'' In September 1942, 650 nautical miles west of Africa, the German
U-boat sinks the British
troopship Laconia en route from
Cape Town to the United Kingdom. Realising there are Italian POWs and civilians amongst the shipwrecked facing certain death without rescue, U-boat Commander
Werner Hartenstein (Duken) defies the orders of the German
Naval High Command by surfacing and ordering his men to save as many survivors as possible.
U-156 crams 200 people on board the surfaced submarine, takes another 200 in tow in four lifeboats, and assists the remaining shipwrecked surrounding the U-boat in lifeboats and small rafts. When Hartenstein dives with all survivors on board, the additional weight puts the submarine into a
crash dive. He regains control and surfaces again. He has a
Red Cross flag displayed and a message sent to the Allies to organise the rescue of the survivors. The Italian prisoners are taken off
U-156 by another U-boat and an Italian submarine. A British request for American assistance locating
Laconia survivors didn't mention the submarine's rescue effort, and a
B-24 Liberator from
Ascension Island attacks the submarine and
U-156 resumes its patrol duties, leaving behind the lifeboats with the British survivors to be picked up by a
Vichy French naval surface ship sent by
Admiral Dönitz. While admiring Hartenstein's actions, Dönitz also reluctantly composes the
Laconia Order to other U-boat commanders not to rescue survivors in the future. The French ship arrives and one lifeboat leaves the others, travelling independently to the coast of West Africa. A British merchant officer injured in the American attack remains with
U-156 as a prisoner. Dönitz awards Hartenstein the
Ritterkreuz and proposes to repost him to a headquarters staff assignment. Preferring to remain with his men, Hartenstein refuses the post and a final on-screen message reports
U-156s later sinking with no survivors. ==Production==