Engelbert Endrass

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)


Successes
19 ships sunk, total tonnage 81,164 GRT
2 auxiliary warships sunk, total tonnage 35,284 GRT
4 ships damaged, total tonnage 25,491 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 2,080 GRT

Born  2 Mar 1911 Bamberg
Died  21 Dec 1941(30)Northeast of Azores


Engelbert Endraß

Ranks

8 Apr 1934 Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937 Leutnant zur See
20 Apr 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 May 1941 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

6 Jun 1939 Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
25 Sep 1939 Iron Cross 2nd Class
17 Oct 1939 Iron Cross 1st Class
19 Dec 1939 U-boat War Badge 1939
5 Sep 1940 Knights Cross
10 Jun 1941 Knights Cross with Oak Leaves
18 Jul 1941 U-boat War Badge with Diamonds
1 Nov 1941 Italienisches Kriegsverdienstkreuz mit Schwertern "Croce di Guerra al Valore Militare"

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-46 22 May 1940 24 Sep 1941   8 patrols (195 days) 
U-567 15 Oct 1941 21 Dec 1941  (+)  2 patrols (37 days) 

Endrass
Oblt. Engelbert Endraß on board

Engelbert Endraß began his naval career in April 1935. Like Prien and Metzler, he had previously spent some years in the merchant navy.

After some months serving on the pocket battleship Deutschland and some escort vessels, he was assigned to the U-boat force in October 1937. He joined U-47 in December 1938 as Leutnant z. See. Endraß was 1WO when Günther Prien made his famous Scapa Flow attack and sank HMS Royal Oak.

It was Endraß who painted the famous snorting bull emblem on U-47's conning tower before they returned.

He stayed on U-47 until December 1939, and after some training courses took command of U-46, another type VIIB U-boat, from her luckless commander Herbert Sohler in May 1940.

His first patrol with U-46 was very successful. Endraß sank five ships with a total of 35,347 tons, including the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Carinthia of 20,277 tons. Although hampered by a damaged main (attack) periscope, he repeated that success on his second patrol: he sank five ships, in total 27,038 tons, including another British auxiliary cruiser, the Dunvegan Castle of 15,007 tons. After returning from this patrol Endraß was awarded the Knights Cross. After the seventh patrol, the Oak Leaves were added. In September 1941 he left U-46 and a month later took over the type VIIC U-boat U-567.


Engelbert Endraß (left) greets his closest friend Erich Topp, returning from patrol in May 1941.

Endraß was killed on 21 December 1941, when U-567 was sunk with all hands (47 men) by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Deptford and the British corvette HMS Samphire NE of the Azores at 44.02N, 20.10W (Niestlé, 1998).

Three months later on 31 March 1942 the daily Wehrmachtsbericht announced:

Das Unterseeboot unter Führung von Kapitänleutnant Endraß, Träger des Eichen laubes zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, ist von Feindfahrt nicht zurück gekehrt. Ein hervorragender Unterseebootkommandant ist mit seiner tapferen Besatzung vor dem Feind geblieben.

(The U-boat under the command of Kapitänleutnant Endraß, recipient of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, has not returned from patrol. An outstanding U-boat commander is on eternal patrol with his brave crew.)

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Engelbert Endrass

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-46 1 Jun 1940  Kiel  1 Jul 1940  Kiel  Patrol 1,31 days
2. U-46 1 Aug 1940  Kiel  4 Aug 1940  Bergen   4 days
3. U-46 8 Aug 1940  Bergen  6 Sep 1940  Lorient  Patrol 2,30 days
4. U-46 20 Sep 1940  Lorient  21 Sep 1940  St. Nazaire   2 days
5. U-46 23 Sep 1940  St. Nazaire  29 Sep 1940  St. Nazaire  Patrol 3,7 days
6. U-46 13 Oct 1940  St. Nazaire  29 Oct 1940  Kiel  Patrol 4,17 days
7. U-46 12 Feb 1941  Kiel  4 Mar 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 5,21 days
8. U-46 15 Mar 1941  St. Nazaire  10 Apr 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 6,27 days
9. U-46 15 May 1941  St. Nazaire  13 Jun 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 7,30 days
10. U-46 26 Jul 1941  St. Nazaire  26 Aug 1941  Kiel  Patrol 8,32 days
11. U-567 25 Oct 1941  St. Nazaire  26 Nov 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 9,33 days
12. U-567 18 Dec 1941  St. Nazaire  21 Dec 1941  Sunk  Patrol 10,4 days
10 patrols, 232 days at sea

Ships hit by Engelbert Endrass

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
6 Jun 1940U-46 HMS Carinthia20,277br
9 Jun 1940U-46 Margareta2,155fi
11 Jun 1940U-46 Athelprince (d.)8,782brOG-33F
12 Jun 1940U-46 Barbara Marie4,223brSL-34
12 Jun 1940U-46 Willowbank5,041brSL-34
17 Jun 1940U-46 Elpis3,651gr
16 Aug 1940U-46 Alcinous (d.)6,189nlOB-197
20 Aug 1940U-46 Leonidas M. Valmas (t.)2,080gr
27 Aug 1940U-46 HMS Dunvegan Castle15,007brSL-43
31 Aug 1940U-46 Ville de Hasselt7,461be
2 Sep 1940U-46 Thornlea4,261brOB-206
4 Sep 1940U-46 Luimneach1,074ir
26 Sep 1940U-46 Coast Wings862brOG-43
26 Sep 1940U-46 Siljan3,058sw
18 Oct 1940U-46 Beatus4,885brSC-7
18 Oct 1940U-46 Convallaria1,996swSC-7
18 Oct 1940U-46 Gunborg1,572swSC-7
19 Oct 1940U-46 Ruperra4,548brHX-79
20 Oct 1940U-46 Janus9,965swHX-79
 
29 Mar 1941U-46 Liguria1,751swOB-302
31 Mar 1941U-46 Castor8,714sw
2 Apr 1941U-46 British Reliance7,000brSC-26
3 Apr 1941U-46 Alderpool (d.)4,313brSC-26
8 Jun 1941U-46 Ensis (d.)6,207brOB-330
9 Jun 1941U-46 Phidias5,623brOB-330
21 Dec 1941U-567 Annavore3,324nwHG-76
 144,019

22 ships sunk (118,528 tons) and 4 ships damaged (25,491 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
(t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).


About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim


Silent Hunters

Savas, Theodore P. (editor)


Naval Officers Under Hitler

Rust, Eric C.

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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