A British commando raid on the west coast of Denmark brought the first stage of the Baltic Protector deployment to a close.
According to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and their Dutch counterparts waged a battle around the towns of Esbjerg and Varde in western Denmark, taking on Danish troops.
“The focus of the first phase of the deployment – Danex, or Danish Exercise – was meshing the different amphibious, naval, ground and air forces together in the western Baltic and eastern North Sea so they could work as one, seamlessly. Each nation’s helicopters and landing craft were tested different ship, while the task group fired different weapon systems and practised defending itself from attack – practising skills that are the building blocks of amphibious warfare.
Royal Marines of 45 Commando and 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group, alongside Dutch, Danish and Norwegian allies, perfected helicopter raids, urban close quarters combat, the live firing of artillery and mortars, convoy and ambush tactics, and a dusk parachute drop. The training culminated in a spectacular night amphibious assault on a remote stretch of the Danish coastline.”
The MoD say that the Baltic Protector deployment is the first test of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a substantial naval force with the Royal Navy at its heart, and forces from eight other nations with shores on the North and Baltic Sea.
It includes the UK’s fleet flagship HMS Albion, Type 23 frigate HMS Kent, and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships Argus and Lyme Bay.
Daily Mail: INCOMPETENT GOVT AVENGES VIKING RAIDS 12 CENTURIES AFTER THE FACT!!
Now go raid France and stop all the illegal immigration from coming to the UK, our island is getting to busy, or England is.
More border force. More ships in the Channel. I would think the French are happy to get rid of them so I doubt they will make much more of an effort. And it also takes political will at home. Which is a non starter due to PC and given the position of much of HM opposition that economic migrants and illegal immigrants are all refugees in desperate need and should all be taken in. Which then encourages more, and the wheel turns round and round and in 100 years time? A refugee fleeing from war or persecution claims asylum in… Read more »
The issue is similar to the Cuban migration to Key West a few years ago when the USCG were tasked with the job and had limited number of older cutters and little else
Trump exaggerates the problem in his own back-yard. He has a problem counting people – apparently there were hundreds of thousands at his inauguration, as there were “lots” of people cheering him in London, as there are huge waves of Mexican and central American migrants at the US border. He has dyscalculia
What is there? 500 camped there now? I’m pretty sure the majority of illegals in the U.K. come here legally and then decide to stay etc. It’s in the very low thousands those that enter as stowaways and quite a few of them are caught. The money would be better spent in detention centres and enforcement to remove etc, then spending money on the border. Would even better be spent on aid programs in the countries that they come from to stop it at the source. And I would send the marines to the Libyan coast as part of an… Read more »
I agree Sole. I was and still am against attacking Assad in Syria, and I think going to Libya to stop the smuggling gangs at the coast is a great idea.
I would agree that such proactive incursions to create safe zones in Libya is on the face of it, a good idea.
The only issue is it would probably turn into yet another insurgency against allied forces and we would find ourselves sucked into yet another unwinnable desert war….
I’ve not noticed this Joiint Expeditionary Force mentioned in mainstream press . It seems a prudent measure to balance against Russia in the Baltic . Is it a dramatic change in military posture ? Interesting it’s UK led , given that it must originate at cabinet level and our politics is moving away from er European cooperation ! Must be some comfort to the Baltic states
Britain has its own version that is rarely mentioned.
The Joint Rapid Reaction Force, started life as the JRDF in 95 time frame.
The JEF, first announced in 2012, is described here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Joint_Expeditionary_Force It is interesting because while notionally set up to be capable of international/WW deployment, it is very clearly a rapid reaction force structured around the Baltic States, Nordic States, the Netherlands and the UK and includes the normally non-aligned nations of Sweden and Finland. If, in some hypothetical future, Russia decide to move against any combination of the front line states, i.e. the Baltic States, Finland, Sweden and Norway, then it would likely attempt to do so very rapidly. A multi-national rapid reaction force used to working cooperatively would clearly… Read more »