The commander of the German ground forces warns of the weakness of his force

Press reports in Germany revealed the existence of doubts within the German ground forces regarding the implementation of plans to quickly station a German brigade in Lithuania.

On Tuesday, Der Spiegel magazine reported, based on a letter sent by the Inspector General, Chief of Staff of the German ground forces, General Alfons Maes, to the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, Chief of Staff, of the Army, General Carsten Breuer.

In his letter, General Alfons Maes warned of the weakness of the ground units in the absence of investments worth billions of Euros.

Maes wrote, “Unfortunately, I can only emphasize once again that the material equipment of the ground forces, compared to the tasks assigned to them as of 2025, is more than marginal and will continue to suffer in the future”.

“The future is underfunded, despite all the positive efforts,” General Mayes expressed his belief that the funding available for the ground forces is very limited.

Der Spiegel magazine quoted from Mayes’s letter saying that the (Bundeswehr) Germany army’s equipping rate of all categories of equipment doesn’t exceed only 60%, from category A, such as artillery pieces, to category J, such as military tents”.

General Maes added that establishing a new large unit without additional investments would lead to a reduction in this, as the percentage is 55%.

General Maes stated that the material equipment for the new brigade assigned to Lithuania hasn’t yet appeared in the German Ministry of Defense’s cost data for the coming years.

Germany had pledged to Lithuania to permanently deploy up to 5,000 soldiers in the former Soviet republic, and the brigade is expected to become operational by 2027.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced during a visit to Lithuania before Christmas that Berlin is currently studying the need to provide additional materials.