Nazi Attack on America (2015)

Nazi Attack on America, a documentary film about Germany and the US during World War II, was shown on US television (PBS) in May 2015. It is an episode of the long-running program NOVA that focuses on the history of science and technology (season 42, episode 20). Here is some basic information about it:

** Directed by Kirk Wolfinger and Owen Palmquist

** Produced by Owen Palmquist

** Narrated by Craig Sechler

** Run time: 53 minutes

The US entered WWII in December 1941. A few weeks later, German submarines - known as U-boats - began to attack and sink US ships in the Atlantic Ocean along the eastern coast and in the Gulf of Mexico along the southern coast. At first, the US was not prepared for this type of warfare. There was no black-out along the coast at night and civilian ships were not protected by military escorts.

The commanders of the German subs could not believe how easy it was to attack and sink US ships during the first months after the US entered the war. However, in 1942, the US began to retaliate. And in May 1943, the German submarines were pushed away from the US coast. But until that happened, the US lost hundreds of ships, a lot of precious cargo, and thousands of lives.

In this film, there are two story-lines. The first line is a general account of the Nazi attack on the US.

The second line focuses on a specific case, the German U-boat U-166, which had entered the Gulf of Mexico, attacking and sinking the civilian ship Robert E. Lee. This time, however, the civilian ship was not alone: a US warship was also present. The crew of the US warship saw the periscope of the German U-boat and tried to attack it. Eventually, the US crew watched an oil spill on the surface. The US commander Herbert Claudius assumed he had sunk the German U-boat, but when he returned to base, the naval authorities did not believe him. He was relieved of his command and sent back to school.

Later in life, Herbert Claudius had a long and distinguished career in the US Navy, but he was never able to prove his assumption that he had sunk the German U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico. When he died in 1981, the case was still undecided.

Twenty years later, the wreck of the U-166 was discovered on the bottom of the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2014, the famous oceanographer and explorer Robert Ballard decided to make a detailed investigation of the wreck in order to discover the truth: what happened to the U-166? His findings confirmed that the German submarine had indeed been sunk by Commander Herbert Claudius.

The US Navy admitted that it had made a mistake. In an official ceremony held in December 2014, Gordon Claudius, son of Herbert Claudius, received a medal on behalf of his father.

The film flips back and forth between the two story-lines. Several witnesses were interviewed for the film. They can be divided into two categories. In the first category we have several American witnesses (experts, scholars and government officials):

** Robert Ballard, president, Ocean Exploration Trust

** Robert Church, marine archaeologist

** Gordon Claudius, son of Commander Herbert Claudius

** Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations

** Homer Hickam, author of the book Torpedo Junction (1989, 1996)

** Ray Manus, Secretary of the Navy

** Martin K. A. Morgan, WWII historian

** Timothy Mulligan, author of the book Neither Sharks nor Wolves (2011)

** Axel Niestle, author of the book Details of Destruction (1998, 2014)

** Robert Neyland, Navy History & Heritage Command

** Ed Offley, author of the book The Burning Shore (2013)

** Daniel Warren, marine archaeologist

In the second category we have three German witnesses, who are now deceased. They passed away shortly after making their statements:

** Werner Hirschmann, chief engineer on the German sub U-190

** Horst von Schroeter (1919-2006), watch officer on the German sub U-123

** Erich Topp (1914-2005), commander of the German sub U-552

This film covers an aspect of WWII that is not so well-known. The two story-lines complement each other very well, the first being a general account, and the second focusing on a specific case. It is an interesting story, and in this film it is told very well.

What do other reviewers say about it? On IMDb it has an average rating of 75 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is too low. This film gives an excellent account. It is highly recommended. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. For more information, see the following books by Michael Gannon:

** Operation Drumbeat (1990, 2009)

** Black May (1998, 2010)

PS # 2. The following articles are available online:

** Jon Harper, “Navy admits error, honors World War II captain’s bravery in sinking of u-boat,” Stars & Stripes, 19 December 2014

** Brian Clark Howard, “72 years later, snubbed captain credited with downing German u-boat,” National Geographic, 19 December 2014

** Alan Boyle, “How an Expedition to Study a Sunken Nazi U-Boat Rescued a Reputation,” NBC News, 6 May 2015

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