In the context of a ‘powder-keg Europe’ where all they’ve done for years now is worry and plan to fight the bogeyman Russians, it is shocking to see how German governments have allowed their armed forces to sink to such a sorry state.
It arises now that the Bundeswehr (German army) is currently in the process of equipping and training its 10th Armored Division to be the first division geared for full operational readiness.
You read it right: in Germany, right now, at most ‘part of a division’ would be ready for combat in the event of a military conflict.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported (translated from the German):
“Frank Haun, the then head of the armaments company KNDS, said in June 2024 about the current situation of the Bundeswehr in an interview with the F.A.Z.: ‘We can still defend Augsburg with it, but Munich and Berlin [we] cannot’. For the foreseeable future, Germany will therefore be dependent on friends and partners, especially on the units of the American army stationed in Germany’.”
Read from late 2023: Germany on the March: Bundeswehr Revamped to Become Backbone of European Defense, Berlin to Double Military Aid to Ukraine
“There are currently around 38,500 US Army soldiers in Germany, 14,000 of them on a rotational basis, according to the US European Command of the F.A.Z. In addition, there are another 10,000 soldiers of the American Air Force. The largest units are the aforementioned European Command in Wiesbaden, the 56th Artillery Command in Wiesbaden, the 12th Combat Aviation Division in Bavaria and Hesse, equipped with helicopters, the 10th Air and Missile Command in Rhineland-Palatinate and the training center in Bavaria.”
Ramstein is the largest American Air Force base outside the US. Landstuhl is home to the largest American hospital overseas, and there are other units distributed in barracks in southern Germany.
“As the European Command notes, every [US] unit that is sent to Germany is ‘combat ready’, i.e. immediately operational. In the Bundeswehr, it will be difficult to find a unit at the moment to which this applies. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 in violation of international law, the Inspector of the Army, Alfons Mais, commented on the state of his branch of the armed forces. This was ‘more or less bare’, he wrote at the time.”
After the Cold War, the German army shrank dramatically.
The Bundeswehr has a little more than 300 tanks – but only about 100 of them are operational. Compare this to 4,000 tanks back in 1992 and as many as 2,400 in 2004.
“However, Germany would have to rely on the United States not only in the event of a conflict, but also when it comes to preventing one, especially in terms of deterrence. After the Cold War, the United States withdrew all ground-based nuclear-capable missile systems with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers from Germany. In July last year, however, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and then-American President Joe Biden agreed to bring such systems back to Germany.
As the announcement said, this stationing will include three systems: Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are to have a range of up to 2500 kilometers, the so-called Standard Missile, a ballistic missile with a range of up to 1600 kilometers, and the hypersonic missile called Dark Eagle, which is still under development, which is to fly up to 3000 kilometers. These are to be subordinated to the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force in Wiesbaden. Where exactly the missiles will be stationed has not yet been decided, the EU European Command told the F.A.Z.”
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