Soldiers rehearsed setting up and manning checkpoints; the fire service fished out a sinking barge<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In the event of conflict with Russia, Germany would, because of its geographical position, become a \u2018hub\u2019 for Nato to coordinate the flow of soldiers and weaponry to the front line in the east. Troops from the US and across western and southern Europe \u2013 including Britain \u2013 would flow through the country towards Warsaw and on. The purpose would be deterrence in the hope that a show of international force would put Vladimir Putin off an attack that would test Nato\u2019s commitment to Article 5, which considers an attack on one member to be an attack on all.<\/p>\n
It would be a huge operation: the Bundeswehr\u2019s Operation Plan Germany, details of which were leaked to the press last year, envisages 800,000 Nato troops and 200,000 vehicles travelling across the country towards the front line. According to one army source, even with Germany\u2019s motorways and ports used to full capacity, this would take close to a week. Red Storm Bravo was a rehearsal of the section of Operation Plan Germany that runs through Hamburg.<\/p>\n
The purpose of Red Storm Bravo was as much to familiarise German civilians as the army with what to do in the event of a coming war. Only a fraction of the Operation Plan Germany soldiers were used but the scenarios neatly reflected the possible challenges. Soldiers rehearsed setting up and manning checkpoints; the fire service practised fishing a sinking barge out of Hamburg\u2019s port; and the ambulance service simulated a mass casualty event with multiple victims.<\/p>\n
The first day\u2019s main event was moving a military convoy through the centre of the city after dark. As the sun set over Hamburg\u2019s port, I watched the heavily armed soldiers march towards a fleet of about 70 military vehicles, lined up three abreast. Some were small armoured vehicles, others enormous Rheinmetall-branded trucks, several with machine-gun turrets that would later be manned as the convoy sped through the city. Many soldiers wore balaclavas to prevent them being identified, according to our Bundeswehr escort.<\/p>\n
There is an art to travelling in a convoy. It moves as one, meaning that as long as the leading vehicle continues to move, the others follow suit in an unbroken line, regardless of red traffic lights or civilian traffic. This convoy of just 70-odd vehicles snaked back roughly 2.5 miles \u2013 a considerable logistical challenge.<\/p>\n
At two points along the route, the convoy was stopped by pretend protests: at the first, army reservists in civvies waved banners and chanted at the convoy to \u2018turn back\u2019; at the second, \u2018protestors\u2019 staged a sit-in, with signs saying \u2018glue\u2019 around the necks of some to denote those who would have stuck themselves to the ground. The point was for the riot police to practise removing them. Groups of three took turns: a grab at the protestor\u2019s head from behind and a knee to the back, one arm twisted around, then the other, allowing the police to peel them off the ground and carry them away.<\/p>\n
When the planning for Red Storm Bravo was initiated, few could have predicted the new significance it would take on in the weeks leading up to it. Last month, a series of suspected Russian drone incursions into Nato territory set alarm bells ringing. Alongside Germany, Romania, Denmark, Norway and Poland have all reported drone activity close to military bases and other critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for a total of 12 minutes on 19 September.<\/p>\n
\u2018We developed the scenario for Red Storm Bravo last December and now reality has actually caught up with us somewhat,\u2019 said Captain Kurt Leonards, the head of the Bundeswehr\u2019s Hamburg command who oversaw the exercise. \u2018Whether that\u2019s in Poland, in Estonian airspace, or even the whole discussion now taking place in Denmark, it shows how topical this issue is, and that\u2019s why we have to react very quickly and expand our capabilities.\u2019<\/p>\n
Poland and Estonia triggered Nato\u2019s Article 4 less than two weeks apart, requesting alliance members come together to discuss the incursions. While the mood in Nato\u2019s Brussels HQ appears to be calm so far, the rhetoric coming from individual members is somewhat more bellicose.<\/p>\n
In comments supported by Nato chief Mark Rutte, Donald Trump gave his endorsement to any Nato ally shooting down Russian aircraft entering its territory. Poland and Lithuania have declared they will do precisely this. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: \u2018We are not at war, but we are no longer living in peace either.\u2019 The German government intends to change the law this autumn to allow the army to shoot down any drones deemed a threat. Last month the EU agreed to move forward with building a technological \u2018drone wall\u2019 along its eastern boundary.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2237095002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\tA German soldier holds a HP 47 drone jammer as part of Red Storm Bravo exercise, 26 September 2025 Getty Images<\/p>\n
The mood on the ground in Germany is clearly jumpy, too. At approximately 1 a.m. on a stretch of road just outside the centre of Hamburg, as the Red Storm Bravo convoy paused to set up for the second of its two protest simulations, a whining buzz became audible overhead. Alarm bounced around the crowd of assembled press and official observers as a small black drone hovered above us. \u2018Is it one of ours?\u2019 someone asked nervously. It was only after a press photographer was able to get a grainy shot of it that one of our military escorts confirmed it did indeed belong to the Bundeswehr.<\/p>\n
\n\u2018We are not at war, but we are no longer living in peace either\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Leonards confirmed that Hamburg had seen an increase in drone activity. \u2018Of course, you don\u2019t always know where the drones are coming from,\u2019 he said. \u2018Are these drones the work of a state actor that\u2019s systematically operating here? Or do we have a teenager with a remote-controlled drone who wants to test how fast the police can arrive on the scene?\u2019<\/p>\n
Following years of under-investment, the German army is restocking its arsenal thanks to reforms that will see defence spending exempt from the country\u2019s rigid debt rules and a one-off \u20ac100 billion fund ringfenced by Merz\u2019s predecessor, Olaf Scholz. Some of this will be invested in anti-drone technology.<\/p>\n
In an army barracks in the Hamburg suburbs, the Bundeswehr demonstrated some of the gadgets already available. First to be sent up was a type of \u2018hunter drone\u2019 capable of ensnaring other drones mid-flight by shooting out a web, Spider-Man-style. Disabling drones this way avoids having to use expensive weaponry to shoot them down and lowers the risk of falling debris injuring civilians. Once the hunter drone had lowered its catch to the ground, a four-legged \u2018drone dog\u2019 dubbed \u2018Lassie\u2019, equipped with a camera and other sensors, was sent out to inspect it.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, questions over the German army\u2019s readiness for conflict remain. In June, defence chief General Carsten Breuer warned that Russia could be ready to launch an attack on a Nato state by 2029; according to one government source I spoke to, this could be even sooner. Meanwhile, according to official figures, just under 183,000 soldiers are actively serving in the Bundeswehr, and a damning report published in May revealed that, at the end of last year, more than 20 per cent of military positions remained vacant. The reintroduction of conscription seems inevitable to meet its commitment to Nato troop numbers.<\/p>\n
So, is Germany prepared for the defensive challenges ahead? When asked this, Leonards said: \u2018Germany is in the process of significantly developing its armed forces and the Bundeswehr. And I believe we\u2019re really on the right track.\u2019 Not a resounding yes, then. But any preparation against an increasingly provocative Russia is better than none.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What would happen if Russia was planning an attack on Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia \u2013 and the threat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,160382,1824,332,771],"class_list":{"0":"post-484179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-geramny","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-russia","13":"tag-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115341168906627451","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}