More soldiers than ever
Bundeswehr enters “uncharted territory” in Lithuania
April 8, 2024, 10:43 a.m
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By 2027, 4,800 Bundeswehr soldiers are expected to form a brigade in Lithuania. An advance team is already traveling to the Baltics to prepare for the operation.
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius welcomed an advance detachment of around 20 Bundeswehr soldiers to Lithuania at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. “It is new territory that you are entering,” Pistorius told the soldiers. The incident command is intended to prepare the stationing of an army brigade in Lithuania.
The brigade is intended to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank in the face of the threat from Russia, will officially enter service in 2025 and be operational by the end of 2027. “I know there is still a lot to do, including on site. The infrastructure has to be right, the barracks have to be there, the accommodation, the apartments,” said Pistorius. And: “There is still a lot to be done on the Lithuanian side and we – I can assure you – will do everything we can to equip the brigade the way it needs to be equipped right from the start.”
Never before have so many soldiers permanently abroad
The soldiers are to be welcomed in Vilnius by Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas. The army inspector, Lieutenant General Alfons Mais, is also flying to Vilnius. He spoke in the ARD “Morgenmagazin” about a “very important signal that Germany is living up to its responsibility.”
It’s about fulfilling alliance obligations, protecting NATO partners on the eastern flank and defending peace and freedom. Mais called the start an “outstanding event” for the brigade.
The target size for the brigade is 4,800 soldiers as well as around 200 civilian Bundeswehr members and other employees. The permanent stationing of a brigade in Lithuania is a precedent in the history of the Bundeswehr. Never before had so many soldiers been permanently stationed abroad.