Count Not the Dead: The Popular Image of the German Submarine

"Iron coffins", "grey wolves" and "steel sharks" - cast in images such as these, submarines are icons of Germany's maritime tradition. In books and films, submarines have been used to promote political goals and to justify and explain an intriguing and sometimes ambiguous past. This work explores the cult and culture surrounding one of the most mythologized weapons of war. Basing his study on some 250 German novels, memoirs, fictionalized histories, and films, Michael Hadley examines the popular image of the German submarine and weighs the values, purposes and perceptions of German writers and film makers. He considers the idea of the submarine as a war-winning weapon and the exploits of the "band of brothers" who made up the U-boat crews. He also describes perceptions of the German public about the role of the U-boat in the war effort and the hopes that it carried for a successful outcome in the war against England. The place of the U-boat weapon in Germany's propaganda machine is also defined and explained. In this book, Hadley explores the complex relationships between fact and fiction, political reality, and cultural myth, and draws conclusions about the way in which humans interpret their past and how present concerns change these views.