
"Le Crabe Tambour" ("Drummer Crab") is the nickname for the mysterious central character, Willsdorff (Jacques Perrin), an Alsatian, whose doomed, out-of-date career is recalled through the tales of three naval officers currently serving aboard a French supply ship in the North Atlantic.

as Captain, commander of the escort ship

as Pierre, medical officer

as Lieutenant Willsdorff, 'Le Crabe-Tambour'

as Aurore, nurse in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon

as The wife at the bistro of the former gendarme

as Babourg, former sailor

as Chief mechanic

as Former gendarme, boss of the bistro

as Admiral Dönitz's admirer at the bistro

as Rector

as Bongo-Ba

as Ensign




as Bugler Bochau

as Fishing officer




as Adjutant Willsdorf (uncredited)

as Breton kid (uncredited)