This mission will aim to “ensure strategic solidarity vis-à-vis the countries of the alliance”, declared to the press the commander of this mountain infantry unit, Colonel Vincent Minguet.
A detachment of 250 soldiers from the 27th battalion of Alpine hunters (BCA) from Annecy took the direction of Bouches-du-Rhône on Monday, where the soldiers will embark for Romania in order to reinforce the NATO system following the invasion. of Ukraine by Russia. This mission will aim to “ensure strategic solidarity vis-à-vis the countries of the alliance”, declared to the press the commander of this mountain infantry unit, Colonel Vincent Minguet.
The soldiers of the 27th BCA will be joined by a squadron of cavalry from the 4th regiment of hunters (RCH) from Gap, a company from the 126th infantry regiment from Brive and a company of Belgian lancers, representing a total of some 550 soldiers, a-t -He specifies. France announced at the end of January that it intended to send “several hundred” of its soldiers to Romania as part of NATO operations. Friday in Brussels, Emmanuel Macron announced that he was going to “accelerate” this deployment.
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“We are going to reinforce the defenses on the eastern flank of Europe, a reactive non-escalatory defense”, announced Colonel Minguet to his troops gathered on the place d’armes in the Tom-Morel district, from where they left by bus. the soldiers, towards Miramas. They will take off this week, from Tuesday, from the air base of Istres. “We are deploying in Romania, on several rights-of-way. We are studying, it will be part of our next work next week with our allies”, explained Colonel Minguet to the press.
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A little unknown
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Regarding on-site operations, the 27th BCA “has prepared for all possibilities, from assistance to populations to combat actions with the use of armed force”. These soldiers, the first French deployed in this sector since the start of the war in Ukraine, will be there to “reassure, reinforce the device” but not “to increase the pressure”, specified the corps commander. They will work under the command of the Chief of Defense Staff on missions assigned by NATO.
“A few months ago, for many of you, you were still in the Sahel by 40 degrees, under the dust. Tomorrow, we will be in negative temperatures, under the snow”, further warned Colonel Minguet to his troops. . “The climate is changing, the emotional environment will be the same, that of armed conflict.” “It’s a bit of the unknown. We know we’re going there, we don’t yet know why, what our role will be, but we’re ready,” Corporal Thibaud told AFP, without reveal his last name.
“We managed to manage all the preparations well, so we can leave serenely,” commented Adrian, first class, for whom this is his first departure abroad. “We have ramped up well on the exercise in urban combat.” The corps commander recalled that the 27th BCA had been on alert for a month and therefore prepared for this mission.
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