Germany’s armed forces are planning how to treat a potential 1,000 wounded troops per day should a large-scale conflict between NATO and Russia break out, and amid long-standing warnings by the alliance that Moscow could be capable of launching an attack from 2029.
Moscow has rejected any suggestions it might be preparing for a war with the Western military alliance, but the latest incursions of Russian jets and drones into NATO territory have raised fears of escalation.
Germany’s Surgeon General Ralf Hoffmann said the number of wounded troops in a potential conflict would depend on the intensity of battle and which military units were involved.
“Realistically, we are talking about a figure of around 1,000 wounded troops per day,” he told Reuters in an interview.
European militaries, including their medical services, stepped up preparations for potential conflict with Moscow in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two.
Germany is also constantly adapting its medical training, incorporating lessons from the war in Ukraine.
“The nature of warfare has changed dramatically in Ukraine,” Hoffmann said, citing a shift from gunshot injuries to blast wounds and burns caused by drones and loitering munitions.
Ukrainian soldiers describe the drone-infested corridor covering about 10 km either side of the frontline as the “kill zone” because remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) deployed by both sides can swiftly spot and neutralize targets.
“The Ukrainians often cannot evacuate their wounded fast enough because drones are buzzing overhead everywhere,” Hoffmann said, underscoring the need for prolonged stabilization of injured soldiers — sometimes for hours — at the frontline.
Hoffmann said flexible transport options were needed for wounded troops, noting Ukraine has used hospital trains. For this reason, the German military is looking at hospital trains and buses and expanding medical evacuation by air, he said.
The wounded would undergo initial treatment at the frontline, before being transported back to Germany for care predominantly in civilian hospitals, Hoffmann added.
He estimated a need for approximately 15,000 hospital beds from German hospitals’ total capacity of up to 440,000.
The German military’s 15,000-strong medical service would be expanded to meet future demands, he added.
