Hamburg hosts Red Storm Charlie civil-military crisis exercise

Approximately 1,700 personnel from the Bundeswehr, police, emergency services, and private companies concluded the three-day “Red Storm Charlie” civil-military exercise in Hamburg. The drill focused on coordinating responses to complex crisis scenarios, including chemical accidents, sabotage of military transport trains, and the establishment of an emergency hospital in an underground garage.

A key component of the exercise involved simulating the movement of troops and equipment toward NATO’s eastern flank. This included drone defense operations, such as the interception of drones at the HHLA port area. The Schwarz Gruppe, the parent company of Lidl, participated to test the resilience of essential supply chains. The company’s involvement included coordinating water supplies at critical locations and managing waste through its PreZero division.

The exercise was met with protests from groups such as “Kein Nato Hafen,” with demonstrators attempting to block military convoys and occupying railway tracks. This drill follows previous iterations, “Red Storm Alpha” and “Red Storm Bravo,” as part of the Bundeswehr’s “Operationsplan Deutschland” to integrate military defense with civilian support services.