The New Cold War Army: Behind the New Frontlines

This programme contains strong language

The British Army in 2017 finds itself in uncharted territory.

RADIO CHATTERING

They've not been at war for three years.

GUNFIRE

Move!

After controversial campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan,

there's a political reluctance to put boots on the ground.

Don't bomb Syria! Don't bomb Syria!

There's also widespread opposition to military intervention.

Don't bomb Syria! Don't bomb Syria!

The Army's budgets are under increasing pressure.

They could go on manoeuvre without firing ammunition.

It saves you 2 million of the 3.8 that you hope to save.

You know, the British Army is smaller than it's been probably

since Cromwell's day, and I would want to look myself very closely

in the mirror if I felt that there was a risk of the Army being sent

to do something that it wasn't properly prepared to do.

GUNFIRE

But, now, with the rise of the so-called Islamic State...

..the threat of a new Cold War in Eastern Europe...

GUNFIRE

Wait!

INDISTINCT COMMAND

..and famine and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa...

..the British Army have to play a new role in a deeply unstable world.

How many patients do you usually see a day?

700 to 800.

Filmed over 18 months,

this series takes us into the heart of the British Army.

-How many Russians are across the border? 100,000-odd?

-Yeah, a lot.

Through the eyes of the rank-and-file...

No-one else has operated in Estonia before.

This is completely different from Afghanistan and Iraq.

..and the leaders...

General, how are you?

-Nice to see you, hello.

-Very nice to see you, too.

..we see the challenges of fighting wars when we are not at war.

Days of going out and fighting the enemy such as Isis,

for reasons above our pay grade, that doesn't happen any more.

In this episode, the Army is sent to Estonia

on the front line of a new Cold War.

To let you cross the river, over.

They're talking about bears.

They've got bears.

They genuinely think that an attack is imminent.

And once the anti-tank company has come through,

then I will push some reconnaissance and snipers just slightly forwards,

up to 2km.

With a massive build-up of troops,

the risk of miscalculation is very real.

We want to reassure the Estonians,

but what we are not there to do is to provoke the Russians.

Fifth Battalion!

We will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

We will never go quietly again.

Can the British Army deter Russian expansion into Eastern Europe

and avoid being drawn into a costly new war?

150 British soldiers from 5 Rifles

are training for a planned Nato operation along the Russian border.

We're doing a two part, two phase operation, which will ultimately

see us defeating the enemy in and around Kovlar.

We're down in the foothills to the north of Du Bois Hill.

Tango 17.

Our mission, then - strike and secure.

Major Ben Casson leads 100 soldiers in B Company.

GUNFIRE

Today, 5 Rifles must clear a town occupied by enemy forces.

Go, go, go, go.

GUNFIRE

Two zero golf, two zero alpha...

Ben has served in the British Army for 19 years.

We try and keep it as calm as possible...

-GUNFIRE

-..cos when everyone's screaming,

it just gives away where your positions are.

GUNFIRE

-OFF-SCREEN:

-The Army becomes your whole life.

I wouldn't go as far as addiction, but,

there is definite enjoyment to it.

In the last decade,

5 Rifles fought insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq.

There's an enemy in the top window of the opposite building.

Afghanistan has taken a horrendous toll on our regiment.

Absolutely horrendous.

You'll struggle to find anyone who hasn't lost a friend.

Anyone injured?

Of course it affects you.

But I'd also say, our tolerance is much higher than average.

GUNFIRE

I always found it amusing when people talked about

a below knee amputee in Afghanistan being a scratch.

And, you know, that kind of... there's a black humour there.

RADIO CHATTER

But, now, as relationships between the West and Russia

have deteriorated, they could be facing a much more formidable enemy.

Many in B Company are new recruits.

20-year-old Piers Drinkall wasn't even born

when the last Cold War ended.

I've always wanted to join the Army.

When you're ten years old,

it's every kid's dream - going around the woods,

little plastic rifles, playing sort of toy soldiers and all that.

So, as soon as I was old enough,

I went straight to the recruiting office.

Best year of my life so far, going through training, getting out here,

meeting all the guys. It's been really good.

The world's changing a lot.

You certainly wouldn't wish for a war or anything, but, yeah,

you know, I would like to put my training to use

and do the real thing at some point.

You will be asking those guys

to go into situations where some of them

might not come back in the same way that they went in there.

My responsibility is to ensure that you've given them the training

to make them as survivable as possible.

In the last ten years,

a resurgent Russia has invaded two neighbouring countries -

Georgia and Ukraine.

Former Eastern Bloc states

who joined Nato after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991

worry they could be next.

I think there's a clear and credible threat to the Baltic states.

And absolutely it's appropriate

that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them

and provide a deterrent to the Russians.

We're very keen to see that if you go out the door

and fight Her Majesty's enemies, you win at the tactical level.

That's what we care about deeply.

This is a video taken in the last 18 months

in a theatre that Nato's looking at very closely

where we're going to see the Russians firing joint fires

at Ukrainian forces.

We're going to see it from the Russian end and the Ukrainian end.

This is what we're training you against.

This is what I want you to convey to your soldiers. OK?

I look at it, I wouldn't like to be on the end of it.

We have to be clear that the last ten or so years,

whilst very capable adversaries,

they're very different to what we're set-up for.

A near peer enemy is a whole different beast.

It would be like us fighting another armoured infantry battle group

and will require a level of ability

that perhaps we've not exercised for some time.

Let's hope we don't find ourselves in that position.

I hope the message is clear,

we're going to be facing brutal enemies

next time we deploy with Nato.

In a matter of months, 5 Rifles will be sent to protect Estonia,

a country which borders Russia

and was previously occupied by the Soviet Union

the nearly 50 years.

It now faces the very real threat of invasion.

Since Putin came to power in 2000,

Russia has been rebuilding its military might.

It has 770,000 soldiers

and more tanks than any other country.

It spends a third of its national budget on defence.

By contrast, the British Army has been hit by years of austerity cuts.

So the question we're asking

is have we as a nation cut too far in defence

or should we rethink our ambitions on the global stage?

These latest redundancies confirm the British Army's getting smaller.

It'll leave the regular Army

a quarter of the size it was half a century ago.

In 1960, it was 315,000 strong

and by 2017, it'll stand at 82,000.

General Sir Nicholas Carter, the head of the British Army,

has to oversee the biggest budget cuts the Army has faced in decades.

There are some really quite important issues to get

our minds around. And people, I think, always knew that we were

going to have to make some judgments about where we stand end year...

Today, he's meeting with the executive board of the Army.

And deferring refurbishing the...

Millions of pounds need to be saved this year.

And it's significantly reduced.

General Carter may have to scale down the training in Canada

known as Exercise Prairie Storm.

An awful lot of what we have to do here is that we have got to present

a position to the centre of defence which demonstrates that,

if you play with us in year, this is the impact that it has.

So, cancel Prairie Storm Four, for example?

They could go on manoeuvre without firing ammunition

and, you know, it saves you, what,

2 million of the 3.8 that you hope to save.

It may well be that the easiest solution

is for the troops that are involved in Prairie Storm

to go on what is a new exercise in Kenya with others, I don't know.

Because it's not going to an area that you plan to go to often,

it costs you more money in the long run.

We need to use our imagination to mitigate the effect of this,

whilst demonstrating that we have taken, um,

a measure that cuts off our big toe in the meantime.

The British Army is smaller than it's been, probably,

since Cromwell's day,

and therefore we have to think imaginatively about how we can

maximise the potential of all of the manpower.

I think it's always hard when you're making those sorts of choices.

I think it's why it's important

that military people still make these decisions

and that ultimately we carry the risk

in the event of the Army going off to do its final task,

which is to fight.

I would want to look myself very closely in the mirror

if I felt that there was a risk of the Army being sent to do something

that it wasn't properly prepared to do.

With falling troop numbers and less money,

the Army has to be creative about how it protects Britain

from its enemies.

The West and Russia

have been on a heightened state of tension since 2014

when Russia seized the Ukrainian region of Crimea

and also began secretly arming pro-Russian separatists

fighting in Eastern Ukraine.

But as Ukraine is not part of Nato,

no Western troops have been deployed to fight.

The war in Eastern Ukraine continues to rage.

Now, with extra fighters and artillery pouring into the region,

the fear is that the situation will grow even worse.

The United States blames Russia for arming the separatists

and for once again massing its troops on the border.

That's why it's issued these new sanctions.

OK, so,

we'll be going through lessons

in regards of how to move tactically

from building to building and also doing entry, room entry.

Now, as you're aware, and you can feel it already,

it's very, very cold today, OK,

and it's going to get colder during the day.

Keep motivated, OK?

The first part of the lesson,

if you all want to stand on top so you can see this part

and to the entrance of the building, there.

Sergeant Collins and 50 British soldiers from 1 Mercian

are not here to fight.

They have just two weeks

to train Ukrainian soldiers to defend their country.

Make sure you get to the front where you can see me.

Right, OK, just raise your hands, OK,

if you've had any experience in regards of route clearances in the past.

HE TRANSLATES

I joined in 1998, straight to Bosnia for six months,

just when the Bosnia-Kosovo war and that was kicking off.

OK, so now, Charlie and Elf, OK, at the edges of the building,

and Delta are staying where they are now, as you can see.

Two tours of Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well.

THEY LISTEN TO TRANSLATION

In regards of action, plenty of it.

Enjoyed it, really did.

Once it happens, it is like a drug

and you just want more and more of it.

All attempts to broker peace in Eastern Ukraine have failed.

By training the Ukrainians,

Nato and Britain hope to slow down Russian expansionism

without being directly drawn into the conflict.

The Ukrainian army has been completely overwhelmed by Russian military might.

3,500 Ukrainian soldiers and 2,700 civilians have been killed.

1.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

During the three-hour period

we'll come forward and attack the guys defending the buildings

and they'll have to stand to and repel the attack.

Any questions?

Sergeant Major Andrew McNulty is in charge of the final test for the Ukrainian soldiers.

The bar's pretty low in terms of they've done two weeks training.

They might deploy,

so it's just using this as a vehicle to put them in a tactical situation,

to give them half a chance when they get there.

You know what's waiting for them, and, er...

You know, some of these lads will be killed before...

..the next unit get out here, so, yeah, it's tough. Hm.

It's good to see everyone's got the enthusiasm and the energy,

despite the weather.

Corporal Andrew Barton will lead a defending force.

-You all right, David, yeah?

-HE TRANSLATES

Yeah? OK, so we're going to patrol back now...

Have you got eyes on these people at the rear of the building?

GUNFIRE

OK, double up, double up.

Slow.

Together, together.

OK, conserve your ammunition.

Watch and shoot, watch and shoot.

If I'm brutally honest, it is an extreme ramp up,

so a very steep learning curve,

but with the time that we've got, we have to put them under pressure.

OK, so, stand back from the window and make sure your weapon's ready

just in case you ever need to use it.

Just straight up in the shoulder.

The one thing I want to leave them with, I mean,

whenever I've seen somebody being killed,

it's because they've not been paying attention

or doing the basic drill right.

OK, so stand to, double up.

There's a couple of guys killed every day, probably ten wounded.

I think they're doing the dirty work for Europe at the minute,

putting their head on the block.

Linear. Linear, linear.

You peel.

Peel. Wait.

You fucking peel!

Yeah, peel. Peel from the fucking far left!

In this politically sensitive conflict,

they are not the aggressors in this.

What we try and teach them is how to defend their country,

how to protect their borders

and ultimately how to protect their people.

Training the Ukrainian army

is a cost-effective way for British soldiers

to learn first-hand how the Russians fight.

By seeing guys that have come back from the front line,

we're also trying to sponge as much information as we can

as to the types of situations they're coming across,

the types of enemy and casualties that they're encountering.

The firepower that they have against them is being monitored.

We have heard of a quite horrific situation,

so some people will come back and share their stories.

Some people will come back

and they're not so willing to speak about their experiences.

Within the British Army now, you've got 300 or so blokes

who understand the tactics and the nature of the warfare.

That's worth its weight in gold to the British Army,

so, yeah, we've learned a lot since we've been here, definitely, definitely.

-Smile.

-There will be no smiling.

David and his unit will now be sent to fight in Eastern Ukraine.

That's the last day we have together.

OK, I just want to thank you very much for your effort, your energy, your enthusiasm.

From all the instructors and the duty staff that have

been watching you today, you've all done really, really well.

THEY REPLY IN OWN LANGUAGE

Happy days. Cheers, guys.

Thank you.

I am twice as old as David.

He will surprise people, you know.

You have to trust that they're going to suck it up and deal with tough times ahead.

They're a tough people,

some of them probably tougher than they may appear,

and I'm sure they'll prove that.

The war in Ukraine is becoming part of a broader,

more dangerous confrontation between the West and Russia.

What is Russia up to in Syria?

The question people are asking is,

has Russia stepped up its support to the Assad regime?

Russia, if you're listening,

I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.

Russia recently moved a nuclear weapon to Kaliningrad,

on the doorstep of the Baltic states in Europe...

..and also increased the number of troops on its western borders to over 300,000.

In response, Nato will now send

the largest contingent of troops to Eastern Europe

since the Cold War.

Now, in the old days it was all about confronting the Soviet Union.

Now it's Vladimir Putin's Russia that's got everyone worried.

After his military intervention in Ukraine,

a lot of Eastern European Nato members started fretting

that they could, in theory, be next.

It's difficult, I think, to remember a time in my career

when the strategic context was more complex or more dynamic.

Indeed, it seems to me that the defining condition

is probably one of instability.

It seems also that there is a challenge

to the post World War II basis that we all understood,

that notion of a global architecture

that has assured all of our prosperity and security,

and that seems to come from a resurgent Russia,

and I do worry about the potential threat

of miscalculation that comes with that.

We now as an army need to be prepared

to fight the war we might have to fight, I suspect,

and not necessarily the war we'd like to fight.

Thank you very much.

We have to make choices.

You could deploy the British Army all over the world,

but we've only got so many people these days,

and I think it's important that we identify

where to put our relatively limited resource

to achieve the best possible effect.

If we're going to provide security for the nation,

we do that collectively with other nations.

I think it's important that Nato countries support those on the edge

of Nato, to make sure that they feel resilient and reassured.

And I think that when they're threatened,

which has been the case with Russia,

then I think it's important that collectively we step up to the plate

to say, up with this, we're not prepared to put any more.

Five months after returning from Canada,

800 soldiers from 5 Rifles

will be sent to Estonia in a matter of weeks.

Thousands of Russian troops will carry out major manoeuvres

along the Estonian border in the coming months.

They genuinely think that an attack is imminent, and if you see the way

that Russia postures itself,

huge exercises that they conduct very close to the border,

and are the same exercises

that they used to move into Georgia,

Crimea...

So, these are not without precedent,

and I think the Estonians have a very clear fear

that the Russians will use one of those exercises

as an opportunity to cross the border.

Together with artillery and engineers,

5 Rifles are part of a major Nato operation to prevent Russia

invading Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

After the activities in the Ukraine,

there was a very, very understandable nervousness,

particularly in the Baltic states,

but across all of the former Soviet states,

about what Russia was going to do.

So, particularly in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,

those Baltic states feel really, really threatened.

Not least because of Kaliningrad just here.

So, a bit of Russia that is separate from Russia.

There have been deliberate cyber attacks in those nations

to try to undermine the functioning of those states.

We are to reassure the Estonian government that Nato

holds true to its promises of collective defence.

We are also there to deter Russian aggression.

The actions of all of us will be under extreme scrutiny.

There's already exploitation across social media.

We've seen it put out that Germans have raped people.

They physically were not there yet,

but the Russians were pushing an agenda that said that

the Nato German troops were arriving and were raping people

as evidence that Nato forces are a negative and malign influence.

Part of our footprint is to provide the right balance.

We are to reassure the Estonians,

but what we are not there to do is to provoke the Russians.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wilson

will be the commanding officer of 5 Rifles in Estonia.

Negative press about their imminent arrival has already begun.

Common term right now is fake news, but what is fake news?

It's disinformation, it's subversion.

That is very much something which I think is a novel aspect to this

in many ways, not something we had to contend with too much

in Afghanistan or Iraq,

and something that we are conscious that we will face

in this new operating environment.

5 Rifles will be in Estonia for nine months.

They are going heavily armed with 450 vehicles

including Challenger 2 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles,

and heavy artillery.

Alongside 3,000 other Nato troops,

it is the biggest build-up of forces in Eastern Europe

since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It kicks off from now.

You need to make sure that how you dress

and how you appear to the public is of the top form from the very off.

5 Rifles' role will be very different

to the British soldiers working in Ukraine.

They are going as a combat force,

ready to defend Estonia from Russian invasion.

Six months ago, we were not expecting to come to Estonia.

Many of my soldiers wouldn't even have known

where Estonia is on a map.

Post-Cold War, we would have all smugly, simplistically,

assumed this problem had gone away, and lo and behold, here we are,

having to secure the northern flank of Nato.

Just apprehension, really. Looking forward to it.

Thinking of what's going to happen

as soon as we step off the plane when we get there, really.

Obviously, we don't want to let anyone down.

We're there to help Estonia.

Haven't really thought too much

about the, kind of, Russians as a whole.

I've been lucky enough in my short career so far,

I haven't come under fire.

Hopefully, if that time ever does come,

you know, I'll be prepared for it.

5 Rifles will be stationed at Tapa in north-east Estonia.

The area is strategically important.

It sits directly on the main route between Russia

and Estonia's capital, Tallinn.

If Russia did invade,

this would be the quickest way for them to overrun Estonia.

Standing in their way is Estonia's biggest military base.

The arrival of 800 British soldiers

has significantly bolstered their defences.

This mission that we're on here in Estonia is so different in many ways

from that which we've done in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's quite simple when there's someone on the other side of a field who's shooting at you.

That's a relatively simple problem to understand.

This mission, which is about deterrence, is about readiness, reassurance,

requires a different understanding,

and the challenges, the threats that we face, are more nuanced.

They're not so evident.

My role is to command a combat-ready battle group

and be prepared to respond to any emerging crisis.

And even, yeah, we go in through the different things like...

-..corridors...

-OK, yeah.

-For us, for the enemy, anyway.

5 Rifles find themselves in a new role.

They will be serving under the command of the Estonian army.

It's not our job to come here like some imperial army.

We are a unit that sits under an Estonian brigade,

so we've got to adapt how we operate to the way they operate.

Major Ben Casson will act as a link point

between the Estonians and the British.

They are a country that lives with the prospect of invasion.

You look at their history, hundreds of years,

and they have been occupied by all sorts of different countries.

So we're adding something extra to them.

The Estonian army has just 5,500 soldiers.

They are thinly spread across a 180-mile border with Russia,

and are on high alert.

18-year-old conscript Carl

is living 24 hours a day in trenches close to the border.

When you're running around the woods holding a gun it's inevitable

you start thinking about these things -

that what if, like, tomorrow, what if there's a real attack?

Russia is, like, right there.

Like 5km from my home, I can see Russia right there.

If it were to happen, then,

what else you can do? You just have to do it.

You just have to fight for your country.

I would be happy to...

..to maybe one day die for my country

because it's where I'm born and raised.

It's normal for me.

This dense woodland is a natural asset for the Estonian army.

Russian tanks would get bogged down

if they tried to advance through here.

20-year-old Piers Drinkall and his platoon

must master this terrain as quickly as possible.

It's been in the minuses, about -6, -7,

but the wind chill has been on top of that, as well,

so it has been pretty cold.

No-one else has operated in Estonia before.

For the people that are section commanders,

and platoon sergeants,

this is completely different from Afghanistan and Iraq.

5 Rifles are not just preparing for an advance of Russian troops.

They must also be ready to spot Russian-backed insurgents.

They will not be in military uniform.

This was a tactic Russia used in Ukraine

which could easily be repeated here.

Right, lads, what we're going to go through is your A to H, OK.

This is the description of an individual

that you'll send up to higher so they can further track him.

In what situation would you use an A to H, Underwood?

5 Rifles have an identification system known as A to H.

Bring you into the scenario.

If the Russian hordes come over the border

in their hundreds and thousands,

-do you think you're going to be taking A to Hs of every conscript?

-No.

-No, OK.

So, it's an environment

where they'll move in and out of the civilian population with ease

because they're not a uniform soldier like we are.

OK, so that A to H can be tracked along

as they move from town to town.

So the first one, A for age.

All right. It doesn't have to be fucking specific,

like 25 years old and four months, OK? Just a general area.

His teens, his 20s, his 30s, his 40s.

All right. Build.

Rifleman Hooch, how would you describe Rifleman Evans?

Fat.

Too much time in Macky Ds!

Clothing. Right, that's dead simple, OK? What they're wearing.

The D, distinguishing features.

-Scars.

-There we go, scars is a big one, as well.

If they've got scars on their face

it usually means they're probably a bit of a hard bastard, doesn't it,

or they fucked up with ammunition or some sort of explosives in the past.

OK? So that's a nice little fucking combat indicator, as well.

I want you to start moving through the woods, right?

-Yep.

-Keep deliberate rate of fire going into enemy-like locations.

Ambushes in the dense woodland are the biggest threat they face.

Right, let's go now.

Today they are going to be put to the test in a mock attack.

Now move.

We're the first ones the enemy see, the first ones the enemy contact.

Yeah, 12 o'clock, mate.

Right, move up.

We've worked hard on taking positions, keeping moving forward,

keeping the enemy on the back foot.

It's something we're getting good at.

Let's go. Drinkall!

-Yep.

-Push back to the casualty, mate.

-That's your bag now.

-Roger.

OK, start getting that there, OK?

-Yeah.

-Other sections are secured over here.

I'll make sure this fucking place is secured.

Piers has recently been promoted to Lance Corporal.

As a commander now,

it's my responsibility to be that mentor figure, really,

to the lads, teach them the basic skills and drills.

It is cliched, but you are fighting for the bloke next to you, really.

Little work on points, OK?

This wooded area is safe, tracks are not, so make sure you don't put...

I know you want to go to the tracks, that's where you've come from,

-you're thinking safe.

-Yeah.

-Don't push out on the track.

A point for yourself.

Probably a bit better placement of the guys at the start,

cos obviously Mack couldn't see the enemy.

Just a bit better placement, getting guys into far positions.

Yeah, yeah. It's difficult cos I might be able to see down the tree line perfectly

but you, five metres to the right, might not.

But generally, though, I'm more than happy with that section attack.

This is good. We destroyed a close one

and then we had to withdraw and then they counterattacked.

Stuff like that is good

cos that's really what's going to happen in real life, isn't it?

All right, fantastic. Let's go and get fucking Gore-Tex back on.

Yeah, lads, well done, good effort.

In the towns surrounding their base,

British soldiers are on strict orders to keep a low profile.

Over a quarter of the local population here are ethnic Russians.

Social cohesion is fractious and easily exploited.

Estonians worry Russia could secretly fund

and arm ethnic Russians to turn against them.

We're in Tapa and as you move east, pretty much of this line here,

you start to get into a very ethnic Russian population.

Certainly, you go to Narva, which is the border town,

you will struggle to find someone speaking Estonian

and the media is almost exclusively from Russia.

What you saw in the Ukraine was a very successful use by Russia

of divisive messaging to really ferment popular uprising

within an ethnically Russian area.

State-sponsored Russian media have been quick to exploit protests

about the arrival of British and Nato troops.

Russian state media creates this belief in people

that they are a country that is... invasion from an aggressive Nato.

We all watch Western media,

we assume that Western media is giving us the truth,

exactly the same as the Russians

assume that the Russian media is giving them the truth,

so why would they think any different?

Arguably the greatest threat to us is the manipulation of events.

It is trying to undermine our presence and to engender poor will

amongst the people of Estonia to try and delegitimise our presence.

Estonia has significantly increased their military spending

since Ukraine was invaded.

They are keen to show Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wilson their new firepower.

We've been training on the guns right now for about six months,

-yeah, since we started.

-OK.

Maybe you want a closer look.

Yeah, let's go.

-So, you are a regular or conscript?

-I'm a conscript.

-OFF-SCREEN:

-We have to essentially become

a seamless part of the Estonian defence force.

And we're a multinational battle group - British, French and Danes -

integrating into an Estonian brigade.

It's manually rammed, isn't it?

When you fire it, the bridge uses the kickback

to raise the bridge.

And we need to understand the culture, the climate,

the environment, so that we are a fully combat-ready unit.

So when are they going to...?

I can't tell you that, Colonel. This is me visiting as much as you.

OK.

I'm told the thing, the tripod at the side...

That's a directing post.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. So that's what we used to do with the light gun

until we had us laser ring gyros...

..which does it automatically.

Beautiful eau de nil coloured shell.

It is indeed eau de nil.

I had a car... My first car was eau de nil.

I got it cheaper because it was eau de nil.

There's a balance to be struck between deterrence and provocation.

I command a battle group of around a thousand people,

that's a relatively small force.

That's a conscious decision.

So, it's not about provocation.

It's about demonstrating the resolve and the unity of Nato,

but without putting something so great in place

that actually it provokes a reaction.

Today, 5 Rifles and the Estonian army

are officially announcing their new relationship to the world.

It's a show of force designed to send a clear message to Russia.

They have been joined by 300 French soldiers.

I'm enjoying this multi-nationality.

Oh, yeah. It will be interesting.

How we march together.

-Yeah!

-Do we salute?

Yes. Yes. Officers are expected to salute.

Keep it simple.

Yeah, officers salute.

Yes.

And when you give your command, will the Estonian contingent react?

-Oh, absolutely.

-To you?

I hope so!

I hope so. And then they will...

Colonel Parm is in charge of Estonia's first infantry brigade.

I would say we have had a constant pressure from Russia

starting in 2008 in Georgia, 2014, Ukraine,

has been showing that their threat is there.

We have been Nato members for 13 years now,

and most of the Estonian society, or by large Estonian society,

sees that as a most positive thing ever happened,

when you think of Estonian security situation.

This threat from Russia is felt strongly.

Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union for nearly 50 years.

Rifles.

Battalion.

We now know of the 50 years of brutal occupation,

after losing a significant portion of our population...

..after unspeakable crimes that were committed by occupiers

in our territory, both during war and after the war.

We now know that not fighting was not the safer option.

Standing here today represents our clear conviction to defend ourselves

against any and all aggressions,

no matter how strong they are.

We will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

We will never go quietly again.

They look at the world in a different way than we in the UK do,

simply because we've had the luxury of being relatively secure.

It was fought over between the Germans, the Soviets and so on.

That's something that we British

haven't had to think about for over 1,000 years.

Certainly, every Estonian I've met has been fundamentally clear on,

is that they are never going to lose their independence again.

5 Rifles, the French and the Estonian army's ability

to defend the country from Russian invasion

will now be put to the test for the first time.

3,000 other Nato troops

will launch a series of simulated attacks against them.

We are creating a large pocket for the enemy to move in,

a kill zone. We are hitting enemy with at least two battalions.

Colonel Parm is in charge of the operation.

First phase of the battle is led directly by brigade.

We have to have in our possession vital ground through which we can build our counterattacks,

from south to north and north to south.

We are blocking and we're blocking forward.

And once the anti-tank company has come through,

then I will push some reconnaissance and snipers just slightly forwards, up to 2km.

Beyond the phase line.

I need to hold that line one as long as possible

in order to create those conditions.

Not to let enemy go further north than that.

Of course, you have noticed that I'm quite modern leader.

I delegated all the responsibility to you now.

But we will go that to the final victory.

Thank you. Go away.

That's it.

This joint exercise will be crucial

in assessing how this new alliance is working.

Well, what we are trying to do

is draw the enemy into the centre with 11th and 12th Battalion

moving back and out of the way,

until the enemy meet a block of the defence force.

If you look at all the factors that we're having to deal with,

we're operating in a country that has very different terrain to our own,

we're in a multinational environment,

so we're having to work out how...

not only how we deal with, work with the Estonians

but also how do we work with the French.

All those things together make it incredibly challenging.

Any exercise you go on,

there is an enemy scenario, and dare I say the word, Russia...

Let's be clear, it's Russia to our East,

that should come as no shock to people...

why we're here. But why antagonise people when it's just completely unnecessary to do so?

The attacks will take place across a 350 square mile area of Estonia,

including towns and villages just miles from the Russian border.

Hundreds of Estonian civilians are also taking part.

As Estonia only has an army of 5,500,

15,000 civilians have the legal right to bear arms.

Made up of teachers, butchers and bus drivers,

they are Estonia's Home Guard.

We like to fight in the forest cos tanks cannot come here.

Russian troops, they hate forest,

because we can just strike from there and disappear very quickly.

That's our strategy

until you guys came here.

Tonu works in the oil industry.

During the Soviet occupation,

30,000 of Estonians deported to Siberia.

Very, very many died in there.

My grandfather was there.

So, we remember this and actually we don't like to have this system back.

Piers Drinkall's company will be leading the counterattack.

We're using dismounted infantry and fires to isolate,

dislocate and deceive enemy positions,

and then we will fucking mallet them with armour.

It will be interesting to see what goes on

and how different countries do shit

and hopefully we will do shit better than they do it and we'll win.

Don't turn, fire. Fire back at them.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

The key to defending Estonia from a Russian attack

is co-ordinating the British, French and Estonian units.

No, I don't understand, over.

Communications are being run on an encrypted system

so they cannot be intercepted by the Russians.

Delta 3 to Alpha, Roger. I'm confused.

Are you in comms with Bravo? Any Bravo call signs, over?

Major Ben Casson has to ensure commands from the Estonian army

are passed on to the British and French.

Cross the river, over.

They're talking about bears.

Where the fuck have they got bears?

The Estonian minister of defence and chief of defence arrive to be briefed about the problems.

How are you coping with your comms and stuff?

Sir, it's a very good question.

Sir, this is one of the things we're trying to work out at the moment

because the British are still using British communication means

which can't talk directly to Estonian means without a voice bridge.

It's not easy for me to talk directly with the battle group

and we're trying to work out,

should I be here, should I be in forward command post,

-do I need my own radio vehicle?

-You need a motorbike.

Face-to-face we can have a very easy conversation,

but over a radio with the distortion,

it becomes really difficult.

I was talking to your seniors about that...

And to the minister of defence, as well. I think...

I think you would be very popular men if you could...

The exercise lasts 19 days.

Many of the teething and communication problems are resolved

and the combined force successfully repels the enemy attack.

Everything we do is about influence.

It's always been that way.

It's about trying to change someone's behaviour,

to stop them doing something that we don't want them to do.

Here, in Estonia,

this is very much about fighting on its own territory and that brings

a different approach, a different psychology to that

and, I think, you know,

I'm very conscious that every time you're giving up a metre,

that's a metre of their homeland.

I am genuinely encouraged by where we are at this stage,

bearing in mind we've only really been in Estonia now

for a month and a half.

As the size of the British Army shrinks,

and the world becomes increasingly uncertain,

this type of operation will become more commonplace.

If you're getting smaller, but you want to maintain influence

and you consider yourself a world actor,

then you've got to be able to work with other nations

to achieve the same effect, and if we tried to do it alone, well,

it just isn't the way the world is any more.

Unaware of Russia's next move,

the British Army could remain in Estonia for the next five years.

-Busy times.

-They have been exercised a lot. They worked very hard.

General Sir Nicholas Carter has come to visit 5 Rifles.

One of the things that we're determined to do as an army

is to redress the balance between

ten years of counterinsurgency and stabilisation

and to try and remind ourselves of what war fighting might look like up against a grown-up opponent.

The big point is it's got to be visible,

it's got to send a message, and that's what this is about,

you are sending a message.

I think it's also interesting to see

what our potential opponent across the border makes of this, you know,

and if there's a deathly hush,

then I suspect we're being quite successful.

I think being a soldier in 2017 is probably different in some ways

to being a soldier 20 or 30 years ago

because the nature of the threats is very different.

We, as soldiers, understand that the nature of war doesn't change.

It's always generally going to be visceral, violent.

It's generally about people and about politics,

but the character of conflict subtly evolves.

The British Army in the final analysis

is still to be an army that can fight

and can take on whoever our enemies are.

Next week...

What are we looking at, sir?

-The kid with the AK?

-Yeah.

British soldiers are on a UN mission

in a country torn apart by civil war and famine...

30,000 people in need of protection by the UN

housed in little shelters everywhere.

-Can I have some money?

-Give you money?

-Yes.

I haven't got any money, mate.

..trying to keep a fragile peace in south Sudan and protect civilians.

How many patients do you usually see a day?

-700 to 800.

-Wow.