The largest army exercise of the year will be partly in Drenthe next month. According to the Ministry of Defense, the training area extends from Coevorden to Berlin. Around four thousand soldiers are involved in the exercise.
Due to the war in Ukraine, an attack on European territory is currently much more realistic than in recent decades. The Royal Netherlands Army prepares itself under the title Bastion Lion Therefore for a large -scale conflict. With a German and two Dutch combat battalions, 13 Light Brigade from Oirschot carried out a multi -day attack in the urbanized area in April.
The preparations will start next week, the units must be ready for the start of the exercise at the beginning of April. It takes about two weeks. “The challenge of Bastion Lion is to have four thousand soldiers carry out the assignments at the right time in a chaotic environment,” Defense explains the exercise.
Bastion Lion Is the successor of Ardent Lionwhich was in October 2024. In addition, around three thousand soldiers participated in the training area around Bergen-Hohne in Germany.