{{Short description|German naval officer}} {{Infobox military person |name=Robert-Richard Zapp |birth_date={{birth date|1904|4|3|df=y}} |death_date={{death date and age|1964|7|17|1904|4|3|df=y}} |birth_place=[[Germersheim]] |death_place=[[Kiel]] |image=Robert-Richard_Zapp.jpg |image_size= |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= {{plainlist| * {{flag|Weimar Republic}} (to 1933) * {{flag|Nazi Germany}} (to 1945) }} |branch= {{plainlist| * {{navy|Weimar Republic}} * {{navy|Nazi Germany}} }} |service_years=1923–45 |rank=''[[Fregattenkapitän]]'' |commands= {{plainlist| * {{GS|U-66|1940|2}} * ''[[3rd U-boat Flotilla]]'' }} |unit= |battles=[[World War II]] |awards=[[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] |other_work= }} '''Robert-Richard Zapp''' (3 April 1904 – 17 July 1964) was a German naval officer in [[World War II]]. As commander of the [[German Type IX submarine|Type IXC U-boat]] {{GS|U-66|1940|2}}, he sank sixteen ships on five patrols, for a total of 106,200 tons of Allied shipping. He was a recipient of the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] of [[Nazi Germany]]
==Career== Robert-Richard Zapp joined the ''[[Reichsmarine]]'' in May 1923. Before joining the U-boat service in 1939, he served aboard a minesweeper and later on took command of ''251 Marineflak'' (Naval anti-aircraft artillery). After initial training, he served on board {{GS|U-46|1938|2}} for a short while under ''[[Oberleutnant zur See]]'' [[Engelbert Endrass]], with whom he participated in the battle against [[Convoy HX 79]] in October 1940.<ref name="uboat.net">{{Cite web |url= http://www.uboat.net/men/zapp.htm |title=''Fregattenkapitän'' Richard Zapp |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |accessdate=27 April 2010 }}</ref>
Zapp was appointed commander of {{GS|U-66|1940|2}} in January 1941. ''U-66'' was one of the boats that participated in the first wave of attacks in "[[Operation Drumbeat]]". On the first patrol of this operation, he sank five vessels, totalling 33,456 tons. On his second patrol off the eastern seaboard of the USA he sank six vessels totaling 43,946 tons. They included the {{GRT|7988}} Canadian passenger liner {{RMS|Lady Hawkins}} on 19 January, whose final death toll was 251.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1270.html |title=Lady Hawkins - Ships hit by U-boats |date=1995–2014 |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |accessdate=4 January 2014 }}</ref> Zapp was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] on 23 April 1942.<ref name="uboat.net"/>
In June 1942 he was posted ashore to become commander of ''[[3rd U-boat Flotilla]]'', based at [[La Rochelle]], [[France]]. On 1 January 1945 he was promoted to ''[[Fregattenkapitän]]''. In the last three months of the war, he became commander of ''Marine-Regiment Zapp'' and defended the U-boat base at La Rochelle until the very end of the war in May 1945. He spent over two years in French captivity and was released on 7 July 1947.<ref name="uboat.net"/>
==Awards== * [[U-boat War Badge]] (14 May 1941)<ref name="Busch & Röll p210">Busch & Röll 2003, p. 210.</ref> * [[Iron Cross]] (1939) ** 2nd Class (6 August 1941)<ref name="Busch & Röll p210"/> ** 1st Class (6 August 1941)<ref name="Busch & Röll p210"/> * [[War Merit Cross]] 2nd Class with Swords (30 January 1945)<ref>Busch & Röll 2003, p. 211.</ref> * [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] on 23 April 1942 as ''[[Korvettenkapitän]]'' and commander of ''U-66''<ref>Scherzer 2007, p. 802.</ref><ref>Fellgiebel 2000, p. 455.</ref>
==Notes== {{Reflist|group="Note"}}
==References==
===Notes=== {{Reflist|30em}}
===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last1=Busch |first1=Rainer |last2=Röll |first2=Hans-Joachim |year=2003 |title=Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945 — Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 |trans-title=The U-Boat War 1939–1945 — The Knight's Cross Bearers of the U-Boat Force from September 1939 to May 1945 |language=German |location=Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn |publisher=Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn |isbn=978-3-8132-0515-2 }} * {{Cite book |last=Fellgiebel |first=Walther-Peer |authorlink=Walther-Peer Fellgiebel |year=2000 |title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile |trans-title=The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches |language=German |location=Friedberg |publisher=Podzun-Pallas |isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6 }} * {{Cite book |last=Scherzer |first=Veit |year=2007 |title=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 |trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives |language=German |location=Jena |publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-938845-17-2 }}
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{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box |before=Kapitänleutnant [[Heinz von Reiche]] |after=disbanded |title= Commander of [[3rd U-boat Flotilla]] |years=June, 1942 – October, 1944 }} {{s-end}}
{{Subject bar | portal1=Biography }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zapp, Robert-Richard}} [[Category:1904 births]] [[Category:1964 deaths]] [[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by France]] [[Category:People from Germersheim]] [[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] [[Category:Reichsmarine personnel]] [[Category:U-boat commanders (Kriegsmarine)]] [[Category:Military personnel from Rhineland-Palatinate]]