Germany rushes to be war ready as it warns: ‘We are no longer living in peacetime’ | World | News– www.express.co.uk
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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.