All they had to endure, for nothing.
- During the depth charge attack, it seems as though the boat is done for. Werner crawls into one of the bunks with a photo from the Chief's ski trip, ready to accept his fate.
- After the convoy attack, the boat surfaces to see a tanker afloat but ablaze. After the Captain fires a torpedo to finish it off, the officers are horrified to find British sailors still aboard, jumping off in a futile attempt to reach the submarine. Ullmann breaks down into tears as the Captain orders them to back away.
- While stuck on the bottom, Werner wakes up to an apologetic Captain mentioning it's been 15 hours since they sank, and he's not sure they'll really fix the boat before their oxygen gives out. Werner then tells the story of how he got the assignment to the boat, and his words quietly and depressively illuminate Truffaut Was Right in a heartbreaking fashion.Werner: I asked for this assignment. I wanted to stand before something relentless. Where no woman crosses our path, and no mother looks after us. Where only the reality reigns, with cruelty and grandeur. (as the Captain turns to look at him, he begins to quietly sob) I was drunk with those words. Well, this is reality.
- The ending. The submarine gets back to La Rochelle. Suddenly, a squadron of Allied fighter planes raids the base, bombing and strafing everything in sight. Countless men get killed including some of the U-96 crew. A badly injured Captain-Lieutenant sees his U-Boot sink at its dock before collapsing, possibly dead, with a helpless Werner at his side. After all they went through, it's one massive tear-jerker.
- During the sinking in Gibraltar, while the rest of the crew is frantically working on repairs, Hinrich is still seen tending to a critically injured Kriechbaum. While giving him some medicine, an apparently delirious Kriechbaum starts suddenly calling out for his mother. He almost whispers it, so it's easy to miss on first viewings. It's easily one of the most heartbreaking scenes, especially considering how he conducted himself the whole time as a hardened seen-it-all Deadpan Snarker.Kriechbaum: Mom?....Mom...
