Dietrich von Choltitz

File:Zamek w Łące Prudnickiej 2012 (3).jpg

Dietrich Hugo Hermann von Choltitz was born on 9 November 1894, in his family's castle in Gräflich Wiese (now Łąka Prudnicka, Poland) in the province of Silesia, {{convert|2|km|mi|0}} from Neustadt (now Prudnik), in the Kingdom of Prussia, then part of the German Empire. He was a son of Hans von Choltitz (1865–1935), who was a major of the Prussian Army, and his German wife Gertrud von Rosenberg. He had two brothers named Hans and Job. He came from a Moravian-Silesian noble family of Sedlnitzky von Choltitz (Odrowąż coat of arms).{{Cite web|title=Ślązak Dietrich von Choltitz z Wehrmachtu ocalił Paryż [HISTORIA DZ]|url=https://dziennikzachodni.pl/slazak-dietrich-von-choltitz-z-wehrmachtu-ocalil-paryz-historia-dz/ar/926319|last=Borówka|first=Tomasz|date=22 June 2013|website=Dziennik Zachodni|language=pl-PL|access-date=9 May 2020}} His uncle Hermann von Choltitz was a governor of Landkreis Neustadt O.S. from 1907 to 1920. His family owned a forest between Prudnik and Niemysłowice.{{Cite web|title=Zabytki Niemysłowic {{!}} Sołectwo Niemysłowice|url=http://niemyslowice.info/strona_23.html|website=niemyslowice.info|access-date=9 May 2020}}

In 1907 Dietrich von Choltitz enrolled in the Dresden Cadet School.{{cite book|last=Mitcham|first=Samuel W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpLfa-OjX9EC&pg=PT135|title=Defenders of Fortress Europe: The Untold Story of the German Officers During the Allied Invasion|date=2009|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|isbn=9781597972741|pages=120|language=en|author-link=Samuel W. Mitcham}}

He joined the 8. Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Johann Georg Nr. 107 of the Royal Saxon Army as a Fähnrich (officer candidate) just months before the First World War broke out. His unit served on the Western Front, where he fought in the First Battle of the Marne, the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, and the Battle of St. Quentin (1914). He was promoted to Leutnant and became adjutant of the regiment's third Battalion within a year of joining.{{cite web |url=http://www.historic.de/Militar/Personen/Choltitz/Choltitz.htm |title=Historic.de - Militärgeschichte - Bremen und Umland 1933-1945 |access-date=3 January 2017}}

After World War I he returned to Prudnik, where on 20 August 1929 he married Huberta (1902–2001), the daughter of General of the Cavalry Otto von Garnier. The couple had two daughters, Maria Angelika (1930–2016){{Cite web|title=Maria von Choltitz - Trauer - Traueranzeigen & Nachrufe - badische-zeitung.de|url=http://anzeigen.badische-zeitung.de/trauer/traueranzeigen-und-nachrufe/maria-von-choltitz|last=badische-zeitung.de|website=anzeigen.badische-zeitung.de|language=de|access-date=15 May 2020}} and Anna Barbara (born 1936), and a son, Timo (born 1944). He was transferred to the riding school in Soltau, as a rider he successfully participated in domestic and international riding competitions.

He remained in the Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic, becoming a cavalry captain in 1929. Promoted to major in 1937, he was made commander of third battalion, Infanterie-Regiment 16 "Oldenburg", a part of 22. Luftlande-Division. In 1938 he was promoted again, this time to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant-colonel) .

He participated in the occupation of Sudetenland in 1938.

{{Main|Invasion of Poland}}

On 18 August 1939, in preparation for Fall Weiss (Case White) – the German invasion of Poland – Choltitz was appointed the commander of the 16th Air Landing Regiment in Sagan (now Żagań, Poland).

After the Battle of Łódź, on 12 September 1939 his regiment was transported to the airport in Łódź by the transport aircraft Junkers Ju 52.

On 15 September, the regiment was temporarily assigned to the 10th Infantry Division.{{Cite web|title=Choltitz, Dietrich von : C|url=https://www.valka.cz/Choltitz-Dietrich-von-t24728|website=valka.cz|language=cs|access-date=14 May 2020}} It participated in the Battle of the Bzura, during which Choltitz was wounded. On 19 September, he captured 3,000 Polish soldiers and a large amount of military equipment.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R63712, Dietrich v. Choltitz.jpg

In May 1940, Choltitz participated in the Battle of Rotterdam, making an air landing and seizing some of the city's key bridges. As commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Air Landing Regiment, he began to organize his troops after landing them at Waalhaven Air Force Base. He sent them to the bridges in Rotterdam. The Dutch had not stationed many soldiers in the southern part of the city. One unit was made up of butchers and bakers and about 90 infantrymen, the latter being reinforced by riflemen who had withdrawn from the airfield. The Dutch troops hid in houses that were on the route to the bridges. There they ambushed the approaching German troops. Both sides suffered casualties. The Germans managed to bring up a PaK anti-tank gun. The Dutch had to yield under the ever-increasing pressure. The German force then moved on to the bridges, quickly followed by the bulk of 9th Company of the 16th Air Landing Regiment.

Meanwhile, the staff of 3rd Battalion of the 16th Air Landing Regiment had run into the Dutch in the square. Oberstleutnant von Choltitz′s adjutant took charge of an assault on the Dutch position but was mortally wounded in the process. When the Germans looked for another route to the bridges to bypass the Dutch stronghold, they managed to find a wedge that advancing troops had created along the quays. It was at about 09:00 when the bulk of the 3rd Battalion made contact with the defenders of the bridges.

Although the Dutch did not regain control of the city, the Germans were suffering from continuous assaults on their positions. Casualties mounted up on both sides and the German command grew increasingly worried over the status of their 500 men in the heart of Rotterdam. Oberstleutnant von Choltitz was allowed by Generalleutnant Kurt Student to withdraw his men from the northern pocket should he consider the operational situation required it.

When Captain Backer was being escorted back by Oberstleutnant von Choltitz to the Maas bridges, German bombers appeared from the south. General Schmidt, who was joined by the two Generals, Hubicki and Student, saw the planes and cried out "My God, this is going to be a catastrophe!" Panic struck German soldiers on the Noordereiland, most of whom were totally unaware of the events being played out between the commanders on both sides. They feared being attacked by their own bombers. Choltitz ordered red flares to be launched, and when the first three bombers overhead dropped their bombs the red flares were obscured by smoke. The next 24 bombers of the southern formation closed their bomb hatches and turned westwards.

After the bombardment of Rotterdam, during a meeting with the Dutch discussing the terms of surrender of all Dutch forces in Rotterdam, Generalleutnant Kurt Student was injured by a gunshot to the head. Student was very popular with his troops, and when the German forces moved to execute surrendering Dutch officers in reprisal Choltitz intervened and was able to prevent the massacre. His actions during the assault on Rotterdam earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In September of the same year, he was given command of the regiment, and the following spring was promoted to Oberst (colonel).

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E1210-0201-018, Dietrich v. Choltitz.jpg

At the start of Operation Barbarossa, Choltitz's regiment was based in Romania, advancing as part of Army Group South into Ukraine. His route led through Bessarabia, he crossed the Dnieper river on 30 August 1941, and at the end of October he fought his way to the Crimea.

As part of Erich von Manstein's 11th Army, the regiment fought in the siege of Sevastopol. The siege was bloody for Choltitz's regiment, which was reduced in numbers from 4,800 men to just 349.

During the harsh winter at the turn of 1941 and 1942, Choltitz struggled with heart problems and also began to show symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Promoted to Generalmajor soon after, he was made acting commander of 260th Infantry division in 1942. He was then promoted to Generalleutnant the following year and given command of 11th Panzer Division, which he led during the Battle of Kursk.

In March 1944, Choltitz was transferred to the Italian theatre of operations, where he was made deputy commander of LXXVI Panzer Corps and participated in the Battle of Anzio and Monte Cassino. Transferred to the Western Front in June 1944, he took command of LXXXIV Army Corps, which he commanded against the Allied breakout from Normandy.

{{Further|Liberation of Paris#German surrender (25 August)}}

File:Dietrich von Choltitz Kapitulation.jpg

File:Convention de Reddition de Paris 1944.jpg

File:Liberation of Paris - Choltitz, Leclerc, Soustelle.jpg and Jacques Soustelle in the M3 Scout Car]]

On 1 August 1944, Choltitz was promoted to General der Infanterie, and on 7 August was appointed the military governor of Paris, making him "commander of a besieged stronghold". Arriving on 8 August, he set up headquarters in the Hotel Meurice on the Rue De Rivoli, and found few resources at his disposal, and only 20,000 troops, mostly unmotivated conscripts.{{Cite web|title=The day Paris was liberated|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-day-paris-was-liberated-557704.html|date=25 August 2004|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=4 May 2020}}

On 15 August 1944, the Paris police went on strike, followed on 19 August by a general insurrection led by the French Communist Party.The Swede who 'Saved Paris' from the Germans. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19580510&id=NTIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BCYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5558,4996698 The Milwaukee Journal - May 10, 1958]{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved 3 November 2014. The German garrison under Choltitz fought back but was far too small to quell the uprising, and they lost control of many public buildings, many roads were blocked, and German vehicles and communications were damaged.{{cite web|title=World War II: The Liberation of Paris - HistoryNet|date=12 June 2006|url=http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-the-liberation-of-paris.htm|access-date=3 January 2017}} With the help of the Swedish consul-general in Paris, Raoul Nordling, a ceasefire was brokered with the insurgents on 20 August, but many Resistance groups did not accept it, and a series of skirmishes continued on the next day.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lSjx9_dEe8kC |title=Liberation of Paris 1944: Patton's Race for the Seine |first=Steven J. |last=Zaloga |date=22 April 2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781846032462 |access-date=3 January 2017 |via=Google Books }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

On 23 August, Hitler gave the order to destroy the city by cable: "Paris must not pass into the enemy's hands, except as a field of ruins." ("Paris darf nicht oder nur als Trümmerfeld in die Hand des Feindes fallen"),{{Cite web|title=Dietrich von Choltitz - Trümmerfeldbefehl|url=http://www.choltitz.de/bilderseiten/redentexte/truemmerfeldbefehl.htm|website=choltitz.de|access-date=4 May 2020}} after which explosives were laid at various bridges and monuments (which later had to be de-mined{{Cite news|date=6 January 2019|title=" Détruire Paris, les plans secrets d'Hitler " : Paris fut bien à deux doigts de brûler|language=fr|work=Le Monde.fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/televisions-radio/article/2019/01/06/detruire-paris-les-plans-secrets-d-hitler-paris-fut-bien-a-deux-doigts-de-bruler_5405721_1655027.html|access-date=4 May 2020}}).

With the arrival of Allied troops on the edge of the city at dawn the next day on the 24th, Choltitz made the decision not to destroy the city, and on 25 August, surrendered the German garrison, not to the Supreme Allied Command, but rather to representatives of the provisional government, the Free French. Because Hitler's directive was not carried out, Choltitz is often seen as the "Saviour of Paris".{{cite news |title=Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz Dies; 'Savior of Paris' in '44 was 71 |work=The New York Times |page=88 |date=6 November 1966}}{{cite web|title=Paris liberated - Aug 25, 1944 - HISTORY.com|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-liberated|access-date=3 January 2017}}

Hitler did not completely give up on the destruction, with the Luftwaffe conducting an incendiary bombing raid on 26 August, and V2 rockets fired from Belgium, causing extensive damage.

The events leading up to the surrender were the subject of a 1951 memoir written by General von Choltitz (published in French in the 1960s as From Sevastopol to Paris: A soldier among the soldiers{{Cite book|title=Général von Choltitz. De Sébastopol à Paris : Un soldat parmi les soldats. eSoldat unter Soldatene. Préface de Pierre Taittinger. Traduit de l'allemand par A.-M. Bécourt, Martin Briem, Klaus Diel, Pierre Michel|date=1969|publisher=Éditions J'ai lu}}) where he took credit for disobeying Hitler's orders and saving Paris because of its obvious military futility, his affection for the French capital's history and culture, and his belief that Hitler had by then become insane,Randall, C. (24 August 2004). General 'spared Paris by disobeying Fuhrer'. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1470087/General-spared-Paris-by-disobeying-Fuhrer.html telegraph.co.uk archive]. Retrieved 3 November 2014. and his version of events were the basis for the 1965 book and 1966 film, Is Paris Burning? (repeated as factual in many sources, and a 2019 publication{{Cite web|title=On Hitler's Last Desperate Plan to Destroy Paris|url=https://lithub.com/on-hitlers-last-desperate-plan-to-destroy-paris/|date=30 July 2019|website=Literary Hub|language=en-US|access-date=4 May 2020}}). His motivation not to destroy the city may have been in part because it was a futile and destructive gesture, but also in order to ensure his better treatment after capitulation.{{Cite web|title=Nazi general didn't save Paris: historian|url=https://www.thelocal.fr/20140825/nazi-general-didnt-save-paris-expert|website=thelocal.fr|date=25 August 2014|access-date=4 May 2020}}

The memoirs also state that he was persuaded to spare the city in part by an all-night meeting with Nordling on the night of 24 August. This event was depicted in the 2014 film Diplomacy in which Nordling persuades Choltitz to spare the city in return for a pledge to protect his family, which was reported as factual following the publication of his memoirs in some newspaper stories, but lacks any corroboration.{{cite news|last1=Buruma|first1=Ian|title=The Argument That Saved Paris|url=http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/oct/15/argument-saved-paris/|access-date=16 June 2015|publisher=The New York Review of Books|date=14 October 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Grey|first1=Tobias|title='Diplomacy' Details How Paris Was Saved in World War II|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/diplomacy-details-how-paris-was-saved-in-world-war-ii-1412784184|access-date=16 June 2015|agency=The Wall Street Journal|date=8 October 2014}} He did hold several meetings with Nordling, along with the president of the municipal council, Pierre Taittinger, hoping to limit the bloodshed and damage to the city, and which led to the release of some political prisoners.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0136, Trent Park Camp, deutsche Offiziere.jpg in London]]

Choltitz was held for the remainder of the war at Trent Park, in north London, with other senior German officers. Choltitz later was transferred to Camp Clinton in Mississippi. No specific charges were ever filed against him, and he was released from captivity in 1947. In 1956 he visited his wartime headquarters at the Hôtel Meurice in Paris. Reportedly the long-time head barman of the hotel recognized the short, rotund man with "impossibly correct posture" wandering around the bar as if in a daze. After the manager of the hotel met him in the bar, he asked to see his old room. After seeing his old quarters for no more than fifteen minutes, Choltitz declined the manager's offer of champagne and left the hotel to meet with Pierre Taittinger.{{cite book|last=Kladstrup|first=Don|title=Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure|publisher=Broadway Books|year=2002|isbn=9780767904483|page=275}}

File:Baden-Baden-Hauptfriedhof-Grabmal Dietrich von Choltitz-10-hf44-2021-gje.jpg in Baden-Baden]]

Choltitz died on 5 November 1966 from a longstanding war illness (pulmonary emphysema) in the city hospital of Baden-Baden. Four days later, he was buried at the city cemetery of Baden-Baden in the presence of high-ranking French officers, including colonels Wagner (Military Commander of Baden-Baden), Ravinel, and Omézon.{{cite web |url=http://www.choltitz.de/textebilder/|title=General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz |first=Timo von |last=Choltitz |access-date=3 January 2017}} Baden-Baden was the French headquarters in Germany after the end of the Second World War.

Choltitz was the last German owner of the castle in Łąka Prudnicka, his birthplace (until 1945 it had been part of Germany as Gräflich Wiese). In 2016 his son, Timo, tried to get it back during his visit in Prudnik, but without success.{{Cite web|title=Syn generała von Choltitza przyjeżdża opowiedzieć o swoim ojcu, obrońcy Paryża|url=https://nto.pl/syn-generala-von-choltitza-przyjezdza-opowiedziec-o-swoim-ojcu-obroncy-paryza/ar/10137788|last=Strauchmann|first=Krzysztof|date=22 June 2016|website=Nowa Trybuna Opolska|language=pl|access-date=9 May 2020}}

During his internment in Trent Park many of the officers' private conversations were secretly recorded by the British in the hope that they might reveal strategic information. In one such conversation, on 29 August 1944, Choltitz was quoted as saying "The worst job I ever carried out - which however I carried out with great consistency - was the liquidation of the Jews. I carried out this thoroughly and entirely."Neitzel, Sonke ed.; Tapping Hitler's Generals: Transcripts of Secret Conversations, 1942-1945, London: Frontline, 2007Listening to the Generals, Adam Ganz, Radio Play BBC Radio 4, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jn0q6 Randall Hansen says that there is a lack of corroboration but that since many German generals committed atrocities it is possible, even probable, that Choltitz ordered the massacre of Jews. He observed that "it is easier to believe that Choltitz was the sort of unreflective anti-Semite that one would expect, given his age, class and profession."{{sfn|Hansen|2014|p=75}} Selected transcripts were dramatized in the History Channel 5-part series The Wehrmacht (2008). In the episode "The Crimes", General von Choltitz is quoted as saying in October 1944,

{{bquote|We all share the guilt. We went along with everything, and we half-took the Nazis seriously, instead of saying "to Hell with you and your stupid nonsense". I misled my soldiers into believing this rubbish. I feel utterly ashamed of myself. Perhaps we bear even more guilt than these uneducated animals. (An apparent reference to Hitler and his supporting Nazi Party members.)the original words were: "Ich habe meine Soldaten verführt, an diesen Mist zu glauben, habe die Bevölkerung, die das Offizierskorps noch als etwas Würdiges sah, veranlasst, auch ohne Überlegung mitzumachen. Ich fühle mich auf das Äußerste beschämt! Vielleicht sind wir viel mehr schuld als dieses ungebildete Viehzeugs, was ja sowieso sein ganzes Leben lang nichts anderes hört." Quoted by Sönke Neitzel (2005): Abgehört. Deutsche Generäle in britischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942-1945, p. 54}}

At the very least, Choltitz was fully aware that the Nazis were committing mass murder against the Jews. For example, Choltitz estimated that the Nazis shot 36,000 Jews from Sevastopol.{{cite book |author=Lehrer, Steven |title=Wartime Sites in Paris: 1939-1945 |page=30 |publisher=SF Tafel Publishers |location=New York |year=2013 |isbn=9781492292920 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWzAAAAAQBAJ&q=choltitz+sebastopol&pg=PA10}}

• Iron Cross{{efn|Awards of the 1939 version of the Iron Cross to holders of the 1914 version are represented with a Clasp above the 1914 Cross}}
• 1st Class (2)
• 2nd Class (2)
• Knight's Cross{{efn| Awarded as Oberstleutnant and commander of III./Infanterie-Regiment 16. His Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was presented and is registered by the Luftwaffe-Personalamt (LWA—Air Force Staff Office).Thomas & Wegmann 1998, p. 39. The Heerespersonalamt (HPA—Army Staff Office) received Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross nomination for Generalmajor von Choltitz on 19 January 1943 for his leadership of the XVII. Armee-Korps. The HPA did not approve the nomination on 27 January 1943.Thomas & Wegmann 1998, p. 40.}} (18 May 1940)
• German Cross (8 February 1942)
• Honour Cross of the World War (WWI)
• Order of St. Henry (26 December 1917)
• Order of the Star of Romania (1943)
• Wound Badge
• Silver (1918)
• Gold (25 March 1943)
• Infantry Assault Badge, WWII
• Albert Order, Saxony
• Civil Order of Saxony
• Order of Michael the Brave, Romania (6 October 1942)
• Sudetenland Medal (1938)
• Crimea Shield (July 1942)

• Is Paris Burning?, a French-American ensemble cast production of 1966, with Gert Fröbe playing Choltitz. (Choltitz died around the time this film was being generally released in Europe and America).
• Diplomacy, a French-German film of 2014 directed by Volker Schlöndorff, based on the play Diplomatie by Cyril Gely. Depicting events in his headquarters at the Hotel Meurice the night before the Liberation of Paris, Niels Arestrup portrays Choltitz.
• Secrets of the Dead: Bugging Hitler's Soldiers, a PBS documentary which examines how MI19 spied on senior German prisoners of war.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/bugging-hitler%E2%80%99s-soldiers-about-this-episode/924/|title=Bugging Hitler's Soldiers - Preview - Secrets of the Dead - PBS|website=PBS|date=29 March 2013|access-date=3 January 2017}}
• Pod presją (Under pressure): a Polish documentary directed in 2015 by Dagmara Spolniak.

• Liberation of Paris

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Larry |author-link1=Larry Collins (writer)|last2=Lapierre |first2=Dominique |author-link2=Dominique Lapierre|title=Is Paris Burning?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4a8zQEACAAJ |date=1991 |origyear=1965 Penguin Books|publisher=Grand Central Publishing |isbn=978-0-446-39225-9 }} {{link note|note=Available [https://archive.org/details/isparisburning00larr here] at Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last=Blumenson |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Blumenson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvhoAAAAMAAJ |title=Breakout and Pursuit |date=2005 |origyear=1961|publisher=Center of Military History, U.S. Army |series=United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations|location=Washington}}
• {{Cite book |last=Citino |first=Robert M. |authorlink=Robert M. Citino|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGClEAAAQBAJ |title=The Wehrmacht's Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944–1945 |date=2020 |origyear=2017|publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-3038-7 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Sciolino |first=Elaine |authorlink=Elaine Sciolino|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_uKDwAAQBAJ |title=The Seine: The River that Made Paris |date=2019 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-60936-3 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Jean Edward |authorlink=Jean Edward Smith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QObsDwAAQBAJ |title=The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light |date=2020 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-5011-6493-4 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Choltitz |first=Dietrich von |editor-last=Choltitz|editor-first=Timo von|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yj24oQEACAAJ |title=--- brennt paris? adolf hitler ---: Tatsachenbericht des letzten deutschen Befehlshabers in Paris |date=2014 |origyear=1950|publisher=R. G. Fischer |isbn=978-3-8301-9778-2 |language=de}}
• {{Cite book

|last=Fellgiebel

|first=Walther-Peer

|year=2000

|orig-year=1986

|title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile

|trans-title=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

|language=de

|location=Friedberg, Germany

|publisher=Podzun-Pallas

|isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6

}}

• {{Cite book |last = Hansen

|first = Randall

|author-link = Randall Hansen

|year = 2014

|title = Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Valkyrie

|location = Oxford, England

|publisher = Oxford University Press

|isbn = 9780199927920

|url-access = registration

|url = https://archive.org/details/disobeyinghitler0000hans

}}

• {{Cite book

|last1=Patzwall

|first1=Klaus D.

|last2=Scherzer

|first2=Veit

|year=2001

|title=Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II

|trans-title=The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2

|language=de

|location=Norderstedt, Germany

|publisher=Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall

|isbn=978-3-931533-45-8

}}

• {{Cite book

|last=Scherzer

|first=Veit

|year=2007

|title=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

|trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives

|language=de

|location=Jena, Germany

|publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag

|isbn=978-3-938845-17-2

}}

• {{Cite book

|last1=Thomas

|first1=Franz

|last2=Wegmann

|first2=Günter

|year=1998

|title=Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Teil III: Infanterie Band 4: C–Dow

|trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Part III: Infantry Volume 4: C–Dow

|language=de

|location=Osnabrück, Germany

|publisher=Biblio-Verlag

|isbn=978-3-7648-2534-8

}}

• {{Cite journal |last= Hull|first=Michael D. |date=July 2021 |title=Leclerc and Liberation |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/leclerc-and-liberation/ |access-date=19 July 2023 |journal=Warfare History Network |volume=10|issue=5}}

{{refend}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-mil}}

{{succession box|

before=General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck|

after=Generalleutnant Johann Mickl|

title= Commander of 11.Panzer Division|

years=4 March 1943 – 15 May 1943

}}

{{succession box|

before=General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff|

after=General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff|

title= Commander of XLVIII. Panzerkorps|

years=6 May 1943 – 30 August 1943

}}

{{succession box|

before=General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff|

after=General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Eberbach|

title= Commander of XLVIII. Panzerkorps|

years=30 September 1943 – 21 October 1943

}}

{{s-end}}

{{Knight's Cross recipients of the 22nd ID}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Subject bar

| portal1=Biography

| commons=y

| q=y

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choltitz, Dietrich Von}}

Category:1894 births

Category:1966 deaths

Category:Historical negationism in Germany

Category:People from Prudnik

Category:Military personnel from the Province of Silesia

Category:German Army personnel of World War I

Category:Military personnel of Saxony

Category:German Army generals of World War II

Category:Generals of Infantry (Wehrmacht)

Category:German military governors of Paris

Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class

Category:Recipients of the Gold German Cross

Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Category:Grand Officers of the Order of the Star of Romania

Category:Silesian nobility

Category:Reichswehr personnel

Category:Nazi war criminals