The German Armed Forces are rehearsing a possible war against Russia as part of the large-scale NATO exercise Quadriga.

For several weeks, soldiers from NATO member states will participate in the exercise. Under German leadership, they will officially train in a series of interconnected individual maneuvers to deploy to the Baltic states and fight there by the end of September.

The German Naval Command in Rostock is responsible for planning and implementing the maneuvers. The Bundeswehr’s Operational Command is managing the operations of soldiers from 14 NATO countries, the majority of whom are German military personnel.

The exercises include the deployment of soldiers in Germany, the transport of combat troops across the Baltic Sea with the help of civilian ferries, and logistical and medical support for troops on NATO’s eastern flank.

The Bundeswehr is also utilizing reservists, civilian infrastructure, emergency services such as police and fire departments, and numerous civilian actors.

Thousands of soldiers trained for eastern operations

According to the Bundeswehr, the large-scale Quadriga exercise consists of several major deployment and combat drills that, since August, have involved 8,000 German soldiers and approximately 400 military personnel from allied countries “testing and demonstrating the operational readiness, mobility, and resilience of German and allied armed forces under realistic conditions.”

During the exercise, the German Armed Forces are training for military activities in the Baltic region “under crisis and war conditions.”

Brigadier General David Markus argued that Quadriga is “not an ordinary exercise,” adding, “This is fundamentally the scenario we are preparing for. And this raises my soldiers’ awareness of the situations we might face.”

According to the German Armed Forces, the main objective of the maneuver is to “increase the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr.”

To this end, soldiers are developing a range of military capabilities during the exercise. They are learning routes to the east by land, sea, or air; securing the deployment of internal security forces; conducting supersonic and low-altitude flights with Eurofighters; establishing medical rescue chains from warships to ports and the civilian health system; practicing drone defense; refueling large units on the move; deploying special forces as part of Quadriga in Finland; and scouting a potential operational area (Latvia).

To provide training that is “as realistic as possible,” some parts of Quadriga are conducted as “free-running exercises” outside of military training areas, amidst civilian life.

Deploying soldiers to Lithuania via Poland

According to the German Armed Forces, the core of Quadriga is the large-scale deployment of armed forces to Lithuania.

The German army’s “land march” through Poland to Lithuania took two days. They had previously handed over some of their vehicles to the Navy, which then transported them across the Baltic Sea to Lithuania on civilian ferries.

The stated purpose is to strengthen the military capabilities of navies in the Baltic Sea. The Bundeswehr notes that in addition to the strategic sea transport of land forces to Lithuania, it also trained for the first time in escorting civilian merchant ships.

According to the Bundeswehr, multinational naval units first gathered in Kiel and then set sail into the Baltic Sea under German command on September 1, the anniversary of Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland.

Reports from the German Armed Forces state, “you can hear the sound of machine guns from the ships ahead, see the splashing water droplets, and smell the gunpowder smoke.”

The deployment maneuver escalates to a confrontation with enemy warships. Commander Max Berger says, “We are ready for action and combat, meaning we are fully trained, fully armed, and fully equipped with ammunition.”

“The warships’ weapons can have an optimal effect on the attackers and destroy them,” writes the Bundeswehr. German Brigadier General Marco Eggert summarizes, “We have shown that we can deploy a significant amount of force to Lithuania and the eastern flank within a few days.”

Area of operations: the entire Baltic region

The Bundeswehr places great importance on the ability of “soldiers to quickly find their way in new and sometimes unfamiliar environments.” For this reason, as part of Quadriga, German soldiers repeatedly practiced their combat skills using civilian Lithuanian infrastructure.

In Lithuania, the German army established a “logistics network in the country of operation” for the first time this year, enabling it to supply reinforcements to the army there. According to the soldiers, this demonstrates that the Bundeswehr is committed to deploying on NATO’s eastern flank for an “extended period.” Additionally, support forces “made the combat troops sustainable.”

The Bundeswehr’s logistics units stated they rely “primarily on civilian infrastructure,” which was “researched last year, and agreements were made with Lithuanian companies and local authorities.”

Quadriga also includes the activities of a reconnaissance command tasked with exploring alternative operational areas that could be used if the course of a hot conflict requires it.

These “reconnaissance missions” also target Latvia, as the entire Baltic region is a potential area of operations for Bundeswehr logistics.

German soldiers in Finland: “NATO’s front line”

As part of Quadriga, German soldiers participated in what the Bundeswehr described as its “largest special forces exercise to date on Finnish territory.”

A member of the Special Forces Command (KSK) who participated in the exercise stated that Finland is “NATO’s front line.”

The Bundeswehr describes the exercise scenario as follows: Intelligence, which is difficult for the public to verify, indicates that enemy forces in the Baltic region are preparing for an imminent attack. Consequently, NATO countries immediately deploy special forces to the northern flank. Upon arrival in the country of operation, the special forces—whose activities abroad the German government is not required to disclose to the public—spring into action.

Here, German special forces gather information about possible targets, deploy drones, sabotage enemy infrastructure such as airports or train stations, disable air defense systems, and thus weaken the enemy’s combat capability before it can launch a new attack against the alliance.

In Germany, “reinforcement forces” then begin to “deploy personnel and equipment.” The German Armed Forces define their own requirement as being “able to act immediately in a war situation.”