In 1960 entered the German Army as an officer candidate with the mountain infantry forces. From 1963 on he served as a platoon leader with the Gebirgsjägerbataillon 222 in Mittenwald, and later continued as operations officer from October 1966 to October 1967. From 1967 to 1972 he studied history and political sciences at the University of Freiburg, earning a doctoral degree with his dissertation about the strategic failure of Hitler in the Battle of Moscow. In 1968 he already was promoted to Captain and served as company commander with Gebirgsjägerbataillon 221 in Mittenwald. From 1973 to 1975 he passed the General Staff course at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg. In 1975 he additionally passed the US Command and General Staff officer course in Fort Leavenworth. In October 1976 Reinhardt was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served as operations staff officer of NATO's Central Army Group in Heidelberg. From January 1978 to October 1980 he used to be assistant to the Vice Inspector General of the German Military, General Jürgen Brandt at the ministry of defence in Bonn. From 1982 he took command of the Gebirgsjägerbataillon 231 in Bad Reichenhall. From 1982 to 1983 he served as operations officer in the staff of the 1st Mountain Division in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After his promotion to full colonel he served as military assistant to the then minister of defenceManfred Wörner and in 1986 till September 1988 as commander of the Gebirgsjägerbrigade 23 in Bad Reichenhall. On 1 October 1988 he was promoted to brigadier general and the same day took over as Chief of Staff Section IV within the Armed Forces Staff of the German Ministry of Defence in Bonn. Im October 1990 he was appointed major general and a commander of the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg. During this times he also used to be vice president of the Clausewitz Society and member of the scientific advisory council of the German Military History Research Office. As commander of the command and general staff college he changed the academy to a strategic and operational think tank and opened it to officers from Eastern European countries, one reason why he was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Budapest. In June 1993 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed commander of the 3rd Army Corps in Koblenz, which he also had to disband due to military reforms. In 1994 built up the German Army Forces Command in Koblenz as commanding general and made it a key element for the German military missions abroad. He formally led the German military missions in Somalia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegowina. In April 1998 he was promoted to general and appointed Commander NATO Joint Headquarters Centre. He actively participated in the NATO structure reform process. From October 1999 to April 2000 he served as commander KFOR in Pristina, Kosovo and was in charge of 50,000 soldiers from 39 nations. Klaus Reinhardt retired in March 2001. Afterwards he began to work as a freelance journalist and writer as well as a lecturer for modern history and political science.
Views
In 1993, as the commander of the III. Corps, Reinhardt was heavily criticised by high-ranking conservative politician Alfred Dregger for banning Bundeswehr soldiers to participate in a memorial service at a German war cemetery that also held the graves of fallen Waffen-SS soldiers on Volkstrauertag. Reinhardt argued that he meant no disrespect to the young soldiers that had died for Germany but found that the ideology of the Waffen-SS was incompatible with the values of democracy.
