Hunting The Enemy In Huge Baltic Exercise

For Major Scott Awad, the officer commanding Corunna Company, it becomes clear he's been led into something of a trap. This was the Estonian Army's exercise. And they chose the rules. For six hours he and his men had trudged through the swampy woodland, scrambling up and down watery ditches, picking their way through the soggy forest. Corunna's reconnaissance platoon had spotted the enemy, manning a bridge. And getting across it was the only way out of here. 

 

I've filmed a few exercises, but the next hour will live long in the memory. After two days miraculously keeping my boots dry I was now running along behind 8 Platoon as they headed into what we soon realised was a more than just a swamp. As the water reached our shins the enemy machine guns opened fire. In the melee that followed you almost forgot this was a blank firing exercise. With their NCO's screaming at them to move, the soldiers headed in. From our shins the freezing water was now at waist level.  Rifles and machine guns - and my camera - were being thrust above heads. A smoke grenade went off and the bridge disappeared for a moment. But so did the river bed. Suddenly the lead section - each of them laden down with kit, ammunition and weapons - stepped off into nothing. They were now swimming, only their helmets visible.. Some of the soldiers shouted that they couldn't swim. But bravely they went in anyway, dragged from the water by their webbing. 

 

'Imagine doing this with real bullets flying around you', I kept thinking. And that was the point. If this had been for real 2 YORKS would have paid a heavy price. But luckily it wasn't. This was all about learning, simulating chaos to discover order. For Corunna, Exercise Siil was a chance to show just what a professional army can do. Their 115 men pitted against thousands of Estonian reservists. On the first day they showed exactly what they could do - breaking through the Estonian lines twice without being noticed. Major Awad told me:

 

 

 

As a light-role infantry battalion, this sort of warfighting is what 2 YORKS do. It's their bread and butter. This summer they return to Catterick in North Yorkshire, their time in Cyprus over. As the exercise ends two days later Corunna are paid a VIP visit. A two-star American General wants to congratulate them on their performance. Addressing his men, the Commanding Officer of 2 YORKS, Lt Col Philip Bassingham-Searle, tells them the VIP visit shows just how well they've done. 

 

For Estonia this two weeks of simulated war fighting is a very big deal indeed. Exercise Siil, or "Hedgehog", has involved 13,000 soldiers, including reservists, conscripts, active-duty personnel, officials, Defense League members and allied troops. In the vast dining hall at Johvi barracks Estonian TV is giving Siil blanket coverage. 

 

Around 7,000 reserve soldiers were called up to take part in this exercise. Estonia has around 60,000 men and women who have completed basic training as conscripts and who now serve as reserve soldiers. The Lieutenant General in charge of 1 Brigade tells me the Estonians have learned a lot from the British, serving alongside them in Afghanistan. And the doctrine of the Estonian Army, he says, is based in part on the British Army model. With its 30 per cent Russian population Estonia - like its Baltic neighbours - views Russia's annexation of Crimea with real concern. This NATO exercise provides a display of reassurance to a region which feels vulnerable to the might of Moscow. 

 

Click here if you'd like to find out more about one of the largest military exercises to take place in the Baltic region since the Cold War.