Our Army is too small to battle Putin
The Army is now too small in numbers to counter any threat posed by Russia, defence chiefs have warned.
Figures show dozens of crucial combat units are short of hundreds of personnel.
Among them are the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The five-battalion regiment should have 2050 soldiers but its current strength is 1620.
The crisis is exposed ahead of further planned defence cuts in 2025, which will see the Armed Forces reduced to their smallest numbers for almost 200 years.
General Sir Richard Dannatt described the Army as defence’s “poor cousin” after stats showed almost every infantry, tank and artillery regiment was under-strength.
The former head of the Army added: “War is a violent business and will always be settled by boots on the ground. Just ask the Ukrainians.”
Other defence chiefs called for the Government to halt any further cuts.
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former infantry commander in Afghanistan, said the Army was the only military force in history to reduce troop numbers after being warned to prepare for war.
He added that the Government needed to sort out a “long-standing recruiting mess” that left the Army “undermanned”.
Lord West, a former head of the Royal Navy, said the Army was in a “real mess”.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, a former deputy commander of NATO, said the Government needed to understand that the security of the UK starts in the forests of eastern Europe.
Figures show regiments such as the Foot Guards are almost 300 short.
Tank, artillery and engineer units were also worryingly low in number.
MoD figures show more soldiers are leaving the Army than joining.
There are currently 77,190 soldiers – about 3000 short of the number required.
But a new round of planned cuts will see the Army reduced to just 73,000 by 2025.
The MoD say modern warfare means troops’ impact is important, not numbers. A spokesperson said: “Under Future Soldier, the Army will have a force of over 100,000 comprising a trained Regular Army of 73,000 and a total reserve of over 30,000.
“We are investing an extra £24billion cash in defence.”