The former head of the British Army General Sir Patrick Sanders has warned that our troops will be outmanned in future conflicts.
The former Chief of the General Staff told new officer cadets at the Sandhurst Military Academy you will face technologically superior enemies and “you will, sooner or later” be called up to fight.
General Sanders told the new officer cadets that they will likely be sent to war fighting “isolated, over-matched in numbers, equipment and technology, with tenuous supply lines and before the country has mobilised.”
He rejected claims that new recruits into the British Army are part of a “woke generation” and said this is “nonsense” as we have faced similar situations in the past and we “have always fought with our backs to the wall. This is who we are.”
The former Chief of the General Staff said that despite challenges, the British Army has a “gilded reputation for military prowess based on an extraordinary record of success.”
Turning his focus to Vladimir Putin he warned of an “implacably hostile and expansionist Russia” who are aligned with nuclear autocracies that are purely drive by “might is right” views.
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General Sanders said, “When I took over as CGS, I raised my head above the parapet, describing a 1937 moment, calling for mobilisation. What was controversial then is now no longer in dispute.
Confronted by an implacably hostile and expansionist Russia, which is aligned with and supported by an axis of nuclear-armed autocracies, all actuated by might is right, you join the profession of arms at a watershed moment and an army that is more relevant than at any time in my career.
“So, if you fight, and my experience has been that you will, sooner or later, it will likely be as the British Army always has: isolated, over-matched in numbers, equipment and technology, with tenuous supply lines and before the country has mobilised.”
This comes as Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “dithering on defence” which risks our security being left at a “grave risk,” by the former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
Shapps told the paper: “Labour’s dithering on defence is a dereliction of duty that puts Britain’s security at grave risk.
“This Government’s so-called Strategic Defence Review has always looked like a smokescreen for delaying the vital commitment to proper defence spending.
“By abandoning my plan to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, Starmer has created a stark and dangerous choice: slash 20,000 troops or scrap both our aircraft carriers.
“Labour’s failure to act leaves the UK exposed to growing threats and undermines our sovereignty.
This comes as the head of the Strategic Review Lord Robertson has informed Starmer that he has to chose between losing 20,000 British troops which will further weaken the army or scrap aircraft carriers which will weaken Naval and British Armed Forces capabilities.
The Express has reported that senior military chiefs are currently “clearing their diaries in a bid to resolve the crisis.”
A Government spokeswoman said, “This Government will always do what it takes to defend this country with threats increasing, the world becoming more volatile and technology changing the nature of warfare.”
