Engelbert Endrass

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Engelbert Endrass (center)

Engelbert Endrass (born March 2, 1911 in Bamberg , † December 21, 1941 north of the Azores ) was a German naval officer and submarine commander in World War II . He was in command of U 46 and U 567 and sank 22 ships with a total of 118,528 GRT , and damaged four ships with 25,491 GRT during his operations.

Life

Engelbert Endrass' military career began in April 1935. He attended courses in Flensburg-Mürwik , Wilhelmshaven and Kiel . Just like Günther Prien , Wilhelm Schulz and Jost Metzler , he spent a few years in the merchant marine . He finally joined the Reichsmarine and, as a ship officer who had already been trained, was included in the 1934 officer's class, renouncing essential parts of the nautical training . In view of the armament of the fleet, the Reichsmarine, which later became the Kriegsmarine , offered merchant ship officers (so-called HSO) this opportunity for an accelerated career. Endrass served u. a. on U 29 , the ironclad Germany . In October 1937 he reported to the submarine weapon. In December of the same year he became a lieutenant at sea . On December 12, 1938 he became the first watch officer on U 47 .

In Günther Prien's attack on the British port of Scapa Flow , in which the HMS Royal Oak was sunk, Endrass was first officer on watch . While returning from Scapa Flow, Endrass designed the emblem of the ship, the "snorting bull" , inspired by a comment by the second officer on watch, Amelung von Varendorff , who had called the British naval port a bullring . For this undertaking the entire crew of U 47 was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. Prien was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

Endrass stayed on board U 47 until December 1939 . During this time he was promoted to lieutenant at sea and also received the Iron Cross 1st class. After completing additional training, he was given command of the sister ship U 46 in May 1940 .

During his first patrol as a commander, he sank five ships with a total of 35,347 GRT, including the British auxiliary cruiser Carinthia with 20,277 GRT.

On his second patrol he again sank five ships with a total of 27,038 GRT, including the British auxiliary cruiser Dunvegan Castle with 15,007 GRT. After returning to the base in Saint-Nazaire , Endrass was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his achievements.

With U 46 he made five more patrols. For his achievements he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and the U-Boat War Badge with diamonds, and on July 2, 1941, he was promoted to lieutenant captain.

Endrass left U 46 in September 1941 and took command of U 567 a month later . On December 21 of the same year, Endrass attacked the Allied convoy HG 76 and sank a Norwegian steamer. When trying to approach the convoy again, U 567 was tracked down and attacked by a submarine fighter group under the command of Frederic John Walker northeast of the Azores. Commander Walker had developed a new tactic ( "creeping attack" ) to defend against German submarines and had only received permission a few months beforehand to establish them in the British Navy. His submarine fighter group was on its first mission in accordance with Walker's novel group tactics and had already sunk U 127 , U 131 , U 434 and U 574 . The British warships were looking for the submarine that was responsible for the loss of the aircraft carrier Audacity and discovered U 567 by chance. The HMS Deptford and HMS Samphire attacked the boat with depth charges . On the third attempt at the target located by ASDIC , an underwater detonation could be heard on board the Deptford , but neither oil nor wreckage was found. During this attack, the submarine and its 47-strong crew were sunk. At this time, Engelbert Endrass was considered a bundle of nerves among the submarine commanders and was no longer operational. In their opinion, it was irresponsibly used by Karl Dönitz and, against better knowledge, out of the hope of sinking numbers. Two years of almost uninterrupted use had already shattered Endrass' nerves.

Endrass and his crew also starred in an episode of Die Deutsche Wochenschau that aired shortly after his death.

Endrass' death was announced in the Wehrmacht report only three months after the sinking of U 567 , on March 31, 1942.

Engelbert Endrass in literature

Engelbert Endrass is mentioned twice in Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel Das Boot . On the one hand, alienated as "Bartel" (Endrass' nickname was "Bertel"), whose death affects his friend "Kallmann" ( Erich Topp ) very closely. Topp and Endrass have been friends since their training. On the other hand, as one of the few not alienated people in Buchheim's novel, it is said about his fate: Endrass should no longer have been allowed to leak.

Ranks

Awards

Web links

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  1. Allgäu Online of the Allgäuer Zeitung Engelbert Endraß found his grave in the Atlantic , from: November 17th, 2012; Retrieved on: May 28, 2017
  2. Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 , page 59.
  3. ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 45
  4. Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 , page 245
  5. ^ A b Peter Padfield: The Submarine War 1939-1945. Bechtermünz Verlag for Ullstein, Berlin, 1996, ISBN 3-8289-0313-4 , page 265
  6. ^ Bernard Ireland: Battle of the Atlantic. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2003, ISBN 1-59114-032-3 , page 63
  7. Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 4: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 , page 40.
  8. Die Deutsche Wochenschau - 1941-12-28 - No. 590 (part 2). December 28, 1941. Retrieved October 23, 2017 .
  9. ^ Lothar-Günther Buchheim: The boat . Piper Verlag, Munich 1973, ISBN 978-3-492-02012-1 , page 20