Berlin’s offer last month to permanently deploy a full combat brigade in Lithuania may reflect the beginnings of a shift in German strategic culture, but it is unclear whether the Bundeswehr can pull even this task off. The decrepit state of the Bundeswehr now stands in the way of the German government’s stated intention to play a greater role in European security and deterrence against future Russian aggression.

They are at such a low state of military readiness that when the 10th Tank Division conducted an exercise late last year, its entire deployed fleet of 18 Puma infantry fighting vehicles broke down.

Today, Germany has around 34 battalions, and the word “combat” is a bit of a misnomer. In 1990, as the Cold War was ending, the then-West German Bundeswehr alone was still able to field 215 combat battalions in a high state of readiness. More than a decade ago, the German government made the deliberate decision to kill the ability of the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, to fight a conventional land war in Europe and strip it of the equipment, manpower, and resources to do so.

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