Name Engelbert Endrass | Rank Kapitanleutnant Years of service 1935–41 | |
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Born 2 March 1911Bamberg ( 1911-03-02 ) Awards Spanish CrossIron Cross First ClassU-boat War Badge with DiamondsKnight's Cross with Oak Leaves Died December 21, 1941, Archipelago of the Azores, Portugal | ||
Engelbert Endrass (German: Engelbert Endraß) (2 March 1911 – 21 December 1941) was a German U-boat commander in World War II. He commanded the Type VIIB U-boat U-46 and the Type VIIC U-567, being credited with sinking twenty-two ships on ten patrols, for a total of 118,528 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping, to purpotedly become the 23rd highest scoring U-boat commander of World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. It was Germany's highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Endrass.
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Career
Endrass began his naval career in April 1935. After some months on the cruiser Deutschland and service on escort ships, he was assigned in October 1937 to the U-boat force. He joined U-47 in December 1938 as Leutnant zur See. He was first Watch Officer when Günther Prien made his famous Scapa Flow attack and sank HMS Royal Oak. The famous snorting bull emblem on U-47's conning tower was painted by Endrass before they returned.
Endrass remained on U-47 until December 1939, when he left the U-boat and after some training courses took over command of U-46 in May 1940 from the relatively unsuccessful Herbert Sohler, who had only sunk two ships in five patrols. Endrass had immediate success and sank five ships, including the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Carinthia.
Endrass' success continued on his second patrol with U-46, sinking five more ships, including another British auxiliary cruiser, HMS Dunvegan Castle although the main periscope was damaged. After returning from this patrol, Endrass received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Five patrols later he received the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross. The presentation was made on 30 June 1941 by Hitler at the Führer Headquarter Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) in Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn in Poland).
In September 1941 Endrass left U-46, which would become a training vessel, and a month later took over U-567. On his second patrol, he was killed on 21 December 1941 while operating against Convoy HG 76, when U-567 was sunk with all hands by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Deptford and corvette HMS Samphire, northeast of the Azores.