Horst von Schroeter

German U-boat commander

Horst von Schroeter (10 June 1919, Bieberstein – 25 July 2006) was a German U-boat commander during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. After World War II he joined the West German Navy and from 1976 to 1979 held the position of Commander of the NATO Naval forces in the Baltic Sea Approaches (COMNAVBALTAP).²

From Wikipedia’s article on Horst von Schroeter (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jun 10, 1919, died Jul 25, 2006.¹

About

U-123 sank the Spanish-registered motor ship Castillo Montealegre on 8 April 1943 west of Conakry, French Guinea. As per maritime rules, the neutral ship had the Spanish flag painted in both sides. Commander Horst von Schroeter ordered the shooting of 3 torpedoes and she sunk in less than a minute. The submarine surfaced, the commander asked from the conning tower "What ship?" to the survivors. Although being confirmed he had just sunk a neutral ship, he left without giving any assistance to the 40 men adrift (five went down with the ship).

A few days later the Hill-class naval trawler HMS Inkpen rescued 29 survivors from a boat. 11 on a separated raft died. The affair was hushed-up by the government of Franco; indeed, the survivors were ordered to shut-up. The career of Commander Horst von Schroeter was unaffected by this affair and after the war he even became a NATO commander.

From Wikipedia’s article on Horst von Schroeter, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Marine-Offizier-Vereinigung (MOV)Chair May 1982 to May 1990¹²

Early life and education

1939Naval Academy at Mürwik^{3 4}

Career

Occupation: submariner, Marineoffizier, military personnel.^{6 7}

1982 to 1990Chair, Marine-Offizier-Vereinigung (MOV)⁵

Personal life

BornJun 10, 1919, Bieberstein⁸
DiedJul 25, 2006, Bonn⁹
CitizenshipGermany¹⁰

Awards

1972Great Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany¹¹
1945U-boat Front Clasp^{4 11}
1944Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross^{4 11}
1943German Cross in Gold^{4 11}
1942Iron Cross, 1st class^{4 11}
1941Iron Cross, 2nd class^{4 11}
1941U-boat War Badge (1939)^{4 11}
1941Wehrmacht Long Service Award^{4 11}

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataHorst von Schroeter on Wikidata
2
WikipediaHorst von Schroeter on Wikipedia
3
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: education, on Wikidata
4
Wikidataeducation, as reported
5
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: Chair, Marine-Offizier-Vereinigung (MOV), on Wikidata
6
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: occupation, on Wikidata
7
Wikidataoccupation, as reported by Der U-Boot-Krieg, 1939-1945
8
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: place of birth, on Wikidata
9
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: place of death, on Wikidata
10
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: citizenship, on Wikidata
11
WikidataHorst von Schroeter: award, on Wikidata
12
WikidataMarine-Offizier-Vereinigung (MOV), Chair