Röttiger, Hans, born 16 April 1896 in Hamburg, German Empire, 
the son of the Hamburg pedagogue Wilhelm Röttiger. In 1914, Röttiger joined the artillery troops of the Prussian Army and from 1915 served as a Leutenant in the Lauenburg Foot Artillery Regiment No. 20. 
For his work, he received both classes of the Iron Cross 
and the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross.
After the First World War, he was taken into the Reichswehr 
and from 1925 was deployed as a first lieutenant in various positions, including battery officer, department adjutant and battery commander. After Röttiger had completed the disguised general staff training, called Führergehilfenausbildung due to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, he became a company commander in the motor transport troops as a Hauptman from 1931. This was followed by a position in the army general staff.
At the beginning of World War II, Röttiger was an Obsretleutnant and served as First General Staff Officer (Ia) of the VI Army Corps. 
under command of General Hans Jordan. 
General Jordan survived the war and died 20-04-1975 (aged 82) inMunich, West Germany.
During the Western campaign, he was transferred to the newly established XXXXI Army Corps in 1940 and served there as Chief of Staff. In this position, he was promoted to Oberst in January 1941. During the Russian campaign, Röttiger was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the 4th Panzer Army 
in January 1942 and was awarded the German Cross in Gold 
on January 26-01-1942.
Shortly afterwards, he was promoted to Major General. From April 1942, he held the same position in the 4th Army. He then served as Chief of the General Staff of Army Group A in Russia under Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist 
from July 1943 and in the same position in Army Group C in Italy under Field Marshal, Albert Kesselring 
from June 1944. On 30-01-1945, he was promoted to General of the Panzer Troops. Röttiger played a key role in the success of Operation Sunrise, the partial capitulation of Army Group Italy on April 29 – several times, together with SS Obergruppenführer and General SS. SS and Polizei Führer in Italy. Adjutant of Heinrich Himmler, . Karl Wolff, 
he had to prevent his superior, Oberst General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, 
from backing down due to concerns about Kesselring and the breach of oath. At the end of the war, Röttiger was taken prisoner by the British and Americans.
Röttiger was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1950s and spent his last years undergoing treatment. In the morning of 15-04-1960 he died in office, one day before his 64th birthday.
Röttiger was a prisoner of war of the British and Americans from the end of the war until 1948. In 1950 he was a participant at the meeting to discuss the establishment of a new German defence force; the result of the meeting was the Himmerod memorandum.
The Himmerod memorandum was a 40-page document produced in 1950 after a secret meeting of former Wehrmacht high-ranking officers invited by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
to the Himmerod Abbey to discuss West Germany’s Wiederbewaffnung (rearmament). The resulting document laid the foundation for the establishment of the new military force (Bundeswehr) of the Federal Republic.
The memorandum, along with the public declaration of Wehrmacht’s “honour” by the Allied military commanders and West Germany’s politicians, contributed to the creation of the myth of the clean Wehrmacht
Röttiger was accepted into the Bundeswehr 
in 1956 at the rank of Generalleutnant. On 21-09-1957 he became the first Inspector of the Army and was instrumental in its early development.
Death and burial ground of Hans Röttiger.
Gero von Schulze-Gaevernitz visits German headquarters in Bozen on 12-05-1945. Left to right: Hans Röttiger, Gaevernitz, Eugen Wenner, Heinrich von Vietinghoff, Eugen Dollmann and Karl Wolff.
Röttiger was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1950s and spent his last years undergoing treatment. In the morning of 15 April 1960 he died in office, one day before his 64th birthday.
Röttiger is buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg, Fuhlsbüttler Street. 756, 22337 Hamburgat Section N 9. The Röttiger barracks in Hamburg-Neugraben-Fischbek bore his name.
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