From the early, crisp, but sunny Friday morning, politicians and other officials responsible for the country’s security were drawn to the surroundings of the Alytus district one after the other: the country’s president Gitanas Nausėda dressed in military uniform arrived with the entire political team, Minister of National Defense Laurynas Kasčiūnas and army commander Valdemaras Rupšys, Members of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas and a considerable number of other parliamentarians.
Alytus City Mayor Nerijus Cesiulis and even Vilnius Archbishop Metropolitan Gintaras Grušas also appeared here. Finally, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Commander of the Polish Army Wieslaw Kukula and a group of Polish journalists also joined the gathered hundreds of soldiers and several dozen politicians.
Not for nothing – in the Lithuanian village of the Suwalki corridor, which was named the “most dangerous place on earth” last year, the demonstration program of the joint exercise “Brave Griffin 24/II” (lit. “Narsus grifonas 2024”) of the Lithuanian and Polish armies took place on Friday, which concluded the international exercises that began last Sunday exercises In them – over 1.5 thousand. soldiers and 200 units of military equipment.
The script is ready
The weather in Lithuania, which did not spoil the soldiers of Poland, Portugal and the USA for a whole week, showed its other side on Friday – the sun shining from early morning put not only several hundred soldiers in a good mood, who welcomed the guests and presented the results of the finished exercises, but also the politicians themselves.
At around 10 o’clock, the cortege of Polish President A. Duda arrived at the entrance to the “Suwalki Corridor” and was greeted by Lithuanian President G. Nausėda, Minister of National Defense L. Kasčiūnas and Army Commander V. Rupšys.
After a friendly exchange, the presidents of both countries, together with teams of advisers, went to the military tent set up in the territory, where detailed maps of the territories awaited them.
After a short conversation, the delegations of both countries walked to a huge model of the “Suwalki Corridor” installed on the ground, divided into squares by territories marked by forests, rivers and lakes, where dozens of armed soldiers were already lined up and waiting.
While walking around the model, some soldiers simulated enemy forces occupying a certain area, while other soldiers named what forces they would use, how and which enemy capability they would defeat. The entire Allied plan was explained in English to the several hundred guests present.
Soon after, everyone gathered could get at least a partial taste of what such a scenario would look like in reality.
When the politicians sat down on the platform specially set up for them, their march was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion – an imitation of the enemy’s actions.
The scenario of the exercise is the military intelligence units of the enemy identified by Lithuanian officials, which established themselves in several buildings on the territory of Lithuania. These pass information and coordinates to the main forces of the enemy, which are already preparing to advance towards Lithuania.
“Attention, attention, attention. This is the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Listen carefully – this is the last warning. Drop your weapons and walk out with your hands up. Your attempt to resist is pointless. Surrender and you will avoid death”, this was the message broadcast in English by the first Lithuanian officials who arrived.
Soon there was an explosion on the other side of the area, and military aircraft flew through the air.
“The main task was the neutralization of that intelligence unit with conventional forces, since the civil measures of our state would not have been effective at this time. In this case, military force was used.
We combined our main light equipment, JLTV armored all-terrain vehicles, then newer, more advanced equipment related to drone control, landing and destruction. There was a part of the psychological operations that involved alerting and identification of personnel who were engaged in hostile activities in this case.
And then, when those measures did not achieve a certain result and as the situation escalated, such types of weaponry as the Boxer combat vehicle, as well as the Polish Rosomak combat vehicles, helicopters, air support from air police aircraft, were introduced,” Lryt told the news portal after the exercise. .lt was told by the “head” of these exercises, commander of the Žemaitija brigade, Colonel Aurelijs Alasauskas.
Didn’t even suspect “what it smells like”
Although the international exercise, which started on Sunday, was not long, according to the colonel, the time was used effectively – redeployment, deployment and maneuvering were practiced.
“Challenges are always related to speaking and communicating with those people who are always around us. Because until we start seeing and communicating with each other directly, those challenges are implied and possible. On the other hand, when you know the challenges, they are easier to manage. I just want to be happy that we didn’t have unmanageable challenges, unmanageable situations,” he said.
According to A. Alasauskas, the exercises showed that the Lithuanian forces, together with the Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and American allies, are capable of integrating actions on the ground and in the air in a short enough time, and, most importantly, they can also talk to the local people, who really are the owners of these lands.
Because, for example, the buildings that were “occupied” by the enemy forces during the exercise are part of the sawmill where people normally work and live every day. A. Alasauskas was happy that the residents’ reaction to the exercises was so positive.
“They were happy. It must be said that we did not hide anything from them. Maybe even people at first had no idea what everything smelled like here and how it would end, but as the number of equipment and soldiers increased day by day, the same people from the civilian community were integrated. Yesterday, the civilians themselves bypassed both our positions and scope, we showed the same technique – we attract them, not scare them,” he laughed.
“As in life, so in the army – we prepare every day so that the war that may happen one day is controlled. Everything starts with peacetime and the deployment of troops in a certain place, with the task of deterrence, when we interact with the local people, set up certain support deployment points, prepare for perhaps invisible actions that do not initially indicate the extent of our direct military actions,” explained A. .Alasauskas.
In the exercises organized by the “Žemaitija” infantry brigade of the great hetman of Lithuania Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius from April 21. Battalions subordinate to the brigade, National Defense Volunteer Forces, Military Police, Military Medical Service, Air Force, Air Defense, Grand Duchess Birutė’s Ulons and Colonel Juozas Vitkaus’ engineering battalions and NATO allies from the 15th Mechanized Brigade of the Polish Army, Portugal and the United States participated. States.
The main objective of the international exercise is to train the ability of the brigade headquarters and subordinate units to plan and execute defensive military operations in interaction with NATO allies.
