British troops must prepare to fight in Europe once again, says new head of Army

Sabre rattling or preparing us for the inevitable ?

General Sir Patrick Sanders took over from General Sir Mark Carleton Smith on Monday and wrote to his charges about the challenges they face.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines our core purpose to protect the UK by being ready to fight and win wars on land," he said.

"There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle.

"We are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again."

He added that he is the first Chief of the General Staff since 1941 to take command of the Army "in the shadow of a land war in Europe involving a continental power".
news.sky.com...

I hope it's the former but suspect the latter.

This general sounds like a moron. He first mentions protecting the UK which is completely understandable and admirable. But then in the next paragraph he talks about "defeating Russia in battle". He is either playing on low information peoples emotions for brownie points, or he actually wants to sacrifice British troops in Ukraine for the global cabal...

I suspect the latter. ..

a reply to: gortex

Sabre rattling or preparing us for the inevitable ?

inevitable, you have to be blind or stupid not to see the plans that old farty and his hardliners backing him are planning.
if he is allowed to continue what his history and rhetoric demonstrate, more and more of europe will fall back into the grip that was once the bruatal tzarists followed by the soviet rule of the of the area.

there once was another megalomaniac, no make that two, that thru appeasement of one of them nearly conquered the whole world, and thru him after his defeat the second one placed nearly half if not more of europe and the rest of the world on the brink for half a century or more.

originally posted by: BernnieJGato
a reply to: gortex

Sabre rattling or preparing us for the inevitable ?

inevitable, you have to be blind or stupid not to see the plans that old farty and his hardliners backing him are planning.
if he is allowed to continue what his history and rhetoric demonstrate, more and more of europe will fall back into the grip that was once the bruatal tzarists followed by the soviet rule of the of the area.

there once was another megalomaniac, no make that two, that thru appeasement of one of them nearly conquered the whole world, and thru him after his defeat placed nearly half if not more of europe and the rest of the world on the brink for half a century or more.

Well said new guy....and welcome to ATS....

this whole thing is far from over and far from served its purpose

I always suspected I would end in another war, but much more local.

But this is insane: the World Wars, and the the Cold War, and if we stop that we can have global peace forever.
This was what our generation believed and agitated for.

And now here comes this nightmare...

TPTB just aren't going to let this blow over, with their "Never let a good crisis go to waste" mentality. If there is no crisis, manufacture one.

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

Well said new guy....and welcome to ATS....

thank you

a reply to: gortex

If it is the latter, i don't see many sane people apt for turning up gortex.

Short of an actual invasion of the UK, or Putin doing a full-scale European invasion(which as we both know is beyond Russia's capability), or the nukes coming out the pram, i don't see people wanting to fight unless it's to defend their own shores.

People see the way we treat our soldiers when they return from war, poor sods canny even get a council house, decent prosthetic limbs, or the psychiatric help a lot of them require.

If we are sending people off to die in Europe it should be Boris and his ilk before anybody else imho.

How awesome would it be if Russia took over Europe?

a reply to: gortex

Inevitable.

www.google.com... roid-motorola-rvo3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

He is a SAS specialist, wonder what flavour that will bring?

a reply to: gortex

I don't think we stopped did we? That said we were clearly pussyfooting around with NATO given the situation that's evolved.

All sounds a bit old school tbh or maybe a warning this doesn't end with Putin?

The systems and integration in place amongst allies is probably already enough it just needs that constant work and vigilance. Further than that use the fancy stuff and chop off some snake heads or resort to the nukes.

I know, sounds nuts because it is. But so is the idea of upscaling our military for mass overseas deployments when the purse strings have been strained... For years with tonnes of bad decisions in prosperous peace times.

Tongue in cheek here but I'd say the money would be better spent on trollfarms for the cyberwar... They can lessen the mean social media posts after we nuke Moscow.

Define winning a war in the 21st century...

Just stating the obvious. The US is going to collapse in a few years and Europe needs to be able to defend itself again. About the only positive of the Ukraine war is that it showed the Russian army was a disaster waiting to happen. HOWEVER. Those are the kind of disasters that show what needs improvement and worked on. The Russian Army 2.0 that should come out of the Ukraine disaster is going to be a brutish nasty version of the sleepy sloppy one that went in.



Otherwise it could look like 1939 all over again. With Russia as the aggressor.

a reply to: gortex

The Western European Countries that are Members of NATO are WAR MONGERS . Actions Speak Louder than Words..........

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

Couldn't agree with you more.

Actions like invasions?

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

The Western European Countries that are Members of NATO are WAR MONGERS .

Yet they have started no war , curiously you don't class they guy who did start the war a war monger.

Actions Speak Louder than Words..........

Indeed they do.

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

Do you know what speaks louder than words, especially when the words are "nothing to be concerned about these are simply military exercises", that would be invasion.......And the words well those would be lies of the repeated sorts, Putin's lies that is.

NATO has not invaded anyone, because its a defensive organization, and it's hardly just NATO nations that are against Putin's war in Ukraine, but pretty much the rest of the civilized world.

What a complete muppet.

How long does he think a few ten thousand men would last in any war.

I swear Britain is trying to start ww3.

originally posted by: just4fun
How awesome would it be if Russia took over Europe?

How about you move there instead.

If you think we just gonna surrender our Sh#@@T because some guy on ATS cancelled self defence you are delusional.

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

Actions? Like invading Ukraine, surely?

originally posted by: just4fun
How awesome would it be if Russia took over Europe?

As they apparently can't take over Ukraine that's a bit unlikely. Why would you want that?