The Ministry of Defence recently provided updated figures on the number of personnel based in Germany as part of an ongoing reduction in the British military presence there.

Following a 2010 announcement under the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), the previous government committed to withdrawing the majority of its forces from Germany by 2020. This decision marked the first time in decades that the British Army would be almost entirely UK-based.

The government’s rationale for the withdrawal focused on the absence of a current operational need for a substantial British military presence in Germany.

The arrangement, they argued, imposed financial and logistical burdens, including costs associated with maintaining forces abroad and disruptions to service personnel and their families. Under the NATO Status of Forces Supplementary Agreement, the UK is also required to pay reinstatement costs to Germany, though the exact figures have not been fully determined.

Historically, British forces have been stationed in Germany since the end of the Second World War. At the time of the SDSR announcement, around 20,000 British service personnel were based in Germany. This number has been gradually reduced, with the vast majority of forces returning to the UK by 2016.

Below is a detailed breakdown of the UK Ministry of Defence personnel stationed in Germany from 2007 to 2024:

DateMOD Personnel
01 April 200730,380
01 April 200829,490
01 April 200926,550
01 April 201026,130
01 April 201124,710
01 April 201222,790
01 April 201320,140
01 April 201417,200
01 April 201512,870
01 April 20167,240
01 April 20175,580
01 April 20185,240
01 April 20194,410
01 April 20201,250
01 April 20211,130
01 April 20221,150
01 April 20231,180
01 April 20241,200

As of 1 July 2024, the remaining 1,230 personnel are distributed across several regions in Germany, as shown below:

RegionMOD Personnel
North Rhine-Westphalia410
Bavaria70
Elsewhere/Unspecified750

The “Elsewhere/Unspecified” category includes regions where fewer personnel are stationed, thereby preventing inadvertent disclosures. This category also encompasses Locally Engaged Civilians (LECs) whose exact stationing within Germany is not specified.

The most recent data reflects a continued presence of British forces in Germany, though at a greatly reduced scale compared to previous decades.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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61 COMMENTS

  3. With our limited resources my own view is that we don’t need any forces in Germany – we’re never going to have enough to influence the infantry war there. So why don’t we simply limit our European ground forces to Northern Europe? Scandinavia and the Baltic? There, we can make a difference and lessen the risk of being over extended. The date chosen for these figures to be released every year seems unfortunate.

      • I don’t believe it’s in our interests to concentrate all land elements away from Germany, and I doubt if they want that either. At the end of the day, we must be focused on Middle European theatres. Okay, the UK would need to execute a rapid build-up, but that has already been proven to work in recent exercises.

        • The reason for pre-positioning in Germany, is because it’s a really central location. It’s why America retains bases there, for a strategic reserve it’s a great location.

          And as the Germans and Danes are now building a HSR tunnel, if you have a Division, or Brigade prepositioned in Germany, you can load that formation onto a train at it’s camp in Germany (both Sennelager and Bergan have rail heads), and then that train can go straight to Northern Sweden. Meanwhile doing the same from the UK is a long road move to a port, followed by reloading onto a boat for a crossing, followed by another road or rail move. (Tidworth has an old rail head, Aldershot has a tiny one that’s disused, but the UK’s loading gauge means you can’t just load up a armoured brigade on a train and send it to the channel ports to Ferry or Le Shuttle to the continent).

          When Rail Baltica is completed suddenly a Division based in Germany will be able to quickly move by rail to deploy against a crisis point in Northern Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltics, or to Iasi in Eastern Romania if it kicks off in Moldova. Load the division on a train and go.

    • We declare an armoured division to NATO and a fair bit more besides including 16 AA Bde. Although much kit is old, our troops are well trained and have much fighting spirit.
      This contribution would be most welcome in the central front. Many other ENATO nations offer a similar or lesser level of armoured capability.

    • Honestly this is a bit baffling. Look, the UK can, if it calls up it’s reserves put two divisions in the field. That’s not a small amount of forces in today’s balance of forces. This aversion to fighting in Europe is illogical, it seems we are desperate to fight anywhere except on the main front.

      • Completely agree, the current thinking in some quarters is illogical however, they forget the sheer slog of penetrating German defences and the huge loss of life in doing so. Regardless of modern tactics and analysis, Britain must never have to fight for every inch of mainland Europe again.

  4. 30,000? It was double that during the Cold War.

    When the withdrawal happened everyone I spoke to said it was a mistake and that we’d be back on the continent within a few years. But the conservatives wanted to lower the financial burden of the armed forces.

    • Correct I remember the number been much higher than this. I to have spoke to many who agreed it was a mistake to leave the continent has we’d have to returned, I myself was some what bewildered has many of us could see how Russia where becoming more Aggressive and not just through the media.

      • I don’t doubt 30,380 in Germany in 2007, which was 16 years after the Cold War ended. We were then down to one warfighting div in BFG, plus HQ ARRC plus a National Support Element and some random elements.

        Of course for much of the Cold War (ended in 1991) we had 55,000 troops in West Germany plus at least 3,000 in Berlin plus RAF(G).

  5. So we are back to having no British Army deployed in Europe outside the UK again, well that has never not ended badly

  6. I think there needs to be a complete divorce from our forces in Europe. We are NOT in the EU, as it has it’s own armed forces.
    The war in Ukraine is a European war. NOT a NATO one.
    It’s time we to stop behaving like we have the forces from WW1 and 2.

    • The EU is a totally different entity and subject.

      NATO exists to ensure the security of the Euro-Atlantic region – and that is the responsibility of all members including the UK.

    • Ukraine isn’t in the EU either Comrade, it’s as much a NATO issue as a EU one.

      I see most of your posts on here are advocating scrapping the Royal Navy Submarine Service, or cutting it down to SSK’s.

      How is Moscow this time of year?

    • No-one in NATO just defends its own turf. NATO as whole exists to ensure the security of the Euro-Atlantic region. All members contribute, including the UK.

        • None. But I don’t see your point. The British Army presence in Germany is relatively small. We choose to have this for several reasons including logistic. As an island nation it is harder to get a lot of armoured vehicles to Europe for exercises and operations, so having some there already makes sense.

        • This is a legacy from 1 BR Corps, known as BAOR.
          In the Cold War Spain was barely involved, Italy defended its own southern area, and France had gone it’s own way but it’s army would have reinforced NORTHAG or CENTAG if GSFG had invaded.

          • (Also pedantry: 1 BR Corps is not the same thing as the BAOR, it’s just a component part of it. There was a shedload of CS and CSS units that where not part of 1 BR Corps but where assigned to the BAOR (even a brigades worth of infantry) and the Berlin Brigade was it’s own Command under the BAOR, but seperate from 1 BR Corps.)

          • No 24X was part of 1 BR corps subordinated to 2XX (which was entirely uk based).
            BAOR had something like 8 TA and Regular light infantry battalions whose job it was to secure motorways, fuel depots and the like in Belgium and Holland. They weren’t subordinates to a Brigade and instead reported directly to HQ BAOR.

          • Hi Daniele,
            To add to Dern’s comments:
            1 (BR) Corps was of course the operationally deployable formation within BAOR. HQ BAOR at Rheindahlen administered the entire army organisation in Germany. From memory some of the stuff they did including: running the Theatre level budget, liaising with Federal and Laender authorities in which British Garrisons were based on infrastructure maintenance and payment of rent etc, administering at top level the various depots and also service hospitals (there were at least 3 BMHs in Germany), cinemas, forces TV and radio, service childrens schools (BFES, then SCS(G)), NAAFIs, static REME workshops, training areas and ranges, liaising with the British Frontier Service who did customs work etc etc.

            24 Bde was in the UK (headquartered in Catterick), the only regular brigade in 2 Inf Div, the other two being fully deployable TA brigades (15x, 49x). 24x was an Inf Bde when I worked in the Bde HQ in 1985-6. Bde had three SAXON bns etc.
            2 Inf Div formed in UK in 1982 when 2 Armd Div was removed from 1 (BR) Corps ORBAT – heavy kit stayed in Germany and was redistributed amongst 1, 3 and 4 Div – 2xx troops moved back to UK.

          • Also mate, you do Railways, so have you looked into Rail Baltica?

            Really great way to integrate the Baltics into the EU, enable investments, and increase connectivity….

            But also a standard gauge railway with lots of freight terminals running from Germany to Estonia if you catch my drift.

          • I had not heard of it, no, but I’m just reading up on it now. Seems a no brainer. I’d like the British Army to re establish a meaningful rail capability beyond an STRE.

          • We’re far to rail skeptic in the UK (hello HS2? thanks Sunak I’m sure your auto buddies gave you a good kickback for that).

            It’s really telling that until now it’s been easier to take a train from any of the Baltic Capitals to Moscow, than to travel between them by public transport (I say public transport because there is no train that goes between Talinn, Riga and Vilnius)

    • Pre-positioning troops in Germany isn’t about defending Germany, it’s about having forces in a good strategic position to react to threats to NATO.

      • There are the NATO eFP troops in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia. They really are on the front line. UK leads the Estonia group and also has a presence in the Poland group. Many of these NATO Battlegroups are upsizing to Brigades.

        We (UK) have some depots (ammunition and vehicle), barracks and training areas in Germany.
        Luke Pollard listed the following sites owned by the MOD in Germany:

        1.Ayrshire Barracks, Mönchengladbach
        2.Athlone Barracks, Paderborn
        3. Barracks in Sennelager, which includes:
        -Antwerp Barracks
        -Talbot Barracks
        -Cavalry Barracks
        -Polish Barracks
        -Depot 90
        -Sennelager NAAFI
        4.The British Alpine Centre in Wittenberg
        5.The British Army uses the Wulfen site in Dorsten for ammunition storage, although the site itself is owned by Germany.

        This is collectively termed ‘British Army Germany’ comprising a small (1,230) contingent of troops under a full Colonel and also has some civil servants. There is also a Troop of amphibious engineers with M3 rigs embedded with a Bundeswehr unit.

        A small army cannot do much more!

  10. Lots of NATO jobs still there.
    There is a big contingent in Rammstein as part of the NATO air HQ.
    A fair few of also live in Germany and travel across the border to Brunssum NATO JFC daily.

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