United we fall: a European army is a really bad idea

Nato is Europe’s first line of defence and in my view the only hope. Talk of a European army has increased of late, and if one were to contemplate the inevitable end state for the ‘European Nation’ ideal, then it is a logical evolution — for Europhiles.

Of course, there have been effective European armies in the past. Two have reached the gates of Moscow, only to be forced to retreat — with disastrous results. Napoleon’s Grande Armée was very much a European affair and almost every part of Europe was represented in Hitler’s SS, with the Charlemagne (1st French SS Division) being the last to fall defending the Führerbunker in Berlin.

Oddly, it was the end of the Charlemagne that gives us a clue to the psychology that has dogged Nato. The French General Leclerc was presented with a handful of French survivors of the Charlemagne Division and enquired: ‘Why are you wearing German uniforms?’ He was challenged with: ‘And why are you wearing American uniforms?’ He had them shot on the spot.