Wilhelm von Trotha
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)
| Successes 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 140 GRT 1 warship sunk for a total of 600 tons |
| Born | 7 Aug, 1916 | Kiel |
| Died | 4 Feb, 1945 | Baltic Sea |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-733 | 14 Nov, 1942 | - | 11 May, 1943 | No war patrols |
| U-745 | 19 Jun, 1943 | - | 4 Feb, 1945 (+) | 4 patrols (118 days) |
Personal information
After a time on the cruiser Königsberg and on the school ship Schleswig-Holstein, Wilhelm von Trotha transferred to the U-boat force in 1941. His first command was U-733. In June 1943 he took command of U-745. In June 1944 he made one patrol in Norwegian waters, but in August 1944 his new operational area was designated as the Baltic Sea.
U-745 left Libau on 24 December 1944 and never returned. It has been conjectured that U-745 was lost in a German minefield in the Baltic.
There were reports that the body of von Trotha was washed ashore on the Estonian coast in early February 1945. His body was actually found 10 February, 1945 south of Föglö in the archipelago of Åland Island in Finland by local fishermen. The body was frozen, blood in the mouth and throat, but apart from that unharmed. It is possible that he died while trying to reach the surface after his boat sank for some reason.
The white arrow shows where the body of von Trotha was found
The darker blue shows probable area of loss for U-745
This is a so-called foreigners grave in Föglö.
von Trotha was buried there as victim Number 8 on 13 February, 1945.
The church in Föglö
Special thanks to Mr. Stefan Abrahamsson in Finland for bringing this information to our attention.
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-745 | 24 May, 1944 | Kiel | 26 May, 1944 | Larvik | 3 days | |
| 2. | U-745 | 9 Jun, 1944 | Larvik | 7 Jul, 1944 | Bergen | Patrol, | 29 days |
| 3. | U-745 | 15 Jul, 1944 | Bergen | 17 Jul, 1944 | Marviken | 3 days | |
| 4. | U-745 | 29 Jul, 1944 | Marviken | 1 Aug, 1944 | Kiel | 4 days | |
| 5. | U-745 | 3 Aug, 1944 | Kiel | 7 Aug, 1944 | Helsinki | 5 days | |
| 6. | U-745 | 8 Aug, 1944 | Helsinki | 9 Aug, 1944 | Gotenhafen | 2 days | |
| 7. | U-745 | 14 Aug, 1944 | Gotenhafen | 18 Aug, 1944 | Helsinki | 5 days | |
| 8. | U-745 | 20 Aug, 1944 | Helsinki | 20 Aug, 1944 | Kalasika | 1 days | |
| 9. | U-745 | 23 Aug, 1944 | Kalasika | 27 Aug, 1944 | Riisiö | Patrol, | 5 days |
| 10. | U-745 | 29 Aug, 1944 | Riisiö | 29 Aug, 1944 | Helsinki | 1 days | |
| 11. | U-745 | 11 Sep, 1944 | Helsinki | 20 Oct, 1944 | Danzig | Patrol, | 40 days |
| 12. | U-745 | 23 Dec, 1944 | Danzig | 4 Feb, 1945 | Sunk | Patrol, | 44 days |
| 4 patrols, 118 days at sea | |||||||
Ships hit by Wilhelm von Trotha
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 26 Aug, 1944 | U-745 | T-45 Antikajnen (No 48) | 140 |  | sj | ||
| 11 Jan, 1945 | U-745 | T-76 Korall | 600 | | sj | ||
| 740 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.