While British Army numbers have been cut, Germany is going the other way with a large expansion of troops to defend the homeland in the event of a Russian invasion.
The so-called Heimatschutz will consist of six regiments, each containing around 6,000 to 8,000 personnel by 2026. Their training is robust, ranging from shooting and survival skills to a raft of scenarios involving conflict and natural disasters.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a pledge by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to transform Germany’s Bundeswehr, or armed forces, which had been reduced by 40% after the Cold War.
According to German Chief of Defence General Carsten Breuer, Germany has “five to eight years” to prepare for a situation where “an attack against Nato territory might be possible”.
According to current figures, Germany has just over 179,000 troops in uniform. This gives Germany the sixth-largest armed forces in NATO, after the US, Turkey, Poland, France and the UK. But Germany is the EU’s most populous nation, boasting a population of 84.5 million. German chiefs know they can do better and plan to expand this to 203,000 by 2031.
Part of this is Operation Deutschland, or “Oplan”, a comprehensive 1,000-page plan to protect critical infrastructure and mobilise its own forces, as well as aid with the mobilisation of NATO troops, in times of war.
Lieutenant General Andre Bodemann, head of Germany’s Homeland Defence Command and the self-described architect of the plan, acknowledges that everything changed in 2022 when Russia mounted its full invasion of Ukraine.
“I don’t expect tank battles on the North German plain, and hopefully, I don’t expect landings of Russian paratroopers either,” he said last month. “But our critical infrastructure, ports, bridges, energy companies are threatened by sabotage, possibly also special forces trying to disrupt these critical infrastructures.”
Another concern is “the diversions of special forces, for example, irregular forces trying to sabotage something to hinder or prevent deployment,” he said
“We are living in a hybrid phase with threats including disinformation, cyber attack, espionage and sabotage”.
When, recently, asked if this is the most dangerous period, in terms of risk of war for Germany since the Cold War, he told Sky News: “Yes, definitely.
“I don’t think we are in war, but we are no longer living in peacetime.”
While the rhetoric is strong, selling war readiness to a nation whose main contribution to NATO for decades has been in the form of training grounds is not easy. Like the UK, Germany is facing significant shortfalls in military personnel and kit.
At the end of 2023, troop numbers dropped by 1,537 compared to the year before, with more than 20,000 vacant posts.
And in 2018 an official defence mastery report concluded that the vast majority of major weapons systems in the German military were unavailable for training exercises or deployment, with under a third operational.
In 2022, a €100billion (£83.5billion) fund was announced to rectify this.
One solution has been youth camps to give teenagers a taste of army life. During a week-long course near Leipzig, youngsters practise navigation, teamwork, outdoor skills and do a timed assault course.
Conscription has been shelved for now, in favour of a draft law that would approve sending all 18-year-olds a questionnaire to gauge their readiness to serve. All men turning 18 this year – some 300,000 – will be legally obliged to respond, though it ramps optional for women.
“Russia is reorganising, restructuring and boosting its forces,“ added General Bodemann. “We have to speed up to be ready before it is.”