When this is in the public domain in March 2021 it must embolden European enemies. What was once probably the greatest fighting force on earth, that took on not only a lot of the European region, but also Russia and nearly won has now degenerated into a nation whose military have to use broomsticks as pretend guns. Methinks Germany have had their priorities so far wrong they are now weakened to the point of imminent humiliation with potential power shortages on the horizon due to their fear of the Green lobbies. Heil Greta!
In fairness this lack of home grown military expenditure and commitment whilst funding other plainly wasteful projects is not the sole failing of Germany, it;s endemic across most of Europe. It needs addressing immediately if people dislike the idea of a Jack boot on their backs.
Re Ursula von der Leyen:
The likes of Andrew Neil claim she was a “failed defence minister” in Germany ‒ perhaps because of high-profile military equipment failures during her tenure.
Ursula von der Leyen's army is so under-equipped it used broomsticks instead of guns.
The German army has faced a shortage of equipment for years, but the situation became so precarious in 2014 that some soldiers had to take matters into their own hands.
Bundeswehr troops tried to hide their lack of arms by replacing heavy machine guns with broomsticks during a NATO exercise.
After painting the wooden sticks black, the German soldiers attached them to the top of armoured vehicles, according to a confidential army report which was leaked to German broadcaster ARD.
A defence ministry spokesperson said the use of broomsticks was not a "common practice", and that the decision of the involved soldiers was "hard to comprehend”.
Ms von der Leyen served in Mrs Merkel’s cabinet from 2005 to 2019.
However, the revelation came at the worst possible moment for Ms von der Leyen.
The same day, the Ukrainian army suffered a defeat at the hands of pro-Russian rebels in the town of Debaltseve, putting a renewed focus on the question of whether Europe's NATO allies would be able to manage the crisis militarily – without American intervention.
To make things worse, the broom-equipped German soldiers belonged to a crucial joint NATO task force and would have been the first to be deployed in case of an attack.
Opposition politicians expressed concerns about Germany's ability to defend itself and other European allies, given that even some of the most elite forces lacked basic equipment.
The central European country was the world's third-largest arms exporter in 2013 but, when it came to Germany's own defence, politicians have been unwilling to invest.
It is not the only time the German army embarrassed itself.
Just a few months before she quit as defence minister in 2019, US officials found that German forces had been using mobile phones during a NATO exercise because of a lack of encrypted radio equipment.