The US is practicing military rapprochement with Europe: With the arrival of soldiers and equipment, the exercise "Defender" enters the main phase. Germany is a logistic hub.
Berlin (dpa) - The Bundeswehr sees the pace-taking large-scale maneuver "Defender Europe 20" as an important contribution to national and alliance defense. The commander of the armed forces base, Lieutenant General Martin Schelleis, rejected criticism of the exercise.
The exercise serves to build up military capabilities in the long term. "Defender Europe 20" is the largest US military relocation exercise across the Atlantic in 25 years. US soldiers arrive at the airport in Hamburg today, and military goods are unloaded from four ships in Bremerhaven. In total, about 20,000 soldiers are to be transferred from the USA across Germany to Eastern Europe as a test to be prepared for crises.
"It is indeed the case that Russia is the trigger for this development due to the annexation of Crimea contrary to international law in 2014. But Russia is not a reason for the exercise, military capabilities can only be rebuilt and maintained in the long term," said Schelleis of the German press Agency. "Cause and effect have to be differentiated. What NATO is now appropriating again has been around for a long time and has been demonstrated time and again in exercises such as Zapat (West)."
A total of four ships with US military equipment arrive in Bremerhaven. "When the material is then unloaded from the ships, the personnel will occupy the vehicles, load the containers and then move them to the training areas," said Schelleis. "The smaller proportion of the material is laid on the street." Disabilities in road traffic are not excluded, but should be avoided.
"From an operational point of view, we are primarily interested in whether our processes are suitable for withstanding loads of this magnitude: 20,000 Americans who first move with material across the Atlantic and then in Europe," said Schelleis. The scope is significantly larger than with other exercises in recent years. "" Now significantly more people are affected: Americans, Germans, not only Bundeswehr soldiers, but also actors in civil-military cooperation, for example in road traffic offices and police officers. "
The Bundeswehr is anticipating protests that have already been announced in advance. "The police are prepared to fix this in the usual way. Protests are legitimate. Crimes are not," said Schelleis.
The freighter "Endurance" was the first of four ships to arrive in Bremerhaven on Thursday. The left defense politician Alexander Neu criticized the exercise as saber rattling and "unnecessary provocation in an escalation that is already well advanced". The environmental organization Greenpeace protested with a moving rubber dinghy and a tied kite that said "Stop war games, save peace".
