Operations Plan Germany: How the Bundeswehr trains for NATO collective defense

In a residential district of Hamburg at midnight, the streets are quiet and deserted. Suddenly, the silence is shattered: Several helicopters circle the night sky, and flashing blue lights illuminate the darkness. A long convoy of vehicles moves through the streets. Soldiers stand atop armored Bundeswehr vehicles, their machine guns at the ready. For local residents, it is an unusual, perhaps even unsettling sight in an otherwise peaceful port city. "Red Storm Charlie" is the name of the exercise that will bring parts of Hamburg, northern Germany's largest city, to a standstill for three days. The Bundeswehr, police, and civilian organizations are jointly testing how well prepared they are to respond in a crisis.