Yet in the, (not bad for 1960-the models are very good), movie with Kenneth More,
"Sink The Bismarck!" they have Admiral Lütjens giving a pep talk to the crew as they leave Norway to begin their sortie. Lütjens, (played wonderfully by character actor Karel Stepanek), says
"You will tell tales of German sea power and stories of Nazi victories. To all of you I say this - never forget that you are Germans, never forget that you are Nazis!"
The historical irony being that the aristocratic Günter Lütjens was an ardent
anti-Nazi who thought the Nazis were low-class bully boys and mindless goons. In November 1938 Lütjens was one of only three flag officers who protested in writing against the Kristallnacht.
"Wikipedia" says this about him: "...in the film Lütjens is portrayed as egotistic, overconfident, and a Nazi enthusiast angered over Germany's humiliation and his own lack of recognition at the end of the First World War. In reality, Lütjens was pessimistic of the chance of success of the Bismarck's mission, and did not agree with Nazi policies--he was one of the few officers who refused to give the Nazi salute when Hitler visited the Bismarck before its first and final mission, substituting for it the traditional naval salute. Lütjens also wore by choice the dirk of the Kaiserliche Marine, rather than the more modern Kriegsmarine dirk which bore a swastika."
The postwar German Navy named a guided missile destroyer
"FGS Lütjens" (D185), which served until 2003.
I have respect and admiration for the man.
Me too. I think he was burned out by the time he took out BISMARCK and PRINZ EUGEN. Lutjens had been in combat in 1939 [SCHARNHORST and GNIESENAU sink RAWALPINDI], 1940 [SCHARNHORST and GNIESENAU in opening moves in Norway], and the 1941 raid with the same two ships before the BISMARCK operation. I believe he’d logged more combat time than any other German Admiral up to that point.
Major mistake in the movie’s Denmark Strait battle is having BISMACK as the lead ship for the Germans. And they left out Lindemannn’s immortal comment about refusing to have his ship shot out from under his a*s when he ordered BISMARCK to fire since Lutjens didn’t. And couldn’t they have gotten somebody who looked a LITTLE bit like Lindemann to play the part, instead of the Italian guy who needed a shave in every scene?