Erich Topp

Erich Topp
Born	2 July 1914(1914-07-02) Hannover
Died	26 December 2005(2005-12-26) (aged 91) Süßen
Allegiance	Nazi Germany (to 1945) West Germany
Service/branch	Kriegsmarine German Federal Navy
Years of service	1934-1945 — 1958-1969
Rank	Kriegsmarine: Fregattenkapitan Bundesmarine: Konteradmiral
Unit	1st U-boat Flotilla 7th U-boat Flotilla 4th U-boat Flotilla 11th U-boat Flotilla
Commands held	U-57, 1940-05-05-1940-09-15 U-552, 1940-12-04-1942-09-08 Flottillenchef 27th U-boat Flotilla, 1942-09-1945-03 U-3010, 1945-03-23-1945-04-26 U-2513, 1945-04-27-1945-05-08
Awards	U-boat War Badge with Diamonds Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords Great Cross of Merit
Other work	Architect, Joined the Bundesmarine in 1958

Rear Admiral Erich Topp (2 July 1914 – 26 December 2005) was the third most successful of German U-Boot Experten commanders of World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves and Swords was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He sank 35 ships for a total of 197,460 gross register tons (GRT).

Biography

Topp was born in Hannover, and joined the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) in 1934, serving his first stint after being commissioned as Leutnant zur See (Ensign) on the light cruiser Karlsruhe in 1937, before transferring to the U-Bootwaffe (submarine fleet) in October 1937. He served as Watch Officer on U-46 and took part in four combat patrols before he was given his first command on U-57 on 5 June 1940. He led U-57 on two missions during which the boat managed to sink six ships. She was sunk after a collision with a Norwegian vessel on 3 September 1940.

U-552 returning to St. Nazaire

Topp survived to take command of U-552, a Type VIIC boat — on 4 December 1940. With U-552, Der Rote Teufel, he operated mainly against convoys in the North Atlantic, sinking 30 ships and crippling several others on ten patrols. One of his victims during this period was the destroyer USS Reuben James, the first US warship to be sunk in World War II on 31 October 1941. While leading to diplomatic consequences with the United States, it was his sinking of the SS David H. Atwater the following year that remains particularly controversial.

In October 1942, he was given command of the 27th U-boat Flotilla, based in Gotenhafen (now Gdynia, Poland), which put him in charge of introducing the new Type XXI Elektro Boot boats to active service. He wrote the battle manual for the Type XXI, and shortly before the end of the war, he took command of U-2513, on which he surrendered on 8 May 1945, in Horten, Norway.

After the war, he worked as a fisherman and then as architect, until he eventually rejoined the Bundesmarine (Federal German Navy), reaching the rank of Konteradmiral (Two star Rear Admiral) before retiring in 1969. After his retirement he worked as an industrial consultant for various naval yards. His memoirs "The Odyssey of a U-Boat Commander: The Recollections of Erich Topp" was published in 1992. Topp was the technical advisor for the 2001 submarine simulation computer game Silent Hunter II. He was also interviewed for the game.

He died on 26 December 2005, in Süßen at the age of 91.

Awards

• U-boat War Badge (7 November 1939)
  • with Diamonds (11 April 1942)
• Honorary dagger of the Kriegsmarine with Diamonds (17 August 1942)
• War Merit Cross
  • 2nd Class with Swords (30 January 1944)
  • 1st Class with Swords (1944)
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (1 January 1940)
  • 1st Class (1 September 1940)
• Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 20 June 1941 as Oberleutnant zur See and commander of U-552
  • 87th Oak Leaves on 11 April 1942 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-552
  • 17th Swords on 17 August 1942 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-552
• Mentioned three times in the Wehrmachtbericht (3 July 1941, 11 April 1942, 18 June 1942)
• Großes Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (19 September 1969)

References in the Wehrmachtbericht

Date	Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording	Direct English translation
Thursday, 18 June 1942	Die Unterseeboote unter Führung der Kapitänleutnante Mohr, Topp, Witte und von Rosenstiel und des Oberleutnants zur See Ites haben sich bei der Bekämpfung der feindlichen Versorgungsschiffahrt besonders ausgezeichnet.	The submarines under the leadership of Captain Lieutenant Mohr, Topp, Witte and von Rosenstiel and Lieutenant at Sea Ites have in the fight against the enemy supply shipping particularly distinguished themselves.

References

Bibliography

• Berger, Florian (2000). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges (in German). Wien, Austria: Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 3-9501307-0-5.
• Busch, Rainer & Röll, Hans-Joachim (2003). Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939-1945 - Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 3-8132-0515-0.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945 (in German). Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Savas, Theodore P., Editor. (2004) Hunt and Kill: U-505 and the U-boat War in the Atlantic. Savas Beatie LLC, New York, NY. (Topp Foreword)
• Savas, Theodore P., editor. (1997, 2004). Silent Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II. Naval Institute Press.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Topp, Erich (1992). The Odyssey of a U-boat Commander (in English).
• Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 3, 1. Januar 1944 bis 9. Mai 1945 (in German). München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 1985. ISBN 3-423-05944-3.
• Helden der Wehrmacht III - Unsterbliche deutsche Soldaten (in German). München, Germany: FZ-Verlag GmbH, 2007. ISBN 978-3-924309-82-4.

External links

• Media related to Erich Topp at Wikimedia Commons
• Erich Topp in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• "Uboat.net". The Men – Erich Topp. http://uboat.net/men/topp.htm. Retrieved 8 February 2007. 
• Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt