Germany’s defense minister has a hard time with everything military. This can be seen during her visit to the Marder troops in Marienberg, Saxony. She invited to the Puma crisis summit in Berlin on Friday.
Germany’s most unpopular minister Christine Lambrecht during her visit to Saxony.
Christine Lambrecht is standing under a camouflage net, her hands buried deep in the pockets of her leather jacket. With a roaring engine, a Marder armored personnel carrier drives towards them, tank halls to the left and right, gates creaking in the wind, rain drifting across the concrete surface. The marten brakes a few meters in front of her, the commander sticks his head out of the tower, looks at her, the fingertips of his outstretched right hand touch his temple. The German defense minister takes her right hand out of her jacket pocket, raises it briefly as if casually waving to an acquaintance, and puts it back inside her jacket. This is what she looks like, her return of the military salute.
The social democratic defense minister is not having an easy time right now. In Berlin, even her party members are still scoffing at her bizarre New Year’s Eve video. The opposition is demanding her dismissal. A trip to Saxony could come in handy to escape the hassle in Berlin for a day.
But the weather in Marienberg, where Panzergrenadier Battalion 371 is based, is not kind to the minister. It’s a cold, rain-soaked wind, and as she stands there and shivers as she watches the marten spin around on its axis, she seems like someone alien to the world of the military again. That wouldn’t be so bad in peacetime. But it’s wartime, and Germany has a defense minister who doesn’t really want the job.
She has herself to blame for the fact that Lambrecht had to undertake this journey at all. It was she who decided shortly before Christmas not to send the new Puma infantry fighting vehicle, but rather its predecessor, the Marder, to the NATO Rapid Reaction Force (VJTF). The deficiencies must first be remedied before the Puma can be used, Lambrecht explained. Until then, there will be no money for the further modernization of the vehicles.
The armored personnel carrier Puma
In December, 18 of 18 Pumas failed with defects during a company exercise in the Bavarian region of Regen. Although Lambrecht lacked a complete picture of the situation, she made a commitment. The industry must finally ensure that the Puma is ready for use, she demanded. In doing so, she passed the buck to Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, the manufacturers of the Puma.
Only a few days later, the incident was put into perspective. 17 of the 18 Pumas were ready to go after an inspection by industrial technicians. A first analysis showed that not only some tanks, but also the level of training of some crews was inadequate. The soldiers had reported defects that could have been remedied in a few simple steps. It was said that the Regen company had not been equipped with the Puma for very long.
The Puma infantry fighting vehicle is highly complex and is considered to be very prone to technical problems.
On Friday Lambrecht will have the opportunity to talk to the bosses of the two manufacturers about the series of breakdowns. She has invited to a top-level meeting and wants to use the interview to present an analysis she commissioned into how the tanks failed. For Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the appointment should offer the opportunity to present their point of view. They feel unfairly pilloried for a series of breakdowns for which they are only partially to blame.
Two hours before the marten performance, Thomas Spranger stands on a path between two groups of bushes, waiting for the Cougar’s engines to stop. The owner of the command and command authority, his supreme employer, sits in the helicopter. Spranger is the commander of the armored infantry battalion in Marienberg, he now has to say hello to Christine Lambrecht. When a door opens on the right side of the helicopter with the black, red, and gold livery, Spranger goes off, marches across the lawn that has been converted into a landing pad, and falters. The minister doesn’t climb out the door, just the co-pilot.
Who Disclosed Confidential Information?
Spranger turns around, passes the stern and stands on the other side, arms stretched down, hands on his pants seams. A flight of stairs has been lowered, luggage is being handed out of the machine. Spranger has to wait until the minister gets out. Then he points to a building, four floors, purpose-built from the times when the GDR’s National People’s Army had stationed motorized infantry troops here.
There is the staff with the most important departments of the battalion. Lambrecht not only wants to speak to Spranger there, but also to someone who, to put it bluntly, got her into all the trouble with the Puma. Major General Ruprecht von Butler, commander of the 10th Panzer Division, is waiting for the minister in front of the building’s entrance. When he greets her, he introduces himself by his name.
It was Ruprecht von Butler who wrote about the incident with the 18 Pumas in December. His letter, in which he complained about the low operational readiness of the Puma, went to his superior, Lieutenant General Johann Langenegger. Langenegger is the Deputy Inspector of the Army, who in turn informed the Inspector of the Army, Alfons Mais. Finally, Mais had Butler’s letter forwarded to the Department of Defense. A short time later it ended up in the “Spiegel”, which made the series of breakdowns known.
Since then, the question has been raised as to who pierced Butler’s letter. If you ask around in the army, any guilt is denied there. Mais, Langenegger, von Butler – impossible that it was one of them. That leaves only the ministry, and one who knows it all, says one who knows it well, one can only shake one’s head at that. Never before in his military career has he seen so much information passed on without permission as it is today.
Ready for the rapid reaction force
In any case, Lambrecht’s need for discussion seems to have been great. She stays in the headquarters of the Marienberg battalion for an hour and a half. What she specifically talked about there, she will not say later. In any case, the Panzergrenadiers try to leave no doubt that they are well prepared for their short-term task. No, nothing will change for them, the soldiers report, they were intended for the rapid reaction force anyway. However, not on the front line, as is the case now, but as security forces for command staffs or medical facilities. But that doesn’t matter, because the more than 50-year-old marten is just as capable of meeting the requirements as the puma.
One of the Marder tanks presented by the army when visiting Lambrecht.
That might even be an understatement, at least that’s what Paul’s statements suggest. “Yes,” says the young soldier, wool cap on his head, green-brown make-up on his face, rifle in front of his chest, “the Marder is really reliable, always ready for action.” Occasionally there are failures, but nothing big, and above all it is not as complicated as the Puma with its vulnerable electronics. In Marienberg, they are prepared to use the marten until at least 2030. In any case, the 40 armored personnel carriers for the Ukraine will not come from Saxony.
Then where do they come from? When it comes to questions like these, Christine Lambrecht feels in her element. She stands behind a desk with a microphone, she knows it, it suits her. She could have climbed into the Marder after the demonstration or had a conversation with soldiers like Paul, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz did in spring with the Gepard anti-aircraft vehicle. That might have given a few pictures that would have softened the impression that she was alien to everything military. But she didn’t do it, perhaps also because she fears that her discomfort, her awkwardness in dealing with the troops would have been visible in the pictures. Germany’s faltering defense minister wants to avoid further negative images like on New Year’s Eve at all costs.
No Leopard 2 for Ukraine for the time being
So she hides behind a lectern and says that the martens for Ukraine certainly don’t come “from the active troops”. Instead, industrial stocks were used, or deliveries that were originally planned for other countries would be diverted. Greece, for example, handed over its Russian-designed infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine in the spring in exchange for German Marders.
Lambrecht was also energetic when the topic of the possible delivery of German Leopard 2 battle tanks to the Ukraine came up. That is not currently an issue for the German government, she says, but does not rule out a delivery either. And no, she continues, so far there hasn’t been a request for an export license for the Leopard 2 by any other country. The day before, Poland had announced that it would supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The German arms export rules stipulate that the German government must agree to this delivery.
The way Christine Lambrecht is standing behind the desk is what Olaf Scholz should particularly appreciate about her: a 100% loyal party soldier. She doesn’t say anything that the Federal Chancellor wouldn’t also say. It would perhaps help her in public perception. In the spring, she had suggested to Scholz to offer Ukraine Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard 2A5 main battle tanks. There would have been enough lead time, the delivery would not have had to be rushed like it is now. So says someone who knows her well. But the chancellor and his advisors refused. Now Lambrecht has to see where she gets 40 martens from within a few weeks. She could say all that. But she doesn’t.