French Foreign Legion at British Army's main training facility in Germany for the first time

French Foreign Legion troops have joined the Queen's Royal Hussars (QRH) at the British Army's main training facility in Germany.

The Nato Forward Holding Base Sennelager (NFS) has been used to prepare the soldiers for a deployment to Estonia.

A 22-day exercise was hosted in Sennelager, which was a "significant milestone", bringing together French and British soldiers under one battlegroup, the Army said.

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Exercise Tallinn Dawn saw 800 soldiers and 250 vehicles from the QRH's Battlegroup training as part of Nato's Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) – a "continued demonstration of the UK's commitment to the Baltics and Nato", the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said.

Estonia is where the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade, a company of 200 highly trained soldiers drawn from across the planet, is heading. 

The global outfit is soon to be in the Baltic state with a Nato multinational Battlegroup led by the QRH, a regiment they call 'Churchill's Own', and equipped with Challenger 2 tanks, heavy armour that will also be in Estonia.

From the spring, the elite French Foreign Legion will be operating in Estonia on Nato's border with Russia, complementing the battlegroup, including with their own tanks, armoured infantry, engineers, artillery, and logistics.

QRH's Battlegroup will take up the role from the King's Royal Hussars as part of the regular rotation of forces, having last been based in Estonia in 2021 on Operation Cabrit 7.