They are starting to arrive
They have started to arrive. They - 45th Bundeswehr ground forces brigade "Litauen".
On Monday there were very many news about Lithuania in German media. The reason: Germany started deployment of one of the Bundeswehr brigades - 45th ground forces brigade - to Lithuania. On occasion, this brigade got the name - 45th brigade "Litauen".
The first group was personally escorted by the defence minister of Germany Boris Pistorius. In his speech he said that this was a historic day for his country: it was the first time in history that Germany deployed their troops to a foreign country permanently with the agreement of this country.
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It also means that Germany finally overcame the trauma of WWII. And likely Lithuania was one of the most important healers of German trauma.
Particularly sensitive Germany was looking eastward of the country. 15 years ago it seemed that Bundeswehr couldn't cross somehow Oder River even for training. Not to talk about more serious activities. What is happening now looked simply as science fiction:
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It was some Lithuanian decision-makers who started to work with German decision-makers early in the 2010s on the issue. The task seemed unlikely possible then. But it was 2013 when for the first time Bundeswehr crossed the Oder eastward direction. And arrived in... Lithuania for the training for the first time.
Since 2015 in Lithuania has been based NATO forward presence task force led by Germany and combined servicemen from different countries. Then many people believed that this was a bad choice: e.g. similar task forces in Poland led by the US or in Estonia led by UK seemed to be more capable ones.
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But I think that time showed how right Lithuanian decision-makers were. They based their assumptions on several very right premises. One of them: in the constantly changing world US will be more and more involved in the other regions of the world (first of all in the Asian-Pacific region). Another: Europe will be forced to take more responsibilities in its defence. And the defence of Europe is unimaginable without Germany.
Today we see that this was the very right decision. Security and stability in the Baltic region is the vital interest of Germany. Simply due to the geographical position.
This is the beginning. The largest groups of Bundeswehr servicemen will arrive in 2025 and then they will become essentially battle-ready.