Inspector General of the Bundeswehr

Inspector General of the Bundeswehr
Inspector General of the Bundeswehr
Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr
	Flag of the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr
	Incumbent; General Eberhard Zorn; since 19 April 2018
	Federal Ministry of Defence
Status	Active
Abbreviation	GenInspBw
Member of	Ministry of Defence Executive Group
Reports to	Federal Minister of Defence
Precursor	Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
Formation	1 June 1957
First holder	General Adolf Heusinger
Deputy	Deputy General Inspector of the Bundeswehr
Website	Official Website

The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr (Template:Lang-de), officially translated as Chief of Defence, is the highest-ranking military post held by a commissioned officer in the Bundeswehr, the present-day armed forces of Germany.

All Inspectors General have been of the rank of a (four-star) general or admiral, and they head the Führungsstab der Streitkräfte, the German Defence Staff within the Federal Ministry of Defence, and is the direct military advisor to the Federal Minister of Defence who is the peacetime holder of the supreme command authority (Template:Lang-de). He is responsible for the overall military defense concept of the Bundeswehr, including the overall planning, preparation, as well as assessment of the whole Bundeswehr operations. ^[1]

Subordinate to the Inspector General are the commanders of the branches of the Bundeswehr, the Inspector of the Army, Inspector of the Air Force, and Inspector of the Navy, and the commanders of the Joint Support Service and Joint Medical Service.

Title and translations

While official translations of the position is "Chief of Defence",^[2] the German term "Generalinspekteur" – "Inspector General" – was specifically created to avoid the term of "Generalstabschef" ("Chief of General Staff") deemed historically compromised.^{[citation needed]} When the Bundeswehr was created in 1955, many traditional military terms were considered inappropriate after the German Wehrmacht's conduct in World War II. Therefore, Federal German Bundeswehr has no "General Staff", but the "Army Command" ("Kommando Heer").

List of officeholders

No.	Inspector General	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Federal Minister of Defence
1	Heusinger, AdolfGeneral Adolf Heusinger (1897–1982)	1 June 1957	31 March 1961	3 years, 303 days	Army	Strauß, Franz JosefFranz Josef Strauß (1966 – 1969)
2	Foertsch, FriedrichGeneral Friedrich Foertsch (1900–1976)	1 April 1961	31 December 1963	2 years, 274 days	Army	Strauß, Franz JosefFranz Josef Strauß (1966 – 1969) Kai-Uwe von Hassel (1963 – 1966)
3	Trettner, HeinrichGeneral Heinz Trettner (1907–2006)	1 January 1964	25 August 1966	2 years, 236 days	Army	von Hassel, Kai-UweKai-Uwe von Hassel (1963 – 1966)
4	de Maizière, UlrichGeneral Ulrich de Maizière (1912–2006)	25 August 1966	31 March 1972	5 years, 219 days	Army	von Hassel, Kai-UweKai-Uwe von Hassel (1963 – 1966) Gerhard Schröder (1966 – 1969) Helmut Schmidt (1969 – 1972)
5	Zimmermann, ArminAdmiral Armin Zimmermann (1917–1976)	1 April 1972	30 November 1976	4 years, 243 days	Navy	Leber, GeorgGeorg Leber (1972 – 1978)
6	Wust, HaraldGeneral Harald Wust (1921–2010)	21 December 1976	11 December 1978	1 year, 355 days	Air Force	Leber, GeorgGeorg Leber (1972 – 1978)
7	Brandt, JürgenGeneral Jürgen Brandt (1922–2003)	12 December 1978	31 March 1983	4 years, 109 days	Army	Apel, HansHans Apel (1978 – 1982) Manfred Wörner (1982 – 1988)
8	Altenburg, WolfgangGeneral Wolfgang Altenburg (born 1928)	1 April 1983	30 September 1986	3 years, 182 days	Army	Wörner, ManfredManfred Wörner (1982 – 1988)
9	Wellershoff, DieterAdmiral Dieter Wellershoff (1933–2005)	1 October 1986	30 September 1991	4 years, 364 days	Navy	Wörner, ManfredManfred Wörner (1982 – 1988) Rupert Scholz (1988 – 1989) Gerhard Stoltenberg (1989 – 1992)
10	Naumann, KlausGeneral Klaus Naumann (born 1939)	1 October 1991	8 February 1996	4 years, 130 days	Army	Stoltenberg, GerhardGerhard Stoltenberg (1989 – 1992) Volker Rühe (1992 – 1998)
11	Bagger, HartmutGeneral Hartmut Bagger (born 1938)	8 February 1996	31 March 1999	3 years, 51 days	Army	Rühe, VolkerVolker Rühe (1992 – 1998) Rudolf Scharping (1998 – 2002)
12	von Kirchbach, Hans-PeterGeneral Hans-Peter von Kirchbach (born 1941)	1 April 1999	30 June 2000	1 year, 90 days	Army	Scharping, RudolfRudolf Scharping (1998 – 2002)
13	Kujat, HaraldGeneral Harald Kujat (born 1942)	1 July 2000	30 June 2002	1 year, 364 days	Air Force	Scharping, RudolfRudolf Scharping (1998 – 2002)
14	Schneiderhan, WolfgangGeneral Wolfgang Schneiderhan (born 1946)	1 July 2002	26 November 2009	7 years, 148 days	Army	Scharping, RudolfRudolf Scharping (1998 – 2002) Peter Struck (2002 – 2005) Franz Josef Jung (2005 – 2009) Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (2009 – 2011)
-	Dora, Johann-GeorgLieutenant General Johann-Georg Dora (born 1948) Acting	27 November 2009	21 January 2010	55 days	Air Force	zu Guttenberg, Karl-TheodorKarl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (2009 – 2011)
15	Wieker, VolkerGeneral Volker Wieker (born 1954)	21 January 2010	19 April 2018	8 years, 88 days	Army	zu Guttenberg, Karl-TheodorKarl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (2009 – 2011) Thomas de Maizière (2011 – 2013) Ursula von der Leyen (2013 – 2019)
16	Zorn, EberhardGeneral Eberhard Zorn (born 1960)	19 April 2018	Incumbent	6 years, 213 days	Army	von der Leyen, UrsulaUrsula von der Leyen (2013 – 2019) Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (since 2019)