Snipers, tanks and wolves - UK troops on Nato border
BBCSearching for hidden threats, being ambushed from a forest, keeping an eye out for wolves, and anti-tank training are all part of a typical day for soldiers from the East Midlands defending one of Nato's most vulnerable borders.
There are 150 troops from the Royal Anglian Regiment currently based near Ełk, northern Poland, which is about 40 miles (64.4km) south of the Russian border and 160 miles (257.5km) north of Ukraine.
They have been deployed there from Kendrew Barracks, near Cottesmore in Rutland, for six months as a show of strength to prevent the conflict spreading from neighbouring Ukraine and respond if it does.
L/Cpl Jordan Redway said they were prepared to fight.
The 29-year-old, from Northfields in Leicester, said: "We're here, ready to go.
"For me, it's part of the job, it's what we have all trained for, what we all joined for.
"It's not that we want to go to war, but if we don't want to go to war, who will?"
The group is part of an international contingent training together, working on deterrents and protecting Poland's frontier with Russia and Belarus.
The Anglians are an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance group that push out ahead of other troops to find enemy positions.
Capt Cameron Johnstone, from Sneinton in Nottingham, the US liaison officer, said: "We are essentially the eyes for the US firepower here."
He added: "Part of the idea of reconnaissance is you remain unseen."
Johnstone, from the 2nd Battalion of the Anglians, said they "move in the shadows essentially and identify the targets for the bulk of the United States and Polish forces that are in the area".
He said they were also working with Romanian and Croatian troops.
"It's really important what we are doing out here," he said. "We have together formed a very capable and credible battle group."
For the anti-tank training, the troops use a javelin missile simulator to practise destroying a tank - the Anglians said a real javelin missile cost £250,000.
Meanwhile, some have been trained as snipers and cannot be identified as they are such high-value targets.
One of the snipers said: "It's not like Hollywood where [we] are taking shots every minute.
"The majority of a sniper's career may be observing to identify a problem. We train to the level to neutralise an enemy target, if necessary.
"You are taking out an individual instead of putting a shell or a drone into the position where you could harm others.
"You want to stay alive. You don't want to get hurt, someone to come up and find you so it is trying to keep yourself going."
The soldiers are also facing another threat - the wildlife.
Capt Hamish Mackellar, who is the officer commanding the anti-tank platoon for the 2nd Battalion, said: "We have had moose, elk, wolves and all manner of other creatures that we have been crossing paths with whilst we have been out here.
"One of our safety precautions is... our troops will be carrying mini flares in order to flag up any issues.
"But obviously when there are packs of wolves roaming around at night, it is a safety precaution we need to take."
One of the Anglian soldiers - Pte Tymoteusz Maciejewski, in the anti-tank platoon - was born in Poland but moved to England at the age of four.
He said: "I have always had a sense of pride being British. When applying for my British citizenship, I said specifically I would be joining the British Army so being here now, being part of that is a great gift for me.
"I didn't think I would be here defending Poland and it is quite an honour to do so."
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