Germany and the Netherlands decide to create a new rapid-reaction army corps...

Germany and the Netherlands have decided to create a new rapid-reaction army corps to defend the Baltic states in the event of a Russian invasion, Reuters reports.

▪️The corps headquarters will be based in the German city of Muenster. The corps’ main task will be to "quickly provide mass."

▪️This will be the second NATO army corps created to defend the Baltic states, but the first focused exclusively on them. NATO currently has an army corps deployed with headquarters in the Polish city of Szczecin, but it is responsible for Poland as well.

▪️The exact number of troops they plan to deploy is still unknown.

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Also good news, but again, there is no answer to the question of "when and how many."

A number of public pages wrote that they plan to deploy up to 60,000. No, Reuters did not write that. 40,000-60,000 is the standard strength of a NATO army corps (three divisions) in WARTIME. But for now they are still in peacetime.

Reuters says the corps will be formed on a skeleton basis. (This is one of the two main principles of mobilization deployment, when in peacetime some % of the total strength is kept on the штат, and the remaining % is later filled through mobilization.)

So this clearly does not mean that 40,000-60,000 people will be permanently stationed in the Baltic states or in other countries while being ready for rapid redeployment; that is unrealistic.

And again, the question is where they are going to find the people. Germany and the Netherlands have only contract armies and major problems recruiting volunteers, and they still have not brought back conscription.

So overall, it looks good on paper, but in practice, we will have to see.

Reuters

NATO to beef up forces assigned to defend Baltics in war, sources say

NATO will strengthen the defence of its eastern flank with a new structure that would facilitate the rapid ‌deployment of forces in Latvia and Estonia in the event of a war with Russia, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.