Horst von Schroeter

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37b)


Successes
6 ships sunk, total tonnage 31,557 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 683 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 7,068 GRT

Born  10 Jun 1919 Bieberstein, Saxony
Died  25 Jul 2006(87)Bonn, Germany


Horst von Schroeter

Ranks

9 Oct 1937 Offiziersanwärter
28 Jun 1938 Seekadett
1 Apr 1939 Fähnrich zur See
1 Mar 1940 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 May 1940 Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942 Oberleutnant zur See
21 Dec 1944 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

25 Aug 1941 Iron Cross 2nd Class
25 Aug 1941 U-boat War Badge 1939
10 Feb 1942 Iron Cross 1st Class
12 Dec 1943 German Cross in Gold
1 Jun 1944 Knights Cross
15 Mar 1945 U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-123 1 Aug 1942 17 Jun 1944   4 patrols (343 days) 
U-2506 31 Aug 1944 9 May 1945   No war patrols 

Horst von Schroeter began his naval career in October 1937. He spent five months on the battlecruiser Scharnhorst, including two patrols in the first months of the war. In May 1940 he joined the U-boat force. After six patrols as WO on U-123 he took over command of this famous boat from Reinhard Hardegen on 1 August 1942 . He left U-123 in June 1944, and two months later commissioned the type XXI Elektro U-boat Elektro boat U-2506, which sailed to Bergen, Norway in the last days of the war, but never saw active service.

In 1956 he joined the Bundesmarine (Federal German Navy). From 1976 to 1979 he was the commander of the NATO Naval forces in the Baltic Sea Approaches (COMNAVBALTAP). He retired in 1979 with the rank of Vizeadmiral, and as such was the highest ranking former U-boat officer in the Bundesmarine.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).

Patrol info for Horst von Schroeter

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-123 5 Dec 1942  Kiel  6 Feb 1943  Lorient  Patrol 1,64 days
2. U-123 13 Mar 1943  Lorient  8 Jun 1943  Lorient  Patrol 2,88 days
3. U-123 1 Aug 1943  Lorient  5 Aug 1943  Lorient   5 days
4. U-123 16 Aug 1943  Lorient  7 Nov 1943  Lorient  Patrol 3,84 days
5. U-123 29 Dec 1943  Lorient  30 Dec 1943  Lorient   2 days
6. U-123 9 Jan 1944  Lorient  24 Apr 1944  Lorient  Patrol 4,107 days
4 patrols, 343 days at sea

Ships hit by Horst von Schroeter

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
29 Dec 1942U-123 Baron Cochrane3,385brONS-154
29 Dec 1942U-123 Empire Shackleton (d.)7,068brONS-154
 
8 Apr 1943U-123 Castillo Montealegre3,972sp
18 Apr 1943U-123 HMS P-615683br
18 Apr 1943U-123 Empire Bruce7,459br
29 Apr 1943U-123 Nanking5,931sw
5 May 1943U-123 Holmbury4,566br
9 May 1943U-123 Kanbe6,244brTS-38
 39,308

7 ships sunk (32,240 tons) and 1 ship damaged (7,068 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.


About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.

Media links


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim


The Iron Time

Previtera, Stephen Thomas

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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