Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig (25 July 1888 - 10 September 1939) was a general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 in the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

 who participated in the invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

. He carries the dubious distinction of being the first general to have been killed

Killed in action

Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Von Roettig held the ranks of Generalmajor der Ordnungspolizei

Ranks and insignia of the Ordnungspolizei

The Ranks and insignia of the Ordnungspolizei developed in 1936 after the nationalization of Germany's regular police forces.- Ordnungspolizei Rank Titles :...

 and SS Brigadeführer.

Von Roettig was killed on 10 September (at about 14:15), 1939, near Opoczno

Opoczno

Opoczno is a town in south-central Poland, within the eastern part of Łódź Voivodeship , previously in Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship . Important communication routes run through the town, namely the central railway line, which connects Silesia with Warsaw, and road 12, which creates a...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. He was killed when his staff car was ambushed by Polish troops armed with heavy machine guns. Von Roettig was subsequently shot in the head. The next general to die was the Polish general Józef Kustroń

Józef Kustroń

Józef Rudolf Kustroń was a Brigadier General of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic, commandant of the 21st Mountain Infantry Division.-Early life:Kustroń spent his childhood in the southern town of Nowy Sącz, where his family had settled...

, who died on 16 September. The next German general to die was Werner von Fritsch

Werner von Fritsch

Werner Thomas Ludwig Freiherr von Fritsch was a prominent Wehrmacht officer, member of the German High Command, and the second German general to be killed during World War II.-Early life:...

, on 22 September.

As a memorial to him, a street in occupied Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

was named after him during the Nazi occupation of the city.

Sources