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The Bundeswehr has sent out around 200,000 letters inviting 18-year-old Germans to join the armed forces

The Bundeswehr has sent out around 200,000 letters inviting 18-year-old Germans to join the armed forces

04 May 2026, 13:14

The Bundeswehr has sent out around 200,000 letters inviting 18-year-old Germans to join the armed forces — Bundeswehr

Since the start of the year, the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) have sent out nearly 200,000 letters urging 18-year-olds to join the army. The number of refusals is rising.

This is reported by Die Welt.

The initiative is part of a wider programme introduced following the adoption of the Military Service Modernisation Act in December 2025.

Under the new rules, men and women born after 2008 who have reached the age of 18 receive a questionnaire regarding their motivation for military service. Men are required to complete it, though military service itself remains voluntary.

Indeed, in the first quarter of 2026 alone, at least 2,656 Germans declined voluntary service — more than in the whole of 2024. As the publication notes, the number of refusals began to rise following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2011, following the abolition of compulsory service, there were only a few hundred such refusals, and in 2022 — around 951.

As a reminder, it was previously reported that Russia could attack NATO ‘in the coming months’.

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