Red Devil depicts U-552, one of the best-known German Type VIIC U-boats of the Battle of the Atlantic. Commanded for much of its most successful period by Erich Topp, the submarine carried a red devil emblem that gave the boat its enduring nickname.
The Relic: A German Naval Battle Flag
The relic associated with the artwork comes from a 1937/1938 German naval battle flag reportedly taken in 1945 from the U-boat base at Kiel. The surviving flag bears the maker's mark “Curt Brautigam Plauen” and retains reinforced construction associated with naval use.
Preserved material from a German naval battle flag associated with the Kiel U-boat base.
The flag is not claimed to have flown aboard U-552 itself. Instead, it provides a physical connection to the German U-boat service and the Kiel base during the final period of the war.
U-552 and Erich Topp
U-552 entered service in 1940 and became a successful Atlantic submarine under Topp. Like other Type VIIC boats, it operated against Allied shipping as Germany attempted to sever the transatlantic supply routes sustaining Britain and, later, the wider Allied war effort.
U-552 survived the operational phase of the war and was scuttled in May 1945 to prevent capture. Its career, and the enormous losses suffered on both sides of the Atlantic campaign, make the boat a useful focal point for understanding the long and costly submarine war.
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