Jerome Starkey joins the Royal Marines training for war with Russia in the Arctic

THE Sun joined crack Royal Marines training for war with Russia at their new arctic base Camp Viking in Norway. We swooped into the frozen outpost on board a Commando Force Merlin helicopter before roaring over icy wastes on camouflaged snowmobiles. Marines on cross-country skis used plastic high explosives to blow a bridge to bits in drills designed to halt a Russian armoured column. Nearby, comrades armed with some of the best and newest kit in the Armed Forces, including enhanced night-vision goggles and overalls to hide from thermal drones, spent weeks living out in brutal conditions where temperatures regularly plunge below –20°C. Troops from the elite SRS — Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron — had dug covert lookouts under the snow where they ate, slept and pooped in bags, for days or weeks at a time. Read more: The Sun delivers breaking news, latest gossip and incredible exclu