[Kapitän]

Originally Posted by Kapitän

Started new career in August 2019 to commemorate the beginning of WWII, 80 years before ...

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KTB - U 113

Friday, 26 December 1941 - NNW of the Azores -

0250 - Qu.2155CE - On new course 261°.

0805 - Early Morning Dawn.

0927 - Sunrise. Weather unchanged since Etmal, 24 Dec.

1200 - Qu.1382CE - Days Run: 194.6sm - (↗ 24h).
204.8cbm (2.7cbm/24h). On course 261°. Battery 9300Ah. 14 internal and 8 external torpedoes. Weather unchanged in 48h.

1202 - Incoming F.T.: From B.d.U.:
Third position and status request for U 567 (Endraß!), boat is presumed lost.

(U 567, VIIC, Kptlt. Engelbert Endraß, was sunk while operating on convoy HG.76, on 21 December 1941 in the North Atlantic north-east of the Azores, in position 44.02N, 20.10W, by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Deptford. 47 dead, all hands lost.)

1402 - Norddeich Radio sending an O.K.W. report about Kptlt. Gerhard Bigalk and Kptlt. Klaus Scholtz being awarded with the Knights Cross, and Kptlt. Otto Kretschmer being awarded with the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Crossed Swords.

(At this time, Kptlt. Otto Kretschmer is already a P.O.W. in Canada, in Camp 30 - often referred to as Camp Bowmanville - during which time he manages to remain in contact with B.d.U. He will return to Germany in December 1947.)

1834 - Sundown. Weather unchanged since Etmal, 24 Dec.

Boat operating acc. to Op.-Orders "Paukenschlag".

Cmdr.: The operation against convoy HG.76 is broken off by B.d.U. We have lost 4 boats on their first war patrol - plus U 567 (Endraß) - against this convoy, for only 4 ships sunk. The "Happy Days" from last year, certainly seem to be over. That the O.K.W. is announcing the award with high decorations of commanders in allied captivity, seems to be evidence of this.

- to be continued -

Started new career in August 2019 to commemorate the beginning of WWII, 80 years before ...

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KTB - U 113

- continued from 26 Dec., 1834h -

In Memoriam

Engelbert Endraß joined U 47 in December 1938 as Leutnant z. See. He was the I.W.O., 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. After having sunk the British auxiliary cruiser Dunvegan Castle of 15,007 tons, 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 Uboat U 567.

His closest friend was Kptlt. Erich Topp, Commander of U 552, who had been the XO on U 46, before Endraß took over command. When he heard that U 567 had been sunk with all hands, he wrote the following verses, quoting Hávamál:

"WHAT IS YOURS WILL be gone. Your kin will die,

And you yourself will die like them.

One thing, I know, will live forever:

The deeds of the dead in all their glory."

"I (Erich Topp) wrote these pages in the lonely wastes of the Atlantic when all hope had vanished that Engelbert Endrass might return alive from his last patrol."

The O.K.W. will not inform the German public about the death of Engelbert Endraß, until 3 months later on 31 March 1942, when the daily Wehrmachtsbericht will announce:

"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.".

Lest we forget

RST

Kptlt.&Cmdr.