"I had studied law but the profession was being taken over by the Nazis," he told The Observer newspaper in 2005. "The Wehrmacht seemed an honorable career."
During World War II, von Loringhoven served as a tank company commander, among other roles, before being promoted to the rank of major and assigned to Guderian - the general credited with helping develop the blitzkrieg, or lightning-war, tank tactics that led to Germany's early victories.
He stayed with Guderian until the general's dismissal as army chief of staff on March 28, 1945, after an argument with Hitler over a failed counterattack.
Guderian was replaced by Gen. Krebs, and von Loringhoven continued his liaison role until his escape from the bunker the month later.
After the war, von Loringhoven joined the West German army in 1956, later serving for three years in Washington as part of NATO's Standing Group. After a long career, he retired in 1973 with the rank of lieutenant general.
His memoirs were published in English last year under the title "In the Bunker with Hitler."
Even 60 years after the war, von Loringhoven retained some of his contempt for the Nazi leadership, which was often at odds with the army's prewar officer corps.
"Hitler's only military experience had been as a corporal during the First World War," he told The Observer. "He knew only one thing - the fanatical resistance - and I can still hear him say the words. Blitzkrieg was not devised by him but only by military strategists whom he later sidelined."
"As soon as we suffered the first setbacks he became deaf to calls to switch to modern, mobile defense techniques," von Loringhoven said. "He saw them as defeatist since they sometimes required giving up territory."
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