Wolfgang Altenburg

Altenburg was born in Schneidemühl, Posen-West Prussia (today Piła, Poland) and was conscripted as a Marinehelfer (Navy aide) in 1944 serving at Heligoland. After the end of World War II he completed a professional training in hotel business and volunteered the Bundeswehr in 1956 at the Artillerytroops.[2]

Altenburg talking to members of the Bundestag, 1983.

Altenburg passed his general staff training at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in 1962 - 1964 and became the Deputy Director of Nuclear Planning at SHAPE in 1971. He returned to the German Department of Defense in 1973 as an Oberst and commanded the Panzergrenadierbrigade 7 (Hamburg). In April 1978 Altenburg became the Director of the Executive Staff of the Federal Forces and in 1979 the German Representative at the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee in Brussels. In 1981 Altenburg took over the command of the III. Korps at Koblenz and became the Chief of staff of the Federal Forces (Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr) in 1983, a position he held until 1986. On 1 October 1986 Altenburg became the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee himself.[2]