by HARTMUT BÜHL, European News Journal, Paris
Germany’s 45th Armoured Brigade (Panzerbrigade 45) is moving east and will be permanently stationed in Lithuania. Agreed upon in 2023, this project with high symbolic value is now concretely taking shape. “Lithuania and Germany are jointly demonstrating that we are ready to defend Europe,” declared German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on 22 May 2025 in Lithuania.
He had traveled with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to Vilnius, where both were received with military honours by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė.
“Lithuania and Germany are jointly demonstrating that we are ready to defend Europe.” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
The ceremony Merz and Pistorius attended marked the official entry into service of the German brigade in Lithuania, a large unit that will gradually expand until reaching its full operational capacity of 5,000 personnel by the end of 2027. President Nauseda said: “Europe is now responding to the greatest challenge to our security in this century”. At the end of the ceremony in Vilnius, the brigade received its colours and the additional name “Lithuania” brigade.
A change in German security thinking
The idea behind this joint German-Lithuanian project is to strengthen stability throughout the region and enhance the protection of NATO’s eastern flank in the face of the threat from Russia. It is also a strong sign of Germany’s solidarity with its allies.
“With this combat-ready brigade, we are taking on leadership responsibility within the Alliance here at NATO’s eastern flank”, declared Defence Minister Pistorius.
This permanent deployment abroad – the first since the second world war – of a large German unit, including logistics and family members, is considered a flagship project. Thus, the defence of Lithuania on NATO’s eastern flank has become an integral part of German security and defence policy. This testifies to a profound shift in German security thinking – described by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz as Zeitenwende (turning point).
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Roadmap for the 45th Brigade in Lithuania
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The “Lithuania Brigade“
The legal status of German military forces, civilian personnel and their families in Lithuania, as well as the provision of civil services, such as healthcare, transport and education for soldiers’ children, are regulated by a German-Lithuanian defence cooperation agreement signed on 13 September 2024 in Berlin and ratified respectively by the Lithuanian Seimas and the German Bundestag on 3 October 2024 and 31 January 2025.
The Lithuania Brigade will consist of two army battalions that previously were based in Germany and the Multinational Battlegroup Lithuania (formerly NATO Enhanced-Forward-Presence – eFP) and will be completed by necessary enablers, including combat support and logistics units.
The brigade is commanded by Brigadier General Christoph Huber, who was the first Commander of NATO efP in Lithuania created in 2017. The large unit will be located at two sites. The main base is at a barracks in Rūdninkai, near Vilnius, which can accommodate up to 3,000 troops and where a medical centre was activated on 1 April. Another major base is Rukla, near Kaunas, which will be the integration site of the Multinational Battlegroup Lithuania.
Hartmut Bühl is European News Journal’s Editorial Director. Previously, he served for 17 years as Editor-in-chief of the magazine “The European – Security and Defence Union”.
Write to Hartmut: h.buehl@european-news-journal.com
© ENJ, 2025
