The Ice is All Around Behind the Lines

'It was in terrain like this that the great armies of Napoleon and Hitler

'were beaten by the savagery of northern winter.

'For the next three months,

'the Royal Marines will train here, simply learning how to stay alive.'

OK, there's plastic bags here.

Just empty the contents of your pockets.

You can keep any survival items that you'd normally carry in your pockets.

Any food, anything else that you've got in your pockets,

stick in the bags and put your name on with the white tape.

'The initiation, by their standards, is relatively gentle.

'Later, temperatures will fall to -40, but for now a mere ten below

'is considered severe enough

'to turn them out bereft of tent, sleeping bag or even topcoat.'

Well, we're not completely taking everything off.

It's a progression now.

They've had a night in snow holes,

which is a semi-survival situation,

or you can dig a snow hole tactically.

We're throwing them now into a situation

where they've lost their kit for one reason or another.

Perhaps it was being ported by helicopter, BV or what-have-you.

And they find themselves in a situation, in the tree line,

where they don't have anything but their belt order

and what they're rigged in.

Normally, erm...they would have to then make improvised shelters.

We'll let them keep their survival kit which they normally carry on them

but all the luxuries, such as duvets,

sleeping bags, et cetera, et cetera, we'll take off them.

Yeah.

It makes you wonder if we're going to be As at the end of this or MLs.

'Electing to spend their lives in those parts of the world

'which other tourists never reach, not to mention the ubiquitous absence

'of discos, bars or flush lavatories,

'has not entirely dulled their critical faculties.'

You get told that you've got to have survival this, survival that.

"Right, you're now doing a survival exercise, take all your survival kit

"out of your pockets, put it in a black plastic bag."

- I think it's good for the... basically, for the experience.

If the worst comes to the worst, you could lose your jacket,

you could lose anything, and you're going to be stuck there,

on your tod, with nothing.

So it's handy to be able to, you know,

hack it, really, because let's face it, if it came to that,

tactics would go out the window.

You'd be there to survive and only to survive.

If you didn't find shelter,

you wouldn't have much alternative but to surrender.

It's one of these things.

If you don't get into shelter out here, you're going to die.

It's as simple as that.

So it's handy to muck in and be able to crack it with no kit.

- Leave that on? - Yeah, why not?

It's all good character-building stuff, but it is a risky business,

which is why we're one of the best troops in the world, of course.

'Hopefully, it will be a lasting playtime,

'but in the event of conventional ground attack,

'these men will be the first to face the Russians.'

I think it's vitally important to always know your enemy, no matter

where you are, no matter what the scale of the conflict.

If I was going to have a punch-up with anyone,

the first thing I'd want to know is how big he is, how good he is,

whether he's a black belt in karate, what weapons he's carrying.

And it's exactly the same here, so I've made a point myself,

most of us have, of actually doing a lot of work to find out, er...

how good our enemy's going to be and where his weaknesses lie.

And without any names or pack drill,

we all know who our enemy is going to be

in the event of the balloon going up.

The popular concept of a Russian soldier

is either an Arctic superman or a semi-literate Mongolian oaf,

and in fact the truth lies somewhere between the two.

Some of them are very well equipped indeed, very well equipped -

in certain areas, and in other areas

they seem to have neglected it quite considerably.

For instance, their personal clothing

will vary a lot according to what units they belong to,

but what the Russian soldier is very pleased with at the moment is

a quilted undersuit, quite similar, in fact, to the one that we use.

They consider it the best thing since sliced bread,

which is very, very good.

But their overgarments can vary from a one-piece coverall,

which is reversible, camouflage reversible,

to a greatcoat.

And, obviously, I wouldn't like to ski very far with a greatcoat on,

for ventilation purposes.

Furthermore, as far as is known, the average Russian soldier

doesn't get issued with a sleeping bag, even in these conditions.

He must do his best there.

I wouldn't fancy it myself, to be quite honest.

'Their grasp of Soviet resources, from weaponry to thermal underwear,

'implies that British intelligence

'isn't quite as bad as it's cracked down to be.'

The ZSU-23-4, which is an anti-aircraft...weapon system,

is built with heated handbars and footpads for the operator.

Again, it shows how seriously they take the winter side of things.

'It's a formidable enemy.'

I think so, yeah. Mm. Not unbeatable,

but I think it's a mistake to underestimate them, definitely.

'Since their primary function is to relay back information from

'the enemy's front garden, coding must be mastered.'

OK! Next week, you're going to embark on the beginning of your

tactical exercises in Norway, your first exercise.

On that exercise, you will be required to communicate.

In fact, one of your prime functions will be to communicate and to report.

The information that you will be reporting on

will be of a classified nature for the first time,

and to report that information back,

obviously, we're not going to be able to send it in clear.

We are going to have to send it in a code of some description.

The code I'm going to talk about today is for sending information

of a confidential nature, and it has a limited...

a limited security on it, a limited time it is secure for.

I'll be going into how long it is secure for

when I get into the lecture.

'Temporarily, this bland stretch of Norwegian snowscape

'is home-from-home for four Marines,

'yet without knowing where to look,

'you've more chance of running into Father Christmas than spotting them.

'For survival in time of war, concealment must mean invisibility.'

MORSE CODE

'This is no academic introduction to the twilight zones of warfare.

'Most of them, operating in teams of four,

'did precisely this for real in the Falklands War,

'so how close is close to an enemy position?'

We were 35 metres from an Argentinian position down south.

We were just lying on a little ridge, a rock ridge.

We could hear them talking, cooking, singing and dancing basically.

And we estimated them to be about 35 metres, give or take a metre or two.

We moved in at night, and it was all quiet, you know,

and come the morning, they were all getting up and making breakfast,

we couldn't believe we were there. Almost sitting in amongst them.

But we just sat still. It was only a two-day OP, anyway.

It could be a day, it could be a month.

It could be two months. It could be a long time.

- Tango, Mike... - Yeah.

- Charlie, Bravo. - Is that it, is it?

- That's it, yeah. - OK, then.

'However accomplished their concealment,

'there remains one nerve-testing aspect of the job which leaves them

'constantly vulnerable to discovery.

'The moment they begin to transmit a signal,

'enemy radio direction finders can establish a fix on their position.'

With today's modern equipment, they can trace back.

It's a little like the old detector van, all right, for the television.

They can do the same thing with us

and find out where you've been transmitting from.

Of course, we have measures to minimise

or to make this very difficult for them, but it can happen

and does happen, and it has happened.

Erm, as I say, it's very nice to be out there on your own

if you remain undetected.

But the more information you're transmitting, the more likely

or the bigger the probability is that you will be detected

and get some kind of direction-finding device on you.

'Even when you can hear them, it's still difficult to see them.'

'Their constant predilection for stripping off

'should not be misconstrued.

'The unromantic explanation is that they'll sweat while digging snow,

'and later a soaking vest would swiftly freeze into a straitjacket.'

The architecture of their temporary homes is considerably more attractive

than you'll see in many urban conurbations.

They've tunnelled 50 ft into a snow slope

at a depth of eight feet below the surface.

The biggest problem we've got with the soft snow on top

is that it does tend to shrink and every night it'll shrink

a little bit more until eventually it collapses.

We've got so much snow beneath us we could counteract the sinking

by digging down every day and I'm sure the other lads will agree,

virtually indefinitely you can stay in something like this.

'Others live above ground in two-man tents.

'But above or below, the unrelenting enemy is the cold.

'Rules must be obeyed.'

Tactically possible, we want to get in our bags.

We want to get the cold, wet kit off.

And start getting some of this snow off the boots.

And get the boots stowed away in the bottom of the sleeping bag.

The reason for stowing them in the bottom of the bag,

if you leave them out, and it freezes at night

as the temperature goes down as it gets dark, the boots freeze up

and you end up with a pair of refrigerators in the morning.

You go sticking them on your feet and the next thing you know,

you're going down with frostbitten toes.

Simply to burn one candle in here will keep the temperature

at about 0 to -1

which is a comfortable temperature for out here, basically.

You don't need any form of heat, that's it.

The kit you've got keeps you warm.

As long as you've got a candle going, you know you've got enough oxygen.

It starts to dim, you realise you're getting a bit short on the old air,

so you poke a hole through the roof with a ski pole.

Get the jacket in, stow it in the bag.

OK, that's nice, stowed away.

Next thing we want is the gloves. The gloves are always wet,

they're always either near the snow or in the snow,

or you've been sweating.

Get the inners out,

fluff them up.

Same with the other one.

And we can stow these against the body.

The easiest way I find is to stick the inner down the trousers like so.

That way, next to the body, your own body heat starts to dry them out

and they're nice and warm.

It comes in... the main meal comes in a plastic packet

and in there you've got a sachet of beef granules

which are dehydrated, which require water added to them.

You've also got...

a packet of dried apple flakes which you can mix into a dessert.

To carry all those bits of paper around with you adds to the weight,

when you're carrying quite enough kit as it is.

So what a lot of the lads tend to do, and in this case,

Digger's done, is mix it all ready. You can see in there,

there's a lot less weight in that than there is in that.

And in there, he's got his beef granules, his quick-dried peas

and his apple flakes.

'More scoff than Escoffier but at least it's hot.

'Indeed, there are many reasons why the Whitehall mandarins

'don't venture this far too often.'

Right, next thing, we've got the old socks. Socks are always wet.

Your feet are always sweating.

Get the socks off.

Boots back on. Keep the feet warm.

Just open them out.

The best place to put these is near the armpits.

Somewhere where it's going to be really warm. Tuck them in there.

It's a bit uncomfortable cos they're damp at first

but as they warm up, you don't notice them.

Especially when you get in your bag.

It's a bit of a cramp at first cos you've got your of boots

in the bottom, your gaiters and your jacket here at the side

but once you're in your bag, you start warming up.

The next thing you're going to start thinking about is food.

There are some people who can be very good soldiers in a normal environment

but out here, they just don't click.

You've got to have a lot of will power to keep yourself going.

You get very cold. It's very easy to wrap your hand in and say,

to hell with it, and sit down and that's a recipe

to work your way into a wooden coffin.

You've got to have willpower to keep yourself going,

even when things get really very uncomfortable.

OK, we've got here another visual demonstration

of what can happen if you don't maintain your kit properly

and don't carry out the correct drills. As you saw earlier,

the guy always put away his mittens inside his sleeping bag.

This glove's been left outside in the cold.

He's now going to try and throw this smoke grenade

with the freezing mitt on.

But as you can see, he can't...

There's no way he can get rid of it.

Oh, he has done. He has done then.

But in the first instance, the grenade went off,

and as you can see, it's melted...

if you can turn it so the light can show it.

It's melted onto his glove.

Now, if that was a white phosphorus grenade, or even worse,

a high-explosive grenade, he'd have wiped out himself

and whoever was in close range of him.

So again, another very serious lesson to be learnt there.

'To the birthplace of Nordic skiing,

'they introduce a handicap which would do much to enliven

'the Winter Olympic Games.

'Back packs weighing almost 100 weight.

'Home base has that every modern comfort but they rarely see it.

'Life is mostly lived in sub Jack London conditions and bivouacs.'

That's a bit of a surprise, it works.

'The hazards of merely living here are such

'that mostly there's medical assistance within shouting reach.'

Well, this sort of climate, you're talking

basically about your hyperthermia, your frost nip, and your frostbite.

They're the basic injuries but then entailed with the skiing,

you've got your fractures and then things like this tent,

high carbon monoxide poisoning, just goes on and on.

Constipation.

They're all quite common injuries.

Constipation being the best one.

'From time to time, however, problems considerably more exotic

'than constipation occur.'

This happened in one of the commando units

that they were having a piss-up in the navvy

and one of the blokes goes outside to have a swamp

and there was a galvanised bin outside...

..and I think it would have been about...

I think it was about -15 to -20 outside.

So he goes his quick swamp and as he's shaking his jake,

it slaps against the side of the galvanised bin.

So the next thing he's shouting for help

and they had to get an ambulance down and the next thing you know,

he's picking him up with a galvanised bin into the back of the ambulance

and taking him to the sick bay to warm him up

to peel his jake off the bin.

LAUGHTER

'The emphasis on survival is now such that I wonder what would happen

'if you suddenly transported these men

'to a five-star hotel suite in Monte Carlo.'

We'd probably set fire to all the chairs.

Eat the food with your fingers.

Nah, I wouldn't mind it, I wouldn't turn it down.

'To prevent the cerebral processes from freezing up,

'each man is required to prepare and deliver a lecture.

'Some reveal an articulacy and clarity of thought

'which could well lead to a lucrative career in television criticism.'

On 11th December, Major Vidkun Quisling

was introduced to Raeder.

Quisling was the leader of the Norwegian fascist party

and also held the post of war minister.

He assured Raeder that no British intervention could be resisted

by the Norwegian government.

And after this meeting, Raeder took Quisling to Hitler

but the Fuhrer, occupied with the planning of the spring offensive,

showed little interest.

He listened in virtual silence to Quisling's projects

and after the interview told Raeder to handle the affair with discretion.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Corporal Craig.

The normal principles of camouflage and concealment, shape, shine,

shadow, surface, space and the rest are as well...

Let's start again. They rattled me cos they're here.

Just carry on.

Good afternoon, gents. My name is Corporal Craig.

The principles of movement and concealment

in snow-covered terrain apply as firmly as they do

in any theatre of operations.

It's still a matter of common sense and good soldiering.

However, there are many problems peculiar to the Arctic...

..conditions that considering...

Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name's Corporal Craig.

The normal principles of, camouflage and concealment, shape, shadow,

surface, space and silhouette, movement and aircraft...

'Others find this terrain more difficult.

'Our old friend, Corporal Craig, hero, you may recall,

'of two classic night climbs on an earlier programme,

'stumbles around now in the very foothills of syntax.'

Therefore, this afternoon, it is mine and Corporal Morris' aim,

in the next 30 minutes, to show you how difficult concealment can be

and in the same context, show you how easy concealment can be.

I want you to close your eyes and just try to listen

and recognise the following sounds.

'Craig had the splendidly creative idea of setting up

'a kind of panel game which requires his examiners with their eyes shut

'to identify a number of sounds.

'Quite what sounds never becomes apparent because there aren't any.'

OK, we'll try the next sound.

OK, we'll try that one again.

I want you to listen carefully and try to listen in to the next sounds,

that are quite common to us when we're working in the field.

'As the deafening silence of a failed experiment continues,

'the corporal in front of Craig's name

'becomes increasingly jeopardised.'

OK, get your act together, listen in.

OK, can I have a quick word? A couple of things.

A lot of therefores at the beginning.

Therefore, therefore, therefore, therefore.

I think you could have weighed off your actual lecture plan

and put it a bit tighter together.

I don't know how much you rehearsed it.

You can't stand up in front of a class and start three or four times.

I know they're here but that doesn't make any difference.

It shouldn't do. If you're going to be an instructor,

you should be able to get up and do it straightaway.

What are the principles of camouflage and concealment?

A basic principle.

Keeping out of sight.

What are the basics? Shape, shine, shadow, silhouette.

- He said that at the start. - What did you just come out with?

- If you are going to reiterate... - I was just summing up.

When you sum up, if you're talking to a novice

and you come up with five and he comes up with seven,

you've always got to be the same.

Shape, shine, shadow, silhouette, movement, noise and light.

They're all there, all part and parcel.

I think it could have been a bit more professional.

You two working together a bit more would have made it more professional.

If you're going to have noises and you want is people

to stand with their eyes shut, make sure the noises happen.

I felt a real goon standing here with the cameras rolling

and my eyes shut, hearing nothing.

- Pardon? - No problem.

'Back in their Norwegian headquarters,

'relieved of the day-to-day action most of us would hate,

'they reveal a curious change of character.'

'Suddenly, there's a sullenness and boredom you'd hardly expect of them,

'a state of dormitory depression,

'reminiscent of reluctant school boarders.

'Possibly, as in the case of Corporal Craig, it is nerves.

'Not about injury but the fact that they can come this far

'and still fail the course.'

Every now and again, I have been reminded by certain people

who are in charge of the course

that my position isn't that secure and I've got to keep trying hard

and I keep digging out of the blind and I keep trying.

Sometimes I feel as if it's just not enough because you can't keep those

certain people happy, no matter what you do.

I was actually the same as Tommo.

If I come to him in the office and he has failed me,

apart from probably bouncing off the four walls with rage,

I'll get outside and leave the corps,

join the police force or something like that.

Or some other secure job where there's a bit of a future in it.

If I pass the course,

I'll be quite happy to stay and do the job the best I can.

'There's another factor you rarely associate with fighting men.

'They have been separated from their families now for all of six months.'

Sometimes it really gets to me, I try to put it to the back of my mind.

When I just got out here, I was so depressed about being away from home,

I have pictures of my wife and children up there

and I didn't put them on the wall.

I put them up at first and because every time I went by them

and was looking at them,

I was getting depressed so I took them down.

It might sound soft to a lot of people but I took them down

and put them away and I tried putting her out of my mind.

I was getting lots of letters from her but I wasn't writing home

and the reason why I wasn't writing home was because it was depressing me

to try and write home and think about it.

I put her at the back of my mind and tried to concentrate on the job.

Then I settled down and got into the swing of being out here

and being away and bunged my pictures up and things haven't been too bad.

'So, beneath the flak jackets and occasional tattoo,

'there do beat human hearts.'

When you've got this amount of guys living on top each other,

privacy is a big thing.

You need it as well, you do need to escape,

each person in their own way.

Some people don't need privacy as much as others.

Then you get the individual who needs to be on his own quite a bit.

They usually find their own ways of doing it, everybody has some ways,

guys will go for a walk or even go down to the launderette,

they'll take the hi-fi down there and just sit and read,

listening to the hi-fi.

'If Sergeants McClean, taskmaster and mentor,

'occasionally feels the same, he can't join in the moaning.

'He takes it out on his racing bike, going absolutely nowhere.'

'Just occasionally though, even McClean's laconic style

'gives way to tetchiness.'

Right, your AWT written.

If I wanted to, I could turn this into an almighty bollocking.

But I'm not.

I want it to go in, what I've got to say.

The highest mark was Lieutenant Hutton, it doesn't really bother him.

Sergeant Matthews, 249.

Corporal Thompson, 233.

Corporal Mills, 228.

Corporal Clayton.

TV: Isn't that beautiful?

'The intellectual distractions are mostly limited to films

'and the films are mostly limited

'to the subject closest to their hearts, the Marines.

'Since there aren't many films about the Royal Marines,

'they have to put up with the Americans.'

'At least they have one advantage,

'last night's fiction can become this morning's fact.

'Their own helicopter is to lift them out to the start line

'of a 200-mile forced march.

'This is what they've come for and it will break or make them.'

I don't know who's more nervous, them or me.

Let's hope it works.