Within context of the Second World War [WW2] some tidbits regarding the German officer corps.
1. The German professional officer corps during the Second World War [WW2] as described by Hitler a "reactionary" force. Meaning those officers greatly desiring a return of Imperial German rule as was during the time of the Kaiser and a societal status for the military elite as was the case prior to the Great War [WW1].
2. In the aftermath of WW2 almost all German flag officer [general or admiral] placed under arrest by the victorious allied powers. Subject to interrogation and possibly charged with war crimes. That only significant exception Captain Rogge of the surface raider Atlantis. Rogge [later promoted to Admiral] his wartime conduct exemplary and chivalrous in the extreme.
3. German lower-ranking officers post-war engaging in political dialogue with native German speakers of the allied occupying powers. Political dialogue the purpose of which was to convince the future leadership of German society that rehabilitation was possible if fascist tendencies and mores abandoned in favor of Christian, democratic and capitalist ideals. Henry Kissinger one such native German speaker of the allied occupying powers.
4. Consider also even before there was a Bundeswehr there were re-constituted German military units [allied power auspices] under the command of naval officer Hans Rudolf Rösing.
German naval personnel the task of which was naval-mine clearing. Dangerous duty in the extreme but essential. Rösing a successful U-boat captain during the war having spent a year under arrest finding suitable employment for himself and his band of German volunteers.
Rösing also achieving the rank of flag officer [admiral] post-war.
You put the mines there, now go get them out!
coolbert.