Caroline Baudry (special correspondent at Elverum), edited by Solène Leroux
modified to
6:51 p.m., March 28, 2022
NATO has announced that it will provide Ukraine with protective equipment against chemical, biological and nuclear threats. Westerners judging “very credible” an attack or a chemical or nuclear incident caused by Russian bombing. Placed on alert, the nuclear, radiological, bacteriological and chemical (NRBC) defense regiment of the French army is currently training in Norway.
The “Cold Response” operation takes place there, and 30,000 men from allied countries are mobilized. A high-intensity symmetrical war simulation in “extreme cold” conditions, planned and organized long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our special correspondent in Norway went immersed in a chemical attack exercise on the front.
Fake convulsions, but real medical equipment
Military helmets and backpacks fall in the snow. The soldiers relieve themselves, heading for the decontamination tents. The Dragons are waiting for them, black masks and full filtering suits on the orders of Captain Jacques, who is directing the operation. “There are several stages,” he explains at the microphone of Europe 1. “The first, we apply Fuller’s earth on the outfit, which removes most of the contamination.
“The second,” he continues. “It is that of the registration: surname, first name, rank. Then, we will start what is called the undressing protocol. The objective is to decontaminate 40 equipped soldiers, per hour.
It’s less when the soldiers are injured. Once the vital emergency has been ruled out, the Dragons carefully cut the clothes with scissors around the wounds, which must also be decontaminated. Fake blood, fake convulsions, but real medical equipment in the treatment room: the exercise is precise.
Fictional war very close to a potential NATO deployment
“By the time I have a soldier or a vehicle leave my site, there is absolutely no doubt that it is perfectly fit to return to combat and that it has been fully decontaminated”, assures the captain. “This decontamination site is capable of taking into account the nuclear and radiological threat.”
An hour’s drive from this large car park, in the tents at the top of the hierarchy of the French NATO forces, a general assures him: the fictitious war being waged in Norway is very close to what could happen during of a military alliance deployment.