Berlin  - Row upon row of tiny toy warships from the 1930s fill a private Hamburg museum, a testimonial to a lost era when enthusiasm for all things military was not uncommon in Germany.

The models - originally designed to train sailors to recognize warships by their silhouette - were once eagerly collected. That contrasts sharply with the modern day, when a German soldier died in battle in Afghanistan in April - the first German combat death in decades - and the event was largely overlooked.

After their defeat in World War II, the study of military matters dropped off as a German pastime. At the same time, an annual public survey by the armed forces social-sciences institute shows 85 per cent of Germans have a positive image of the forces.

That contradiction means Germany has a military it likes, but also largely ignores, sometimes to the point of hurting morale.

"Not an armed forces in the world can rely solely on modern arms: they also need the backing of their citizenry and sympathy for their dangerous duties. A well-meaning indifference to the Bundeswehr is not good enough," President Horst Koehler told a security conference late last year.

There are still a few military enthusiasts around, but Germans tend to know less than many foreigners do about Prussian military innovations of the 19th century or why German arms and tactics were once held in such awe worldwide.

Modern Germany, founded in 1949, waited six years before creating its own armed forces, in 1955, to resist a possible Soviet invasion. For more than half a century the army trained, but never went to war.

Few noticed when the modern German military marked its first combat death in decades on April 29. An infantryman, 21, shooting at Taliban rebels near Kunduz, Afghanistan was killed when an enemy rocket-propelled grenade struck his light-armour Dingo vehicle.

"It's the first time one of our soldiers has ever been killed in a direct exchange of fire," explained Lieutenant Colonel Ulrich Kirsch, head of the Bundeswehr Federation, which functions as a trade union for military personnel.

In 54 years, Germany had lost many soldiers in fatal accidents, and 12 have been killed by Afghan suicide bombs and booby traps.

But last month's gunbattle, beginning with a Taliban ambush and lasting several minutes, was the first time a German serviceman was killed fighting for his life, using lethal force against an enemy he could see.

Was Sergej Motz, the soldier, a hero? It is almost an embarrassing question for a military that has endured mockery from its French and British friends for its lack of experience on the battlefield.

Alluding to the public indifference, and an undercurrent of doubt in Germany about the 3,800 personnel serving in Afghanistan, Kirsch appealed after the death to Germany's leaders and people "to stand four-square behind service personnel and their families."

Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung attended Motz's funeral. But neither Germany's chancellor nor president were on hand.

Officers deny that the new Germany's low-key military is more timid than the German army and navy of old, which often took bold risks, endured shocking casualties and revered its dead as war heroes.

The difference, they explain, is a doctrine known by the German term "innere fuehrung," which means guidance from within.

Devised before the new forces were established in 1955, the doctrine discourages personnel from blindly following orders and requires them to pay attention to the ultimate purpose of their duties and to the law, and even listen to their conscience.

It draws on a part of the Prussian tradition known as "mission tactics," which encouraged initiative by junior officers. It melds this with the idea that all German military personnel are ultimately "citizens in uniform," with a duty to defy any illegal order.

Harsh training methods are one sort of breach of the principles of innere fuehrung, says the Bundeswehr Federation.

Critics of the principle have claimed it stifles courage and flashes of brilliance, but the military says it keeps German personnel capable even when chains of command fail during missions.

Back in the 1960s, several "traditionalist" generals who preferred the old German approach and openly criticized innere fuehrung were forced to resign. Many barracks and bases are named after the great Prussians, but tradition remains a touchy topic in the Bundeswehr. (dpa)