Born in Dresden on 3 June 1894, Frölich joined the army of Imperial Germany in 1914, upon the outbreak of World War I, as a Fahnenjunker (officer cadet).

His regiment was attached to the 27th Infantry Division which was serving on the Western Front as part of the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps.

He continued to serve on the Western Front for the remainder of the war, seeing action in the areas around the Somme, Cambrai and Flanders.

He remained in command of the regiment throughout the Battle of France and then in Operation Barbarossa, where it was particularly effective in supporting the division as it advanced towards Moscow.

[2] Apart from a period in France while the division was resting after being heavily involved in the offensive mounted by the Soviet Army over the winter of 1941–42, Frölich served on the Eastern Front until after the Battle of Kursk in July 1943.

[6] In March 1944, Frölich became sick and ceded command of the 8th Panzer Division to a former staff officer, Oberst Werner Friebe.

However, Freibe proved to be an inadequate commander at divisional level and performed poorly in operations mounted in early July to rescue the XIII Corps, encircled by Soviet forces.

However, when sent to the Hungarian city of Komárom, in which there were oil refineries still supplying the Nazi war effort, Frölich was unable to prevent the Soviet advance.