Nowak, Daniel "Somme Lancer". Britische Panzeraufklärer üben in Deutschland

With the withdrawal of the last British troops from the Sennelager, Bielefeld and Gütersloh area in 2019, the British Army has become a rare sight in the local area. This changed when, on 24 September 2021, Exercise Somme Lancer - a nearly 700-kilometre-long redeployment of the Royal Lancers Battle Group from Cambrai Barracks, near Catterick, in the county of North Yorkshire to the Sennelager Training Centre started.

In 55 hours, around 650 soldiers with around 200 wheeled and tracked vehicles were deployed by land, air and sea to the theatre of operations on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest. With their tracked vehicles of the CVR/T family, the Royal Lancers represent the eyes and ears of the British Army. The exercise was divided into a free-ranging "Field Training Exercise" in the Hameln-Hessisch Oldendorf-Rinteln-Extertal area. The purpose of the exercise was to monitor areas in front of the own troops. This was followed by a military training exercise with "live firing", i.e. shooting with live weapons, as well as air force support at the Sennelager training area. After almost six weeks of training, "Somme Lancer" ended on 23.10.2021 with the return of the "Royal Lancers Battle Group" home.