Ex Kronos Warrior: Grenadier Guards swap royal palaces for ruins in Cyprus
The crack of a rifle pierces the morning silence.
As the last moments of darkness slip away, beams of the first sunlight reach out across old Paramali, and 100 Grenadier Guards creep into position.
The unit is moving into the abandoned village in Cyprus as part of Exercise Kronos Warrior.
Moving between the bricks of broken buildings
It is February – before the start of the Iran war – and nearly the end of four weeks of training for 1st Battalion, but only the beginning of the day's assault.
"This morning, we punched out a recce before we punched in," said Lance Corporal Freddie Sawyer of Number Two Company.
"It allows us to gain every sort of bit of information we need to actually carry out the attack."
The 22-year-old from Bradford is moving between the bricks of broken buildings with his section from 5 Platoon.
Behind every corner, there is an enemy waiting to fire on him and his team.
"Essentially, what we've been doing is clearing the village of any enemy," LCpl Sawyer said.
"There was a massive presence here, and we've just been going through the ruins."
Brushing up on low-level tactical skills
The Foot Guards from The King's Company, plus Number Two Company, are brushing up on low-level tactical skills across platoon and company size training.
Abandoned in the 1970s, the village near Episkopi in the Western Sovereign Base Area, offers a rare setting to train in.
"The environment here is pretty much a derelict village that is now very useful for urban clearances," said Lieutenant William Clive, 2nd Captain of The King's Company.
"What we're seeing a lot in the urban environment, particularly in the Middle East, is villages that have been bombed out and towns that have been hit by missiles.
"You're not going to be working in perfectly structured areas," Lt Clive added.
The sections take turns attacking enemy positions, sustaining casualties if they aren't tucked in behind cover.
1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards is preparing for operational readiness and rejoining the Field Army in 2027.
Next year, they'll be supporting Four Brigade and the Forward Land Force, the UK's commitment to Nato and defence of the Baltic states.
"It's been a brilliant training experience," said Major Ben Tracey, Captain of The King's Company.
"We've had a lot more rain than we perhaps expected, but it's given us loads of opportunities to move across complex ground."
Guards have a reputation to uphold
While known for their distinctive role in the Household Division protecting the royal palaces, the Guards are first and foremost a warfighting unit.
And the Grenadiers have a reputation to uphold as the most senior in all the infantry.
"We very much have our ceremonial role wearing the tunics and bearskins outside the royal palaces," said Maj Tracey.
"But then we [are] also a regular light role infantry battalion, so training exercises like this, operational deployments and everything else you'd expect of a regular infantry battalion."
As the last of the enemy positions is destroyed and prisoners taken, the platoons regroup and re-org before a final photo in the ruins.
A different sort of challenge is on the horizon.
Trooping the regimental colour at the King's Birthday Parade.
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