Rolf Steiner was a professional soldier of fortune, born in Munich, Bavaria on January 3, 1933. He rose to the level of Lt. Commander of the 4th Commando Brigade in the Biafran Army during the Nigerian Civil War, and later served with the Anyanya rebels in southern Sudan. The son of a Protestant father and Catholic mother, Steiner's father had been decorated in the First World War as part of Manfred von Richthofen's squadron.