The defense ministry, led by Ursula von der Leyen, has confirmed the Bundeswehr's interest in recruiting foreign EU citizens. Photo: DPA
DW: Bundeswehr floats idea of recruiting EU citizens
Recruiting citizens of other EU nations to Germany's Bundeswehr has been floated by its top officer Eberhard Zorn as an "option." They would fill vacancies in posts such as military doctors and IT specialists.
Germany's armed forces appeared ready to break with its German nationality prerequisite for fixed-term and professional soldiers Thursday by suggesting that other EU citizens could help fill its thinned ranks.
Germany's draft of young adults was dropped in 2011, prompting the six-part Bundeswehr, including navy, air force and now cyber divisions, to launch elaborate recruitment campaigns.
Read more: German army under scrutiny for recruiting teenagers
Zorn, the Bundeswehr's general inspector, told newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe (media group) based in Essen that, given personnel shortages, Germany "must look in all directions and seek suitable trainees."
Read more ....
WNU Editor: This is actually an old idea. It was first proposed this summer .... Germany to consider EU applicants for military jobs (Politico). More here .... Germany considers recruiting foreign EU nationals to boost army (Local)
More News On Germany's Bundeswehr Wanting To Recruit EU Citizens To The Military
German army 'could recruit EU citizens' -- BBC
German army floats plan to recruit foreigners -- Reuters
German army considers recruiting other EU citizens -- The Guardian
German military considers recruiting from other EU countries -- The Telegraph
6 comments:
Fine but they can’t properly equip their existing German troops. Image how badly Romanians will be.
Didn’t Hitler try this in WWII, with disastrous results? Yes he did.
Anon:
Yes, in WW2 there were such units, but it was not that disastrous. Sure they lost the war but these units usually outmatched the regular units of the nation they came from. Having better equipment and German officer on the top, while nationals on the lower levels, the idea itself was not from the devil. The ones that have been created earlier in the war were proper forces, but the rest that have been created right before one such nation fell, well those did not so much.
The article focus on professions that are less "frontline", and require more knowledge and education, such as medical and IT. Many EU countries have their soldier not drafted, but volunteered with contract, and as long the Germany give a better paycheck ( by a lot, compared to eastern Europe ) there will be people happy to join so. This whole concept is perfectly viable and could give opportunity to people with proper knowledge from the eastern side of Europe to get to Germany and have a fix job, combined with a possibly good life, and no foreseeable war that they would need to fight in ( but they would be in a supporting role anyway ).
The role of German language ( one of the heritage of the Habsburg Monarchy ) in Central Europe however has dropped by a lot during the last 20 years, both teaching and using it has highly decreased as English language took it's place, but let the struggle of learning Germany be the problem of these future candidates. Because of the possible variety of people, in case of a war I'm not sure where their loyalty would fall, that needs a long time to develop.
The German Army of WW1 had to bail out the polyglot army of Austria WW1. That is what mlacix was pointing out.
Rinse Repeat?
I have herd tales of the Chinese parade ground looking like a cluster due to dialects and stuff. You could not count on that with mass media and time having passed.
Hitler armed the Romanians with Czechoslovakian weapons given to him by Neville. He kept the good stuff and and gave them the decent stuff. The upgunning in WW2 was fast. It wasn't that the Romanians were not there. It is that 37 mm cannon bounced off of T34s. Hitler equipped them, but the Romanians never upgunned due to economics, priorities or something.
The Romanians were hit with too many division anyway. No one was going to win. The Germans and Romanians might have won (done better), if Hitler had shortened his line at Stalingrad ahead of winter as his generals had suggested.
mlacix,
You know what Russian T34 crew called a PAK 36?
A doorknocker
http://www.operationbarbarossa.net/the-door-knocker/
Anon(s):
I did not know that the PAK 36 was called as such, thanks for the link, it was a nice reading.
But back to the other topic, it's not only that the Germans gave German assets (tanks, artillery, etc. ) to other nations, but more so that the Wehrmacht and even the Waffen-SS had foreign originated ( sometimes majority and naming ) units among their lines, where they fought independently from their original nations, under some German general or SS officer. It's hard to track which units were where from and did what exactly during the war, but feel free to look up the "foreign volunteers and conscripts of Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS" topic on the internet, sure there are some detailed reading about this matter.
Post a Comment