Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 1
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 2
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 3

This is the 1994 interview we did with Admiral TOPP, and it is the first time it is published anywhere. You may order a copy of this on videotape. Details on our website.

Admiral TOPP: We had, under Professor Krupmüller, we had a group of scientists that were working but very low contact with the military side. Of course, we had some progress in the area of torpedoes. We had the snorkel. Then we had the, in the last days of the war, the new constructed submarines – but a direct answer to the challenge of the other side, was ineffective and you see the result that the numbers of sunken ships was reducing and the number of sinking submarines was increasing.

SHARKHUNTERS: Can you describe for us a typical convoy action? We remember especially Convoy HG.84 in June of 1942.

Admiral TOPP: 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 and I know what it means in your language, best friend. The whole operation was in memory of (Englebert) Endraß who lost his life end of 1941 in the same area. So now to the action itself.

We got signals from a CONDOR, an FW 200. The plane sent signals with bearings so we were able to contact the convoy. The convoy was twenty-six ships and was very strongly defended with six destroyers and the weather conditions were very bad because it was a little bit stormy and the moon came out of the clouds and the water was phosphorescing very badly. So anyhow I succeeded in attacking twice and sinking five ships.

But what I want to tell you is – after the first attack, I drew back and was followed by a destroyer. This destroyer came closer and closer with high speed, and I could see already details on the bridge of this destroyer and I was just saying “ALARM!”, knowing that this would probably be the end because he knew my position and he only had to order depth charges in the diving spot. Just before I said “ALARM!” he made a turn and threw depth charges where he thought I was. That was the only time in the war that I had seen the depth charges that should kill me. I saw the effect of the exploding depth charges.

What were the reasons for the actions of the destroyer? At that time, their radar was not able to contact a target closer than 500 meters. Then the signet on the PBI disappeared and he was so close, below 500 meters, that suddenly the signs on his PBI disappeared and so the captain said he must have been diving, and that was the reason he threw the depth charges there.

SHARKHUNTERS: During the war, the successful soldiers and sailors were very popular. Did that happen to you?

Admiral TOPP: Well, of course, I got many letters and my name was in some newsreels and I had a cameraman on board for one war patrol and he made a lot of very interesting pictures and of course, this film was running in the cinemas on the newsreels (in Germany) and this film was running in the cinema but I was in the Atlantic and had not reported for some three weeks, and so they thought that I was lost and so when they saw this film, my family and my relatives and my friends, they knew that I was lost already and they were crying while they were watching the film. But fortunately, I came back from the dead.

EDITOR NOTE – ERICH has left out one of his favorite stories, which he told HARRY COOPER (1-LIFE-1983) personally in his home in Germany. He received one such letter from a young lady, with a photo of herself in the envelope. She mentioned that she had seen this film and there was the normal shot of the Skipper looking through the eyepiece on the periscope with both arms draped over the periscope limbs. And in her letter, this young lady asked ERICH if she could be his periscope. You fill in the blanks………

SHARKHUNTERS: What was the relationship between the various Skippers and what was the public image, the perception, of you as submarine officers?

Admiral TOPP: I think this image was very good and we were called “Freikorps Dönitz” or Free Corps Dönitz, and there you see already the relationship with Dönitz. Dönitz was our leader and he had a great influence not only to his commanding officers but to all his men. He was familiar with details of each man. To say it in one word, he had charisma and so he was able to build up the image of the submarine force and we felt ourselves as elite among the others so we had a lot of support from the population. When we came into the harbor, we were received with a band with music and a lot of people there and our friends were there, and we felt at home. That didn’t change during the whole war. All submarines were received in the same manner even if there were big losses but the reception, the ceremony was always the same.

Then came the end of the war and as you know from my book, I initiated the petition to the Allied Control Center in Nürnberg, and we tried to support in this petition that Dönitz, our point of view, he did what any soldier must do and he did it very well. The Allies didn’t even answer to our letter. So he went into prison. At that time and even now, when I am thinking back, it was absolutely necessary to give him support.

Later my mind changed and I will tell you a story. I met his Aide d’ Camp, and his Aide was accompanying Dönitz to Paris and there they were sitting in the hotel and there was the so-called “Hessler Paper”. Hessler was the son-in-law of Dönitz. And this paper showed mass executions behind the front lines – hundreds of thousands of Jews, of Polish people and of Slavs shot down. When he showed this paper to Dönitz and asked the Admiral, “Would you please comment to that”. Dönitz put it into his pocket and didn’t say anything about it. He said nothing about it for several days and the Aide asked him again for his comments.

Dönitz was a little bit upset and said, “I don’t know which orders Göring is giving to his Air Force and what orders the Headquarters of the Army is giving to the Army and what the National Socialist Party and the political people are giving orders – it is out of my responsibility”. That is, from my point of view, against the tradition of the German military and against the best principles – how we fought the war and when I think of the way we tried to help the shipwrecked people and so on – that was in accordance with the International laws and that I must say, I have no understanding to this attitude of Dönitz and therefore I did not agree with him.

SHARKHUNTERS: Tell us about some of the friendships you made with some of the other U-Boat Captains.

Admiral TOPP: Well, you know, we were a band of brothers. You know this – Band of Brothers, it was a British Admiral (it was Admiral Lord Nelson) who used the term Band of Brothers and since that time, it is a word that we use occasionally. We knew each other and there was no rivalry at all between us. Some had more success than others, some less success but when we were together, we were exchanging our experiences and we were happy to have survived and even nowadays, we are this Band of Brothers. My crew and I, every year, we are meeting – this year even in these very rooms. It’s a part of my life, part of their lives and they don’t forget these times because it has been an extraordinary time. At that time, when I look back from the political point of view and nowadays from the point of view of comradeship and friendship.

SHARKHUNTERS: You are a professional naval officer, a special warrior – in your experience in the Battle of the Atlantic, was there any one operation that you look at as the height of your professional career as a naval officer? One time you were most proud of?

Admiral TOPP: I can’t say that there is one part that has a special feature. Of course, there are many that have a certain influence on me and as I mentioned, when I lost six men of my crew that was very, very…………. It always reminds me of this saying about the pre-arrangement (pre-destiny) is perhaps worthwhile to say a few words. We were operating to the east of Ireland and one of the diesels was out of duty, so we had to decide should we now go home or should we continue operating. I was asking my officers and the Chief Engineer since he was responsible for the engines and the machines, and he said, “To my point of view, we must go back.”

My Watch Officer said, “Well, let’s try it.” and the consequences of course, we were not able to operate in the Atlantic but we had to go into the center of the hell and we went into the Irish Channel close to Liverpool. We could see on both sides, the lights of Innishtral and Rinseriley. There, of course, a convoy came out and we were attacking, sank three ships and we were forced to dive and we had only fifty meters there. So we saw already the destroyer coming and we had some trouble diving. Anyhow, we did and then came the destroyer. During one day and one night, we got more than hundred depth charges there. And life was all quiet on board. All was quiet, no engine working, nothing. Water was coming up more and more because the pump didn’t work. Well, anyhow after twenty-four hours, we tried. We had a lot of water in the boat and we didn’t know if there was enough buoyancy in the boat to come up. It was midnight.

This first-person memory of World War II will continue next month in KTB #174, but you may order the entire videotape right now. Ask for Videotape H-50, the 1994 interview with Konter Admiral Erich Topp. Send $30 for each tape plus $5 shipping, and the tape will be sent right out to you.

More Adm. Topp

Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 1
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 2
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 3
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 4
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 5
Interview with Adm. Erich Topp Part 6