"Sawfish"

One of the best-known emblems of the many worn by the U-boats (and most used by modellers) is the "smiling sawfish" of the no less famous U96. Later this emblem would become the emblem of the 9th Flotilla and would be worn by the U-boats that made it up. We have also seen him in the movie "Das Boot". 

                          The U96

The U96 was one of the first Type VIIc u-boats built. It was launched on 1 August 1940 at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel. A few weeks later (on 14 September) he would be handed over (commissioned) to the Kriegsmarine.

U-96 would be in service until March 1945 when it was destroyed in a bombing raid on Wilhelmshaven by USAF aircraft.

U96 would sink 28 ships with a total of 190,094 tonnes and damage another 4 (33,043 tonnes) being the eleventh most successful U-boat of the Second World War. All these ships (except 4) were sunk under the command of Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. Willenbrock was the sixth U-boat commander with the most sinkings (or seventh according to sources). The U96 would have four other commanders besides Willenbrock, but none would match their successes. According to the book U-Boat Emblems Of World War II 1939 -1945 (Schiffer Military History, 1999) by Georg Högel, the first sawfish was painted by a friend of the commander named Kossatz. Högel also says that this happened at the end of U96's third patrol. This means that it was painted between February 28, 1941 and April 12, 1941 (start of the fourth patrol). At the end of the spring of 1941 an ordinance indicated the implementation in all U-boats belonging to the 7th Flotilla of the emblem of the "Puffing Bull". This was in honor of Günther Prien who would die aboard U47 (along with the entire crew) in March 1941. U96 being part of the 7th Flotilla was to follow this ordinance and paint the "Puffing Bull" emblem on both sides of the Willenbrock u-boat turret. The U96 sported at that time a pair of smiling sawfish on each side of the turret and therefore there was no room to paint two Toros. Only a "Puffing Bull" located in the center of the turret, right at the front of the turret, would be painted. On the right, Kossatz retouching the eye of the "Smiling Sawfish". Kossatz could not imagine how famous "his" fish would become.

U96 arrived entering St. Nazaire, after finishing its fourth patrol, on May 22, 1941. Although it is impossible to determine the colors from a black and white photograph, in this (and other photos) the color used on the sawfish is darker than the light gray (Hellgrau 50) used on the turret. The medium gray "Dunkelgrau 51" could be the most similar.

At the end of that same year a new ordinance forced the removal of the custom emblems from the turret. The result was that the sawfish that were Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock's personal emblem would disappear from the turret of the U96. However, as the order said nothing about the emblems of the flotillas in the turret of the U96, the "Bull Puffing" would remain. As after the disappearance of the sawfish there was more space in the turret, the "Puffing Bull" located on the front would also be erased and two would be painted, one on each side. Later the U96 would show off two larger snorting bulls. Surely the same template used to paint those of U567 would be used to paint them. Almost at the end of its operational career, the U96 would recover the medium-sized "Puffing Bull" as its emblem. On the turret, on its front part, it would show the sunken tonnage (247543) next to the initials BRT on the lower part. It was actually 190,094 tons. Adding 30% to the actual value of tons sunk was a common practice among U-boat commanders. On the right, between the end of spring and the beginning of summer of '41, the U96 would sport two "smiling sawfish" and a "Snorting Bull". The Bull was located at the front of the turret (with its head to the left). The "Puffing Bull" was the emblem of the flot illa and the fish that of the commander of the U96. 

                                       

Above left, this photo was taken by Buchheim on the seventh patrol of U96 (late 1941). By that time the fish had been erased leaving room to paint the two "Snorting Bulls". Above right we have an image of the turret of the U96 at the end of its operational career. Two normal-sized "Puffing Bulls" can be seen on either side of the figure indicating the sunken tonnage.

The U96 sporting a pair of large "Puffing Bulls" in the turret.

The "Smiling Sawfish" of the 9th Flotilla

When Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock assumed command of the 9th Flotilla, he would establish "his emblem" as the emblem of the 9th Flotilla. Because of the above, many of the U-boats assigned to the 9th flotilla will sport sawfish in their turrets.              Another example of a personal emblem that would become the emblem of a flotilla is also the "Puffing Bull" of the U47. This emblem was the personal emblem of Günther Prien and would be adopted (in a clear tribute) by the 7th Flotilla, the flotilla to which U47 belonged.    Some crews would also use small reproductions (pins) of the smiling fish emblem on their caps. This was common practice with the custom emblems of each u-boat, although it would also happen with the emblems of the fleets.

 On the right we see the smiling sawfish painted on the turret (with a camouflage scheme) of U407. The light-colored paint on the background should be Hellgrau 50 and the dark on the right Dunkelgrau 53.We can see that the color of the sawfish is lighter than the Dunkelgrau 53 paint. We can also see how it is lighter than the mouth of the fish (black or red) and the eye (black). According to Georg Högel's book, the following U-boats would carry the "smiling sawfish" of the 9th Flotilla in their turrets:

U90, U91, U211, U214, U217, U218, U230, U256, U309, U377, U407, U409, U443, U450, U456, U591, U595, U604, U606, U621, U659, U664, U739, U744, U755 and U954.

Some of them would only carry this emblem during their time in the 9th Flotilla, although U-230 would carry the smiling sawfish in the turret for the rest of its career. On the left we have the "sawfish" of U309. The turret paint is medium gray to dark. Again, the emblem is lighter than the turret color and much lighter than the muzzle color. The eye of the fish in this example is white. The color guide of Högel's book (U-Boat Emblems Of World War II 1939-1945) indicates the color blue as that used in the emblem of the 9th Flotilla, even the book cites a Canadian report that claims that the "fish" of the emblem of U659 was blue. However, there were differences in the colors used in this emblem. Blue, green, and red are cited as the colors used in the emblem. Some sources indicate blue, others green. Red appears less but we should not rule it out either.

"Das Boot"

During U96's seventh patrol (between 27/10/41 and 06/12/41) war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim would be invited on board. During the patrol Buchheim would take a number of photographs of U-96, some of them are included in the book "U-Boat War". However, it is another of his books, the novel "Das Boot", for which Buchheim is known. The novel is a classic of its genre in which it describes in detail life aboard a "wolf" in the North Atlantic. One of the reasons that makes this novel so special is that Buchheim drew on his experiences aboard U96 (on the seventh patrol) to write it. In addition, the commander who appears in the novel is based on Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. The novel was made into a film under the same name (Das Boot). In the making of it, the director, Wolfgang Petersen, would continue with the great degree of detail of the novel. The film would also become a classic being well known all over the world. All of the mockups used in the film have a black sawfish. Everyone who has seen the movie has seen this fish in the turret. Because of this, the U96 emblem has become very popular and well-known, becoming the most famous of all the U-boats, even more so than the "Puffing Bull". Its simple design together with the irregular teeth and its ironic smile make this emblem one of the most aesthetic. For many modelers it is more beautiful than the "Puffing Bull". There are many much more beautiful emblems, such as the U94 (where an English bulldog appears being dragged by a small animal) but these details are lost in the size (scale) used in most u-boat models. The sawfish is perfect, even at 1/144 scale its details are perfectly visible. I've even seen people wearing the emblem tattooed on one arm! Seeing the association we make of sawfish with the film, it is strange and surprising that the U96 did not actually carry it when Buchheim was on board. By this time the sawfish had been replaced by a pair of "Puffing Bulls". If the film had been historically correct, considering that the patrol is set in late 1941, two Bulls should appear in the turret instead of the two sawfish. It was decided that the aesthetic qualities of the sawfish were better than the white silhouette of the "Puffing Bull" And then there's the color issue...

The eternal debate about the color of the "Smiling Sawfish"

 What was the color of the U96 sawfish? and What was the color of the sawfish of the 9th Flotilla? These two questions have generated a lot of headaches for modelers and historians for decades. Numerous debates have been initiated and numerous theories have circulated on this subject. Green, blue, red, and black appear in one or the other of these theories and debates. What is clear is that even today no one is clear about what color the U96's "smiling sawfish" was. The most widespread confusion is that the same color is attributed to the emblem of the U96 and the emblem of the 9th Flotilla. But in the photos the color, or colors, of the 9th flotilla's emblem is considerably lighter than the U96's sawfish. So, if the color of the fleet emblem is lighter than that of the U96, the colors are not the same or in other words, they are a different color. The Revell company chose the color blue for the sawfish of its model (type VIIc uboot in the scale 1/144) of the U96. They must have chosen the color blue as Georg Högel indicates that the sawfish of the 9th Flotilla was blue. However, due to the differences in tonality between the emblem of the U96 and that of the 9th Flotilla, both were not necessarily the same color. The creators of the movie "Das Boot" opted for the black color in the U96 emblem. They had to choose that color because of how dark the sawfish appears in the photos taken by Buchheim. We also know that Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock himself participated as a consultant in the film. There is a photograph from the shoot in which he appears next to the actor who plays his role (Jürgen Prochnow). Did they ask Willenbrock about the actual color of the emblem, did he tell them it was black, or did they never ask him anything about the emblem? On the right a view of the "sawfish" on the starboard side of the turret. In the photo you can see perfectly that the color of the mouth is different from the rest of the fish, possibly red. The white color of the eye is also appreciated. The color of the emblem is darker than the medium gray of the turret. If the fish is not black, it is certainly a very dark color. Questions, questions and more questions, but no answer clarifies the issue of the color of sawfish. Another interesting issue concerns the metal figure of the smiling sawfish that was placed on the mast of the commander's pennant in the turret of the U96. This figure is preserved today as it was kept by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock himself until his death in 1982.  This emblem sports a lime green color. I don't think there was much difference between this emblem and the one used by the crew or on the turret itself. So, was the turret emblem lime green? Of course, the color could vary over the years and be painted in another color. Maybe when it came to repainting it they didn't want to paint it the same color or they didn't have the same paint. Therefore, this information may not be of much help to us.  It has been commented that the green color of the emblem photo is very light compared to the existing photos of the U96 emblem. We only have to remove the color from the photo to see that they are wrong. On the left, the emblem on the flagpole of the pennant in a period photo. On the left is the metal emblem used in the U96 as it is preserved today. Look at the colors used. On the right the same photograph without color. The dark parts are so dark that they can be confused and think they are black.