Training and first commands

Hansen was born on 1936 13 March 1936 in Dresden and entered the Bundeswehr in 1957 as an officer cadet. He trained with the Panzergrenadier corps. In 1959 he was promoted to second lieutenant (Leutnant) and was employed as a platoon commander in a Panzergrenadier battalion. Six years later, in 1965, Hansen was promoted to captain (Hauptmann)^[1] and took over the post of a company commander for two years within 173rd Panzergrenadier Battalion in Hamburg. From 1967 to 1969 he attended the General Staff course at the Bundeswehr Staff College in Hamburg as a major 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. From 1971 to 1972 Hansen attended the NATO Defence College in Rome and afterwards served as a staff officer in the Federal Ministry of Defence in Bonn.

From 1974 to 1977 Hansen commanded the 312th Panzergrenadier Battalion in Delmenhorst as a lieutenant colonel (Oberstleutnant). After this command Hansen was posted in 1977 to Brunssum in the Netherlands where he served as a staff officer in the Headquarters of the Allied Forces Central Europe within NATO. 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) Hansen took over Panzerlehrbrigade 9 in Munster from 26 September 1980 to 11 October 1982.^[1] In 1982 he was promoted to brigadier general (Brigadegeneral). 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 with NATO in Brussels.^[1] Following that tour Hansen returned to Germany and took over the 1st Armoured Division in Hanover in April 1985^[1] in the rank of major general (Generalmajor) 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 as a lieutenant general (Generalleutnant) in Koblenz.^[1]

In October 1990 Hansen again took over a NATO post, this time in the NATO Headquarters in Europe (SHAPE) in Mons in Belgium. Until spring 1992 he acted as the Deputy Chief of Staff,^[1] responsible for planning and operations under generals Hans-Henning von Sandrart and Henning von Ondarza.

When Generalleutnant Jörg Schönbohm was appointed as Secretary of State, Hansen filled the vacant post of Inspector of the Army 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 and, promoted to General, 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.^[1]