Status: 05/17/2022 10:11 a.m
A Bundeswehr brigade will lead the land troops of the so-called NATO spearhead from 2023. The preparations for this have been going on for a long time. The war of aggression in Ukraine suddenly makes the maneuver seem real.
The command is “Fire Summary”. A few kilometers away, the ground of the Lüneburg Heath ruptured with powerful explosions. The Panzerhaubitzen 2000 concentrated fire on one target. The artillery training battalion 345 from Idar-Oberstein practices on the military training area in Munster with live ammunition for the spearhead of the NATO rapid reaction force. The war of aggression in Ukraine suddenly makes this exercise seem real.
“Actually, it always takes a bit of time before everyone’s mindset is in there,” says the commander of Panzer Brigade 37, Brigadier General Alexander Krone, about the maneuver. “That’s not the case at all now: seriousness, professionalism, the tingling – of course it’s there immediately.” His unit is the leading unit of the land forces of the NATO intervention force.
“The whole thing has become more tangible”
In the back room behind the artillery, a group of soldiers is patrolling. Suddenly shots are fired. “My hand, my hand,” a soldier yells incessantly. An open, bloody fracture. A yelling comrade in the woods is holding his torn arm. Just an exercise and still extremely stressful with the medical squadron – also from Idar-Oberstein. “I don’t see any fear or more concern than usual. That’s my job. That’s why I became a soldier,” says paramedic Franziska Scholz dryly. But for comrade Mike Reedy, not everything is the same as always: “I think that you approach such an exercise differently – because the whole thing has become more tangible, medially.”
Starting in 2023, the units spearheading the NATO Response Force must be operational within a maximum of three days to reach any deployment site. It’s officially called “VJTF”: the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. NATO created it in 2014 after the illegal annexation of Crimea – as a deterrent. 7,500 soldiers from a total of nine nations are practicing in Munster until May 20th. The Bundeswehr will provide a total of more than 16,000 soldiers for the NATO Rapid Reaction Force from 2022 to 2024.
Material and logistical borderline experience
Actually, the material of the German VJTF Brigade should come from their own ranks. In fact, the NATO unit has to be supplied with equipment from the entire Bundeswehr. The war in Ukraine seems to be speeding things up: “There’s more support, that’s clear,” says Commander Stern in Munster. “If you needed something here and there for the exercise or had an application, there is now tailwind for everything.”
The Panzerhaubitzen 2000 from Idar-Oberstein changed position after their first fire so as not to become the target themselves. The weapon system and the location are currently the focus of debates: Germany wants to deliver seven of these howitzers to Ukraine. And in Idar-Oberstein, Ukrainian soldiers are now being trained on it. “In the first few days after the beginning of the war, a lot was unclear,” says the commander of Artillery Training Battalion 345, Lieutenant Colonel Timo Kaufmann. “Many soldiers have already asked me: are we going to NATO’s eastern flank now or will everything stay the same?” Everything still stays the same. Other Bundeswehr soldiers are already securing the eastern flank during their deployment in Lithuania.