He was wounded four times[1] and served until the end of the war, when he commanded a battalion on the Eastern Front at the rank of Captain.

He was for a time leader of the CDU in that body, and, in 1967, became state party chairman, an office which he held until 1982.

[2] Dregger was known as a staunch conservative and was a prominent member of the so-called Stahlhelm-Fraktion, a National-Conservative wing of the CDU.

[2] He was responsible for the slogan "Freiheit statt Sozialismus" (Freedom instead of Socialism) with which the CDU had great success in the 1976 elections.

[1][2] In his eulogy, CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz said of him, "Few have so clearly and categorically opposed the Left for decades".