Elite troops turn Gotland into a weapon against Russian attack
Published 16.34
In a unique operation, British elite soldiers and American rocket artillery transform Gotland in just a few hours – from a vulnerable point to an offensive weapon.
But behind the scenes, the threat of an American retreat is growing.
– We are here and we are training with NATO, until someone says otherwise, says Marine Corps Captain Justin Miller.
Quick version
In a few hours, everything has changed.
In the evening light over Gotland, around 100 British paratroopers from the elite unit "2 Para" fall from the sky to secure a landing site.
During the night, heavy transport aircraft land with two rocket artillery batteries, long-range guns that can reach from Gotland all the way to the other side of the Baltic Sea.
As the sun rises over the island, a total of five sharp rockets roar out over the Baltic Sea from an American and a British gun.
It is the first time rocket artillery has been fired on the island at all – and a clear signal.
Quick jerks
Literally overnight, Gotland has been transformed: From an exposed and threatened place to an offensive platform for the defense of the Baltics.
A realistic scenario, says the head of the British force, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hitchins, a few minutes after he took off:
- We could do exactly what we are practicing here: To seize a forward base and project power even further forward. Our role would specifically be to do that at very short notice. We can typically react within 48 hours, and move power to where it is needed, he says.
The US-led exercise “Swift Response” has arrived in Sweden.
The aim is to show how quickly the US can reinforce our continent in a crisis. 5,000 soldiers from across the Atlantic are being brought into Europe for this spring’s exercises in the “Defender” series.
Normally, the story would have ended there.
The mission completed, the signal sent.
But very little is normal anymore.
Shaky relationship with the US
Donald Trump has shaken the relationship between the US and the rest of NATO to its foundations.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that the US does not care about Europe and French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to “be prepared for the US not to be by our side”.
Many countries are shockingly increasing their defence spending. Summits are taking turns.
That's what's happening up there.
Threat, shock, fear and uncertainty.
Down on the ground, everything paradoxically looks exactly as usual.
Not a single US-planned activity has been canceled since Donald Trump became president, according to Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Leuthardt, who has been stationed at the US Defense European Command in Stuttgart for almost a year.
No American has gone home early.
- Everything that was on the schedule when I arrived here in July is still there. My life has changed zero percent, he says.
But now that time may soon be over.
Fewer American soldiers
The US will begin the process of reducing its troop presence in Europe as early as this fall, NATO ambassador Mark Whitaker said last week:
–
President Trump has said, enough is enough, this will happen and it
will happen now, it will happen in an orderly manner, but we will not
have patience for anyone who drags their feet, said Mark Whitaker.
What the US is reportedly considering is withdrawing 10,000 of the approximately 85,000 soldiers currently stationed in Europe.
The US is reportedly considering withdrawing 10,000 of the approximately 85,000 troops currently stationed in Europe.
The widespread fear is that it will not end there.
And the hole the US would leave behind in that case would be enormous.
128,000
soldiers, 12 ground combat brigades, 250–350 combat aircraft, 10
submarines, 2 aircraft carriers and 26 surface combat ships.
That
is what the US would contribute to a war against Russia according to
current plans, writes the well-respected think tank IISS.
The bill on Europe is to replace all of that, which the IISS sums up at around 10 trillion kronor.
10,000,000,000,000.
Ten million million.
You can write it in many ways, but no matter how it is always a huge amount of money.
The future where the US leaves Europe to its fate may come soon – but it is still the future.
On the ground, the soldiers are still doing their job as best they can.
– The people in Washington have their job, we have ours, says Marine Corps Captain Justin Miller.
–
So regardless of what is going on there, we are here right now. We are
in Sweden today, in Norway yesterday and are going to Finland in a
couple of days. We are out here, practicing with NATO and we will
continue until someone tells us otherwise.
Colonel Dan Rasmussen, commander of the Gotland Regiment, has a similar line of reasoning:
–
In a way, it's simple. It's just following the orders and directives
that are given. As an official, it doesn't really mean that much. But as
a private individual, of course, you reflect and think about how it's
supposed to fit together, he says.
Sergeant Chavez Torres has served in the Marine Corps for eight years and has just signed for four more.
His strategy is even simpler.
– I try not to think about it too much, he says.
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