Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Because he had been born in Transylvania, he was nicknamed Count Dracula by his comrades. In 1938 he joined the U-boat service, and spent his first two years as watch officer on the U-34 and U-67.
After completing his commander training, Trojer was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See and took command of the U-3.
In March 1942 he was assigned to command the new Type VIIc boat U-221. He sank six ships for a total of 29,682 gross register tons (GRT) on his first patrol and he and his crew earned a mention in the Wehrmachtbericht for this.
On his third patrol he was informed by a radio message that he had received the Knights cross. On 1 April 1943 he received a promotion to Kapitänleutnant.
Hans-Hartwig Trojer was killed when U-221 was sunk with all hands by a British Halifax bomber south of Ireland on 27 September 1943.
Wehrmachtbericht reference Bibliography.