The battalion is under German command but, in wartime, could support Dutch troops as part of a wider NATO operation. A hundred Dutch soldiers joined the battalion, somewhat easing the German army’s manpower shortage.

The Germans upgraded the tanks to the 2A7 standard then formed a new squadron under the German army’s Tank Battalion 414. The Netherlands transferred to Germany the last 18 stored Dutch Leopard 2A6s. The Dutch and German governments agreed to a trade. But Berlin struggled to recruit enough soldiers for its expanding tank formations. The German army at the time operated around 200 Leopard 2s-and aimed to grow this force to around 330 tanks. Dutch officials saw an opportunity in the German army’s own plan to add tanks.

So in 2015, just four years after storing its last tanks, the Dutch government decided to bring some of them back. After 2014, the Dutch army realized it needed to be able to pull off these maneuvers in the event of war between NATO and Russia. A turning movement is a rapid flanking operation that requires speed, mobility and firepower. A breach is a direct attack on enemy fortifications.

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