Will the Germans go to war?
It would seem that we have a lot of problems of our own, and here the Germans with their own ... In fact, a lot depends on Germany in the Ukrainian processes. It's simple: give or not give. This applies to everything, self-propelled guns, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, anti-aircraft weapons.
Unfortunately the German weapon - this is the standard for which many vote in dollars. Everything is simple here:
"Leopard-2" is in service with 22 countries.
"Abrams" is in service with 9 countries.
Leclerc is in service with 3 countries.
Challenger 2 in 2 countries.
So you can continue to count for a long time, German weapons will not get worse from this. And the saturation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with first-class weapons really depends very much on supplies from Germany. And that is why the allies in NATO and the conflict in Ukraine are trying so hard to involve Germany in the full program of arms deliveries. Still, Leo-2 is not Cheetahs for you. Although in the fight against the UAV "Cheetah" proved to be quite decent.
But fortunately (as opposed to our "unfortunately") Germany in general and the Bundeswehr in particular are sick. It is difficult to say how much the disease progresses, but it does occur.
Today, of course, there was a light at the end of the tunnel for the Bundeswehr; What Lambrecht arranged with the German army is very contradictory in fact, but the sober-minded military frankly rejoice at her departure.
However, one should not forget that it was Lambrecht, despite his reforms with the Bundeswehr that were terrible for the Russian view, who stood a wall against the transfer of heavy weapons such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine on the principle of “barely enough for oneself” and referring to the fact that other countries do not supply such weapons.
Now Poland and Great Britain promise to give tanks, that is, Lambrecht's condition seems to be fulfilled. Well, Lambrecht herself left the game, I don’t know for what reasons. Perhaps she was tired of learning army ranks, perhaps the allies from the United States and Great Britain who wanted "good" for Ukraine decided to play it safe, but the request for the resignation of Christina Lambrecht was accepted with lightning speed.
And a queue immediately lined up for the chair of the Minister of War (for some reason - a little lower), but what a queue! Minister of the Interior Nancy Feiser (although she has elections on her nose in Hesse, which means resignation if she wins), Eva Högl from the SPD apparatus, the head of the Federal Chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt and the leader of the German Social Democrats, a staunch pacifist who once slacked off from service in the Bundeswehr "for ideological reasons", Lars Klingbeil.
And what, begs the question, is everyone so excited? And with the fact that the new Minister of Defense will be in charge of the rearmament of the Bundeswehr and the (Bundes) Marina with a magic figure of 100 euros. There is something to fight for, right?
Alas, the show didn't work. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, perhaps realizing that all these games of gender equality with the appointment of ministers, changed the promised alignment of 8-8 and appointed (oh my God!) A guy in the best sense of the word to the post of Minister of Defense.
Scholz appointed a party colleague, moreover, a man who fought with him in 2019 for the position of leader of the SPD, 62-year-old Boris Pistorius, as Minister of War. Now the former Minister of the Interior and Sports of Lower Saxony. Pistorius held this position for 10 years, which immediately speaks volumes.
In general, Boris was considered the best replacement for Feizer if she won the election, but somehow everything went wrong. In general, as a politician in the modern world, Pistorius is not very good. He honestly served his time in the Bundeswehr, was not seen in gay pleasures, a widower raising two daughters. In general - a very dark horse by European standards. Lawyer. Since 2017, he has been very sharply opposed to global terrorism.
And here we have Boris Pistorius and 100 billion euros. There is room for fantasy, right?
In general, things are not going very well. A normal man with a head will be quite able to raise the mad blonde generals who survived after the reforms and, together with them, revive the Bundeswehr. For ten years, the bad Frau Ursula von der Leyen, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Christina Lambrecht destroyed the German army and hell, they almost succeeded!
Well, it’s just fine: the shock fist of NATO, which was respected since the Second World War in all Soviet military schools and academies, was practically defeated by the efforts of a gynecologist and two lawyers. His blondes decided (since there is no one to fight with after the collapse of the USSR and the Department of Internal Affairs) to turn the Bundeswehr into a “small compact army” (though it smelled of something familiar and familiar?), Capable of supporting NATO allies in peacekeeping operations and wars against terrorists.
They gradually removed all the militaristic (actually patriotic) generals, reduced the term of conscription to 6 (SIX, Bismarck !!!) months, and the army itself was cut so badly.
We are complaining here that it is unrealistic to make a soldier out of a jerk for a year, and here from a modern German in six months ... Dreamers.
Yes, there were contractors. But with them, too, everything turned out very sadly, and even long before the appearance of Frau Ministers. In 2011, a landmark test of the combat readiness of NATO countries was carried out, as a result of which Germany not only disgraced itself, but did it with special effects: the Bundeswehr ended up with 7 fighters who passed the tests of the European Defense Agency. France boasted 30 soldiers ready for anything, and Great Britain 25.
In Germany, they realized that something had to be changed. Yes, the Bundeswehr needed change, and the first were the defense ministers, who began to increase combat capability within the ever-shrinking military budget.
Those who followed the topic remember what started in Germany. The loudest voice against the gynecological approach to reform was former German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, an army fanatic and son of one of the founders of the Bundeswehr, General Ulrich de Maizière. Thomas de Maizière was generally distinguished by a rare quarrelsomeness and freedom in his statements, and most importantly, he could not stand the pacifist trends in German politics. For which he suffered, it is quite expected and justified.
Those who disagreed with the reforms also basically voted with their feet, and such an outflow of personnel began from the Bundeswehr, which could be compared with the flight from the Russian army during the First Chechen War.
The thing is that Ursula von der Leyen has earned Angela Merkel's full confidence with her methods of solving problems as Minister of Labor and Social Development, and, it should be noted, she really solved a lot of problems there. But here the question is - by what methods.
And the methods of the new Minister of Defense remained the same. And when, in 2014, Mrs. von der Leyen rolled out the reform of the Bundeswehr for discussion in the Bundestag, there was such a reaction in the Bundeswehr itself that no one expected. Let's just say that no one seemed to grab hold of the service "Heckler and Koch", but Corvalol flowed like water. And then began a general flight from the ranks of the Bundeswehr. Moreover, mostly qualified personnel rushed.
What did Mrs. von der Leyen suggest?
She simply decided to equate soldiers with civilian workers. A normalized working day, a working week of 41 hours, everything in excess of the norm should be compensated with money, the allowance was increased by as much as 60 euros ... Yes, there was also about social development: instead of the barracks, quite decent living quarters of a hotel type were drawn, without kitchens.
There was a lot of criticism, especially the dismissed generals of the old school were angry. Then a joke from veterans walked around Germany: “thank us that in post-war Germany they no longer make armored vehicles with a staggered arrangement of rollers, they would see how repairmen are able to meet the 41-hour work week.”
In general, the idea was familiar and consonant with some Russian plans: to make the army an attractive employer, and the soldiers - some kind of employees protected by labor and other codes. Social security is not bad, a soldier is the same person as the rest, but there was a clear overkill here.
Germany is a very interesting country in this regard with a long military history. And to serve there very often goes not so much for material blessings, but according to family traditions (this is generally a separate conversation - German family traditions) and the call of the heart. And then all of a sudden - that the soldier, that the seller - everything is one. Moreover, part of the army professions in civilian life is paid much higher. Doctors, electronics engineers, logisticians, engineers and technicians.
In general, the lady gynecologist did not take into account the specifics of the army itself. This is understandable, this is normal, but wouldn't it be worth consulting with the army? As a result, the Bundeswehr, as Baroness von der Leyen wanted, did become the largest employer in Germany, but he was immediately struck by unemployment.
In 2022, disappointing results were recorded: out of 183 thousand employees of the Bundeswehr, about 80 thousand are civilians. More than 5 thousand army posts are occupied by frank pensioners who simply cannot be fired, since there is no one to replace them, and therefore, according to innovations, they are simply paid huge compensation. About 15 thousand more specialists are on the rise, that is, they serve, but they are not going to renew the contract.
Well, the SVO added negativity and only increased the outflow of personnel from the German armed forces. It is one thing to work in the army under the protection of Germany's social structure, which is considered the best in the world, and another to be in the trenches in the face of the Russian threat. At the beginning of the year, the reports lay on the tables like leaves in the forests of the autumn Black Forest. However, in Russia there was approximately the same situation, the “five hundredths” fled from the army in droves. This is normal, at all times there were those who saw a warm place in the army in peacetime. Service protected by the Labor Code - work with a preferential mortgage is fundamentally different from military service with a daily risk of being on the battlefield.
But there is another problem. Technical
Ladies ministers managed to ruin the German well-functioning system for supplying the army with equipment during their command. Okay, there are tanks or planes, there are problems even with the supply of shoes and uniforms! Yes, we are also familiar with such “effective” work of the Ministry of Defense, so there will be no surprise.
In general, everything related to the technical equipment of the Bundeswehr can be described in two words: "Very bad." Therefore, in the Bundestag, hearings on the state of affairs in the army are held exclusively behind closed doors. In order not to please the enemies and not to scare your half to death.
And it's not about the state of the industry, then we will have a short interview on the topic of opportunities. For industrialists, everything is simple: they need money and time, and everything will be fine. But in fact, there has been no normal supply for a long time, the delay in deliveries for some types of equipment reaches several years. This is if you believe the "hawks" from the Bundeswehr Association (an organization of retired military men who are still with the army in spirit), but you can trust them. They take care of their own.
But even the equipment that is already at the disposal of the Bundeswehr does not receive proper repair and maintenance. And, accordingly, not combat-ready. This applies to literally everything: tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, aircraft, self-propelled guns. It got to the point that (according to the German media) the Bundeswehr "in which case" will be able to put up no more than a hundred tanks out of 250 available.
And this is still a normal number. In some parts, the shortage reaches 75%. This is due to the lack of qualified technical personnel, and the long service life of equipment, and the lack of timely maintenance.
Plus, it turned out according to the results of the all-Bundeswehr inventory, when it was necessary to calculate what could be sent to help Ukraine, and what was sometimes empty in warehouses! There are no fuels and lubricants, especially winter oils, the shells have gone somewhere and stuff like that. Colleagues from Die Welt estimated that after sending aid to Ukraine, the Bundeswehr has enough stock of 155-mm shells to last a week of low-intensity fighting or a couple of days of full-blown warfare.
Here are the "three girls" on the board
Now the new minister will have to rake everything. If he doesn't fill his head with gender twists and starts thinking about how to save the army, maybe he will succeed. There's a lot to do here, but 100 billion euros in aid for rearmament could breathe life into the Bundeswehr. And here the point is not only in new technology (more on that below), the point is that the German industry, with such pumping of money, will switch to an enhanced mode of operation willingly and cheerfully. The Germans know how to work at the machines, but a lot will have to change.
Including technological and financial chains. Frau ministers have forbidden price adjustments since the reign of Baroness von der Leyen, if the price is specified in contracts, but no contract could provide for the termination of the supply of raw materials from the same Russia. And the chemical components they are taken from the gas. And additives to tank armor made of rare earth metals, which never existed in Germany.
Many of us believe that the Minister of Defense in general may not serve. He is the first person, the manager, if you like (the opinion of Colonel Staver, if anything). Here, the practice of Germany has shown that three frau in less than 10 years have so staggered the best army of old Europe with their reforms that it is not clear how the Bundeswehr will be able to recover from such a reform.
Here's my word of honour, it's a pity that the ladies did not bring the case to a natural ending. Another year or two - and goodbye, Bundeswehr. And for sure, all three "For Services to the Fatherland" would have to cling, because they deserved it. And so ... the Order of Honor, no more.
And a lesson to the whole world: a woman politician has nothing to do in such a position as the Minister of Defense. Don't tell me about Sirimavo Bandaranaike, by what this lady did, she surpassed many men in history easily and naturally. Some nationalizations were worth something. Yes, there were people in our time, not like the current tribe, honestly, all according to Lermontov.
Not against (actually against) all this gender nonsense, there are fools and fools everywhere, but to put a fool in a chair just because gender equality requires it - something the Germans were too clever with this. The football team also hinted that gender is gender, and things must be done. The stupidest tradition of appointing women politicians to the post of defense minister who simply have no idea about the principles of the functioning of the armed forces is destructive. Proven by the Bundeswehr.
And the point was the practical defeat of the forces of Special Operations and the transformation of the armed forces into an employer.
But that's not all. The German military-industrial complex also looks askance at all this. 100 billion is, of course, good, but here is an interview for you on the topic of the day, and not with someone, but with yourself Armin Papperger, commander-in-chief in the Rheinmetall concern.
The interview, as you can see, very discreetly, was given to the newspaper "Bild am Sonntag" (the best selling German newspaper on paper, if anything) from Berlin.
The interview was given BEFORE the resignation of Christina Lambrecht, and therefore it looks accordingly.
The main message of the head of Rheinmetall was the thesis that the concern would not be able to supply Ukraine with the weapons promised by the government in 2023. Including tanks "Leopard-2".
In general, Rheinmetall is doing simply luxuriously. Group sales in 2022 amounted to 6,4 billion euros and a strong trend towards further growth is noticeable. Ukraine hopes to receive Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles for its Armed Forces in the near future.
Question Bild am Sonntag: Mr. Papperger, how many Marder infantry fighting vehicles do you have in reserve, from which they can be delivered to Ukraine?
Armin Papperger: Until recently, we had a total of about 140 Marders in storage. 40 of them were destined for Greece, as Athens handed over Soviet-designed infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. The first batch of 20 Marders has already been completely repaired and most of them have been delivered to Athens. Now the next 20 are at the final stage of work in our workshops.
Question: How long does it take to repair one Marder?
APA: We work on each of the 40 cars for Greece for six months. The remaining 100 Marders are in worse condition, so they take about seven to eight months to complete.
Question: How quickly can they be delivered to Ukraine if Greece refuses?
AP: Of course, we could timely hand over to Ukraine the remaining 20 Marders planned for Greece. More cars will follow in April because we are working under pressure.
Question: The fastest way: the Bundeswehr gives Ukraine its "Marder", and then you fill the gap with repaired infantry fighting vehicles from your reserves.
AP: Perhaps. But only the German federal government can make such a decision. We are ready. But so far the government has not told us where the 40 Marders promised to Ukraine will come from.
Question: Ukraine also really needs Leopard main tanks. How many can you bet?
AP: We still have 22 Leopard 2 vehicles that we could prepare for operation and deliver to Ukraine. We also have about 88 Leopard 1A5 vehicles left. But we cannot repair these tanks without a contract, as the cost of this is several hundred million euros. Rheinmetall cannot finance this in advance from its own budget.
Question: How long will it take to restore the Leopard tanks?
AP: Less than a year. Machines are not only repainted, but also re-equipped for use in combat operations. They are completely dismantled, replaced with everything that is needed, and then reassembled. This means that even if a decision is made tomorrow that we can send our tanks to Kyiv, the delivery will take place early next year.
Question: Can Leopard tanks really help Ukraine win the war?
AP: The main tank "Leopard" is extremely valuable for the offensive and the occupation of the territory. With tanks, the army can break through the enemy's line of defense and put an end to a long trench war. With Leopard tanks, soldiers can advance tens of kilometers in a day.
Question: Ukraine is running out of ammunition for the German Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (35mm). When can you deliver them?
AP: We will finish production of the first batch of ammunition in June/July 2023. By the middle of next year, we will deliver 300 rounds to Ukraine. This is a lot, so let's hope that the Ukrainian problem of ammunition for the Gepard ZSU will be resolved.
Question: The government is investing 100 billion euros in the modernization of the Bundeswehr. But arms purchases are just beginning slowly. Politics, military or industry too slow?
AP: Critics oversimplify the task. We don't have martial law in Germany, so the normal arms contract cycles have to be followed. We cooperate very well with the purchasing department of the Bundeswehr, with the Federal Chancellor and also with the Ministry of Defence. So far, things are going well with the €100 billion package. In the first quarter of this year, we will complete negotiations on ground equipment for the Bundeswehr, in particular, on the Boxer armored personnel carrier with reinforced weapons and the Caracal airborne platform.
Question: Did you hire new employees after the start of the war in Ukraine?
AP: 1200 men and women.
Question: Sales of Rheinmetall are rapidly growing. Do you benefit greatly from the war?
AP: The term is completely wrong. We supply equipment to protect our country and our NATO allies. We are anti-crisis specialists, not war speculators.
Q: But are you personally also benefiting from a record stock price and increased sales along with your salary?
AP: The Rheinmetall management has targets. But if the targets are reached, then there will be no higher salary increase. Therefore, the war in Ukraine is not beneficial for me or my employees.
Agree, more than cautious such statements. But their essence is obvious: give money, untie your hands and everything will be fine for you. 35mm shells? No problem. Tanks? Then it still takes time. But the German military industry is ready to work, even in a crisis.
Dissatisfaction with Lambrecht's policy slipped behind the lines, but even such a big boss as Papperger would not want to quarrel with a bad aunt. That's why everything is so streamlined. Of course, pacifists are not kept in the military industry of Germany, therefore the replacement of a Frau, unable to remember two dozen titles with a man, sane and a patriot, is very beneficial for military manufacturers.
Of course, they (the producers) are counting on the fact that Boris Pistorius will not spend this money on planting flower beds near what used to be considered the Bundeswehr barracks or on other cute nonsense. Of course, Rheinmetall would very much like to work primarily for its own country, and not rush around the world in search of customers or lessors.
The Bundeswehr has a chance to climb out of the hole into which it has fallen a decade of rule of gender idiots. German manufacturers have a chance to make good money on the supply of weapons. Ukraine has a chance to get itself German weapons, albeit not the latest generation.
Papperger knowingly hinted about the "Leopards 1A5" ...
For us, these permutations really do not bring anything good. As an army, the Bundeswehr, of course, will not come to war. The Germans are not yet up to it. But Rheinmetall and other manufacturers may come. And there is nothing pleasant about this for us.
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