The Men - The Commander listing

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

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

Engelbert Endraß

Ranks

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
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

U-boat Commands

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

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.)

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	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
6 Jun, 1940	U-46	HMS Carinthia	20,277		br
9 Jun, 1940	U-46	Margareta	2,155		fi
11 Jun, 1940	U-46	Athelprince	8,782		br	OG-33F	damaged
12 Jun, 1940	U-46	Barbara Marie	4,223		br	SL-34
12 Jun, 1940	U-46	Willowbank	5,041		br	SL-34
17 Jun, 1940	U-46	Elpis	3,651		gr
16 Aug, 1940	U-46	Alcinous	6,189		nl	OB-197	damaged
20 Aug, 1940	U-46	Leonidas M. Valmas	2,080		gr		total loss
27 Aug, 1940	U-46	HMS Dunvegan Castle	15,007		br	SL-43
31 Aug, 1940	U-46	Ville de Hasselt	7,461		be
2 Sep, 1940	U-46	Thornlea	4,261		br	OB-206
4 Sep, 1940	U-46	Luimneach	1,074		ir
26 Sep, 1940	U-46	Coast Wings	862		br	OG-43
26 Sep, 1940	U-46	Siljan	3,058		sw
18 Oct, 1940	U-46	Beatus	4,885		br	SC-7
18 Oct, 1940	U-46	Convallaria	1,996		sw	SC-7
18 Oct, 1940	U-46	Gunborg	1,572		sw	SC-7
19 Oct, 1940	U-46	Ruperra	4,548		br	HX-79
20 Oct, 1940	U-46	Janus	9,965		sw	HX-79

29 Mar, 1941	U-46	Liguria	1,751		sw	OB-302
31 Mar, 1941	U-46	Castor	8,714		sw
2 Apr, 1941	U-46	British Reliance	7,000		br	SC-26
3 Apr, 1941	U-46	Alderpool	4,313		br	SC-26	damaged
8 Jun, 1941	U-46	Ensis	6,207		br		damaged
9 Jun, 1941	U-46	Phidias	5,623		br	OB-330
21 Dec, 1941	U-567	Annavore	3,324		nw	HG-76
			144,019
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.