-96 book there are pictures of an exposition of portraits of U-booat aces at La Baule attended by Korth, Kuppisch, Endrass, Topp and Lehmann-Willenbrock. I had already seen Kuppisch portrait on the net, but ignored that it had been done by Buchheim. A beautiful portrait, the guy was a brilliant portrayer!
Luc Braeuer gives a splendid analysis of Buchheim based on interviews of his sons and various recollections. I didn't know that back in the war Buchheim dated a french woman belonging to the french resistance, the two eventually married after the war: he was definitely a nonconformist.

Anyway, it's all in the book, I hope that an english version will be released someday to be enjoyed by a bigger audience.


Cheers,
SG

[falo]

Hi SG,


phew, how time flies, ask someone today what VHS is? 


Do you know the interview from the English TV with Wolfgang Petersen and Juergen Prochnow? Mr. Petersen also says that Buchheim was not a typical war correspondent but rather a painter:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsE_U-mI3Zo


Regards
falo

[SG]

Wow! thats a gem Falo, totally new to me, supercool , thank you!