"To deter Russia": Bundeswehr letter gives secret details about the realignment

Created: 06/16/2022, 1:59 p.m

By: Patrick Mayer

Main weapon of the Bundeswehr Army: the Leopard 2 A6.

© Peter Steffen/dpa

Against the background of the Russia-Ukraine war, the German Bundeswehr is facing a huge realignment.

Now new measures in the army are known.

Munich/Berlin - It is the largest part of the German Bundeswehr: the army.

According to the latest Bundeswehr update of April 30, 2022, 63,132 soldiers are currently serving in the land forces.

For comparison: in the Air Force (27,220) it is less than half.

German Bundeswehr: Details of the reorganization of the army seep through

According to the Federal Defense Ministry, 16 billion euros from the Bundeswehr's special fund, which is worth 100 billion euros, are to flow into that army.

The existing (and actually modern) Puma armored personnel carriers are to be retrofitted with this.

Because: According to the ministry, only around 150 of the 350 existing copies were ready for use.

Further models of the light wheeled tank, which transports armored infantrymen in a protected manner, are to be procured.

It's a huge challenge overall.

The Russia-Ukraine war changed everything.

The inspector of the army, Alfons Mais, has now announced a general overhaul of the organizational structure to his soldiers in an internal letter.

From the letter quoted the

.

Accordingly, the 60-year-old Mais explains: "The task package can no longer be accomplished from the current basic structure of the army (...)."

Source: Bundeswehr personnel numbers, bundeswehr.de, as of April 30, 2022

Bundeswehr in times of the Russia-Ukraine war: another brigade in Lithuania on NATO's eastern flank

The principle "train (and organize) as you fight" must become a premise.

In English: "Practice (and organize) the way you fight." "Not only should the skill gaps of the past" be closed, quotes

Mais, but the army should now also be prepared for the changing tasks of the future.

To put this in perspective: Up to now, the German Bundeswehr was set up for smaller missions abroad, it provided individual units, mostly battalions with around 1000 soldiers.

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For example, Germany is currently leading the so-called Battlegroup “Enhanced Forward Presence” in Lithuania.

The Bundeswehr is providing 1,100 of a total of 1,600 soldiers in Rukla - not far from the border with Putin's partner Belarus.

During his visit to Lithuania at the beginning of June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) assured the government in Vilnius that he would increase the Bundeswehr contingent as part of the NATO presence to deter Russia in the Baltic country.

As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday (June 15), Germany would double its contingent in the Baltic States.

In the video: Compact - The most important news about the Russia-Ukraine war

In the future, Germany will provide another permanent brigade there that is always ready for action to defend NATO's eastern flank.

All eight countries on the said eastern flank, from Bulgaria on the Black Sea to Estonia on the Baltic Sea, are to have their own battlegroups.

Led by a major NATO country.

While the German Bundeswehr is in charge in Lithuania, the NATO Battlegroup Poland is in comparatively large Poland under the leadership of the USA.

Those United States had increased the pressure on NATO ally Germany after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the latest.

Bundeswehr in times of the Russia-Ukraine war: Germany will soon take over "NATO spearhead"

According to

, Mais' goal for the army is now a so-called cold start capability.

This means that large units with brigades of around 5,000 soldiers should be ready for action as a whole within a short period of time.

The aim is also for the army to have a fully equipped division under the direction of the 10th Panzer Division by 2025.

In the coming years, the federal government says it wants to organize a third armored division alongside the 1st and 10th.

To put this in context: the armored divisions have up to 18,000 soldiers.

According to the internal letter, Mais is also concerned with rapid digitization of the troops and new management structures.

Associations should be merged, more closely interlinked and/or transformed.

"To deter Russia, the entire Bundeswehr must be ready for action," said former military commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels of the

: "To do this, they need fully organized, organic combat units and no back and forth lending of troop units and equipment."

Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF)

This term refers to the rapid reaction force of the transatlantic alliance NATO.

This was the size of a brigade with 5000 soldiers.

Each year another Member State takes the lead.

In 2019 it was Germany's turn, 2020 Poland, 2021 Turkey, currently the French armed forces are leading the VJTF with troops from the Franco-German Brigade.

The "NATO blocking spearhead" should be ready for action anywhere in the alliance area in the event of a defense in up to 72 hours.

Defense ministries Christine Lambrecht (SPD) recently announced a new "Territorial Command".

This is to organize troop transfers within the Federal Republic and the transport of Allied forces through Germany.

The next major challenge for the army is: In 2023, Germany will once again take command of the VJTF, the transatlantic defense alliance’s rapid reaction force, also known as the “NATO Blocking Spearhead”.

By then, the restructuring should have started.