The outgoing Chief of General Staff of the British Army, General Sir Patrick Sandersbelieves the UK needs to form a “citizen army” as quickly as possible if it wants to be prepared for war in the not too distant future. In his opinion, it is necessary for the “pre-war generation” to make preparations for a possible conflict as part of a “commitment of the entire nation,” he said. He noted that the number of applications to join the army was the highest in the last six years.
The military man, who spoke this Wednesday at a conference on armored vehicles, warned that an increase in reserve forces alone “would not be enough” to face possible aggression. He did not directly support conscription, but he laid the foundation for it a voluntary calling in case of war.
The United Kingdom, Sanders stressed, could not afford to “make the same mistakes as in 1914,” when it was oblivious to the escalation of war that led to the First World War. One of his predecessors in office, Lord DannattLast week he cited the situation in the 1930s as an example.
This is not the first time that Sir Patrick Sanders, who will be replaced by General next June Sir Roly Walker, is pronounced in this sense. On previous occasions, the British Army's chief of staff has suggested to his superiors that recent cuts should be reversed in the armed forces, which currently have almost 73,000 combatants compared to the almost 100,000 soldiers who formed its ranks in 2010.
Sanders has also called for Rishi Sunak's government to redouble its efforts to equip and modernize the armed forces. “In the next three years it has to be credible to talk about a British Army of 120,000 soldiers, plus our reserve and our strategic reserve. “But that is not enough,” he said. “We will not be immune and we must prepare in a similar way to the pre-war generation, and this is a nationwide effort.”
The British military officer believes that Russia's offensive in Ukraine is not just a war for territory, but It also threatens the Western way of life and values.. “Ukraine brutally shows that regular armies start wars; the citizen armies win them. “But we’ve been here before and workers alone don’t create capacity.”
Sanders positively assessed the actions of other allied countries such as Sweden and Finland The threat from Russia is much more obvious. The warnings echoed through Downing Street. The prime minister's spokesman responded that hypothetical scenarios of possible future conflicts did not make sense and ruled out any moves towards an army recruitment model.