[fire03]

in the cllassic movie the Eagle has Landed theres a scene when the uboat arrives with Steiner to meet up with his men to go over the plan. in the process 2 divers are shown in wet suits that were killed anyone now the plot behind that? I believe Steiner was held captive on a island, thanks for the assistance

 

[russcal]

Heya Fire03!

If I recall correctly, Steiner and his men have been assigned to do suicide missions as punishment for some misbehavior / disobedience towards a superior officer. They are doing something with midget / one man submersibles like the Neger human torpedoes, a VERY hazardous duty with something like an 80% fatality rate.

Been quite awhile since I saw the movie, will have to refresh my memory again soon.

Hope this helps!

Russ
.

Update after looking at wikipedia article: “Second he selects Kurt Steiner, a highly decorated and experienced Fallschirmjäger officer, to lead the mission. However, while the Luftwaffe parachute troops are returning from the Eastern Front, Steiner unsuccessfully attempts to save the life of a Jewish girl who is trying to escape from the SS in occupied Poland. He and his loyal men are all court-martialled and sent to a penal unit on German-occupied Alderney where their mission is to conduct near-suicidal human-torpedo attacks against Allied shipping in the English Channel.”

 

[fire03]

Thank you so much for that info that would be the reason for the KIA scuba divers
I

 

[magpie]

If you don't mind me adding/correcting anything...

When we first see Steiner, he commands a Kampfgruppe and his men are returning from the Eastern Front after parachuting behind the Soviet lines and leading out trapped German units. His force has been whittled down to 31 men, all pretty fed up with the war now turning in favour of the Allies. They stop off at the Warsaw Railway Station and witness a young girl escape from the SS herding captured Jews onto a cattle train to be sent to a death camp. In aiding an "enemy of the Reich", Steiner and his men are sentenced to death but since they're heroes the sentence is commuted to serve in a penal unit that conducts suicide missions. The frogmen were sent out on human torpedoes to attack Allied shipping passing near to the Channel Islands. The E-Boats are then sent out to pick up the frogmen, dead or alive. Most are killed and Steiner is down to 18 men.

It's an interesting film that purports to be true, Steiner being based on an actual Fallschirmjager officer. It was directed by John Sturges, his last film, and he annoyed Michael Caine with his lack of enthusiasm on set and reportedly buggered off after filming the last scene.

 

[fire03]

Thanks for that bit of info

 

[Stryker2011]

I had to watch that scene again, and it really is too bad that the above info wasn’t explained better in the movie — would have been cool info.