He rose to the rank of Leutnant by the end of the war and was active in the interwar period helping Germany rebuild its armed forces.

In September 1939, during the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, he was serving in Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South.

[citation needed] 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, 2 kilometres (1 mi) from Neustadt (now Prudnik), in the Kingdom of Prussia, then part of the German Empire.

[5] 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.

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.

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.

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.

At the start of Operation Barbarossa, Choltitz's regiment was based in Romania, advancing as part of Army Group South into Ukraine.

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.

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.

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.

[10] 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.

[11] 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"),[12] after which explosives were laid at various bridges and monuments (which later had to be de-mined[13]).

[14][15] 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.

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,[9] but lacks any corroboration.

[20][21] 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.

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 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.

[23] 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.

"[24][25] 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.