EU Army Ambitions Crushed As German Troops Forced To Use Their Own Cars In War Drills

French President Emmanuel Macron has routinely boasted about the creation of a powerful EU Army, but Macron’s ‘Napoleonic’ ambitions may have run into a major issue with the German military falling apart.

The latest report exposes how a major war exercise, which started last Thursday across Europe, had German troops using their own vehicles because of a shortage of infantry tanks as many were in disrepair. 

The shortage of infantry vehicles is so bad that some soldiers are using their own cars, RT News said, citing local reports. 

The exercise is one of the most massive drills in two decades, started last Thursday with thousands of German troops, along with other soldiers from ten different nations. 

RT News said only about one-fifth of Puma infantry fighting vehicles were operational in mid-2019, which is one of the top reasons why combat troops had to use non-military vehicles for transportation during drills. 

In 2018, the German military had 71 Pumas, only 27 were combat-ready, and 44 were in repair. 

The military has struggled with keeping its forces combat-ready for years, with vehicle and troop shortages.

We’ve noted before that tanks breakdown on the regular, planes can’t fly, and vessels aren’t seaworthy; the German military is a disaster. 

In 2017, the German Navy had many of its submarines in repair, basically had its entire fleet out of service, noted RT News.

It has also been reported that at least half of German recruits are unfit for combat. 

President Trump has slammed Germany and other NATO leaders to increase their defense spending targets from 2 to 4%. He’s demanded that European countries must pay their fair or purchase weapons from US defense companies. 

Given all these problems, perhaps pooling their resources with other nations (like France) in the form of an EU-wide army would make sense.

Germany will have a tough decision to either increase funding for its military or pay its fair share as a NATO member.