When Does "Das Boot" (1973) Take Place?
"Das Boot"/"The Boat" is a historical fiction war novel written by Lothar-Günther Buchheim that released January 1st, 1973. So when is "Das Boot" set?
It takes place in the year:
We know this because the U-boat commander is based on the real-world Nazi German submarine commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (1911-1986) and he passed on April 18th, 1986 AD so it is most likely before April of 1986 AD.
1941 AD
We know this because the U-boat commander is based on the real-world Nazi German submarine commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (1911-1986) and he passed on April 18th, 1986 AD so it is most likely before April of 1986 AD.
More specifically, early on the narrator says of the submarine commander, ..."given the average age of commanders, he is already an old man at thirty." and since the real-world Commander Lehmann-Willenbrock was born on December 11th, 1911 AD that would make it currently late 1941 AD and the narrative covers only a few weeks.
1,911 + 30 = 1,941.
Furthermore, the book includes a short introduction that includes the sentence: "The operations that form the subject of the book took place primarily in the Fall and Winter of 1941." Though this is merely peritext and therefore inconclusive.
It was adapted to film in 1981.
