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''The Sinking of the Laconia'' is a two-part TV film, first aired on 6 and 7 January 2011 on BBC Two, about the Laconia incident; the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS ''Laconia'' during World War II by a German U-boat, which then, together with three other U-boats and an Italian submarine, rescued the passengers but was in turn attacked by an American bomber. The film is a British-German co-production, written by Alan Bleasdale, directed by Uwe Janson, and with Andrew Buchan, Brian Cox, Ken Duken, Morven Christie, Lindsay Duncan, Thomas Kretschmann and Franka Potente in the leading roles. ==Story== Six hundred miles from the coast of Africa, in September 1942, a German U-boat, , sinks the British troopship ''Laconia'' which is en route from Cape Town to the United Kingdom. When realising that there are POWs and civilians on board, and that they are facing certain death without rescue, U-boat Commander Werner Hartenstein (Duken) makes a decision which goes against the orders of German high command. The U-boat surfaces and Hartenstein instructs his men to save as many of the shipwrecked survivors as they can. Hartenstein also attempts to dive with all the survivors on board and, though this puts the submarine into a crash dive, control is regained and it resurfaces. He also has a Red Cross flag displayed and a message sent to the Allies to organise a rescue of the survivors. The Italian prisoners are taken off U-156 by another U-boat and an Italian submarine. Sierra Leone had informed the Americans to look for ''Laconia'' survivors but not of the submarine's rescue efforts. Soon after the Americans' attack, U-156 resumes her hunting duties, leaving behind the lifeboats with the British survivors to be picked up by a Vichy naval surface ship sent by Karl Dönitz. While admiring Hartenstein's actions, Dönitz also reluctantly composes the Laconia Order to other U-boat commanders not to rescue survivors in future. The French ship arrives; one lifeboat leaves the others to make for the coast of west Africa, which it eventually reaches. One British merchant seaman is injured in the American attack and remains with U-156 until it reaches port, where he is taken into captivity. Dönitz awards Hartenstein the ''Ritterkreuz'' and offers him a desk job at naval command. Preferring to remain with his men, Hartenstein refuses it and a final on screen message reports U-156's later sinking with no survivors. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Sinking of the Laconia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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