“We must be ready to defend our values - freedom, security, democracy – with military means.” This sentence has been heard many times since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Also from the mouth of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, when she spoke to soldiers in Berlin’s Julius-Leber barracks on September 26.
This time the reason for her speech is a military ceremonial for the Territorial Command: a so-called roll call. This new unit will officially start work on October 1 and will bring together the previously decentralized forces in one place: in the German capital. The most important task is homeland security.
What is meant by “time change”?
“We are thus improving Germany’s national and alliance defense,” said the Defense Minister in the absence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who tested positive for Corona. The German head of government has chosen the word “turning point” for the paradigm shift in defense and security policy.
Christine Lambrecht uses this word again and again. She describes her party colleague Olaf Scholz as the “Spiritus Rector of the turning point”, i.e. as the initiator of the new appreciation for the Bundeswehr. Financially, the military change of course is reflected in an additional 100 billion euros. The aim is to better equip the troops at all levels, especially with modern weapons that are also ready for use. It has been a problem for many years.
Defense Minister promises “one-stop leadership”
In addition to the technical upgrade, organizational changes are intended to increase clout. But: “The changes must also reach the structures of the Bundeswehr,” says Christine Lambrecht. “Leadership from a single source” is her maxim. “With short distances to the federal government,” emphasizes the commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr in times of peace. In the event of war, authority would pass to the Federal Chancellor. This is enshrined in the Basic Law, the German constitution.
The Territorial Domestic Command based in Berlin is the counterpart to the Operations Command in Potsdam, which has been responsible for the Bundeswehr’s foreign operations since 2001. In the future, the newly created unit will coordinate from one location what was previously distributed all over Germany: homeland security, disaster relief in the event of floods or forest fires, troop and weapon transports for military exercises with partners within the European Union (EU) or the North Atlantic Defense Alliance ( Nato).
Bundeswehr operations in Germany: floods, refugees, corona
Christine Lambrecht praises the help that the Bundeswehr has been providing domestically for a long time under different organizational auspices. She is reminiscent of the deployment during the Elbe flood in 2013, the support for hundreds of thousands of refugees who came to Germany between 2015 and 2018 or the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in 2021. “But the most influential was certainly the deployment that began in 2020 and has been the largest and longest to date during the Corona crisis -pandemic,” stresses the Minister of Defence.
Bundeswehr soldiers supported health authorities at the height of the corona pandemic
Up to 25,000 women and men would have helped contain the dangerous virus. “They vaccinated, traced contacts, took test swabs.” In this mission alone, around 11,000 requests for administrative assistance were made to the Bundeswehr, says Christine Lambrecht. “An immense achievement that the Bundeswehr can be proud of and for which the people of our country are rightly grateful.”
Commander knows the Chancellery well
Carsten Breuer is the first commander of the territorial command that has now been set up. Until May 2022, he headed the Corona crisis management team in the Federal Chancellery, which has since been dissolved. In his new function, the 57-year-old wants to strengthen Germany’s resilience in all conceivable crisis situations. This includes the classic national defense.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) and Lieutenant General Carsten Breuer know each other well from their time on the Corona crisis team
“Regardless of what a potential opponent on German territory has in mind for us – we have to be able to counter it,” said Carsten Breuer in July 2022 to the magazine “Der Spiegel”. During the Cold War, the structures for this were in place and they were trained for it. Then the reunification of Germany came and you thought you were only surrounded by friends.
The annexation of Crimea was a turning point
At the very latest since the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea by Russia in 2014, “we know that this was a mistake,” the lieutenant general recalled in the interview of the momentous misjudgment of politicians. However, the military turning point in Germany proclaimed by Olaf Scholz did not take place until eight years later – after the Russian attack on the whole of Ukraine.
According to the defense minister, the new territorial command will play a particularly important role: “We are strengthening the Bundeswehr’s operational readiness,” says Christine Lambrecht, summing up the task of the new unit in one sentence.
