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

Dean F. Oliver is a postdoctoral fellow at the Norman Paterson School of
International Affairs.

The image of the U-boat in German literature and film is intimately
related to broader processes of cultural expression and social
development. This central theme of Michael Hadley’s fascinating
monograph is explored chronologically through chapters on the imperial
navy, the interwar period, the Third Reich, early postwar images, and
the “Buchheim wave” (the debate engendered by Lothar-Gunther
Buchheim’s 1973 novel Das Boot). An extended conclusion summarizes his
findings but also raises tantalizing questions about “the creation of
culture and the manipulation of myth.”

The author is unnecessarily modest in these final pages, shrinking
slightly from the study’s broader implications: that war is a cultural
creation, not a science, a product of the mind and spirit but subject
constantly to the whims and influence of states and rulers, whose
control over the image and application of organized violence is
paramount in understanding its evolution and lingering effects. Some of
Hadley’s sources are far less reluctant. The U-boat destroyed Germany,
they suggest, precisely because of its success. Or, more precisely, the
image of the weapon’s invincibility, stage-managed by two generations
of decisionmakers and popular nationalists, led to the making of policy
decisions that doomed both the empire and the Third Reich to defeat and
dismemberment.

Hadley’s hesitation in this regard, however, is a minor irritant. His
discussion of U-boat literature, of changes in popular attitudes, of the
personal recollections of veterans, and of film renditions of the
undersea war are all superb. His chapter on Lothar-Gunther Buchheim is
especially good. Based on an impressive collection of primary documents
and a broad reading in secondary sources, Count Not the Dead is a
serious, scholarly contribution of the first order. Although general
readers may find it an imposing read, professionals will deem it
indispensable.