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Endraß, Engelbert

Date of birth:
March 2nd, 1911 (Bamberg/Unterfranken, Germany)
Date of death:
December 21st, 1941 (Northeast of the Azores, Atlantic Ocean)
Buried on:
German Submarines Memorial
Nationality:
German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Biography

Promotions:

01-07-1935 – Fähnrich zur See
01-01-1937 – Oberfähnrich zur See
01-04-1937 – Leutnant zur See
20-04-1940 – Oberleutnant zur See
02-07-1941 – Kapitänleutnant

Engelbert Endraß joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1935 after spending some years in the merchant navy. Engelbert served during his training period on several warships and transferred in October 1937 to the U-Boat Force. He joined on December 17th 1938 the U 47 as the 1. Wachoffizier (WO) under Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien and was also present when Kapitänleutnant Prien made his famous Scapa Flow attack where he sank the British battleship HMS Royal Oak. It was Kapitänleutnant Endraß who painted the famous snorting bull emblem on U 47’s conning tower before they returned.

Engelbert left in December 1939 the U 47 and took the commander trainings course till he passed and took over the command of the U 46 on May 22nd 1940. As commander of the U 46 Kapitänleutnant Endraß made 8 combat patrols, sank 23 ships including 2 British auxiliary cruisers. Kapitänleutnant Endraß left in September 1941 the U 46 and became in October 1941 the commander of the newly build U 567. On December 18th 1941 Endraß left the harbour of St. Nazaire (France) for his first and last combat patrol with the U 567. On December 21st he located the HG-76 convoy and attacked it. He managed to sink a Norwegian merchant ship but then came under depth charge attack by two British escort ships. (HMS Deptford en HMS Samphire) During this depth charge assault the U 567 was lost with all hands. (47 man)

As U-Boat commander Kapitänleutnant Engelbert Endraß was 232 days at sea, made 10 combat patrols and sank 22 ships with a total tonnage of 118.528 BRT. He also damaged 4 ships with a total tonnage of 25.491 BRT.

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Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Leutnant zur See (Sub-lieutenant)
Unit:
I. WO U 47, Unterseebootsflottille Wegener, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
April 5th, 1939
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 4.Klasse, 4 Jahre
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
I. WO U 47, Unterseebootsflottille Wegener, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
June 6th, 1939
Spanienkreuz, Bronze
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
I. WO U 47, Unterseebootsflottille Wegener, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
September 25th, 1939
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
I. WO U 47, Unterseebootsflottille Wegener, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
October 17th, 1939
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
I. WO U 47, Unterseebootsflottille Wegener, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
December 19th, 1939
U-boot Kriegsabzeichen (ohne Brillianten)
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
June 17th, 1940
Wehrmachtbericht
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
July 4th, 1940
Wehrmachtbericht
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
September 4th, 1940
Wehrmachtbericht
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
September 5th, 1940
Awarded his successes as the captain of U-46. By this time he had sunk 9 ships with 66692 GRT, including the British auxiliary cruisers “HMS Carinthia” and “HMS Dunvegan Castle”. He also damaged a further 2 ships with 14871 GRT and heavily damaged another with 2080 GRT, with this ship later being declared a total loss.

30th Award.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
October 20th, 1940
Wehrmachtbericht
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
April 4th, 1941
Wehrmachtbericht
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
June 9th, 1941
Wehrmachtbericht
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant zur See
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
June 10th, 1941
Awarded for sinking a further 11 ships with 56155 GRT. He also achieved a cooperative kill with U-47 (of 4947 GRT) and damaged a further ship with 6207 GRT.

14th Award.
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Käpitanleutnant (Lieutenant)
Unit:
Kommandant U 46, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
July 18th, 1941
U-boot Kriegsabzeichen mit Brillianten
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Käpitanleutnant (Lieutenant)
Unit:
Kommandant U 567, 7. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine
Awarded on:
March 31st, 1942
Wehrmachtbericht

Sources

Photo