When was I most frightened? Well, I do not know what you mean by most frightened. When you get a shock and you go out of control, then I must say that I have never been frightened, I was always ready to react at once, there was no time to become frightened. I must admit, that once I learned that my grandchild had skin cancer, and no one could give an answer; then I was frightened. But on the boat, I did not feel frightened.

Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp returns home to the 7th U-BootFlotille at St. Nazaire.

Worry however - well, when you got depth charged there was cause for concern, because you never knew what the other side was going to do. Therefore, depth charges were a question of great concern.

Regarding the progression of the war and the changing skills of each side; I do not believe that there was a change in the skills so much, as the considerable change in the tools and weapons of Allied ASW. I will begin with the radar.

For aircraft, the maximum radar radius was 90 miles, and with a certain number of aircraft, they could maintain surveillance over the entire Atlantic.

(Interestingly, in Royal Navy ships, the height above sea level did not usually exceed 32-48 feet. In calm seas, as improvements were made to the set, there was a gradual rise in the U-Boat detections made from 1,000 yards to 4,000 yards, but even with the later Type radars, such as the 271P, there was a sharp drop beyond 4,000 yards. In rough seas there was much lower detection at close ranges due to the rolling of the escort vessel and the U-Boat being lost in the sea return. The reliable maximum range, with the PPI added in the later Type 271Q, was 4,500 yards).

Then there was the Hedgehog. The Hedgehog, was a group of twenty-four small depth charges with a contact fuse. When one of the 24 charges detonated the other 23 did likewise, enveloping the sub in a large explosion.

(Always sited forward of the bridge, the hedgehog mortar was developed early in the war by the RN. The objective being to cut out the ‘dead time’ between the firing ship losing contact with the U-Boat as she ran over it, to the firing time of the depth charges forward from astern. This dead time, on many occasions, gave the U-Boat time to alter course and escape.)

In addition, the high frequency direction finder (HUFF DUFF), had the capability of pinpointing a submarine’s radio signals up to 25 miles from a convoy. Which, with the increase in the number of escorts and aircraft, greatly aided in the locating of U-Boats closing on a convoy.

But, the main difference, was Britain's Bletchley Park, where together with close cooperation between the scientific community and the military, the British were able to break the German codes, and read our operational messages. When you compare that to what we did on our side, we did not come close. Of course, on our side, we did have a group of scientists under Professor Kupfmüller, but they had no contact with the military side, and there were some representatives in the area of torpedoes. Then in the last days, we knew of the newly constructed submarines. But a direct answer to the challenge of the other side was ineffective and you see the results, the number of sunken ships was decreasing as the number of sunken submarines increased.

Typical Convoy Action

To describe a typical convoy action, as for example, in June 1942, against HG-84; I remember very well this patrol, because the name of the group that was ordered into this area was Group Endrass. Endrass was my best friend. The whole operation was in the same area in which, on 21 December 1941, Endrass lost his life (in command of U-567). So now to the action itself. We were receiving sighting reports from a FW-200 (CONDOR) so we were able to make contact with the convoy of 23 ships. The convoy was very strongly escorted by 6 destroyers.

(NOTE this was Escort Group 36, CDR Frederick J. Walker commanding. In fact, there were:

HMS STORK (U-81), a sloop
HMS CONVOLVULUS (K-45)
HMS GARDENIA (K-99)
HMS MARIGOLD (K-87)

The weather conditions were very bad, then the moon came out from behind the clouds, with the water very phosphoresent. I succeeded in attacking twice, and sinking five ships but I was almost torpedoed. But anyway, after the first attack I went back and was followed by a destroyer coming in at high speed. The closer he came, the more detail I could see of his bridge works. All he had to do was drop his depth charges in the swirl of my diving spot, and it would have been all over for us. Then before I could give the alarm, the destroyer suddenly turned away, and threw his depth charges.

That was the only time of the war that I saw the depth charges that should have killed me. I saw the effect of the exploding charges. What was the reason for the actions of the destroyer? At that time, their radar was not able to maintain target contact closer than 500 meters (1640 feet approximately) when the target disappeared on the PPI (the radar receiver at or behind the ship’s bridge). But the escort was so close, he had to know that we were diving so he fired his depth charges and we were safe.

Of course, in wartime Germany, the successful soldiers and sailors were very popular among the people. It was a lot of rot. I received many letters and my name was in some newsreels, including some pictures from one of my war patrols.

(HARRY’s NOTE - ERICH told me of one such incident when he was filmed at the periscope, both arms draped over the handles, eye pressed firmly against the ocular. In all the fan mail he received, there was a photo and a letter from a beautiful young lady -- she begged to be his periscope. You figure it out, but us guys in the Air Force never got such great letters.)

Many thanks to HELEN FARRELL (1133-1989) for all her transcribing. She transcribes all our audio and videotapes and puts the words onto disc so we can convert it onto the paper here for history. Thanks HELEN.

More RADM Erich Topp

RADM Erich Topp and the Red Devil Boat (part 1) [KTB 120]
RADM Erich Topp and the Red Devil Boat (part 2) [KTB 121]
RADM Erich Topp and the Red Devil Boat (part 3) [KTB 122]
RADM Erich Topp and the Red Devil Boat (part 4) [KTB 123]
RADM Erich Topp and the Red Devil Boat (part 5) [KTB 124]