Unternehmen Michael

Plot summary

The film is set in the First World War and is based on a 1932 play by Hans Fritz von Zwehl (Frühlingsschlacht, 'Spring Battle', originally also titled Unternehmen Michael) about the German offensive Operation Michael during the First World War, which was launched on 21 March 1918. The British are in possession of the village of Beaurevoir. The Germans plan to send in assault troops to take the village, but their commanding officer, Captain Hill, is injured the night before. A desk officer, Major zur Linden (Mathias Wieman), volunteers to lead the mission. The unit succeed but find themselves surrounded by the enemy. They discuss their options and Major zur Linden's advocacy of a heroic death for the sake of their country wins out over the defeatist and the traditional military pragmatist; the Germans declare a ceasefire and then the commanding general, in full knowledge, gives the order for their artillery to bombard the village as the British are storming it, thereby sacrificing their own men in order to kill the enemy. The sacrifice is not in vain; it enables the Germans to push forward to the British fortress, the 'Labyrinth'.

Cast

Production and themes

Shooting took place between 12 May and late June 1937, with interiors shot at the UFA studios in Neubabelsberg.

Unternehmen Michael is the first of three 'soldier films' set during the First World War which Ritter made in 1936–38, when Nazi Germany was rearming in preparation for renewed war. Ritter himself described his war films as "pictorial armo[u]red car[s]", in contrast to entertainment films. It was a Staatsauftragsfilm; it was commissioned by the Ministry of Propaganda. It is representative of the glorification in Nazi Germany of the heroic death (Heldentod). As the general tells the major in charge of the assault unit: "Posterity will remember us not by the greatness of our victory but by the measure of our sacrifice!" Thousands of men are sacrificed over a ruined village of little strategic value.

Release

The film premièred on 7 September 1937 at the Ufa-Palast in Nuremberg during the 9th Nazi Party rally and in Berlin at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo on 19 November 1937. It was shown the following year in the United States.

Reception

Officers of the Wehrmacht objected to the suicidal message of the film. The director, Karl Ritter, responded by saying, "I want to show the German youth that senseless, sacrificed death has its moral value." Carl Bloem, a retired military officer who had published popular novels, was asked to rebut the film's point of view and did so in a radio play in which the pragmatic view won out amongst the soldiers: "No German commanding officer has the right or duty to destroy uselessly the lives of German soldiers." The company raise the white flag of surrender. This was broadcast on the Cologne radio station, but the Ministry of Propaganda disavowed it, with the statement, "Our film has the purpose of showing the younger generation of today the real spirit of the German soldier during the offensive at the western front in 1918." The film was awarded the Prädikat (distinction) of staatspolitisch besonders wertvoll (particular political value).

The New York Times, however, saw the film as "not emphasiz[ing]" the horrors of war.

The film is classified by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation as a Vorbehaltsfilm (conditional film), meaning it can only be shown in Germany under restricted conditions for educational purposes.