Royal Marines Practice Mountain Warfare In Slovenia

The UK Commando Forces – Britain’s specialists in cold weather and mountain warfare – headed for the stunning Slovenian mountains for three weeks of intensive training to push themselves ahead of a challenging winter on operations in Norway, Sweden and Finland. 

The Commandos based themselves at Bohinjska Bela Barracks and headed on missions into the Triglav National Park, in the northwest corner of Slovenia, which is home to NATO’s Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence in Poljce.

They spent a fortnight working closely with the Slovenian Armed Forces’ experts in alpine warfare on exercises known as Triglav Star – which they last attended in 2021. 

The Commandos and allies – this year’s exercise included North Macedonia, Spain, Italy, Romania, the United States, Czechia, Poland and Hungary – focused on core skills like vertical assaults, river crossings and casualty evacuations, working at high altitude across arduous terrain under the stewardship of Royal Marines and Slovenian Mountain Leaders. 

The exercise was mainly carried out in the Karavanke Valley – a 120km mountain range, one of the longest in Europe, on the Southern Limestone Alps just south of the border with Austria.

The arduous training finished with a tactical exercise in which UK Commando Forces deployed ahead of a multinational NATO brigade, providing essential reconnaissance and screening, which involves giving early warning of ‘enemy’ movements and disrupting their activity.

“It’s a challenging environment working at these altitudes and exactly why we train our marines here,” said Lieutenant Gordon Pickthall, a Training Manager embedded with the Commando Forces in Slovenia.

“The Alps offer a far more exposed training area with steeper and sharper terrains compared with our mountainous areas in Scotland.

“It takes a particular skillset to be able to operate independently in small teams, for the Commando Forces this mountain warfighting ability is a niche but important capability that we provide to NATO.”

To read more, please visit the Royal Navy's website.