Arvid Wittenberg began his military career in 1622 and participated as a colonel in the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634. He was captured there but later freed. He then participated in the battles of Wittstock 1636 and Chemnitz 1639 before being promoted to major general. He later came under the command of Lennart Torstenson with whom he participated in the rest of the Swedish campaign in the Thirty Years' War until Torstenson resigned in 1645, including the battles of Breitenfeld 1642 and Jankov 1645, in which he on both occasions commanded the Swedish right flank. He then took command of the Swedish army until the arrival of Carl Gustaf Wrangel.