After a short Easter break, forces from the Bundeswehr are once again practising the fast march for national and alliance defense. For a few days now, Jäger Battalion 1, reinforced by support forces, has been on the approximately 1,300-kilometer journey to the NATO-eastern flank as part of the “Saber Strike” exercise.
During this exercise, Jäger Battalion 1 is under the command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army in the Upper Palatinate. This is where the first leg of the march of the fighters from Schwarzenborn led on April 8. Once they arrived in Grafenwoehr in Bavaria, the multinational task force “Dragoon” was formed there. From there, the march continues to the Bemowo Piskie military training area in north-eastern Poland. In Poland, Spanish and Italian units will then join the exercise, arriving in Poland from their home countries by sea via the port of Gdansk. In Bemowo Piskie, a week-long joint combat and firing exercise is carried out by all participating forces, including Dutch reconnaissance units. https://militaeraktuell.at/schweizer-armee-und-bundesheer-planen-uebung/ The German and Dutch forces then continue on the land march towards Lithuania. From there, once the exercise is completed, they will return to their home bases by plane, ship and rail. The aim of the “Saber Strike” exercise is to demonstrate the operational readiness of medium forces for national and alliance defense. Medium forces are a new force category of the Bundeswehr with exclusively wheeled vehicles. They are thus quickly mobile and can reach possible deployment areas in a short time on land marches. “Saber Strike” is part of the NATO large-scale maneuver “Steadfast Defender 24”. The German contribution is around 1,000 soldiers and is part of the large-scale national exercise “Quadriga 2024”. The Bundeswehr is combining several large-scale exercises for the deployment of troops in Germany and abroad. It combines these with exercises planned by its allies over a period of five months. More than 12,000 soldiers are involved.
Here for further reports on the Bundeswehr and here to further reports on NATO.
