Italy took part in Baltops 2023 with the landing ship San Marco, photo: US Navy

Italy got involved with the landing ship San Marco at Baltops 2023, photo: US Navy

Battle for the Baltic Sea - in the Baltic Sea?

Should there be an armed conflict with Russia, the question arises as to where. Is the Baltic Sea still a suitable area for this?

With Finland's accession to NATO and the hoped-for accession of Sweden in the near future, the military geography in the Baltic Sea region is changing significantly. Spatial planning, command structure and the defence plans at operational and strategic level, which are only just being drawn up, will have to take this into account and have a significant influence on them - all of which will have a decisive impact on the Bundeswehr in particular.

11 Jul 2023

0 Kommentare

  1. Thank you for this razor-sharp analysis by the commander of Operational Flotilla 1! I would like to make two comments. The first is a historical reference. During the Cold War, Berlin was in an even more difficult position to defend than the Baltic states and Finland are today. The Western Allies USA, Great Britain and France set up the Live Oak organisation at the time to counter blackmail against Berlin. It is still worth taking a look at this organisation today, especially as there is now literature on this formerly secret organisation (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_Live_Oak; Harald van Nes: The struggle for Berlin during the Cold War. The story of Live Oak. Commissioned by the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Armed Forces and scientifically supervised by Bernd Lemke, Berlin/Munich/Boston 2021).
    The second reference relates to the statement in this article that fierce battles with heavy losses are to be expected in the Baltic Sea. Here I refer to the article by the commander of Flotilla 2, Flotilla Admiral Axel Schulz, which has also just been published (https://marineforum.online/wenn-nicht-jetzt-wann-dann/). Since 1990, the Bundeswehr system has not only moved away from intensive combat materially, but also and above all mentally.
    Thanks to the editors for publishing these two articles by the commanders responsible for the floating fleet in close temporal connection!

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