Schwerin.

This is coolbert:

The good, the bad, the ugly! German WW2 style.

And as is germane to several recent previous blog entries. See here and here.

The good. Von Schwerin.

"Gerhard Helmut Detleff Graf von Schwerin . . . was a German General der Panzertruppe during World War II."

German general officer of distinguished ability during the Second World War. And a man it seems to a degree a free-thinker.

Legacy prior to the war [WW2], during the war and after the war controversial

The type of German officer in the Prussian style as despised by Hitler. A German officer in the Prussian style a reactionary as Hitler would have deemed, not so much anti-Nazi but rather desiring a return to the days of the German Empire and rule by the Kaiser.

Schwerin making intimations to the British prior to September 1939 that the German officer corps under certain exact circumstances be willing to replace Hitler and the Nazi regime with a government more amenable to the western allies England and France.

Schwerin in disobedience to direct orders from Hitler attempting [unsuccessfully] to surrender the German city of Aachen intact without a fight to the American forces [1944]. Schwerin lucky he was not executed.

Finally Schwerin as a driving force post-war the creation of the Bundeswehr. A kindlier and gentler but still effective and respected German army.

"In May 1950 Schwerin was appointed to the post of chief advisor on military issues and security policy to the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and head of the covert government agency . . . responsible for the reconstruction of West Germany's military whilst under American occupation during the Cold War."

Schwerin undoubtedly a complex character!

coolbert.