Newsletter 2013/10/17 – Close to Reality and Mission
BERLIN/BERGEN/MUNSTER (Own report) – The Bundeswehr is preparing
prospective general staff officers for the invasion of foreign
countries and the repression of civil unrest. Scenarios to this effect
formed the basis of an informational training exercise for the
military’s future commanders that ended last week. The large-scale
maneuver, which involved a total of 3,500 soldiers and 700 ground and
aerial vehicles – carried out in the close vicinity of the former Nazi
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp – also exercised combat against
insurgents in congested urban areas. Various surveillance drones and
elite units specialized in “covert operations” as well as those
specialized in psychological warfare were also in action. They trained
using live ammunition. According to the German military, the exercise
took the “reality” of past warfare into consideration, while
anticipating “foreseeable challenges of the future.”
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