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But Germany's new forces are meshed with NATO more thoroughly than any other nation's. Every unit is or will soon be committed to NATO, under the overall command of the U.S.'s General Lauris Norstad. Even in the event of an East German uprising against their Communist rulers, Strauss has said, "There will be no military West German reaction. Our troops are NATO troops." About two-thirds of all Bundeswehr supplies and ammunition are to be stored in other NATO countries. All major weapons systems are closely interlocked with those of other NATO countries. Strauss has not encouraged a new armaments industry, has placed orders for nothing larger than 40-mm. guns in Germany itself. Germany gets most of its weapons from its allies, buys more arms abroad (about $3.5 billion worth so far) than any other country in the world. In all, Germany is now spending about $2.5 billion a year on its armed forces—3^% of gross national product compared with 10% for the U.S.
Army. Present strength is 172,000, the 1961 target 210,000 to 220,000. The seven German divisions in NATO, says Strauss, are intermeshed "like a Zipper" along the theoretical line of battle with British, Dutch, American and French divisions. Though the German army already has 3,000 U.S.-built tanks, Strauss plans to replace them with a lighter, faster, lower model to be produced jointly with the Italians and French. The army's other key vehicle, in conformity with the German World War II doctrine that infantrymen should ride straight into combat, is an armored personnel carrier (powered by a British engine, and using Swiss and French components) that can charge through machine-gun fire at 30 miles an hour—and has a metal roof that can be rolled up to fend off atomic fallout.
Last year 6,000 German troops, joining U.S. Seventh Army veterans in "Winter-shield" maneuvers along the Danube, put on a dazzling show. In one swift swoop, a German armored unit, theoretically knocked out a battalion of Seventh Army tankers and infantrymen.
Navy. Mainly volunteer, the navy has already reached planned strength of 25,000 and amassed 185 small patrol ships to help keep the Russian fleet boxed up in the Baltic. Strauss has held off building the destroyers that were supposed to lead his navy, and now has talked the German government into demanding that the 3,000-ton ceiling on the size of German destroyers be raised to 5.000 tons. He wants warships big enough to mount the latest A. A. rockets — and the 1,500-mile Polaris. His projected submarine force: 24 to 36 small coastal subs, designed to help block the Baltic at the Skagerrak Straits in case of war.