Talk:British Forces Germany

May be a good idea to state what their purpose is
Why are they in Germany when the cold war is over? Seems like a waste of british pounds. Weird. M99 87.59.102.169 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 17:50, 17 June 2009 (UTC).

It's a good question, the answer to which throws up an important insight into the changing nature of the geo-political landscape of the European Union. Even though the Cold War and the threat of Soviet invasion has all but disapeared the British Army's investment in facilities and infrastructure makes it much more convenient and cost affective to retain much of the army in Germany, especialy the thousand odd armoured vehicles including 300 x 60 ton Challenger tanks who's usefullness stationed on an island fortress (Britain) would be somewhat less than ready for the most probable action than as retained on the EU's mainland. The close working relationship the British Army has developed with the German and other Europen armies, together with the substantial air and marine logistics also associated with rapid strategic redeployment to another theatre, as exampled in the last two wars against Iraq, are also handily set up where they are. The concept as suggested by the questioner that Germany is a strange foreign country for Britain to station a major part of its forces merely indicates how the changed nature of a united Europe still escapes the cognicence of so many.82.3.88.225 (talk) 18:03, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

There is also the fact that NATO has a role to fulfil against its main threat which is still on the outskirts of Europe, to clarify and reinforce what Aussie Rupert says- the stationed forces are in a kind of forward operating position in Germany just in the same that US bases can be found everywhere from Iceland to the Pacific. Bunnyman78 (talk) 14:55, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Should this be included in the article —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.107.70.94 (talk) 18:46, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, if someone has sources. I was going to post the same question on this talk page but found a very good answer here already. - filelakeshoe (t / c) 12:28, 6 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Well they're all being withdrawn now anyway despite having far better infrastructure and training facilities in Germany than anything we can provide in Britain. Crass, ill-informed decision. --Bermicourt (talk) 09:04, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Interview with PeterLunney GGS-Herford.
I use this as a reference, for beeing taken serious in an edu-environment. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KQTHf6Bork INTERVIEW/AUFNAHME HERFORDBESATZER. BFG-GGS PETERS (Berichter Rüdiger Müller)

rm1911/meesdorfrangers www_forsvaret_de

--Rm1911 (talk) 09:12, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

How many troops are there?
How can the article have so many words but not say how many troops are there? Old-fashioned numbers needed. Frenchmalawi (talk) 00:03, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

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Is this correct: As of 2015, there are 21,500 troops still in Germany?
The article claims "As of 2015, there are 21,500 troops still in Germany" and cites http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33142613. That site does not contain the number 21,500, however (do I need to make calculations myself?). Either way, it contradicts what the German wikipedia article says, namely that there were 13,400 British troops in Germany in 2014 and 3,671 in 2016 (one would expect the withdrawal to continually decrease the number of soldiers). So what's correct here?

(maybe, instead of answering that, the article should just provide the numbers for 2016 though) Pipping (talk) 22:35, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Update: The German wikipedia article actually also states "Ende 2015 war Großbritannien noch mit 5200 Soldaten in Deutschland vertreten" (translation: "By the end of 2015, there were 5200 soldiers from Great Britain left in Germany".

The source is http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/20151204_ABP_Nov_Newsletter_Edition_9.pdf which says: "This means that we have reduced our Forces in Germany from 20,000 in 2010 to 5,200; a reduction of 74%, thereby surpassing the Government’s target of withdrawing 50% of our Forces from Germany by 2015". Pipping (talk) 22:38, 21 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi - The BBC article cited, written in 2015, refers to "20,000 troops and their families": I suspect we should use that number, that form of words and that source. I cannot find any justification for the figure of 21,500. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 23:39, 21 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi and thanks for chiming in! It seems the sentence "[..] which is responsible for bringing 20,000 troops and their families home by the end of the decade [..]" refers to the fact that the target number of troops is 0 for 2020, while it was on the order of 20,000 in 2010 (see also the quote from the official Army document cited above). My impression is that the BBC article just doesn't give the numbers we need here, it's not a good source. Pipping (talk) 00:13, 22 December 2016 (UTC)


 * This article from the Guardian in 2011 talks "of a pullout that will eventually cover all 20,000 British troops there". So I think that 20,000 is an accepted figure even if it goes back a few years. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 00:24, 22 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Oh, we can agree entirely that there were 20,000 British troops in Germany around 2010. But that number is rapidly decreasing. This is what the table in the German wikipedia article I mentioned earlier says (and again, the official army document from above gives 5,200 as the number for 2015):


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! Country !! 2006 !! 2009 !! 2014 !2016
 * USA || 72,416 || 56,680 || 42,450
 * 35,800
 * Great Britain || 20,039 || 18,602 || 13,400
 * 3,671
 * France || 3,708 || 3,582 || 1,623
 * 594
 * The Netherlands || 2,173 || 610 || 477
 * 443
 * Belgium || 284 || 221 || 105
 * 148
 * Canada || ? || ? ||140
 * 107
 * Total || 98,620 || 79,695 || 58,195
 * 40,763
 * }
 * OK. Happy to go with the figure of 5,200 (citing the official army document) then. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 20:38, 22 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Canada || ? || ? ||140
 * 107
 * Total || 98,620 || 79,695 || 58,195
 * 40,763
 * }
 * OK. Happy to go with the figure of 5,200 (citing the official army document) then. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 20:38, 22 December 2016 (UTC)
 * OK. Happy to go with the figure of 5,200 (citing the official army document) then. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 20:38, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

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