Richard Rothe-Roth

Richard Rothe-Roth (born March 24, 1898 in Würzburg as Richard Roth, change of name to Rothe-Roth 1924, † November 9, 1972 in Munich ) was a German naval officer , most recently rear admiral in World War II .

Life

Rothe-Roth grew up in Würzburg and graduated from high school there. After the First World War he began studying at the University of Munich, where he joined the Corps Germania . He participated as an active officer in free corps battles and was a member of the navy during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. After the Second World War he retired in Munich.

First World War

Rothe-Roth joined the Imperial Navy on October 3, 1916 . He received his basic nautical training on board the cruiser SMS Freya , after which he took part in battles in Flanders in the spring of 1917 as a member of the 1st Sailor Artillery Regiment. This was followed by assignments in the destroyer flotilla on the Flemish coast and further training courses, until the end of the war Rothe-Roth was stationed on the light cruiser Emden for a year . On November 30, 1918 he was adopted as an ensign at sea. He first went to Munich to study, where he joined the Corps Germania .

Interwar period

From March 1919 to January 1920 Rothe-Roth was a member of the Loewenfeld Marine Brigade , was deployed in June 1919 during the traffic strike in Berlin and was then commanded to Upper Silesia. After the fighting was over, he was deployed to border protection in the Breslau area during the winter of 1919/1920.

On January 10, 1920 Rothe-Roth was reactivated and went through a career in various uses, among which those of the commander of torpedo boat G 10 (1925/26) and of torpedo boat S 19 (1928/30) are particularly noteworthy. In 1933 he was commanded for one year as 1st torpedo officer on the lead ship of the Germany class, which was later classified as a heavy cruiser Germany (from 1939 Lützow ). From September 1937 to December 1940 Rothe-Roth was employed as the third admiral staff officer in the fleet command, immediately afterwards he held the post of first staff officer at the 2nd fleet admiral until June 1941.

Second World War

From November 7, 1941 to January 31, 1943 Rothe-Roth was chief of staff at the commanding Admiral Aegean and then from February 1, 1943 to April 4, 1944, commander of the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer .

Rothe-Roth's career culminated in his post as Chief of Staff at the Fleet Command, a position he held until the end of the war. At the same time, from April 5, 1944 to July 30, 1944, he temporarily performed the duties of Chief of Staff at the Marine Group Command North.

Rothe-Roth was arrested by the British on May 23, 1945 together with the members of the executive government in Flensburg - Mürwik and spent three years in British and American captivity. Most of the time he was held prisoner together with numerous other generals and admirals of the Wehrmacht in Special Camp IX . His captivity ended on May 4, 1948, after which Rothe-Roth returned to Germany.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class
• Navy Wound Badge (1918) in black
• Wehrmacht service award IV. To II. Class
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd class
• Iron Cross (1939) 1st class
• Fleet war badge

swell

• Hans Herpich: Monumenta Germaniae II. Memorial sheets of the Corps Germania in Munich . Ingolstadt 1968.

Web links

• Report from Rothe-Roth about his time in command on the Scheer
• CV in English
• The commanders of the ironclad