As of: January 31, 2024, 5:32 p.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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Between Bavaria, Saxony and the Baltic Sea: During the major maneuver “Steadfast Defender”, Germany becomes the “hub” for the NATO armed forces.
Grafenwöhr - Marder armored personnel carrier, Leopard 2 main battle tank, self-propelled howitzer 2000, M1 Abrams and M2 Bradleys from the Americans: Many of the heavy weapon types that Ukraine received from the West (see photo series below) will be deployed in large columns in the coming weeks roll through Germany.
Major NATO maneuver “Steadfast Defender”: Huge military convoys in Germany
As part of the major NATO exercise “Steadfast Defender” to deter Russia in the context of the Ukraine war, the Bundeswehr has announced huge military convoys across the entire Federal Republic, the first of which, according to media reports, started at the end of January.
“Due to its geostrategic location, Germany is a transit country, deployment area and hub for almost all multinational troop deployments,” says a statement published on the Bundeswehr website on January 30: “Especially when tens of thousands of German and allied soldiers and thousands of combat vehicles relocate at the same time , the need for coordination is enormous.”
A Fuchs armored transport vehicle drives along a German highway.
(Archive photo) © IMAGO / Pond5 Images
Simulated Russian attack on NATO’s eastern flank: Germany becomes a “hub”
90,000 soldiers from the transatlantic defense alliance will take part in “Steadfast Defender” from the beginning of February – spread over several months.
“The scenario: After a Russian attack on NATO's eastern flank, the alliance is declared under Article 5 of the Transatlantic Treaty.
The alert and redeployment of the Allied forces to and through Europe will begin immediately,” says the Bundeswehr about (by far) the alliance’s largest exercise since the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Among other things, the defense of Norway's northeastern border with Russia is being trained as a possible NATO weak point.
However, the focus of Germany's massive troop relocations is the Baltics.
The German-led parts of the maneuver are summarized under the sub-exercise “Quadriga 2024”.
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NATO maneuvers: Bundeswehr moves 10th Panzer Division to Lithuania
“In addition to rapid deployment, the focus is on multinational combat exercises in Poland and Lithuania, among others.
For the final exercise Grand Quadriga, from mid-May 2024, the 10th Panzer Division will be relocated from various locations in Germany by ship, rail and road march to Lithuania in order to practice defense and counterattack on alliance territory together with the alliance partners,” writes the German Bundeswehr, which is providing 13,000 soldiers for the maneuver.
In Lithuania, the Bundeswehr has been leading a multinational NATO battle group with up to 1,600 soldiers from its Rukla location since 2017, in close coordination with the (manageably large) Lithuanian army.
As part of its alliance obligations, Germany wants to station a Bundeswehr combat brigade with 4,800 soldiers in the small Baltic country with around 2.8 million inhabitants by 2027.
“Steadfast Defender” and “Quadriga 2024”: military columns in Germany
The 10th Panzer Division is largely based in Bavaria (Veitshöchheim, Cham and Weiden in the Upper Palatinate), Saxony (Frankenberg and Marienberg) and Thuringia (Bad Salzungen).
At the end of January, noticeably large military columns rolled through Germany as part of the preparations for “Steadfast Defender” and “Quadriga 2024”.
On January 25, for example, 550 Bundeswehr soldiers from Artillery Battalion 295 drove with more than 100 military vehicles from Grafenwöhr in Bavaria (Neustadt district) diagonally through southern Germany to Stetten am Kalten Markt (Sigmaringen district) on the Swabian Alb, where in Baden-Württemberg the Alb barracks is located.
On February 2nd and 3rd, more than 100 military vehicles from the Franco-German Brigade will drive from Saxony via Brandenburg to Saxony-Anhalt.
The departure point is the Oberlausitz military training area.
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