Commandos from the Royal Marines have been testing their amphibious landing skills in northern Europe on Exercise Arctic Tide in Norway.
The British forces, in tandem with their Norwegian counterparts, carried out a series of drills inside the Arctic Circle in the fjords of Troms County.
As per a recent Royal Navy press statement, the exercises involved 350 marines, sailors and soldiers and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship RFA Lyme Bay.
Troops from Taunton-based 40 Commando staged a series of raids while support troops supplied them with ammunition, food and other necessary equipment as they worked deep behind enemy lines.
The statement noted: “The Commandos were tasked with establishing a foothold in this challenging environment, with the ultimate purpose of paving the way for larger-scale allied landings.”
Part of the drills included launching Commando Raiding Craft (CRC) from RFA Lyme Bay on a two-hour transit through fjords before conducting a night raid with inflatable raiding craft on a beach.
And North Devon’s Commando Logistic Regiment (CLR) had the opportunity to both rehearse traditional logistic methods on RFA Lyme Bay and also practice getting supplies to teams operating deep in on-shore wilderness.
During the exercise some 35 assets including Viking armoured vehicles, trucks and tractors were hauled ashore using an array of landing craft.
Major Al Hewett, Second in Command of Commando Logistic Regiment, commented: “It is easy to regard logistics as the backdrop to warfighting, but history repeatedly proves it is decisive.”
He went on: “The High North presents some of the harshest conditions anywhere in NATO’s area of responsibility. Limited infrastructure, long lines of communication, and a climate that degrades equipment and tests endurance.
“For advanced force units tasked with reconnaissance, strike, or enabling operations, the ability to remain supplied, repaired, and connected is what makes the difference between a fleeting presence and a credible effect.”
The ten-day drills were staged as part of the Joint Expeditionary Force’s larger ongoing Exercise Tarassis, a multidomain initiative which represents the JEF’s most extensive training activity to date. Established in 2014, the JEF is a coalition of ten north European nations seeking to provide a rapid reaction capability to regional threats.
Exercise Tarassis began at the start of September and is due to conclude in mid-October. Thousands of sailors, aircrew and troops have been involved in the JEF manoeuvres across a theatre of operations which takes in parts of the north Atlantic, Scandinavia and the Baltic.
Amphibious Task Force Commander Aaron Revell commented: “Joint Expeditionary Force partner nations have responded to rapidly developing threats by planning and exercising a wide variety of response options.
“Exercise Arctic Tide, which sits within the much larger ‘Tarassis’ series of concurrent exercises, has rehearsed the UK Commando Force’s ability to conduct advance force and shaping operations in the High North and Arctic.
“I am especially proud of our 350 sailors, marines and soldiers, enabled by advanced and un-crewed technology, to covertly project several small but highly effective teams at long range from the sea, and sustain them for extended operations through a full first and second line of logistics support by agile amphibious landing.”
- You can read more details on the Royal Navy website