Critics slam German military effectiveness after three killed

Apr 6, 2010, 12:19 GMT

Berlin - Critics, one quoting soldiers in the field, slammed the German armed forces' military effectiveness in Afghanistan on Tuesday, four days after a squad was nearly wiped out in a well- planned Taliban ambush.

Germany's military ombudsman, Reinhold Robbe, said soldiers told him they had not been properly trained in dismounting from and re- entering their armoured infantry vehicles while under fire.

A retired chief of German military planning, Ulrich Weisser, told the Bild newspaper that the Germans in Afghanistan lacked essential fighting equipment used by other armies, including intelligence- gathering aerial drones.

He also criticized a lack of helicopters for transport and use as gunships.

'It's the job of the politicians in Berlin to protect German soldiers better,' he said. 'They've left so much undone, mainly because the politicians have been so reluctant to utter the word 'war.''

Three Germans were killed and eight wounded Friday night when about 100 Taliban militants attacked a German military convoy in the Eisakhel village of Afghanistan's Charadarah district. The soldiers had been on a mine-clearing operation.

A US Army Blackhawk helicopter had to evacuate the soldiers because Germany had no choppers available for the dangerous mission.

It was the highest number of casualties the postwar German armed forces have suffered in any single skirmish and brought to 39 the number of German soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

A funeral will take place in Germany Friday for the three dead with Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg representing the government. The four worst-wounded men remain in stable condition.

In remarks to Bild, Robbe said he had spoken with the paratrooper unit that came under attack before the men had left Germany.

'They told me their training had been patchy,' he said.

Specifically, the men said the army did not provide enough Dingo and Fennek armoured vehicles for them to train with - leaving them inadequately prepared in battle drills such as embarking and dismounting from the vehicles.

'Drivers were being deployed who were not actually trained on the vehicles till after they arrived (in Afghanistan),' Robbe said.