Eberhard Bopst (25 December 1913 – 12 October 1942) was a German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

commander in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Naval career

Eberhard Bopst joined the ''

Reichsmarine The () was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the , existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''Kriegsmarine'' (War Navy), a branch of the '' ...

'' in April 1933 and prior to transferring to the U-boat section served on the destroyers ''

Georg Thiele The German destroyer ''Z2 Georg Thiele'' was one of four Type 1934-class destroyers built for the German Navy (''Kriegsmarine'') during the mid-1930s. Completed in 1937, two years before the start of World War II, the ship spent most of her t ...

'' (as 3rd Watch Officer, 1936–1937), '' Leberecht Maass'' (1937–1938) and ''

Bernd von Arnim Z11 ''Bernd von Arnim'' was a built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' in the late 1930s. At the beginning of World War II, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the German Bight to la ...

'' (December 1938 – 1940). On ''Bernd von Arnim'' he saw action in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, receiving the Spanish Cross in Silver without Swords, and at the

Battles of Narvik The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. Th ...

, receiving the

Narvik Shield The Narvik Shield () was a World War II German military decoration awarded to all German forces that took part in the battles of Narvik between 9 April and 8 June 1940. It was instituted on 19 August 1940 by Adolf Hitler. The ''Oberkommando der Weh ...

. After the Norwegian Campaign he returned to Germany, joining the

U-boat arm The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the ...

in July 1940. His first command was , a Type IIA coastal boat, but he commissioned the

Type VIIC Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

in November 1941. He went down with her when she was sunk with all hands in position , by depth charges from an RAF Liberator on 12 October 1942. Bopst was posthumously promoted to ''

Korvettenkapitän (; ) is the lowest ranking Field officer, senior officer in the German navy. Germany Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt/in lists: KK, () is the lowest senior officer military rank, rank () in the German Navy. Address The official manner, in li ...

''.

Awards

* Four Year Wehrmacht Long Service Award - March 1937 * Spanish Cross in Silver without Swords - 6 June 1939 * Iron Cross 2nd Class - November 1939 * Destroyer War Badge - April 1940 *

- April 1940 * Iron Cross 1st Class - August 1941

References

Bibliography

* 1913 births 1942 deaths German military personnel of the Spanish Civil War Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st class Reichsmarine personnel Military personnel from Berlin Kriegsmarine personnel killed in World War II People lost at sea Deaths by British airstrikes during World War II People from Charlottenburg U-boat commanders (Kriegsmarine) {{Germany-hist-stub