Horst von Schroeter

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Horst von Schroeter
Vice Admiral Horst von Schroeter.jpg
Vice Admiral Horst von Schroeter, signature.jpg
Birth name Gottfried Ludwig Horst von Schroeter
Birth date 10 June 1919(1919-06-10)
Place of birth Bieberstein, Amtshauptmannschaft Meißen, Free State of Saxony
Death date 25 July 2006 (aged 87)
Place of death Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Allegiance  National Socialist Germany
 West Germany
Service/branch  Kriegsmarine
Deutsche Marine der Bundeswehr.png German Navy (Bundeswehr)
Years of service 1937–1945
1956–1979
Rank Kapitänleutnant
Vice Admiral
Commands held U 123
U 2506
Allied Forces Baltic Approaches
Battles/wars World War II
Awards German Cross in Gold
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Other work Chairman of the German Naval Officers Association (MOV) from Mai 1982 to Mai 1990; appointed honorary member in 1991

Gottfried Ludwig Horst von Schroeter (10 June 1919 – 25 July 2006) was a German naval officer and U-boat ace in World War II, finally Lieutenant Captain as well as Vice Admiral of the German Navy (Deutsche Marine) of the Bundeswehr. During four patrols (Feindfahrten) and 343 days at sea as commandant of U 123, von Schroeter sank seven ships (32,240 tons), including the British Royal Navy submarine "HMS P-615", and damaged one ship (7,068 tons).[1]

Life

Horst von Schroeter.jpg

Horst von Schroeter joined the Kriegsmarine on 9 October 1937 (Crew 37 b). He completed the usual basic training for officer candidates (II. Schiffsstammabteilung der Ostsee, Stralsund) and received his onboard training on the sailing training ship "Albert Leo Schlageter" and the light cruiser "Emden". He attended the Naval School in Flensburg-Mürwik. Subsequently, he was commanded to a navigation instruction trip on the training ship "Paul Beneke", then attended an artillery course for officer cadets at the ship artillery school in Kiel-Wik.

From 1 December 1939 to 28 April 1940, he completed onboard training on the battleship "Scharnhorst" (de). He then transferred to the U-boat weapon on May 1940 and was commanded to a torpedo course, navigation course, artillery course and U-boat watch officer course (1. U-Lehrdivision, Pillau).

From 7 October 1940 to 5 April 1941, he was adjutant of the 1. U-Lehrdivision. He was then 2nd Watch Officer (II. W.O.) of U 123 and then 1st Watch Officer (I. W.O.) on U 123 (six war patrols) under Karl-Heinz Moehle and Reinhard Hardegen (Operation Paukenschlag). From 16 June to 15 July 1942, he attended a course for U-boat commandants and the 27th commandant shooting course at the 24th submarine flotilla in Memel. From 1 August 1942 to 17 June 1944, he was commandant of U 123 (Obermaschinist Rudolf Zölk belonged to his crew).

On 18 June 1944, he was ordered to Hamburg for construction instructions of U 2506 and was appointed commandant of U 2506 on 31 August 1944. No war patrols were completed with U 2506 (type XXI Elektro U-boat). On 8 May 1945, he was taken prisoner (French prisoners of war in Camp 901 in St. Martin de Ré and Camp 403 in Mulsanne) in Bergen, Norway, from which he was released in June 1947.

On 1 July 1956, von Schroeter joined the Federal Navy and was head of the 1st officer cadet department (1. Fähnrichsabteilung), then head of the inspection at the Mürwik Naval School[2] until 31 October 1958. From 1 November 1958 to 31 March 1960, he was 1st officer on the destroyer "Z 1" and then inspection officer at the command of the volunteer acceptance point in Kiel until the end of April 1961. From May 1961 to the end of March 1963, he served as operations staff officer at the E-boat command (Kommando der Schnellboote) in Flensburg and was then appointed commander of the school squadron (Schulgeschwader) on 1 April 1963. He held this position until 30 September 1963.

Von Schroeter was then commandant of the tender "Weser" until mid-April 1964, before taking up a position as a consultant in the personnel department of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn on 17 April 1964. From 1 October 1966 to 31 December 1969, he was sub-department head in the Ministry of Defense and then until 30 September 1970 commander of the Marine Department at the Bundeswehr Command Academy in Hamburg.

On 1 October 1971, von Schroeter became Deputy Inspector of the Navy (Stellvertretender Inspekteur der Marine) while being promoted to Rear Admiral, and on 1 October 1976, he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed to Commander of the Allied Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea Approaches (COMNAVBALTAP). He held this position until his retirement on 30 September 1979.

Family

Horst was the youngest of six children of Rittmeister Ludwig Hugo Viktor Johannes von Schroeter and his wife (∞ 1907) Auguste Charlotte Magdalene, née Wolde. He had four brothers and one sister.[3]

Promotions

  • 9 October 1937 Seeoffiziersanwärter
  • 28 June 1938 Seekadett (Cadet at Sea)
  • 1 April 1939 Fähnrich zur See (Officer Cadet)
  • 1 March 1940 Oberfähnrich zur See (Senior Officer Cadet)
  • 1 May 1940 Leutnant zur See (2nd Lieutenant at Sea)
  • 1 April 1942 Oberleutnant zur See (1st Lieutenant at Sea)
  • 21 December 1944 Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Captain) with effect from 1 January 1945[4]
  • 14 November 1956 Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain / Lieutenant Commander)
  • 1960 / 1961 Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain / Commander)
  • 23 December 1964 Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea / Captain / Colonel)
  • 20 April 1970 Flottillenadmiral (Flotilla Admiral)
  • 1 October 1971 Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral)
  • 1 October 1976 Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral)

Awards and decorations

Gallery

Further reading

In German

  • Walther-Peer Fellgiebel: Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German), Podzun-Pallas, Wölfersheim 2000, ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6
    • English: 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, expanded edition, 2000
  • Klaus D. Patzwall / Veit Scherzer: Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941–1945 Geschichte und Inhaber, Band II (in German), Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8
  • Veit Scherzer: 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 (in German), Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag, Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2

References

  1. Horst von Schroeter, uboat.net
  2. On 8 November 1956, the school was officially opened by the director Department VII of the Ministry of Defense, Vice Admiral Friedrich Ruge. On 1 November 1956, the first crew of naval officer candidates numbering 81 officer cadets, 30 of whom had served in the Kriegsmarine, had already arrived. They formed the 1st officer cadet department under Horst von Schroeter.
  3. Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Adeligen Häuser, Teil B, 1941, p. 462 f.
  4. Horst von Schroeter, ubootarchiv.de
  5. Schroeter, von, Horst ('U-123')
  6. Scherzer 2007, p. 685
  7. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 389