Career
The Pour le Mérite was the highest military order of the German Empire. The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Between wars he served as a commander in the police force, before returning to the Wehrmacht in 1934.
During the Second World War he was the commander of the 25th Panzer Regiment of the 7th Panzer Division.
Rothenburg was killed six days into the invasion of Russia on 28 June 1941 near Minsk, Belarus and was posthumously promoted to Generalmajor. After his death the 25th Panzer Regiment became unofficially known as the "Rothenburg Regiment." Bibliography.