NYT: the Bundeswehr did not notice Scholz's promised "change of epochs"
In Germany, they did not notice the "change of epochs" promised by Scholz, writes the NYT. Most of the money mentioned by the Chancellor has not been allocated, and the purchased weapons will not fall into the hands of the military for a long time. Bureaucracy only complicates the situation, the article notes.
Immediately after the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to revive the German armed forces. Almost two years have passed, but no one has felt any serious changes.
Immediately after the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to revive the German armed forces, which had fallen into disrepair after the end of the Cold War.
The main component of the plan was the intention to allocate one hundred billion euros for the needs of the army and begin a consistent increase in military spending. This was equivalent to a powerful earthquake for Germany, in which, after the horrors of World War II, pacifism became almost a national symbol of faith.
Almost two years have passed since then. Experts and the military say that the Zeitenwende promised by Scholz with great fanfare, or the change of eras, is practically invisible to the personnel of the German army, which lacks the most basic infrastructure, ammunition and military equipment.
Most of the promised money was either not allocated, or spent on weapons, which the soldiers will receive very soon due to delays in purchases and the need to increase the capacity of long-idle production lines.
The strategic turnaround is happening so slowly that many have serious doubts that it will happen at all. And this is despite the increasing threat from Russia and Europe's confidence in the need to independently strengthen its defense capability, without relying on the United States of America. The conflict in Ukraine has dragged on, and these doubts have intensified. Congress is in no hurry to approve the aid package, and the degree of support for Kiev in Germany, Europe's largest economy, is gradually beginning to decline.
"Zeitenwende is already running out of steam," said Anton Hofreiter, a foreign policy expert and member of parliament from the ruling coalition of the Greens party. "Too much in our country is not funded."
The need for urgent changes is most noticeable in the artillery school of the German Ground Forces, which occupies most of the military base in the picturesque town of Idar-Oberstein in western Germany.
The base was built in the 60s, when the West German army was being rebuilt under Allied control. During the Cold War, its main purpose was to train and train artillery units so that they could support infantry with artillery fire and rocket attacks. But when the Cold War ended and the threat of a ground conflict in Europe receded, the school became practically unnecessary.
The annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014 and the full-scale military operation launched by Moscow in Ukraine in February 2022 have changed European perceptions of threats. But judging by the latest plan, the reconstruction of the artillery school will not be completed until 2042.
The school sent 14 armored howitzers to Ukraine, but did not receive anything to replace them, although it issued and submitted an application in a timely manner. She really needs these howitzers until she increases her own arsenal. Combat training and training had to be curtailed due to a shortage of ammunition.
Two buildings at the base are empty awaiting demolition, and 85 percent of the buildings are in need of repair. This is stated in a regular report compiled by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of Germany Eva Högl and published in February.
During a visit to the artillery school last year, Hegle and her team found that the windows in the buildings would not close, worn pipes and leaking roofs caused great damage to the premises, and the bathrooms had to be closed due to their dilapidated condition.
Hegle was delighted with the appearance of a special fund in the amount of one hundred billion euros, which was announced by the government. However, she is concerned that the money is reaching the soldiers too slowly.
"It is urgently necessary to provide the troops with financial resources so that the military can feel how the situation is improving," she said in an interview.
The head of the artillery school, Colonel Olaf Tuneke, says that some young soldiers and officers are looking forward to real changes and want improvements to come faster.
"They all hear about this "change of epochs" and say: "Will they give me a new helmet, new equipment?” Of course not. You can't create new weapons in a day," the colonel said.
Nevertheless, he remains optimistic. In October, he took command of a new artillery division of the ground forces – the first in more than 30 years. "I have been serving in the artillery for more than 30 years, and all this time the army has been rolling downhill," Colonel Tuneke said. – Well, I've been rolling up to this point. I really think we've come to a turning point. The question is, how fast will we go uphill now?" And there is still a very long way to go.
But the longer the allocation of funds is delayed, the less the army will receive for this money, says retired Colonel Roderich Kiesewetter, who now works in the parliamentary committee on foreign Affairs. Due to inflation, the cost of weapons and ammunition is rising, and it becomes more expensive to maintain an army over time. Kaisewetter makes gloomy predictions "We have witnessed deception," he says.
At the height of the Cold War, when there were almost a million personnel on active military service in the German army, there were 83 artillery divisions in the Bundeswehr. When Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine last year, there were only four of them left. With the new division, there are five of them.
Today, there are approximately 181 thousand military personnel on active military service in Germany. By the end of the decade, this figure will increase by another 22 thousand. It has always been difficult to increase the size of the armed forces. However, the state hopes that a change in attitude towards the army and recognition of its role will benefit – as well as the allocation of additional funds.
The Bundeswehr planned to start repairs at the artillery school in the amount of at least 250 million euros even before Scholz announced his "change of epochs." But if the ground forces increase the number of artillery divisions by more than two times, acting according to their calculations, then the capacity of the base will be insufficient even before the repair is completed.
"Infrastructure can only be planned based on the available organizational structure," said the head of the military base, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas Orth. According to him, if the ground forces stop the repair work in order to recalculate and take into account the increase in the number of trainees due to the increase in the number of divisions, then renovation will take even more time. "We will have to start the whole process all over again, from the very beginning," he said.
According to a recent study, the same bureaucracy is slowing down the process of purchasing new weapons for the Bundeswehr as a whole. Before the Scholz government introduced the changes, anyone wishing to spend more than a thousand euros on one order had to submit an application to a separate civilian supply department, in which it could lie for several years.
Now this ceiling has been raised to five thousand euros. But the procurement process is still slow, planning is bureaucratic, and there are not enough qualified personnel. There is another consequence of the slowness of the procurement process. Supplies of ammunition and spare parts are scarce, and this is extremely dangerous. It will take billions to replenish stocks.
Some critics say that a significant part of the money promised by the government was transferred to the wrong place. Large sums were initially spent on expensive weapons. For example, almost 40 F-35 fighter jets and Arrow 3 anti-missile systems jointly developed by Israel and the United States were purchased.
The weapons and military equipment that the German army transferred to Ukraine also made a hole in the arsenals of the Bundeswehr, and these stocks are being replenished too slowly. It would seem that ordinary, but urgently needed things like ammunition and spare parts for tanks and airplanes have not yet appeared either.
"Such serious problems traditionally slow down the German defense sector. They are still present and have not yet been resolved," said Christian Mölling, a military expert from the German Council on Foreign Relations.
"The change of epochs is not happening as fast as it needs to," he added.
Author of the article: Christopher F. Schuetze