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☆ Germany seals 2025 budget plan after weeks of tense negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz smiles during a question time on July 3, 2024 at the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) in Berlin. "It is about a strong defense, a strong [German army] that offers protection from the aggressive tyrants of our time. An economic growth initiative has been planned alongside the budget, Scholz said. But the budget must then be discussed by the German parliament after its summer break, before being finalized later in the year. Negotiations have been ongoing for weeks after spending plans shared by individual ministries exceeded constraints by billions.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Scholz, Christian Lindner, Lindner Organizations: Bundestag, CNBC, NATO, German, Reuters Locations: Berlin

☆ How Architecture Became One of Ukraine’s Essential Defenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the German Army finally broke through in central Ukraine in September 1941, pasting up ordinances around Kyiv to announce a new occupying authority, they had only a few days’ calm. Less than a week after the occupation began, an explosion went off in a children’s toy store on Khreshchatyk Street — the capital’s grandest shopping boulevard, Kyiv’s equivalent of Fifth Avenue or the Champs-Élysées. Soon the city hall and the Communist Party headquarters crumbled. Walk through central Kyiv today, down the Khreshchatyk, past the grand Independence Square and the ritzy Tsum department store, and you can read the history of postwar and post-independence Ukraine in the subsequent architecture. When the city is a battleground, architecture becomes an act of defense and defiance.

Organizations: German Army, Communist Party, New York Times Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia

☆ What is D-Day? How the Normandy landings led to Germany’s defeat in World War II
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Catherine Nicholls | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —June 6, 2024 marks 80 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The Allied troops’ invasion was coordinated across air, land and sea, in what can be described as amphibious landings. On D-Day alone, around 4,440 Allied troops were confirmed dead, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), with more than 5,800 troops wounded or missing. Because Omaha Beach was the bloodiest landing beach, the US Army lost the most men in the amphibious landings. Within minutes of reaching Omaha Beach, 16 of these men were killed and four were wounded.

Persons: –, France –, ’, Adolf Hitler, “, ”, Bedford’s, Bedford, Hitler Organizations: CNN, Royal British Legion, Canadian, Cotentin Peninsular, Omaha Beach, Juno, Allied, Pas de, Allies, Commission, Omaha, US Army, Bedford, Foundation, US Department of Defense, Western Allies, US, German Nazi, Third Reich, Victory Locations: Normandy, Nazi Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Utah, Omaha, Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Poland, Europe, Fortitude, Pas de Calais, Cotentin, British, Gold, Pas, Germany, Bedford , Virginia, Omaha Beach, Paris, Nazi, German, Reims

☆ Florence’s famed Ponte Vecchio to be restored to former glory with two-year makeover
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —In the seven centuries since the Ponte Vecchio was first built in Florence, Italy, the bridge has watched the city changing around it, surviving floods, fires and the Nazi invasion in World War II. Now, the famed bridge itself is getting a two-year makeover, at the cost of about €2 million, to restore it to its former glory, the city of Florence and the Marchesi Antinorini winemakers announced on Wednesday. “This is a historic project because Ponte Vecchio has never had a restoration intervention of this technical complexity,” Florence’s mayor Dario Nardella told reporters on Thursday. Such is the Ponte Vecchio’s significance that it was the only bridge across the Arno River spared by the retreating German army towards the end of World War II. Previous replacement joints will be upgraded, the stone itself will be strengthened and the footpath’s stone will be restored too.

Persons: Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, ”, Dario Nardella, “, Marchesi Antinori, Piero Antinori, Tod’s Organizations: CNN, Diesel Locations: Florence, Italy, Nazi, Venice

☆ For Max Beckmann, Art’s Ironist, Crisis and Rediscovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Before the war (the First World War, I mean; with so many wars one can lose count), Max Beckmann was painting clean, traditionalist self-portraits and lush pictures of bathers by the sea. Otto Dix, Beckmann’s fellow ironist, enlisted at once and served in the artillery corps. “I have been drawing,” Beckmann wrote to his wife one evening, after a day caring for men who’d survived the trenches. Though he never served at the front, Beckmann had a nervous breakdown by the end of 1915. A revolution would come to Germany, as it had already come to Beckmann’s easel.

Persons: Max Beckmann, Matisse, Picasso, Ypres, Otto Dix, Beckmann’s, Franz Marc, Beckmann, Umberto Boccioni, Wilfred Owen, “, ” Beckmann, who’d, ” Organizations: Imperial German Army, Allies Locations: Flanders, Belgian, Verdun, Frankfurt, Germany

☆ Germany pledges to make its military 'the backbone of defence in Europe'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File... Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreBERLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Germany will strengthen its military to make it the backbone of deterrence and collective defence in Europe, its defence minister pledged on Thursday as Berlin issued new defence policy guidelines for the first time in over a decade. The 19-page document details what the "Zeitenwende" - the major shift of policy German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - means for the workings of the Bundeswehr. "With the Zeitenwende, Germany becomes a grown up country in terms of security policy," Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said as he presented the guidelines, the first since 2011 when Berlin suspended conscription. "As the most populous and an economically strong country at the heart of Europe, Germany must be the backbone of deterrence and collective defence in Europe," Pistorius said. German forces needed to be refocused on their core mission -the credible defence of Germany and its allies - and be "ready to fight a war", he said.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Wolfgang Rattay, Boris Pistorius, Pistorius, Sabine Siebold, Toby Chopra, Ed Osmond Organizations: Patriot, Bonn Air Force, Territorial Command, Bundeswehr, REUTERS, Berlin, Thomson Locations: Cologne, Wahn, Germany, BERLIN, Europe, Ukraine, Berlin, prioritise, Lithuania

No decision on a ground offensive has been announced, although Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border 3. Israeli military spokesman Read Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday Israel had so far identified 126 captives. GERMANY TO START EVACUATING CITIZENS FROM ISRAELBERLIN — The German army will start evacuating its citizens from Israel with military airplanes. Hezbollah said its fighters struck several Israeli military positions in the disputed Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba hills in the afternoon. ISRAELI MILITARY ANNOUNCES IT IS PREPARED FOR ‘COORDINATED’ OFFENSIVEJERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has prepared a “coordinated” offensive in the Gaza Strip involving air, ground and naval forces.

Persons: Israel, Lloyd Austin, “, Israel —, ”, Yifat Zailer, Zailer, Read, Daniel Hagari, Hezbollah’s, Ali Youssef Alaaeddine, Alaaeddine, ERDOGAN'S, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bilal Erdogan, Suleyman Soylu, Mustafa Sentop, ” Erdogan, Sentop, Khalil Hachem, Rabad Akoum, ” Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, ” Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Mohammad Abu Selim, Medhat Abbas, Hakan Fidan, Sameh Shoukry, IT'S, ROME —, “ We’ve, Antonio Tajani, Tajani, —, ” Tajani, TT, Tobias Billström, Elina Valtonen, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Saleh Arouri, Ziad Nakhaleh, Amirabdollahian Organizations: United Nations, Gaza, United States Defense, TEL, ISRAEL BERLIN —, Hamas, Lufthansa, BEIRUT —, Associated Press, AP, Ministry, Sunday, South, MEDIA, BEIRUT, National News Agency, OFFICIAL, EGYPT BEIRUT —, OF, Gaza —, Shifa, Health Ministry, FROM, Romania — Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel, NORDIC, FROM ISRAEL HELSINKI, Nordic, Helsinki Airport, Iran’s, Manar, Islamic, Hezbollah Locations: Gaza City, Israel, Gaza, Egypt, Israeli, Lebanon, ISRAEL, SYRIA, TEL AVIV, Syria, Golan, GERMANY, Germany, Jordan, BEIRUT, Palestinian, ISTANBUL ISTANBUL, Istanbul, United States, Tel Aviv, Dubai, South, Lebanese, Chebaa, Kfar Chouba, JERUSALEM, EGYPT BEIRUT, GAZA, Shifa, FROM ISRAEL, TURKEY, ISTANBUL, Turkish, Embassy, Turkey, BUCHAREST, Romania, Romanian Embassy, ITALY, ROME, Italian, Rome, FINNS, Finland, Sweden, Helsinki, Stockholm, Swedish, Stockholm’s Arlanda, Beirut, Hezbollah’s, Amirabdollahian, Iran, Iraq, Jihad

☆ Russian failures in Ukraine are forcing Moscow to give up on one of the biggest Putin-era military reforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

As a result, Russia's military is ditching one of the main reforms lauched under Vladimir PutinNEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. The German Army in World War II routinely formed combined-arms battlegroups ("kampfgruppen"), as did the US Army's task forces. BTGs were composed of professional contract soldiers, who are generally more capable, competent, and motivated than the sullen conscripts that still hamper Russia's army today. A few high-readiness battalions can't compensate for the low-readiness conscripts that make up about one-third of Russia's army. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images"The Russian military is well-suited to short, high-intensity campaigns defined by a heavy use of artillery," Michael Kofman and Rob Lee, both experts on Russia's military, wrote in June 2022.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, —, Vladimir Putin's, Josef Stalin, SERGEY VENYAVSKY, Olesya, Tkacheva, BTGs, SERGEI VENYAVSKY, ALEXANDER NEMENOV, Michael Kofman, Rob Lee, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Russian, Red Army, Tactical Groups, Getty, Ukraine —, Brussels School, Governance, Wilson Center, Washington DC, German Army, US, Foreign Military Studies Office, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Troops, Soviet Army, British Army, Ministry of Defense, Russian Armed Forces, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Chechen, AFP, Washington, Russian, Georgia, Moscow, Syria, Russia's, Krasnodar, Soviet, BTGs, Germany, Forbes

☆ The war in Ukraine is pushing Russia away from its WWII-style artillery strategy, and experts say it's 'a concerning trend'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russia and Ukraine have relied heavily on artillery to batter each other's forces. AdvertisementAdvertisement"This is a concerning trend, as over time it will likely significantly improve Russian artillery," write the report's authors, Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds. Russian artillery doctrine is still largely based on extensive analysis of World War II data to determine how many shells were needed to achieve a specific effect. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev"First, Russian forces lack the ammunition to sustain this volume of fire," the RUSI report said. According to the RUSI report, Russia continues "to rely heavily" on multiple-launch rockets, 120-mm mortars, and "other imprecise systems," and "corner-cutting in the production of its munitions is becoming apparent."

Persons: Jack Watling, Nick Reynolds, ANDREY KRONBERG, —, Stalin, Operation Bagration, Maxim Zmeyev, Andrey Rusov, Katyusha, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Getty, REUTERS, Russian Defense Ministry, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Western, Moscow, Volgograd, AFP, Berlin, Russian, Saratov, US, Soviet, Forbes

☆ A Sculptor Breaks Through, Taking the Walls Down With Her
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Siddhartha Mitter | More About Siddhartha Mitter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

At MoMA, meanwhile, a new sculpture has gone on extended view in the sculpture garden, titled “S’adossant (Pauline)” or “Reclining (Pauline).” Its three main sections are painted a fleshy pink and suggest a reclining figure. Among past incarnations, they told me, the building was once a depot where the East German army painted tanks before parades. Baghramian is a creature of Berlin arguably more than she is German, having lived in the city stateless for years before receiving citizenship. She spent tedious hours in government offices helping newcomers with paperwork, and worked at the women’s shelter that her sister Louise co-founded. “It was a flux moment,” she said of the 1990s in Berlin, “when things were changing and unstable in a positive way.”

Persons: S’adossant, Pauline, ”, “, I’ve, Baghramian, Michel Ziegler, Louise Organizations: MoMA, East Locations: Berlin, Isfahan, Islamic Republic, Iran, East Berlin, West Berlin

☆ Ukraine has a new weapon in its fight against Russia – 100 Cold War-era German tanks designed by Porsche
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine has a new weapon in its fight against Russia – Cold War-era German battle tanks. According to The New York Times, Germany sent 10 of the obsolete Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine last month. According to The New York Times, Germany sent 10 decommissioned Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine last month. AdvertisementAdvertisementMarlow said the Leopard 1A5 is also easier to master, maintain, and fix than its modern descendant, the Leopard 2A6. A Ukrainian tank crew stands next the Leopard 1A5 main battle tank.

Persons: Getty, Sean Gallup, Andreas Marlow, Marlow, Christian Mölling Organizations: Russia, The New York Times, Service, Leopard, Porsche, Krauss, Maffei, Times, Leopard 1A5, Bundeswehr, German, Foreign Relations, Ukrainian, Brussels Times Locations: Ukraine, Germany, Wall, Silicon, West Germany, Europe, Ukrainian, Klietz

☆ Eighty years on, Italian victims of Nazi crimes finally to get compensation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

A study funded by the German government and published in 2016 estimated that 22,000 Italians were victims of Nazi war crimes, including up to 8,000 Jews deported to death camps. However, it did not offer reparations for war crimes. "They didn't look at war crimes and this was a mistake. In 1994, a cupboard was found in the offices of Rome's military prosecutors packed with files documenting hundreds of war crimes that had never been prosecuted. In 2012, the International Court of Justice backed Berlin, but Italian courts continued to hear compensation cases, saying no limit could be imposed on war crimes.

Persons: Crispian Balmer, Mauro Petrarca, Domenico Lancellotta, Giulio Disegni, Lucio Olivieri, Petrarca, Mario Draghi, Disegni, Fornelli, Giovanni Tedeschi, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Nazis, International Court of Justice, Union of Italian Jewish, Allied, Rome, Nazi, Berlin, PRIDE, Italian Treasury, Reuters, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Fornelli, Molise, Italy, Germany, Berlin, Rome

☆ Russian soldiers are fighting Ukraine high on amphetamines, a report claims. The Nazis did it first.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ukrainian soldiers have speculated that Russian troops are fighting while high on amphetamines. Nazi troops were given methamphetamines during World War II to decrease fear and increase aggression. Germany even organized a rehab program for "overflown" pilots, or those who were addicted to the drug, Ohler said. The Russian military gave its soldiers vodka rations to get through World War II; France opted for red wine; and alcohol remained the "number one" drug for Germans during the war, Ohler said. "I would be surprised if drugs were not being used in the Ukrainian-Russian war," Ohler said.

Persons: playbook, Norman Ohler, Ohler, Pervitin, Otto Ranke, Ranke, Adolf Hitler, Hoffman, — Organizations: Nazi, Service, Russian, Royal United Service, Reich, Institute for General, Defense, Ohler, France Locations: Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, Russian, Nazi Germany, Europe, Germany, Poland, West, France, Belgium, Holland, British, Soviet Union, German, Vietnam, Ukrainian

☆ 4 key types of landmines, how they work, and their impact on the Russia-Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Here are the four main types of mines, how they work, and how they've impacted the war. Insider has looked at the four key types of landmines — broken down into two major groups — being used in the war, how they work, and the impact they've had on the conflict in Ukraine. In July, HRW said it had unearthed more evidence that Ukraine used the banned mines and has informed the Ukrainian government. Fragmentation minesFragmentation mines can be either bounding mines or ground mines. The Russia-Ukraine war has seen a variety of anti-tank mines used, including the PTM-1 and the TM-62M.

Persons: deminers, Vitaly V, HRW, OLEKSII FILIPPOV, Velyka Novosilka, Diego Herrera Carcedo, bobby, Bradley, Valery Zaluzhny, Zaluzhny Organizations: Service, The Times, German Army Combat Training, Blast, Rights Watch, Wikimedia, Getty, Anadolu Agency, HRW, DEL POZO, Washington Post Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russia, PMN, Ukrainian, Brovary, Kyiv, AFP, Mine

☆ Berlin aims to have "best equipped" NATO army division in Europe in 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Heiko BeckerBERLIN, July 17 (Reuters) - Germany is confident it will have the best equipped army division amongst European NATO allies in 2025, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters, as countries are scrambling to gear up their troops in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the moment, Berlin does not have a single combat-ready division, a military unit comprising more than 20,000 troops. It aims to have the first of three divisions operational by 2025, with the second to follow in 2027. "It will be sufficient, in any case, to contribute the best equipped division of all European NATO partners in 2025. "But supporting Ukraine is more important right now than establishing a division, as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed," he underlined.

Persons: Boris Pistorius, Heiko Becker BERLIN, Alfons Mais, Mais, Jens Stoltenberg, Olaf Scholz, Sabine Siebold, Emma, Victoria Farr, David Evans Organizations: German, Bundeswehr, REUTERS, NATO, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Hammelburg, Germany, Ukraine, Berlin, Dutch, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kyiv

☆ Biden said he decided to send Ukraine controversial cluster bombs because Kyiv is 'running out of ammunition'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Joe Biden has agreed to send Ukraine deadly cluster munitions. Cluster bombs are particularly dangerous because they break apart into multiple little bombs when fired, some of which do not always explode upon impact. Experts say cluster bombs will be useful for Ukraine's forces against well-dug-in Russian trenches amid a grueling counteroffensive. YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty ImagesHuman Rights Watch said last year that Russia was actively using cluster bombs in Ukraine and had killed and maimed hundreds of civilians with them. Biden said it took him a while "to be convinced" to send cluster bombs, but he ultimately decided Ukraine "needed them."

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, CNN's Fareed Zakaria, YASUYOSHI CHIBA, Zakaria, British Army Lord Dannatt, Rishi Sunak Organizations: Service, Kyiv, US, CNN, Getty, Rights Watch, Defense Department, British Army, NATO, German Army Combat Training Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Kyiv, Russia, Zarichne, AFP, Ukrainian, Izium

☆ Nova Kakhovka: Ukraine dam collapse serves neither side well as war enters next crucial phase
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

They were to blow up the Zaporizhzhia hydroelectric dam that bisected the eponymous industrial city, which stands 200 kilometers (125 miles) upriver from today’s Nova Kakhovka barricade). Local residents stand on the Dnipro embankment after the Nova Kakhovka dam breach on June 6. Rescue workers evacuate an elderly woman and her husband from a flooded neighborhood in Kherson, Ukraine, on Wednesday, June 7. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters Flooded streets are seen in Kherson on June 7 following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam. Alina Smutko/Reuters In pictures: The collapse of Ukraine's Nova Kakhovka dam Prev NextUkraine’s armed forces have insisted that their counter-offensive included contingency planning for a disaster at the dam.

Persons: Ukraine CNN — Fish, ecocide ”, unawares, Ivan Antypenko, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, General’s, ”, Ukraine’s, It’s, who’ve, Vladimir Putin, Andrei Pidlisnyi, –, Evgeniy, Angelina Kopayeva, Alex Babenko, Vladyslav Musiienko, Muhammed Enes Yildirim, Tetiana, Alexey Konovalov, Felipe Dana, Musiienko, Nina Lyashonok, Oleksandra, Alina Smutko Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, Nazi, NKVD, Reuters, International, Criminal, Kherson City, Ukrainian, CNN, AP, Anadolu Agency, Planet Labs PBC, Reuters Red Cross, AP Local, Culture, Reuters Local Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Nova, Dnipro, Russia, Moscow, Russian, today’s, Reuters Ukrainian, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk City, Kharkiv, Kherson . Roman, Vladyslav, Nova Kakhovka, Libkos, Crimean, Crimea, Russia’s

☆ 3 unsung World War II female spies who helped make D-Day a victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Katie Sanders | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Once the war began, Borrel left Paris and took a crash course in nursing with the Red Cross. The German military defeated France in June 1940, but many French citizens took up arms in a resistance to Adolf Hitler and his troops. In the spring of 1942, the SOE recruited her. Moving between Paris and the countryside, she coordinated aerial supply drops and recruited, armed, and trained Resistance members. She was in the SOE's first training class for female agents, where she learned skills from hand-to-hand combat to Morse code.

Persons: Borrel, Adolf Hitler, Pat O'Leary, Prosper Organizations: France, German Army, French Resistance, British Royal Air Force, SOE, Nazi, Allies Locations: Paris, France, Spain, Lisbon, Portugal, London, Nazi, Europe

☆ Germany to provide 2.7 billion euro military aid package to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Two Leopard 2 A6 tanks from the German Army's Tank Battalion 203 drive around the training area. Germany will provide a new 2.7 billion euro ($2.97 billion)military aid package to Ukraine, including 30 Leopard tanks, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff said on Saturday. In a post on the Telegram app, Andriy Yermak said Berlin would also provide four Iris-T air defence systems, 20 Marder armoured personnel carriers, 200 reconnaissance drones, 100 armoured vehicles and a large quantity of munitions.

“This is the second train, there was one like it just before.”The video, seemingly filmed in late March, shows old Soviet tanks being transported, somewhere in Russia. Moscow has been known to bring out older military equipment from storage to help it prosecute the war in Ukraine, but these are different. The tanks are T-55s, a model first commissioned by the Soviet Union’s Red Army in 1948, shortly after the end of World War II. Soviet T-54/T-55 tanks form a threatening ring round the Parliament buildings in Hungary on November 12, 1956. T-55 tanks drive through the streets of Prague, capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, in 1968.

☆ Germany is finally focusing on defending NATO, but its military 'lacks almost everything' it needs to do it, a former German general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

That's the warning from a former German general who argues that Germany must refurbish its badly neglected armed forces — though this will take years to accomplish. Today, the German military is just 183,000-strong, and it can't meet its recruiting goals. In 2020, German defense spending was only 1.4% of GDP, well short of 2% goal that NATO members have pledged to hit by 2024. "Armament procurement concentrated on armored transport vehicles rather than on battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles," Vad writes. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty ImagesDespite years of calls by France for pan-European defense, coordinating German defense procurement with other EU states — each with distinct military needs and political priorities – is difficult.

Bowing to pressure from allies, Germany's government this year agreed to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, one of the big ticket items sought by Kyiv as it gears up to mount a counteroffensive against Russian forces. Duesseldorf-based Rheinmetall makes the cannon of the Leopard 2 while the Munich-based KMW makes its chassis. A district court in Munich in a statement on Tuesday said KMW was seeking legal protection to prevent Rheinmetall from making statements it saw as "untrue, misleading factual assertions that violate its rights". Higher defence spending pushed Rheinmetall to record earnings last year and saw the company enter Germany's DAX blue-chip index. ($1 = 0.9106 euros)Writing by Matthias Williams Editing by Alexandra HudsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rheinmetall and KMW to upgrade Puma armoured vehicles for German army
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 19 (Reuters) - Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) have received an order from the German army to upgrade 143 Puma infantry fighting vehicles, the companies said on WednesdayThe order for their joint venture PSM is valued at around 770 million euros ($843.92 million), they said in a joint statement. According to the companies, they will retrofit the armoured vehicles with key capabilities for firepower and command and control by 2029. The contract, which was signed in 2021, included two options for modernising the vehicles, both of which Berlin has decided to execute now. In late 2022, the German government said it would not purchase any more Pumas until they had proven themselves reliable, after several were put out of service during a military drill. ($1 = 0.9124 euros)Reporting by Andrey Sychev, Editing by Rachel MoreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukrainian troops blew up their own building to trap Russian forces after they blasted their way inside with a tank, commander says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian forces used a tank to blast their way into a building in the war-torn city of Bakhmut. Ukrainian troops in the building left and blew it up to trap them, The New York Times reported. He said in one instance, Russian troops used a tank to blast through the walls of an apartment building held by Kyiv's forces. He told the Times the Ukrainians placed explosives around the building, quickly left, and the blew up the apartment while the Russians were still inside. Captured German soldiers, make their way in the bitter cold through the ruins of Stalingrad, Russia, in 1943.

☆ Ben Ferencz, last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor, dies at 103
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

We mourn the death of Ben Ferencz—the last Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor. At Nuremberg, Ferencz became chief prosecutor for the United States in the trial of 22 officers who led mobile paramilitary killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen that were part of the notorious Nazi SS. The case we present is a plea of humanity to law," Ferencz added. "Genocide - the extermination of whole categories of human beings - was a foremost instrument of the Nazi doctrine," Ferencz said. After the Nuremberg trials, Ferencz worked to secure compensation for Holocaust victims and survivors.

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