Hans-Hartwig Trojer

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)


Successes
11 ships sunk, total tonnage 69,589 GRT
10 warships sunk, total tonnage 759 tons (lost aboard transport ships)
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 7,197 GRT

Born  22 Jan 1916 Birthälm, Siebenbürgen (now Biertan, Sibiu), Romania
Died  27 Sep 1943(27)North Atlantic


Hans-Hartwig Trojer

Ranks

3 Apr 1936 Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936 Seekadett
1 May 1937 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1943 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

12 Nov 1939 U-boat War Badge 1939
7 Feb 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
5 Aug 1940 Iron Cross 1st Class
24 Mar 1943 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-3 3 Jul 1941 2 Mar 1942   No war patrols 
U-221 9 May 1942 27 Sep 1943  (+)  5 patrols (199 days) 


Hans Trojer after joining the Kriegsmarine

Hans-Hartwig Trojer joined the Kriegsmarine in 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. Because he was born in Transylvania, he was soon nicknamed Count Dracula by his comrades.

In October 1938 he joined the U-boat force, and he spent the first two years of the war as Watch Officer on U-34 and U-67.

After completing commander training, Trojer took over command of the school boat U-3. In March 1942 he commissioned the combat boat U-221.

His first patrol in the North Atlantic was so successful (six ships totalling 29,682 tons), that he and his crew were mentioned in the daily Wehrmachtsbericht (Armed Forces bulletin). He was awarded the Knights Cross via radio during his third patrol in March 1943.

On 8 Dec 1942 Trojer's boat accidentally rammed U-254 while the boats were on convoy operations in the North Atlantic. U-254 went down immediately with all but four of her crew (41 dead, including the Commander). U-221 herself was seriously damaged and unable to dive. Trojer abandoned the patrol and made for St. Nazaire, France, reaching base on 23 Dec. He was later absolved of any blame for the accident (Blair, 1998).

Kapitänleutant Trojer died with his entire crew on 27 September 1943 when a British Halifax sank U-221 in the Atlantic south of Ireland (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Blair, C. (1998). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942-1945.
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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Hans-Hartwig Trojer

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-221 1 Sep 1942  Kiel  2 Sep 1942  Kristiansand   2 days
2. U-221 3 Sep 1942  Kristiansand  22 Oct 1942  St. Nazaire  Patrol 1,50 days
3. U-221 23 Nov 1942  St. Nazaire  23 Dec 1942  St. Nazaire  Patrol 2,31 days
4. U-221 27 Feb 1943  St. Nazaire  28 Mar 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 3,30 days
5. U-221 3 May 1943  St. Nazaire  21 Jul 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 4,80 days
6. U-221 20 Sep 1943  St. Nazaire  27 Sep 1943  Sunk  Patrol 5,8 days
5 patrols, 199 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Hartwig Trojer

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
13 Oct 1942U-221 Fagersten2,342nwSC-104
13 Oct 1942U-221 Ashworth5,227brSC-104
13 Oct 1942U-221 Senta3,785nwSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 Susana5,929amSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-508 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-509 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-519 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-522 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-523 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-532 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-537 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-547 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCM-620 [Trans.]52brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 HMS LCT-2006 [Trans.]291brSC-104
14 Oct 1942U-221 Southern Empress12,398brSC-104
 
7 Mar 1943U-221 Jamaica3,015nw
10 Mar 1943U-221 Tucurinca5,412brHX-228
10 Mar 1943U-221 Andrea F. Luckenbach6,565amHX-228
10 Mar 1943U-221 Lawton B. Evans (d.)7,197amHX-228
18 Mar 1943U-221 Walter Q. Gresham7,191amHX-229
18 Mar 1943U-221 Canadian Star8,293brHX-229
12 May 1943U-221 Sandanger9,432nwHX-237
 77,545

21 ships sunk (70,348 tons) and 1 ship damaged (7,197 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
[Trans.] indicates the vessel was lost while being transported on another vessel.


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.

Men who sank over 50,000 tons

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

Listing of all U-boat commanders


As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.