Since Thursday, the German Armed Forces and civil organizations in Hamburg have been conducting exercises that simulate the dispatch of troops to the eastern flank of NATO.
The main scenario of the “Red Storm Charlie” exercise is a mobilization against the Baltic countries before a Russian attack (hence a state of emergency or a defense alert).
According to German Foreign Policy, this will mean that emergency laws, which allow to increase pressure within the country to a great extent, are not enacted.
At the heart of the Red Storm exercise series, which started with Red Storm Alpha two years ago and continued with Red Storm Bravo last year, is the mobilization of "civil support services" for military mobilization against Russia.
According to the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), a total of 500 soldiers are trained with heavy equipment to be dispatched to the Eastern Front.
The exercise is carried out not only in the fields of military training, but also in the middle of civilian life.
Lieutenant Colonel Jürgen Bredtmann of the Hamburg Regional Command, in charge, says that after the Red Storm Bravo, the soldiers "smiled" and were "extremely excited to finally be able to implement such a thing satisfactorily."
Such "free space" exercises are increasingly carried out in civilian settlements.
Neither peace nor war
According to Lieutenant Colonel Bredtmann, the army plans to carry out these military convoy expeditions mainly at night in the urban area of Hamburg.
The German officer admits that in peacetime, "it will be difficult to pass a convoy of vehicles on a Friday afternoon, in heavy hour traffic."
The German Constitution allows state institutions in war, state institutions to use wide-ranging extraordinary powers to force civilians and business owners to contribute labor and supplies in the service of the military.
For example, turning company buildings into rest areas for military vehicles, confiscating civilian trucks or forcing medical personnel to work in military hospitals.
In such cases, the scope of repressive measures also expands, including the dispatch of the constitutionally permitted army against the rebels.
But with the Red Storm Charlie exercise, the army is now clearly trained for “injunctional redeployment of military forces towards eastern alliance territories”.
That is, there is a mobilization to the east before the often mentioned "Russian attack" takes place.
The Bundeswehr states the following regarding Red Storm Charlie:
“In the described scenario, there is no state of tension or defense set by the German Federal Assembly yet; therefore, we remain at peace legally.”
“Civil” forces are integrated into the army
In its domestic national defense, Berlin relies primarily on civilian forces in order to release as many soldiers as possible for the conflicts on the Eastern Front.
Only a few soldiers will remain behind; the rest of the work will be undertaken by the "patriotic defense forces" (i.e. military reserve forces) and civilians.
Red Storm is said to be the goal of “improve the operational capabilities of all participants”.
In addition to the Federal Police, participants include police forces from Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein; firefighters and the Federal Technical Assistance Agency (THW); Hamburg-Eppendorf University Medical Center; German Red Cross; airport, port and Hamburg high rail system; Chambers of Commerce and Crafts; Lufthansa; Airbus; Blohm + Voss; Philips; Hamburg Trade Fair and Edeka.
Local media also does not withhold its support: On the occasion of the exercise, the NDR publishes the recommendations of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (BBK).
According to these recommendations, all Germans should stock up on 20 liters of water, 14-day food, medicine, emergency kit and a radio with a hand crank in preparation for a war with Russia, which has a nuclear weapon.
Retail chain also joined the preparation for war
The Edeka retail chain not only supports this year's Red Storm exercise, but also participates in the implementation of the BBK's combat preparedness measures.
In addition to public relations efforts and participation in the convoy campaign that promote war preparedness, Netto, a discounted grocery chain belonging to Edeka and Edeka Group, markets the “specially developed emergency backpack” as part of the war exercise, as “a compact basis for special crisis preparedness”. The bag also includes a packing list and a hand crank radio.
Edeka also participates in Red Storm Business, a Chamber of Commerce startup in which the Bundeswehr is not explicitly involved.
With Red Storm Business, a civil education program, the Chamber of Commerce aims to enable companies to “practically experience a specific crisis scenario within the scope of their own operations” in order to test “their own action capabilities”.
The exercise simulates a long-term power outage. More than 160 companies, including Edeka, as well as companies such as Airbus, Rheinmetall, Deutsche Bahn, Unilever and Hamburger Hochbahn, as well as small and medium-sized businesses, have voluntarily registered for this exercise.
German army prepares for possible protests
But the civilian population not only supports, but also expresses their opposition.
Numerous organizations of the growing anti-war movement, from unions like GEW to groups like Disarm Rheinmetall, are calling for protests and resistance against the exercise.
On the other hand, dealing with civil protests is of course an open part of the Red Storm drill series: Last year's images showed a sit-in blockade simulated with red pyrotechnic materials and people who stuck themselves to the ground.
In the exercise, the Bundeswehr soldiers had to overcome this blockade.
Accordingly, the federal government predicts that in the event of a mobilization, the public will organize mass protests ranging from escalating demonstrations and blockades to sabotage.
Critics of the Ukraine war are following domestic intelligence
According to Sinan Selen, head of Germany's internal intelligence agency (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution – BfV), even “dissatisfaction” or just “criticism of the current system” should be considered suspicious as it constitutes “weak points” against “Russian narratives”.
According to Selen, the “Becoming a Disposable Agent” campaign, jointly run by the BfV and the police, aims to target people who “approach the Ukrainian conflict with a critical perspective... and who are interested in Russia”.
When attacks on several substations have recently occurred, police have investigated not only a suspicious “extreme left background”, but also whether the events were “sabotage directed by a foreign state.”
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested that there could be links “between elements of extremism and state terrorism,” adding that “whether one is connected to the other” is “always being examined as part of the investigations.”
With the expansion of civil-military cooperation, state institutions are increasingly blurring the boundaries between the military and the police, domestic and foreign intelligence services.