Incessant technological innovations may have changed the way of waging war considerably, but certain strategies based on solid knowledge of the terrain (and maintenance of it) should not be neglected. This is basically what the Financial Times explains, which is closely interested in the use of swamps as a foil against potential attacks from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The American media notably interviewed Hans Joosten, a Dutch biologist whose theory is simple: marshes and peat bogs can be used as “crucial borders against two of the biggest threats currently facing Europe: Russian expansionism and human-caused climate change”.
Immediate blocking
As an example, the scientist explains that an invading army equipped with heavy armored vehicles would have a hard time entering the marshy area in northeastern Germany known as the Kieshofer Moor: “They would be blocked immediately.” Like him, many scientists believe that it would be doubly regrettable to neglect the environment: firstly because the situation of the planet does not allow it, then because certain natural elements are likely to be able to deter potential invaders.
“We can strengthen our defense capacity” thanks to “benefits for climate, biodiversity, crop control and water supply”summarizes Hans Joosten, 70 years old, nicknamed “the pope of the bogs” by his colleagues. The Financial Times takes the opportunity to recall that two millennia ago, the Germanic leader Arminius used the dark and sticky bog of the Teutoburg Forest to inflict on the Roman army one of the greatest defeats in its history.
More recently, the Ukrainian army also used the swamps to repel the Russian enemy, who was trying to advance on kyiv. By delaying so as to be able to strengthen their defense on the right bank of the Irpin, the water and marshes serving as an anti-tank ditch, the Ukrainians managed to stem the enemy advances. Since then, Ukraine has consistently relied on rivers, floodplains and marshy terrain, something the rest of Europe would do well to learn from.
“We use everything we can”declared Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal to the Financial Times. “If there are natural stopping areas on the border, like swamps, bogs or lakes, that helps us.» For the moment, other countries are considering this type of solution with less enthusiasm, especially since tragedies have occurred. In March, four American soldiers lost their lives during a training mission when their armored vehicle got stuck in a swamp near the Lithuania-Belarus border.
Hans Joosten and his colleagues campaign for the maintenance of what he calls defensive peatlands, which according to him only represents 5 to 10% of the total rewetting necessary in Europe. He also defends the aspect “humanist” of the use of peatlands as a deterrent against weapons of war: “It’s not aggressive. The bogs don’t fight back.” It remains to change the minds of the European authorities, who are not necessarily convinced: the German Ministry of Defense, for example, has indicated that this is not a priority for the current government.
