General Sir Patrick Sanders, the new chief of the British Army, sent a message to his troops upon taking office, last week, in which he called upon them to be ready to fight high-intensity warfare against Russia. Sanders said the Army must prepare “to fight in Europe once again” as the conflict in Ukraine continues. “There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle,” he said, the Independent reported. “We are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again,” he declared.
The problem is that the British Army has been shrinking for years. The Independent reports that the government set out plans last year to reduce the size of the regular Army, lowering the target size from 82,000 personnel to 72,500 by 2025. When the announcement was made in March 2021, the Army had around 76,500 regular soldiers.
