U-515 - WERNER HENKE The Rebel Commander

After spending four years in the merchant navy discovering the world and its pleasures, Werner Henke joins the Reichsmarine as an officer cadet in 1934. But his need for freedom to pursue his romantic conquests, his brawling, his love of jazz and dancing get him expelled from active duty in the Kriegsmarine officer corps in February 1941!
He is then on operations at sea as third officer aboard U-124. Rescued by Admiral Dönitz, who is looking for strong characters to command his U-boats, he continues the patrol as an "officer at disposal". The admiral tells him that if he proves successful, his file will be "cleaned up". On his final patrol as second officer of U-124, he proves himself by overseeing the firing of torpedoes that sink 6 Allied vessels. He then receives the Iron Cross First Class, is reinstated to active duty, and is given command of the Type IXC U-515 in February 1942.
With a high-performing crew, he achieves impressive results from his very first patrol in the Caribbean, returning to Lorient with 10 pennants on his periscope. But his submarine, which entered the fight late in the summer of 1942, has already escaped 5 Allied attacks. Not hesitating to take on a convoy of British warships single-handedly in November 1942, he is one of the few U-boat commanders to achieve successes during the Allied landings in North Africa; U-515 withstood more than 200 depth charges…
Commander Henke receives the Knight's Cross. During his 3rd patrol in the spring of 1943, as German submarine successes decline, U-515 sails as far as Freetown and crosses the path of a convoy, sowing panic: he sinks 7 ships with their cargo, an operation so disastrous for the Allies that Churchill personally requests a report! He has again escaped 6 Allied attacks…
After returning to Lorient with 11 pennants, Henke receives the Oak Leaves. On leave in Germany, this steely naval officer — who had previously come to blows with an SS officer — destroys a Gestapo premises!
The 4th patrol is cut short by damage sustained during a 12-hour pursuit by destroyers that dropped more than 310 depth charges… Despite the gunfire and depth charges of a destroyer followed by an attack from 2 bombers, the 5th combat mission ends with 4 additional ships sunk.

But when the ace of the 10th Flotilla returns to combat at the end of March 1944 for his 6th patrol, his experience and cunning are no longer enough to save his submarine as an entire armada gives chase…

Taken prisoner by the Americans, yet defiant to the last, he will choose his own fate…