A historic German Army parade in the Lithuanian capital, the first since WWII

This Thursday, May 22, Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, witnessed a German military parade that can be described as historic.

The powerful armored and artillery force that Lithuania is building up in front of Russia
Some excellent images of F-16s from Poland, Portugal, and Romania flying over Lithuania

The parade was to mark the start of the deployment of Panzerbrigade 45 "Litauen" (PzBrig 45), the German Army's newest armored brigade based in Rudninkai and Rukla, Lithuania. This is the first German Armed Forces unit permanently stationed abroad.

The purpose of this brigade is to reinforce NATO's eastern flank against the threat posed by Russian expansionism. In fact, the border between Lithuania and Poland is one of Russia's most coveted strategic points, as this strip, known as the Suwalki Corridor, would allow Moscow to connect the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (part of the former German territory of East Prussia) with Belarus, an ally of Putin's dictatorship.

This German brigade will be made up of three battalions: the Panzerbataillon 203 (PzBtl 203, a tank unit), the Panzergrenadierbataillon 122 (PzGrenBtl 122, a mechanized infantry unit) and the Panzerartilleriebataillon 455 (PzArtBtl 455, a self-propelled artillery unit), in addition to other smaller units.

The YouTube channel Goldelse yesterday published a video of this German military parade in Vilnius, the first that the German Armed Forces have carried out in Lithuania since World War II, but this time with the republican tricolor flags instead of those of the Third Reich and going to the Baltic country as an ally. Four Eurocopter EC-665 Tiger and NH-90 helicopters from the German Army also participated in the parade, as well as Lithuanian soldiers and soldiers from other countries participating in the NATO Multinational Brigade in Lithuania.

---

Photos: Lithuanian MOD.