Sharks and Little Fish

Sharks and Little Fish is a novel written by German author Wolfgang Ott. First published in 1954, it is based on the author's own experiences as a young submariner. The story centers on a sailor called Teichmann , a cynical young man, thrown at the age of seventeen into the horror and cruelty of war at sea and particularly the submarine warfare in World War II.[1] (The protagonist's first name is Hans, but all throughout the book he and others are referred to by surname).

Sharks And Little Fish

First US edition (Pantheon Books)
Author	Wolfgang Ott
Original title	Haie und kleine Fische
Translator	Ralph Manheim
Country	Germany
Language	English
Publisher	The Lyons Press
Publication date	1954 (German) 1957 (English)
Pages	432
ISBN	978-1-58574-809-9
OCLC	53028703

The book's plot is divided into two roughly equal parts, the first dealing with Teichmann's career on a minesweeper and the second - with his U-boat service. In both branches of naval service, the Germans first manage to hold their own but the Allies increasingly get the upper hand, and in both cases Teichmann's involvement ends with a traumatic ship wreak and the horrors which scavenging gulls can inflict on helpless sailors adrift on the sea. In between scenes on the sea are the protagonist's complicated relations with the two women in his life - Dora, the Hamburg prostitute (later brothel owner) who loves him, and Edith, his captain's wife, with whom he is deeply and very guiltily in love.

Teichmann's attitude to the Nazi regime is complicated and ambivalent. On the one hand, he considers Goebbels' propaganda as stupid nonsense and feels nothing but contempt for fanatic Nazis which he meets. However, he also refuses to take a clear stand against the regime - even when a dissident fellow sailor reveals to him that Germany's Jews are being systematically murdered - and he persists in going out to sea again and again, even when knowing it to be futile and realizing that the U-boats have lost the Battle of the Atlantic and Germany is about to lose the whole war. Teichmann feels no hatred or animosity towards the Briish sailors opposing him, regarding them as fellow mariners who due to circumstances were thrust into the situation of trying to kill him. On the other hand, he feels a murderous hatred towards members of the French Resistance who try to kill him when leaving a brothel while on shore leave in La Rochelle and who do manage to kill his rather naive shipmate.

"A German counterpart to The Caine Mutiny" - Frederic Morton.[2]