GERMANY'S military is so underfunded its troops used BROOMSTICKS painted black as mock weapons during a Nato defence exercise.

But the highly embarrassing episode, revealed in a leaked report, is just the beginning of the country's woes as it fights to reverse chronic army shortages.

A German tank unit was forced to use broomsticks as mock weapons during a 2015 Nato exercise, pictured Credit: Corbis - Getty

It comes as Donald Trump has vowed to make Chancellor Angela Merkel increase her defence spending to reach the minimum spending obligations all Nato members must adhere to.

General Harald Kujat, a former chief of staff of the German armed forces, later described it as a "huge embarrassment".

The unit was supposed to be ready to deploy whenever a Nato member was threatened, he warned.

He added: "If that is not the case, then both for Nato, and for the Federal Republic of Germany, this is a huge embarrassment," The Telegraph reported.

The country's military has become a laughing stock for its shortages and underfunding Credit: Corbis - Getty

And a spokesperson for the Defence Ministry stated: "In the case of the Boxer armoured vehicle, it was being used as a mobile headquarters, and a weapon is not foreseen and not necessary for a mobile headquarters.

"It was not a fighting vehicle. So we have no explanation why the soldiers would simulate a weapon."

In 2015 it also emerged the German military was using ordinary civilian Mercedes vans as stand-ins for armoured personnel carriers.

And The Times today reports all six of the country's submarines were recently put out of service at the same time due to various repairs.

Andreas Krause, the German navy's inspector, said: "It does not frustrate me but it is very annoying.

NATO conducts massive military exercise testing its response to 'invasion of Romania'

"At the same time I say that this unfortunate development is the inevitable consequence of the last 25 years.

"Extreme savings were made on spare parts procurement and capacities in naval shipbuilding were shut down."

The paper added that there have been times recently when the country has not a single A400M transport plane available for use.

And in May the Luftwaffe had only four Eurofighter jets available from a total of 128 because of missile and coolant shortages.

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