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Engelbert Endrass

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

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

Personal information

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 on the cruiser Deutschland and some escort ships, he was assigned in October 1937 to the U-boat force. He joined U-47 in December 1938 as Leutnant z. See. Endraß was IWO when Günther Prien made his famous Scapa Flow attack and sank the HMS Royal Oak.

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

He remained on U-47 until December 1939, when he left the U-boat and after some training courses took over command of U-46, another type VIIB U-boat, in May 1940 from the luckless commander Herbert Sohler.

His first patrol with U-46 was very successful. Endraß sank five ships for a total of 35,347 tons, including the British auxiliary cruiser Carinthia of 20,277 tons. His second patrol on U-46 was also a great success. Although the main (attack) periscope was damaged, he sank five ships for a total of 27,038 tons, including another British auxiliary cruiser, the Dunvegan Castle of 15,007 tons. After returning from this patrol Engelbert Endraß received the Knights Cross. Five patrols later he received the Oak Leaves. In September 1941 he left U-46 and a month later took over the Type VIIC U-boat U-567.

Engelbert Endraß (left) welcomes his closest friend Erich Topp after 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 corvette HMS Samphire northeast of the Azores at 44.02N, 20.10W.

On 31 March, 1942 (three months after his death) 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 command of Kapitänleutnant Endraß, recipient of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, has not returned from patrol. An outstanding U-boat commander is on an eternal patrol with his brave crew.)

Date	U-boat	Commander		Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy
6 Jun 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		HMS Carinthia	20,277		br
9 Jun 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Margareta	2,155		fi
11 Jun 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Athelprince (d.)	8,782		br	OG-33F
12 Jun 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Barbara Marie	4,223		br	SL-34
12 Jun 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Willowbank	5,041		br	SL-34
17 Jun 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Elpis	3,651		gr
16 Aug 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Alcinous (d.)	6,189		nl	OB-197
20 Aug 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Leonidas M. Valmas (t.)	2,080		gr
27 Aug 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		HMS Dunvegan Castle	15,007		br	SL-43
31 Aug 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Ville de Hasselt	7,461		be
2 Sep 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Thornlea	4,261		br	OB-206
4 Sep 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Luimneach	1,074		ir
26 Sep 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Coast Wings	862		br	OG-43
26 Sep 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Siljan	3,058		sw
18 Oct 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Beatus	4,885		br	SC-7
18 Oct 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Convallaria	1,996		sw	SC-7
18 Oct 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Gunborg	1,572		sw	SC-7
19 Oct 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Ruperra	4,548		br	HX-79
20 Oct 1940	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Janus	9,965		sw	HX-79
29 Mar 1941	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Liguria	1,751		sw	OB-302
31 Mar 1941	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Castor	8,714		sw
2 Apr 1941	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		British Reliance	7,000		br	SC-26
3 Apr 1941	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Alderpool (d.)	4,313		br	SC-26
8 Jun 1941	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Ensis (d.)	6,207		br
9 Jun 1941	U-46	Engelbert Endrass		Phidias	5,623		br	OB-330
21 Dec 1941	U-567	Engelbert Endrass		Annavore	3,324		nw	HG-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.

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