 There was another switch in February 1959 from when he served, initially as deputy Chief and then, from August 1959 through till November 1974 as the Chief of Military intelligence (Mil-ND / "Militärnachrichtendienst") of the National People's Army.Franke's predecessor in this position, whose early retirement in 1959 came officially on health grounds, was Willy Sägebrecht whom he had already got to know on the Sachsenhausen Death march.During his fifteen years in charge of military intelligence Arthur Franke was promoted to the rank of Major general by Walter Ulbricht in 1966 and then to that of Lieutenant general by Erich Honecker in 1974.