https://www.euractiv.com/section/po...d-has-little-to-offer-says-german-army-chief/
German army is ‘bare’ and has little to offer, says German army chief
Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the options the German Bundeswehr could offer were extremely limited, the army chief warned.
The German army has long been neglected in Berlin politics. The country scrapped conscription in 2011, and the post of defence minister was widely considered a dead-end for political careers, leaving the army with limited options.
“The Bundeswehr, the army I am allowed to lead, is more or less bare. The options we can offer the politicians to support the [NATO] alliance are extremely limited,” said Alfons Mais, the 21st Inspector of the Army and commander of the troops, on LinkedIn.
His comments follow a long line of complaints from the army about the budget cuts and lack of support.
“The Bundeswehr has been cut to the bone for far too long. This must not be at the expense of the security of our soldiers abroad,” said then German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in 2019.
Nonetheless, Berlin has yet to commit itself to the 2% of GDP defence spending targets of NATO.
--
I'm old enough to remember when Trump pointed out the above and the usual pundits were off their heads screeching and accusing him of warmongering and unjustifiably casting doubt on Germany's military capabilities.
Something Russian knew about EU countries defences forces.
As for American... did nothing when Russians had.....
10,000 light infantry near the border
30,000 infantry and light armour, no reponse
70,0000 infantry, light armour and expeditionary forces ... nada
100,000 infantry, light armour, expeditionary and heavy tank .... just questions
150,000 infantry, light armour, expeditionary, heavy tank and air superiority/defence assets and US sends 3,000 troops to be on standby on the EU side of the Ukraine border
170,000 infantry, light armour, expeditionary, heavy tank, air superiority/defence assets and mobile strategic millsile assets.... US, EU and bit players have a press conference festival
Russian forces waltz right in
Had EU. US and Western Allies want to do something they could have sent in motley crew of 20,000 multinational troops early on, when Russian had 70,000 troop or less near the Ukraine Border and Russian could have hesitated or even backed off, as it could start WWW3
Than just force Ukraine to Cede the disputed territory. Western Allies are good at parceling out third countries and have great experience doing it