Helge Hansen (born 13 March 1936) is a retired

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

who served in the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

within the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

. From 1992 to 1994 he was the

Inspector of the Army The Inspector of the Army ( or ''InspH'') is the title held by the commander and highest ranking officer of the German Army (unless the Inspector General is an army officer) of the modern-day German Armed Forces or ''Bundeswehr''. The Inspector i ...

and from 1994 to 1996 he was Commander

Allied Forces Central Europe Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS) is a NATO command with its headquarters at Brunssum, the Netherlands. It was established in 2004, as part of a reorganisation that reduced the number of NATO Military Command Structure headquarters. ...

within

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Military career

Training and first commands

Hansen was born on 1936 13 March 1936 in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

and entered the ''

'' in 1957 as an

officer cadet Officer cadet is a rank held by military personnel during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by personnel of University Service Units such as the University Officers' Training Corps. Th ...

. He trained with the

Panzergrenadier (), abbreviated as ''PzG'' (WWII) or ''PzGren'' (modern), meaning ''Armoured fighting vehicle, "Armour"-ed fighting vehicle "Grenadier"'', is the German language, German term for the military doctrine of mechanized infantry units in armoured fo ...

corps. In 1959 he was promoted to second lieutenant (''

Leutnant () is the lowest junior officer rank in the armed forces of Germany ( Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High German «locum ...

'') and was employed as a

platoon commander A platoon leader (NATO) or platoon commander (more common in Commonwealth militaries and the US Marine Corps) is the officer in charge of a platoon. This person is usually a junior officer – a second or first lieutenant or an equivalent rank. ...

in a Panzergrenadier

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

. Six years later, in 1965, Hansen was promoted to captain (''

Hauptmann () is an officer rank in the armies of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It is usually translated as ''captain''. Background While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has, and originally had, the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literall ...

'') and took over the post of a

company commander A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100–250 soldiers and usually commanded by a major or a captain. Most companies are made up of three to seven platoons, although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and struc ...

for two years within 173rd Panzergrenadier Battalion in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. From 1967 to 1969 he attended the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

course at the Bundeswehr Staff College in Hamburg as a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and was awarded the General Heusinger Prize as the best student of his year. Thereafter he was appointed as the G1 personnel staff office in the 12th Armoured Division in

Veitshöchheim Veitshöchheim () is a municipality in the district of Würzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Main, northwest of Würzburg. Veitshöchheim has a population just under 10,000. It includes two villages: Veitshöch ...

. From 1971 to 1972 Hansen attended the

NATO Defence College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, t ...

in Rome and afterwards served as a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large milita ...

in the

Federal Ministry of Defence The Federal Ministry of Defence (, ; abbreviated BMVg) is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at the Hardthöhe barracks itself located at t ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. From 1974 to 1977 Hansen commanded the 312th Panzergrenadier Battalion in

Delmenhorst Delmenhorst (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Demost'') is an urban district (''List of German urban districts, Kreisfreie Stadt'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located west of downtown Bremen (city), Bremen with which ...

as a lieutenant colonel (''

Oberstleutnant () (English: Lieutenant Colonel) is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, ...

''). After this command Hansen was posted in 1977 to

Brunssum Brunssum (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 197 ...

in the Netherlands where he served as a staff officer in the Headquarters of the ''

'' within

. Returning to Germany he then served as the department head for military-political policy in the Defence Staff in Bonn under General Inspector Jürgen Brandt.

Service as a general

As a colonel (''

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German language, German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the Army, ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, a ...

'') Hansen took over

Panzerlehrbrigade 9 The 9th Panzerlehr Brigade (, abbreviated ''PzLehrBrig 9'') is a formation of about 6,000 men strong within the German Armed Forces or Bundeswehr, which is subordinated to the 1st Panzer Division in Oldenburg. The bulk of the brigade is statio ...

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

from 26 September 1980 to 11 October 1982. In 1982 he was promoted to brigadier general (''

Brigadegeneral Brigadegeneral (; , ) is the Germanic variant of Brigadier general. Belgium The rank of (; ) is used by the Belgian Land Component, Air Component and Medical Component. File:Army-BEL-OF-06.svg, Land Component File:BE-Air Force-OF6.svg, Ai ...

''). Next Hansen was posted from October 1982 to March 1984 as the divisional head of military politics in the office of the Permanent Representative of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

with NATO in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Following that tour Hansen returned to Germany and took over the 1st Armoured Division in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

in April 1985 in the rank of major general (''

Generalmajor is the Germanic languages, Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central Europe, Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and R ...

'') from Henning von Ondarza and commanded the division until 30 September 1987. From 1 October 1987 to 30 September 1990 Hansen commanded the German

III Corps III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * I ...

as a lieutenant general (''

Generalleutnant () is the German-language variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO ...

'') in

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

. In October 1990 Hansen again took over a NATO post, this time in the NATO Headquarters in Europe (

SHAPE A shape is a graphics, graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface. It is distinct from other object properties, such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material ...

) in

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

in Belgium. Until spring 1992 he acted as the Deputy Chief of Staff, responsible for planning and operations under

s Hans-Henning von Sandrart and Henning von Ondarza. When Generalleutnant

Jörg Schönbohm Jörg Schönbohm (2 September 1937 – 7 February 2019) was a German politician ( CDU) and a retired lieutenant general. He was the first commander of the so called Bundeswehr Kommando Ost (short: BwKdo Ost) Federal Armed Forces Command East (co ...

was appointed as Secretary of State, Hansen filled the vacant post of

on 18 February 1992, where he stayed until 21 March 1994. As Inspector he launched Army Structure V. But he was unable to see this through as he did not stay long in post. On 21 March 1994, after only two years, he handed over to

Hartmut Bagger Hartmut Bagger (17 July 1938 – 26 January 2024) was a German general. He served as Chief of Staff of the German Army from 1994 to 1996 and Chief of Staff of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, from 1996 to 1999. Biography Hartmut Bagg ...

and, promoted to

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

, he made his way to Brunssum, where he took over on 1 April from Henning von Ondarza the post of Commander Allied Forces Central Europe within NATO and commanded it until his retirement in March 1996.

In retirement

After retiring from the Army, Hansen called by

Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

(SACEUR), ran the "Senior Mentor" seminars for "operational art" for higher NATO leadership forces as well as courses on operational planning for staff officers at the

NATO School The NATO School Oberammergau in southern Germany is NATO's key training facility on the operational level. The School started with two courses in 1953 and now offers over 100 different courses to Alliance members and partners on subjects relate ...

Oberammergau Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...

. He mainly acts as the Senior Mentor at the British Joint Services Command and Staff College, the Canadian Forces College, the Austrian Defence Academy and the Bundeswehr Staff College. In 2003 the Royal Military College of Canada awarded Hansen an honorary doctorate in military science. In addition he sits on the

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the Foundation for Memorial and Peace in the

German War Graves Commission The German War Graves Commission (, ) is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of German war graves in Europe and North Africa. Its objectives are acquisition, maintenance and care of German war graves; tending to next of kin; youth and ed ...

. In 1999 Hansen was a member of the Weizsäcker Commission, which carried out a review of the Bundeswehr and made recommendations for its future development. Since 2002 he has been a partner in the firm of ELENXIS Management Advice and advises especially medium-sized companies in the area of business succession. Hansen is married with three sons.

References

External links

Interview with Hansen in retirement
(focus.de dated 18 March 1996) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Helge Bundeswehr generals 1936 births Living people Generals of the German Army Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Military personnel from Dresden