Germany recently showed its ability to surge forces to the east of the Alliance, demonstrating NATO’s ability to deter potential adversaries and, if necessary, defend its territory on short notice.
Roughly 1,000 soldiers and 320 vehicles from the German Army’s 41st Panzer Grenadier Brigade were rapidly deployed to Lithuania for exercise Griffin Storm 23, arriving via rail, road and sea. Now established at Pabrade Training Area near the capital Vilnius, the troops will train with their counterparts from the Lithuanian Army until 7 July.
The 41st Panzer Grenadier Brigade is a mechanised infantry unit, blending the firepower of heavy mortars with the speed of infantry fighting vehicles. They will join forces with the Lithuanian Army’s Grand Duke Algirdas Infantry Battalion to plan and execute joint training operations.
Germany has led the NATO multinational battlegroup in Lithuania since 2016, when NATO stood up the first four battlegroups in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Following Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, NATO Allies agreed to establish four additional battlegroups in Eastern Europe, while setting aside forces to strengthen the existing, battalion-sized battlegroups into brigades, wherever and whenever needed. In May this year, the US Army demonstrated this capability for the first time during Exercise Griffin Shock, when their 2nd Cavalry Regiment turned the NATO battlegroup in Poland into a brigade-sized formation.
Footage includes shots of a civilian ferry arriving at the port of Klaipeda, unloading of the vehicles and march to the Pabrade Training Area.
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