Latest news with #GermanArmy
Saba Yemen
25-05-2025
- Business
- Saba Yemen
Construction of six frigates postponed until 2030
Berlin - (Saba): German media reported, citing sources, that the completion of six F126-class frigates for the German Navy has been postponed until at least 2030. The German Navy ordered the first four frigates in 2020, and two more in June 2024, from Dutch shipbuilder Damen Naval, for a total value of approximately €9 billion ($10.23 billion). The first ships were scheduled to enter service in 2028. A report published by a German newspaper indicated that informed sources are currently working on a 2030 start date. According to the report, the Dutch company is dissatisfied with the terms of the contract, which stipulate that at least 70% of the order must be completed in German shipyards. However, the report stated that representatives of the German Navy and the shipbuilding company were unwilling to publicly comment on the difficulties that arose or set new precise dates for construction completion. Damen Naval announced a delay in the delivery of the first ship, and the contracting company is currently working on a revised and reliable comprehensive project plan with its subcontractors, according to the German Arms, Information Technology and Applications Authority of the German Army, according to the report. According to data published on the German Army website, the German Navy currently has 11 frigates, four of which belong to the F123 class and were launched between 1994 and 1996. They were supposed to be replaced by the new F126 class frigates after 2028, according to the German newspaper. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
NHK
22-05-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Germany stations brigade in Lithuania in historic move
The German military has established a brigade in the Baltic country of Lithuania in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This is the first time Berlin has permanently stationed military personnel overseas on a solo basis since the end of World War Two. A ceremony to mark the deployment took place in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on Thursday. Lithuania borders Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad and its ally Belarus. The German brigade will have roughly 5,000 service members, Leopard 2 tanks and other military assets amid NATO's efforts to reinforce member defenses. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed about 800 military personnel during the ceremony. Merz said his country is aware of its own responsibility and that, "NATO can rely on Germany." He also said Berlin's goal is to provide all financial resources necessary to develop the German military into Europe's strongest conventional armed forces. Lithuanian crowds were seen welcoming the stationing of the German brigade despite Nazi Germany's invasion during the war. The Merz administration unveiled its plan to sharply boost defense spending after it was inaugurated earlier this month. This comes amid speculation that US President Donald Trump's administration might reduce his country's commitment to NATO.
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Merz vows to defend Nato territory as German troops deploy in Lithuania
Eight decades after the Nazi horrors of the second World War , Lithuania has welcomed German soldiers – this time as Nato allies. Amid growing doubt over the US commitment to the region, chancellor Friedrich Merz said the co-operation − involving the deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania − marked a 'new era' of German readiness to defend 'every inch' of Nato territory and stand with the Baltic region against 'any threat'. In Vilnius on Thursday, Merz and his defence minister Boris Pistorius oversaw the first ceremonial role call of the Panzer Brigade 45, the first battle tank brigade based outside Germany since 1945. 'We are determined, together with our allies, to defend Nato territory against any, any threat. We must do everything to defend ourselves – so that we never have to,' said Merz alongside Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda. READ MORE The German leader praised successive Baltic governments for recognising the Russian threat and acknowledging their 'irritation' over long-lasting German 'illusions about Putin's regime'. 'I assure you, that time is over,' Merz said. 'We are aware of the seriousness of the situation. And we are aware of our responsibility.' The new brigade comes a week after Merz promised that unprecedented German defence investment will result in Europe's greatest conventional army. About 400 German soldiers are stationed in the Baltic region at present. Some have begun their basic training while others will follow in the coming months. By February 2026, the Nato multinational force in Lithuania will be subordinated to the new German division, bringing total numbers up to 1,800. In a year's time Germany aims to have nearly 2,000 soldiers on the ground. A year later the hope is for the brigade to grow to about 5,000 personnel. The new brigade is headquartered in Rudninkai, 30km south of the capital, with a focus on the vulnerable Suwalki Gap. This is a narrow corridor between Kaliningrad and Belarus and is seen as a potential flashpoint in any potential Nato-Russia conflict. [ Merz vows to build the strongest army in Europe and revitalise Germany's fortunes Opens in new window ] Memories of the last major conflict here hung over Thursday's ceremony. Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 1941 until the end of the war in 1945. Though initially welcomed as liberators from Soviet oppression, the Nazi occupiers murdered huge numbers of the local population, including the majority of the Jewish and Sinti-Roma communities. The new deployment has led to the rise of German-language schools and housing projects in Lithuania, while German defence company Rheinmetall is setting up a new factory here. In exchange Lithuania has agreed to step up orders of German equipment and technology, including Rheinmetall's Leopard 2 tanks and Boxer armoured vehicles. Germany's deployment mirrors commitments by France, the UK, and Canada, which lead Nato battle groups in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, respectively.
San Francisco Chronicle
07-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
AP WAS THERE: Journalists chronicled the Nazi surrenders and end of World War II in Europe
REIMS, France (AP) — When Allied forces brought World War II in Europe and the Holocaust to an end 80 years ago this week, AP reporters and photographers were there, chronicling the Nazis' historic defeat. ___ EDITORS' NOTE: On May 7, 1945, AP's Edward Kennedy witnessed the German surrender in a French schoolhouse, and was the first to announce it to the Allied public, defying authorities who wanted to delay the news. The news was broadcast unofficially over German radio, but U.S. President Harry Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had agreed to suppress news of the capitulation for a day, in order to allow Soviet leader Josef Stalin to stage a second surrender ceremony in Berlin. Kennedy published anyway, angering U.S. authorities. Kennedy was called home by AP and later fired. AP issued a public apology in 2012, saying Kennedy 'did everything just right,' because the embargo was for political reasons, not to protect the troops. 'The world needed to know,' AP's then-President and CEO Tom Curley said. Kennedy 'stood up to power.' ___ FLASH: ALLIES OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED GERMANS SURRENDERED UNCONDITIONALLY ___ Through an iron-faced Prussian general, speaking after he had finished signing the unconditional surrender of the Nazis, Germany today pleaded for mercy for the German people. On the wall behind his back was a huge chart tabulating Allied casualties. He was Col-Gen. (Alfred) Jodl, chief of staff of the German Army. He was standing in a room of a red school house in Reims, where Gen. Eisenhower had his advanced headquarters. On a big wooden table in front of him lay four identical documents to which he had just affixed his signature — one each for the United States, Britain, France and Russia. ... Seventeen correspondents were present at the signing and heard Jodl's plea. After he had signed the four instruments of surrender, and after the military representatives of the four Powers had signed them, Jodl asked for permission to speak. He was told that he might. He held himself stiffly erect. His voice was low and soft. He said: 'With this signature, the German people and armed forces are, for better or worse, delivered in the victors' hands. In this war which has lasted more than five years, both have achieved and suffered more than perhaps any other people in the world. I express the hope that the victor will treat generously with them.'' His face was expressionless. So were the faces of the American, British, Russian and French generals who represented the Allies. All had seen the German murder camps and all knew the furious cruelty of German occupying forces. Jodl finished speaking and sat down. A moment passed in dead silence. Again, there was a moment of heavy silence. Then Eisenhower spoke. He was brief and terse as always. His voice was cold and stern. His steel blue eyes were hard. In a few clipped sentences, he made it plain that Germany was a defeated nation and that henceforth all orders to the German people would come from the Allies. He said they would be obeyed. Then the Germans filed out. It was over. Nazi Germany has ceased to exist. The war had ended. ___ The great bells of St. Peter's Basilica rang out over Rome soon after the Associated Press report that peace had come to Europe, while several Allied capitals proclaimed V-E holidays for today, and Tokyo announced continuation of 'The Sacred War.' Many of the world's cities went wild at the news, and even neutral capitals were bedecked and filled with celebrating crowds. Masses of people gathered in front of loudspeakers and newspaper offices, which were frantically answering inquiries and rolling out extras. Only in the unnatural calm of the European fronts was the news reported to have been taken soberly, by soldiers who had seen the fighting taper off in one sector after another for the past two weeks. ___ War-scarred London burst into jubilant celebration of the end of the war in Europe today, its millions of citizens unable to wait for the government's official V-E Day proclamation tomorrow. Millions surged into the streets, from Buckingham Palace to the sedate East End. The Picadilly Circus, Whitehall and Westminster areas filled with a laughing, shouting throng. Some old-timers said the scene eclipsed those of the 1918 armistice. Pubs were jammed, Champagne was brought up from deep cellars and long-hoarded whisky and gin came out from hiding. The great bells of Big Ben tolled the hours of the historic day. ___ In Washington, crowds gathered in Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House in anticipation of an announcement by President Truman to proclaim Allied V-E Day. A dispatch from the United States 9th Army front said withdrawal of American troops toward a previously established line of demarcation between them and the Russians had begun, with the first-move evacuation of the Yanks from their bridgehead of the banks of the Elbe River. The Elbe became the temporary line between the Allied armies. ___ BERLIN, May 10, 1945: By HAROLD KING, former Moscow bureau chief This town is a city of the dead. As a metropolis, it has simply ceased to exist. Every house within miles of the center seems to have had its own bomb. … The scene beggars description. I have seen Stalingrad; I have lived through the entire London blitz. I have seen a dozen badly damaged Russian towns, but the scene of utter destruction, desolation and death which meets the eye in Berlin as far as the eye can rove in all directions is something that almost baffles description. Dozens of well-known thoroughfares, including the entire Unter den Linden from one end to the other, are wrecked beyond repair. The town is literally unrecognizable. The Alexander Platz, in the east end, where the Gestapo headquarters were, is a weird desert of rubble and gaping, smoke blackened walls. From the Brandenberg Gate, everything within a radius of two to five miles is destroyed. There does not appear to be one house in hundred which is even useful as a shelter. ... The only people who look like human beings in the streets of what was Berlin are the Russian soldiers. There are two million inhabitants in this town, the Russian authorities told me, but they are mostly in the remoter suburbs. In the center part of the town, you only see a few ghostlike figures of women and children — few men — queuing up to pump water. If Stalingrad, London, Guernica, Rotterdam, Coventry wanted avenging, they have had it, and no mistake about it. The Red flag, or rather several red flags, fly on top of the Reichstag which is burned hollow. The Tiergarten opposite the Reichstag looks like a forest after a big fire. There was heavy street fighting here. ... The population and the Red Army soldiers are attempting to clear some of the main streets. The Russian command has already erected at all main squares and crossings huge sketch maps without which it would be impossible to find one's way about. Except for an occasional Russian army car or horses drawing Russian army carts, there is a complete silence over the city, and the air filled with rubble dust. One sign of life, however, are the interminable columns of displaced persons of all European nationalities who seem to be marching through Berlin in various directions, carried forward by a homing instinct more than any clear idea where they are going. These columns of freed slaves are sometimes a mile long.
Edinburgh Live
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Live
Lorraine host comforts crying WWII veteran after emotional King Charles announcement
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info ITV Lorraine became incredibly emotional when stand-in host Ranvir Singh welcomed Joy Trew, 94, to the set to talk about a recent King Charles tribute. At the age of 17, Joy started work as a World War II interceptor, learning Morse code so that she could decipher radio plans to derail Adolf Hitler and his German Army in their conquest. For her efforts over eight decades ago, King Charles requested that Joy join him at the VE Day celebrations, inviting her to sit next to him and Queen Camilla in London. Joy was extremely touched by the King's announcement and kind tribute and began to cry on-air as she spoke to host Ranvir about the joyful moment. Further to King Charles' sweet gesture, there were further tears when British historian and writer Dr Tessa Dunlop joined the discussion to present Joy with an emotional surprise. Dr Tessa had uncovered that Joy was a World War II hero, so she presented her with a sparkly award for her work in uncovering important information during the war. This is a breaking showbiz story and is being constantly updated. Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest news, pictures and videos. You can also get email updates on the day's biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.
