In Luxembourg's tiny army of fewer than 2,000 men, the only general is the husband of the reigning Grand Duchess, and a lowly major is "Commander of the Troops." Stocky Major Aloyse Schiltz, 41, a World War II paratrooper who escaped from the Nazis and saw action with the British, was also Luxembourg's chief representative at NATO's Central Europe headquarters in Fontainebleau. On last Feb. 29, for one day, he became one of the key men of the entire Western world.
That day in Fontainebleau he was operational duty officer, assigned to a tiny group who must wait for the fearsome...