with Operation Dacian Downfall, NATO trained to deal with a Russian attack

What would happen if NATO’s eastern flank was attacked? Three-week multinational exercise in Romania tests Alliance response: 5 000 troops, including 3 000 Frenchmen were training for full-scale war, with France as a skeleton state.

As night fell, Lieutenant Colonel François-Xavier, chief of operations for Rapid Response Battalion number 1, invited us to follow him. “We are in a ditch, a structure made of wood, gravel to drain the water and not get flooded when it rains, he explained. Above our heads, netting must remain hidden from the sky and to prevent drones from entering directly and infiltrating trenches as we saw on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The Dacian Downfall command room was located underground, almost undetectable from the surface. Beneath the grassy and undulating terrain, nothing allows us to imagine what lies behind all these strategic decisions an exercise simulating high-intensity warfare, a three-week full-scale exercise, ending on November 13 in central Romania. One of these countries East side, on the front line facing Russia.

We advanced down a narrow path, guards stationed, their eyes fixed on the horizon, the foothills of the Carpathians, the grove. In the buried CP command room, soldiers sat in front of a battery of computers. A large map was projected on the wall.

A man stood at the entrance, his face disguised with make-up, it was Colonel Clément, the battalion commander. In France, he commanded Leclerc’s tank regiment. “This is very interesting for us here, he stressed. As an armored regiment, we were used to working from PCs under armor. There, we tested the possibilities and difficulties of commanding from buried positions without a direct view of the battlefield.”

“We use our surveillance drones to continue to have a global vision of the battlefield while remaining protected. We are working to reduce the thermal and electromagnetic signature we get from the war between Ukraine and Russia.”

Colonel Clément, battalion commander

at franceinfo

The fall of Dacian is a continuation of the commitment made by France in 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, to be able to deploy the equivalent of a brigade within days: 5 000 people, with all the equipment, weapons, armored vehicles, helicopter transport, supplies… Logistical challenges and a message for General Maxime Do Tran, head of the multinational brigade formed for the event. In France, he commanded the 7th Armored Brigade. “As President Macron said, to be free you must be feared and to be feared you must be strong. There, he emphasized, This is a demonstration of strength: showing that in a very short period of time, we have the means to deploy a credible capability in high-intensity combat.”

The military seeks to recreate this intensity everywhere. Aboard the Cayman helicopter, three combat swimmers prepare to be dropped into the river on the ends of fine ropes. Flyover reconnaissance and identification in advance.

In the waiting room, the men and their 40 kg of equipment are preparing for this maneuver, which they have been practicing, especially during operations to combat illegal gold panning in Guyana. Then, within seconds, one by one, they slide down the rope and fall into the water. They disappear beneath the surface without bubbles, thanks to their equipment that recycles air in a closed circuit, for reconnaissance of enemy terrain to prepare for the installation of floating bridges.

Several kilometers away, Leclerc’s tanks attacked a position. Further east, a ditch more than 200 meters long cuts through the landscape. Surrounded by barbed wire, under anti-drone netting, Lieutenant Samson, the infantry section leader, and his men had been there for more than two days, in the mud, cold, like in Ukraine. “There’s something very concrete here, he agreed. We feel that the scale and means are different. Even though we know that this is an exercise, there is a very special aspect of operational preparation: we are less than a thousand kilometers from a war zone and we are all very aware of it here.

In these trenches, Belgian engineering soldiers installed plots and barbed wire. Staring at the horizon, behind his rifle, Captain Benjamin, the battalion’s infantry company commander, underscored: “Learning to fight with our allies is a big challenge for NATO. They have equipment that is sometimes slightly different and can change how we get to a point, how we traverse terrain safely, how they will use their vehicles with different capabilities than ours.”

“You have to imagine during the Second World War how we managed to get so many different countries and languages ​​to work together in maneuvers that required a lot of coordination. It was very complicated and technical and required training.”

Captain Benjamin, battalion infantry company commander

at franceinfo

Furthermore, the attack and capture of a village was carried out by Macedonian, Spanish and Portuguese fighters.

Several kilometers away, Leclerc’s tanks attacked a position. Amidst the sound of the walkie-talkie, Lieutenant Colonel Valentin approached. He commanded the second mechanized infantry battalion in Romania. “I hope we don’t have to fight togetherhe said with a smile, but it’s good to know that we can contact our friends from France, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg or Belgium, to know that they are there and ready to help if we need help. I could find myself in a multinational battalion, or have another country under my command, not much difference. We can fight together, and more importantly: we are ready!”

It took dozens of trains, planes, trucks to transport these people and these materials from France to the rest of Europe. Gold, if European citizens move without hindrance, the same cannot be said for military equipment. That is, there is no military Schengen. Identity, serial number, authorization… All this takes a lot of time, and the procedures are designed to be simplified as much as possible in wartime.

It is also important to identify and use appropriate infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) suitable for the transport of armored vehicles and heavy weapons, to transport fuel, food, spare parts, ammunition and to be able to guarantee the effectiveness of transport. this brigade, is now considered operationalby NATO, for high intensity conflicts. A challenge for France which is trying to position itself as a pillar of the Alliance.