Germany is developing a scheme to redeploy troops to eastern Europe in the event of a possible military conflict between the Alliance and Russia, DW writes, citing Der Spiegel's article, redeployment UNN.
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In the event of a Russian attack on NATO's eastern flank, up to 800,000 Alliance soldiers and more than 200,000 pieces of various equipment would need to be deployed through Germany within 3-6 months. The key road for the military convoy from west to east will be the A2 highway, which runs from the city of Oberhausen in North Rhine-Westphalia to the Berlin ring road.
The Bundeswehr, state and federal governments are continuing to work on this secret plan, Der Spiegel writes. In particular, the issue of route security, its bottlenecks, and alternatives are being worked out. Der Spiegel calls the Hohenwarte bridge over the Elbe north of Magdeburg, which is almost 1200 meters long, a bottleneck. In the event of sabotage or a missile attack, the A2 would be completely paralyzed.
"In these scenarios, soldiers will need to be cared for and accommodated during their transportation, and their equipment will need fuel and infrastructure," Ralph Tiesler, president of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, told the publication.
In June, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned in a speech to the Bundestag that Germany must be ready to defend itself in the event of a Russian attack by 2029. "We have no right to neglect our defense. Putin's war economy is working to prepare for the next conflict. By 2029, we must be ready to defend ourselves and take deterrence measures to prevent the worst from happening," Pistorius said.
To solve this problem, the Minister outlined three main issues: "equipment, personnel and finances".
In particular, the Minister emphasized the need to increase the defense budget and mentioned the reform of conscription in the form of a partial return of universal military service.
Germany's Operational Defense Plan, a strategic document of several hundred pages in the event of threats to the country's security, began to be developed in March 2023 against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. In fact, this is the first comprehensive plan to ensure Germany's security against military attacks in the last thirty years, i.e. since the end of the Cold War.