Germany: Hamburg concludes largest military exercise since the Cold War amid popular protests

German forces in Hamburg concluded the three-day “Red Storm Bravo” exercises, the largest military exercise the city has seen since the end of the Cold War.

The drills involved approximately 500 soldiers, along with police, firefighters, and civilian authorities, with the aim of testing civil-military cooperation in emergency situations.

At the conclusion of the exercise, the Armed Forces, in cooperation with the Fire Department, executed a simulated scenario of a major accident on board a frigate at the Blohm+Voss shipyard.

The simulation included rescuing and treating dozens of injured people and transporting them to hospitals as part of a series of realistic rescue operations.

The Hamburg military command described the exercise as a success, noting that the 4-kilometer nighttime march of 70 military vehicles proceeded “smoothly and surprisingly” without any significant incidents, and it’s also praised the residents’ positive interaction with the soldiers on the city’s streets.

However, the exercise wasn’t without protests, as hundreds of people took to the streets of Hamburg, chanting slogans rejecting civil-military cooperation and denouncing the port’s transformation into a part of the rearmament operation.

Organizers were expecting up to 10,000 people to participate, but attendance was limited to only a few hundred.

It’s noteworthy that the exercise began on Thursday from the port of O’Swaldkai, and included training on countering drone attacks in urban areas.

The military leadership confirmed that the next edition of the exercise, called “Red Storm Charlie,” will take place next year.