Germany’s special forces look the other way on missing weapons

Brigadier General Markus Kreitmayr came up with an unlikely option early last year. The head of the KSK, a German special forces unit, told his troops they could return any weapons and munitions they had made off with — anonymously and without fear of consequences. It had already become known that a large number of weapons had gone missing. Less clear was whether that was due to an inventory error or if KSK members had intentionally taken them, which would be a criminal offense. Kreitmayr’s offer was well received. At least 25,000 rounds of ammunition were anonymously returned between March and May 2020, according to the Bundestag’s Defense Committee, which was only recently informed about the initiative. Hand grenades were among the returned arms. The missing weapons went unmentioned in a preliminary report on KSK reform, presented by General Eberhard Zorn KSK and far-right extremism The KSK, based in south-western Germany, has been under close watch since incidents of suspected far-right extremism came to light last year. Soldiers flashing the Hitler salute and then weapons going missing were the last straw for German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. She established a working group to review KSK operations and come up with reforms…. Read full this story

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