Part Two:- Kapitanleutnant Hartenstein sends out a call for assistance, which is picked up by British Naval Command in Sierra Leone. Fearing a trap, they inform the American air base at Ascension Island, but only of the sinking, not the presence of the U-boat or that its captain has signalled his intention not to attack anyone coming to assist the survivors. With his captain dead, Mortimer is the senior British officer amongst the survivors. Hilda is revealed to be of Anglo-German parentage, fleeing her native Germany after the rest of her family, anti-Nazi like herself, were killed by the Nazis. Hartenstein agrees to keep her secret as does Mortimer, moved by her plight as a genuine rapport builds between German and British, and Hartenstein drapes a makeshift Red Cross flag across the U-boat's deck. However, the U-boat is bombed by the Americans. Hartenstein recognizes the need to secure the safety of his boat and so puts the Laconia's survivors in lifeboats and casts them adrift to await rescue by a French ship he knows is on its way. Most make it to safety. Admiral Doenitz recognizes Hartenstein's humanity by awarding him the Knight's Cross. There is, however, a bitter coda.
—don @ minifie-1