Germany Will Deploy Several Hundred Soldiers to Serve in Lithuania – Spiegel
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has decided to deploy approximately 570 Bundeswehr personnel to the 45th Tank Brigade in Lithuania on a mandatory basis due to a shortage of volunteers.
Although 80 percent of the tank brigade’s 5,000 positions have already been filled, the army lacks IT specialists, tank maintenance personnel, and medical staff—all of whom are necessary for the unit to achieve full combat readiness by the end of 2027.
A joint order issued with Inspector General Carsten Broer emphasizes that the brigade’s deployment on NATO’s eastern flank is an unprecedented mission in the history of the Bundeswehr and a guarantee of Europe’s security. The ministry’s leadership has assured that coercive measures will be used exclusively to ensure operational readiness, promising to consider each case individually and to provide support to service members and their families.
This was reported by Spiegel.
Lithuania will begin construction of a new military camp at the Rudninkai training ground, approximately 16 km from the border with Belarus. The facility is designed to accommodate more than a thousand military personnel and will become part of the infrastructure for German troops and other NATO units.
For the first time in its modern history, Germany plans to station a large military unit on a permanent basis outside the country. This involves the deployment to Lithuania of approximately 5,000 service members from the Bundeswehr’s 45th Tank Brigade. The unit is scheduled to reach full strength and combat readiness by the end of 2027.
