Hamburg drill tests Baltic deployment prior to formal defense alert

Since Thursday, the German Armed Forces and civilian agencies in Hamburg have been conducting drills simulating the deployment of troops to NATO’s eastern flank.

The core scenario of the “Red Storm Charlie” exercise is a mobilization toward the Baltic states ahead of a potential Russian attack: prior, that is, to any declaration of a state of emergency or defense alert.

According to German Foreign Policy, this means that emergency laws, which permit a massive domestic clampdown, would not be enacted.

Begun two years ago with Red Storm Alpha and continued last year with Red Storm Bravo, the Red Storm exercise series centres on mobilizing “civilian support services” for military deployment against Russia.

According to the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), a total of 500 soldiers with heavy equipment are training for deployment to the Eastern Front.

The drill is taking place not only on military training grounds, but also in the very midst of civilian life.

Lieutenant Colonel Juergen Bredtmann of the responsible Hamburg State Command remarked after Red Storm Bravo that the soldiers were “smiling” and “extremely excited [because] they could finally implement such a thing in a satisfying manner.”

Such “free-range” exercises in civilian settlements are being conducted with increasing frequency.

Neither peace nor war

According to Lieutenant Colonel Bredtmann, the military plans to carry out these convoy movements across the urban area of Hamburg predominantly at night.

The German officer acknowledged that, in peacetime, “moving a convoy through rush-hour traffic on a Friday afternoon would be difficult.”

In the event of war, the German Basic Law permits state agencies to exercise sweeping emergency powers, compelling civilians and business owners to contribute labour and material in the service of the armed forces.

These measures include, for example, converting corporate premises into rest staging areas for military vehicles, requisitioning civilian lorries, or obliging healthcare personnel to work in military hospitals.

In such circumstances, the scope of coercive measures also widens; this includes deploying the military against insurgents, which is constitutionally permitted.

Yet with the Red Storm Charlie exercise, the armed forces are now openly training for a “precautionary redeployment of military forces to eastern alliance territory.”

In other words, mobilization to the east is taking place prior to any frequently cited “Russian attack.”

Regarding Red Storm Charlie, the Bundeswehr states:

“In the scenario depicted, a state of tension or a state of defense determined by the German Bundestag does not yet exist; consequently, from a legal standpoint, we remain at peace.”

Civilian forces integrated into the military

In its domestic national defense, Berlin relies primarily on civilian forces to free up as many soldiers as possible for combat on the Eastern Front.

Only a few soldiers are to remain behind; remaining tasks will be undertaken by “homeland defense forces” (meaning military reserve units) and civilians.

The stated objective of Red Storm is to “enhance the operational capabilities of all participants.”

Alongside the Federal Police, participants include police forces from Hamburg, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein; the fire brigade and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW); the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf; the German Red Cross; the airport, port, and the Hamburg elevated railway system; the Chambers of Commerce and Crafts; Lufthansa; Airbus; Blohm + Voss; Philips; the Hamburg Trade Fair; and Edeka.

Local media are also lending active support: on the occasion of the exercise, public broadcaster NDR published recommendations from the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK).

Under these guidelines, all Germans should stockpile 20 litres of water, 14 days of food, medicine, an emergency kit, and a hand-crank radio in preparation for war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Supermarket chain joins war preparations

The Edeka retail chain is not only supporting this year’s Red Storm exercise, but is also actively participating in the implementation of the BBK’s war-preparedness measures.

Alongside public relations efforts promoting war readiness and involvement in the convoy initiative, Edeka and its discount subsidiary Netto are marketing a “specially developed emergency backpack” as a “compact foundation for private crisis preparedness” in connection with the war games. The backpack includes a packing checklist and a hand-crank radio.

Edeka is also taking part in Red Storm Business, a Chamber of Commerce initiative in which the Bundeswehr is not explicitly involved.

Through Red Storm Business, a civilian training programme, the Chamber of Commerce seeks to enable enterprises to “gain practical experience with a specific crisis scenario within their own operations” in order to test their “autonomous operational capacity.”

The drill simulates an extended power outage. More than 160 companies have signed up voluntarily, including Edeka, Airbus, Rheinmetall, Deutsche Bahn, Unilever, and Hamburger Hochbahn, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.

German military prepares for potential protests

Civilian society, however, is not merely offering cooperation; it is also voicing opposition.

Numerous groups from the expanding anti-war movement, ranging from trade unions such as the GEW to organizations such as Disarm Rheinmetall, are calling for protests and active resistance against the exercise.

Handling public protests is an explicit component of the Red Storm series: footage from last year showed a simulated sit-in blockade featuring red pyrotechnics and demonstrators glued to the ground.

Bundeswehr troops were required to clear this blockade during the exercise.

Accordingly, the federal government anticipates that, in a mobilization scenario, the population would stage mass protests ranging from escalating demonstrations and blockades to sabotage.

Ukraine war critics monitored by domestic intelligence

According to Sinan Selen, vice president of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV), even “discontent” or mere “criticism of the existing system” must be treated as suspicious, as it creates “vulnerabilities” to “Russian narratives.”

According to Selen, the “Do Not Become a Disposable Agent” campaign, conducted jointly by the BfV and the police, seeks to target individuals who “approach the Ukraine conflict critically… and are interested in Russia.”

When several electrical substations were attacked recently, police investigated not only a suspected “far-left background” but also whether the incidents constituted “sabotage directed by a foreign state.”

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested that links could exist “between extremist elements and state terrorism,” adding that whether “one is tied to the other is always examined as part of the investigations.”

With the expansion of civil-military cooperation, state agencies are increasingly blurring the boundaries separating the armed forces, police, and domestic and foreign intelligence services.