The incidents under investigation were strongly condemned by then defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) and led Berlin to withdraw an armoured infantry platoon from the NATO mission in June.

One case had been initiated on suspicion of attempted suppression of complaints and one incident in 2020 on suspicion of degrading treatment of subordinates, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in the northern city of Lüneburg said on Wednesday.

The other proceeding relates to incitement, xenophobic and anti-Semitic statements and Holocaust denial.

News magazine Spiegel had reported that right-wing radical and anti-Semitic songs were sung at a party in a hotel at the end of April last year. There was also film footage of an alleged sexual assault.

Some of the investigations into the incidents were dropped, including into a so-called “birthday serenade” for Adolf Hitler, and an accusation of sexual assault against a soldier.

The Bundeswehr dismissed two soldiers soon after the incidents. Disciplinary measures had been imposed on two others, and the accusations had not been confirmed in three cases, said an army spokesman in the city of Munster. Five cases were still in a pre-investigation phase.