AssetID: 55560581
Headline: Putin Das Boot in: Royal Marines stage daring Arctic raid with German submarine as part of NATO exercise
Caption: BY MARK WORGAN The Royal Marines emerged from the icy depths of an Arctic fjord on top of a German U-Boat to carry out a rehearsal of a daring commando operation. On 3 March, Commandos surfaced around 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle aboard attack submarine U-35 as part of Cold Response 26, the largest NATO military drills in the region this year. They involve 14 nations and more than 25,000 troops. The marines – part of specialist units designed to carry out reconnaissance and direct naval gunfire from behind enemy lines – slipped silently away on inflatable raiding craft from U-35 to conduct their mission before returning and disappearing beneath the waves. The aim of the mission was to slip in unseen and remain hidden while reconnoitering ‘enemy’ positions, calling in naval gunfire from allied warships before making a stealthy getaway. It was conducted by specialist elements of the UK’s highly skilled Commando Force: The Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron (SRS), Shore Reconnaissance Troop (SRT) and 148 Commando Forward Observation Battery. Second in command of SRS, whose identity cannot be revealed for operational reasons, said: “In the High North’s harsh and unforgiving domain, where extreme climatic conditions and adversary vigilance dominate, the ability to covertly insert reconnaissance teams ashore via Inflatable Raiding Craft (IRC) launched from a submarine is indispensable. “It delivers the stealthy edge needed to penetrate denied areas, deny the enemy sanctuary, collect vital intelligence on subsurface and littoral threats and shape the operational environment before any escalation. “This insertion capability from below the waves provides critical initiative to NATO in one of the planet’s most strategically contested regions.” It’s all part of a major UK deployment to the Arctic Circle, which has seen around 1,500 commandos operate in Northern Norway since January, building up to Cold Response 26 aimed at the defence of the alliance’s northern flank to counter threats from Russia across the region.
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