Career
Wangenheim became a Captain (Rittmeister) with Cavalry Regiment Number. 8 (Reiter-Regiment 8, later renamed Kavallerie-Regiment 8) garrisoned at Breig in Silesia. In July 1944, while serving as a German Army officer on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, he was captured by the Red Army.
After being held as a prisoner of war for several years, while awaiting repatriation to Germany from the Soviet Union, in 1953 he was found hanged in Stalingrad, Russia.
He may have committed suicide. He was the father of the professional fashion photographer Chris von Wangenheim.