Last week, I saw a video interview of a German news reporter standing at a civilian airport with Tornado fighter jets in the background. Even though I have read about the military’s efforts to integrate civilian infrastructure, that image made me realize: Germany is preparing for total war—or “total defense,” as it is called today.

In Operation Panther Shield, a weeklong exercise that ended June 12, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) conducted training exercises with six Tornado fighter jets at Hamburg Airport. The reason is simple: Military bases are the first targets in war, so the Luftwaffe must be able to quickly adapt.

Suddenly Germany’s military capacity is greatly expanded by its civil industry and economy—the third largest in the world. The scene revealed that Germany is already ready for war.

I did not need to wait long before a statement by the chief of the Luftwaffe confirmed my observation.

Germany is ready to “fight tonight” against Russia, Holger Neumann told the Telegraph in an interview published June 15:

Fight tonight means if someone calls me now and says, We have the following situation here, we have to be ready now—and we are ready.

We will go in with everything we have in Germany, the air force, but also in nato, to defend our country, our values, our population, and our alliance.

The Telegraph reported: “The Luftwaffe chief’s comments are among the strongest from a German military leader in years, and reflect a fundamental shift in Berlin towards rearmament and a greater role in European security.”

But it’s not just Germany’s Luftwaffe that is preparing for all-out war: It’s also every branch of the military and civilian industry, even down to schoolchildren.

Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels infamously asked in 1943, “Do you want total war?” The people responded with fanatical enthusiasm. According to some media reports on June 17, a city council member of Germany’s far-right party has a ringtone with Goebbels’ words.

But while a ringtone today is a political scandal, the real and frightening military preparations themselves are celebrated.

Reworking the Rhetoric

“I promise the German people to leave nothing undone over the next few weeks to make the homeland ready for war in every way,” Goebbels said in 1944. “Some things will take a bit longer, still others even longer, but with everyone’s help we will master the last and greatest difficulties.”

Compare his statements to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’s words in 2023:

We must get used to the idea once again that the threat of war could loom over Europe. And that means: We must become capable of waging war. We must be prepared to defend ourselves. And we must prepare the Bundeswehr and society for that.

Goebbels said:

[A]ll of public life must adjust to the requirements of total war. All public organizations should act in ways consistent with total war, in particular withholding no resources from the Wehrmacht and armaments production. In other words, total war will become practical reality.

Col. André Wüstner, chairman of the German Armed Forces Association, said in 2024 that Germany needs a society-wide concept of “total defense, as our Scandinavian partners have it.”

In German, “total defense” could be translated as “totalverteidigung,” but to avoid historical references it is often translated “gesamtverteidigung”—which Welt used in an article quoting Wüstner.

On May 20, the German federal government adopted the Key Principles for a Civil Protection Pact (Eckpunkte Pakt für den Bevölkerungsschutz). It reads:

Civil protection today faces its greatest challenges in decades. … This requires the rigorous implementation of plans and preparations for total defense [gesamtverteidigung], which closely integrates military and civil defense.

“Gesamtverteidigung” doesn’t have the same Nazi vibes. But in practice, preparing for total war, total defense or gesamtverteidigung means the same thing. You are preparing every sector of Germany society for war.

Turning Words Into Reality

Here are just a few examples on how the German government, military, arms industry and civilian branches prepare for all-out war.

“Operation Plan Germany”: Bild broke the news in 2024 of a “secret document” that outlines the path toward “robust, resilient and war-ready defense architecture.” The over 1,000-page strategy paper is titled “Operation Plan Germany.” Only broad details are known, but the German military has started preparing civilian companies for war. Part of the plan revolves around moving 800,000 troops and equipment from various allied countries within a short time.

Funds: In 2022, Germany unlocked a special fund of over $100 billion to top up its defense budget. In 2025, it unlocked additional hundreds of billions of dollars. Additionally, the German government’s civil defense plan allocates $12 billion on civil defense alone by 2029.

Using nato: In 2023, Germany organized “Air Defender 23,” the largest air force exercises in the history of nato. Germany has taken the lead in exercises and nato command structures.

Plowshares into swords: German arms manufacturers are taking over civilian production lines. In 2025, Franco-German arms manufacturer knds acquired the Alstom train factory in Görlitz. “Instead of train carriages, parts for the defense industry will be manufactured here from next year,” then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the time. Many similar examples followed.

Merging police and military forces: Germany’s military police held a large-scale exercise, “Marshal Power,” in Bavaria last year, deploying soldiers, drones and convoys.

First foreign base since World War ii: Lithuania collaborated with Germany in World War ii; now it has been awarded with the first permanent military deployment of post-war Germany. Earlier this month, the new German armoured brigade in Lithuania held its first combat exercise.

Getting nukes: France and Germany announced a major step toward deeper nuclear deterrence cooperation in March, with Germany set to participate in French nuclear exercises and conduct joint visits to strategic sites as part of a new high-level steering group.

Total War in Prophecy

Germany isn’t preparing for a defensive war. Some people on the ground might think that is what they are doing. But these war preparations aren’t meant to fight off an unprovoked Russian invasion anytime soon.

How do we know this?

You could look at Germany’s history of starting two world wars and many others, such as the Franco-German war. You could also look at the Nazi underground plans that the U.S. declassified in 1996 and match them with what is happening today.

But at the Trumpet, we rely on the more sure word of Bible prophecy (2 Peter 1:19).

In Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 13 and 17, the Bible prophesied the rise of various world-ruling empires. You can read about them in The Proof of the Bible by late theologian Herbert W. Armstrong.

Comparing these prophecies with the rising empires, we know that the last one is about to rise—and weapons of mass destruction confirm that another world war would be the last. This matches Jesus Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24, where He warned of “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (verse 21-22).

The greatest tribulation is yet ahead, and afterward we will never ever again see anything like it.

These same prophecies show that God will allow this war to punish mankind for its sins. He is specifically wrathful with the modern nations of Israel—primarily America and Britain, as explained in The United States and Britain in Prophecy (free upon request).

In Isaiah 10:5-6, God says: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”

Assyria is modern Germany; the “hypocritical nation” refers mainly to the U.S. and Britain.

“Right now, we are witnessing Germany begin its final preparations to start this war!” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “Germany Is Arming for World War III.”

Many other nations will fall victim to Germany’s military exploits—and that could happen within months.