HARRY’S NOTE - I am very pleased to report that RADM ERICH TOPP is mending so well that he has been released from the hospital; released from the rehabilitation center - and by the time this KTB Magazine is in your hands, he will be resting in his own home.

One of the first letters ERICH wrote on his rehabilitation was here to SHARKHUNTERS HQ to thank all our Members for keeping him in their hearts and prayers.

“There was one moment, in the Atlantic, when I had not reported for ten weeks, when it was thought that I had been lost. So when my family and friends saw me in the cinema, they were crying. But fortunately, I came back.

You wanted to know something about Dönitz. Well his English was very good. He was our leader, not only to his commanding officers, but to all of his men. In one word, he had charisma! He was able to build up the image of the submarine force. He set a very high standard, which was reflected in the public’s high opinion.

He was always on the pier to receive a returning U-Boat, together with a lot of friends, together with a band. This did not change during the whole war, even with the great losses at the end.

Then came the end of the war, and I initiated a petition to the Allied Control Center in Nürnberg in support of Admiral Dönitz because, from our point of view we as soldiers, did as any soldier had -- and we did that very well. But the Allied Center never answered our letter. So the Admiral went into prison. But I believed at the time it was absolutely necessary to give him support. Later on, I changed my mind.

I met with his Aide-de-Camp and read the Hessler papers (his son-in-law) about the massive executions behind the front lines -- hundreds of Jews, Poles, and Slavs shot down. Hessler showed these papers to Dönitz, and asked if the Admiral would comment. Dönitz put the paper in his pocket.

Then several days later, Hessler asked again: "Admiral, would you comment on the papers."

Dönitz was a bit upset, and said: "I do not know what orders Göring is giving to his air force or what instructions the Army Headquarters are giving to its personnel, or what the NSP (NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY) are saying, because they are outside of my responsibility. But from my point of view, it is against the tradition of the German military, as well as against the basic principles of how we fought the war.”

Then I think of how we tried to help the ship-wrecked people and so on. It was in accordance with international law. So I must say that do not understand Dönitz' attitude. Therefore, I disagree with him.

Regarding the friendships with other U-Boat captains; well you know we were a band of brothers, a phrase that has come down to us from a British Admiral (Admiral Horatio Nelson). Since that time, it has been a phrase that we use occasionally, because we were a band of brothers. There was no rivalry at all between us. Some had more success, some less. But when we were together, we were always exchanging our experiences. and were happy to have survived.

Even today, we are a band of brothers. This includes my crew. Each year we meet. This year, we have met here in these rooms. It was part of our lives and we do not forget those times, because those times were extraordinary.

Any one operation that I look back at as the height of my professional career as a Naval officer? Well, I can not say that there was one part that was a special feature. Of course there were many that had a certain influence on me such as the incident mentioned earlier, when I lost six crewmen in U-57. Which reminds me of when we were east of Ireland and one of our diesels was out of order. We had to decide if we were going to head for home, or carry on. I discussed the situation with the other officers and Chief Engineer.

With our reduced speed, we could not operate in the Atlantic. But we had to enter into the center of hell, in the Irish Sea, close to Liverpool. We could see the lights on either side.

We sank three ships (24 Aug 1942) in U-57: three British tankers from Convoy OB.202. They were SAINT DUNSTAN, CUMBERLAND and HAVILDER.

We were forced to go deep in only 50 meters with a destroyer coming. I put the boat on the bottom, as we were having trouble, and for the next day and a half we took over 100 depth charges. Nothing was working - no engine, no lights, nothing.

The water kept rising because of the faulty pumps. So after 24 hours, we had to try and get out of there! We had a lot of water in the boat, so we did not know if we had enough buoyancy to surface. So after midnight I put a little pressure on the tanks; nothing! Then I put full pressure on all of the tanks - with no result!

So I thought to myself, could it be that the boat is sticking in the bottom, and I ordered the one functioning electric motor to be run, and we pulled off the bottom and popped to the surface, and fresh air.

That was one occasion when the mask of the commanding officer was very, very important. To me, there was no chance to ever see the light of day again, but I did not want to lose the look of facial hope because I did not want my crew to realize the seriousness of the situation.

You know during that 24 hour period, I had no sleep while my crew, during the depth charging, were catching cat naps, nothing disturbed them! So in answer to the earlier question, this was one of the situations I will not forget.”

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]