THE year is 2027. Vladimir Putin has emerged victorious in Ukraine and launched his much-feared invasion of the Baltics, sending columns of tanks over the border.
British soldiers stationed in Estonia will be forced to fight against the advancing Russian troops – and there are fears the WW3 battlefields will be so brutal that even a minor war wound would prove fatal.
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Military experts told The Sun that hundreds of soldiers fighting to defend Nato territory would be killed every day, with the battles being as “brutal and as bloody” as in the Ukraine war.
For those soldiers who survive an artillery strike, they would be left screaming on the battlefield for hours with “nowhere to go” because medics can’t reach them.
That delay in treatment within the all-important “golden hour” could prove fatal for British and Nato troops.
Even if the soldiers could be evacuated from the front lines, the experts said the British army doesn’t have a field hospital in Estonia to treat injured troops.
Instead they will have to rely on the two main hospitals in the capital Tallinn for treatment, where medics will be frantically trying to treat hundreds of civilians injured in Russian missilestrikes.
REMORSELESS BATTLEZONES
The experts told The Sun that if the UK doesn’t drastically improve its medical infrastructure to deal with mass casualties, British troops will effectively be sent out on “suicide missions”.
Retired British Army General Sir Richard Barrons told The Sun: “A lot of soldiers would be killed outright.
“But many more would die on the battlefields of wounds who might have otherwise been saved if there was a mature medical organisation behind them.”
The former head of Joint Forces said the days of sending Chinook helicopters with a medical team on board to retrieve injured soldiers – as the British military did in Afghanistan and Iraq – are long gone.
General Barrons explained that sending helicopters to the front lines would be “absolutely impossible” in a WW3 scenario – not least because Russian soldiers would fire missiles at any aircraft they see.
Admiral Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, agreed and told The Sun: “When you’re having a state-on-state war, the enemy won’t let you get the injured out.
“If a helicopter went in, it would be shot down.”
Lord West pointed to how British and Nato troops wouldn’t be up against an insurgent enemy like the Taliban that didn’t have mass artillery.
Instead, they would be facing Putin’s “deadly modern force” equipped with Iskander ballistic missiles that wipe out targets the size of a football field.
The experts warned that mass casualties would be inevitable and could exceed the shocking numbers seen in Ukraine where an estimated 75,000 Russians and 31,000 Ukrainians have been killed.
BRUTAL AND BLOODY WAR
General Barrons, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said: “Militaries haven’t had to fight a war like this for a generation.
“It’s going to be as brutal and as bloody as you see in Ukraine – if not more so because weapons technology will have become more deadly by the time a war between Nato and Russia comes around.”
Nato military chiefs have warned that Brits need to prepare for an all-out war with Russia within the next few years and there are fears that Britain will have no choice but to put boots on the ground.
And Aliona Hlivco, a former Ukrainian MP, warned yesterday that Putin is poised to blast the Baltics with missiles as part of a chilling plan to “break Nato”.
Militaries haven’t had to fight a war like this for a generation. It’s going to be as brutal and as bloody as you see in Ukraine – if not more so
General Sir Richard Barrons
But despite these grave threats, General Barrons said the UK’s army is not prepared to deal with the scale of mass casualties that British troops would suffer against an “angry and resurgent” Russian army.
He explained the UK – along with European militaries – have dismantled their medical systems that would support a global war effort following decades of relative peace after WW2.
Military experts Si Horne and Ed Arnold agreed and wrote in a RUSI report that the UK’s military had become “complacent” about the demands of large-scale warfighting on military medical care.
They said Russian troops could launch a deadly barrage of Iskander missiles at soldiers on the ground – and any helicopter that tries to fly them to safety.
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Dr Ronald Ti, a militaryhealthlogistician at King’s College London, said this means British soldiers are entering a “very dangerous battle space” where they can’t be evacuated quickly and treated for their horrific injuries.
Dr Ti, who served in Afghanistan, warned this delay would mean usually non-fatal injuries – like shrapnel to the guts – could prove deadly.
General Barrons said the first step to saving the lives of injured troops from the front lines would be to build a medical evacuation system where medics arrive in an armoured vehicle to treat soldiers.
But he warned the problem is that the UK’s military doesn’t have enough armoured vehicles or medics to deal with the scale of mass casualties that would happen in a WW3 scenario.
DEADLY DELAYS TO TREATMENT
General Barrons added: “This is one of the biggest political issues of the day.
“The UK essentially has an armed forces that was designed and built for an era that has now passed.”
General Barrons warned if British troops had to fight against Putin’s men without the military going through a major revamp, they would effectively be sent on “Operation Certain Death”.
He explained: “We would be put against an enemy in an entrenched position protected by minefields and masses of artillery and tanks and we’d take massive casualties.
“And I would know that if I got badly wounded, beyond the help of my comrades who would have tourniquets to stop the bleeding, the medical capability isn’t there and I could die.”
Dr Ti said soldiers fighting against Russian troops want and need to know that they aren’t going on a “suicide mission”.
He said: “You want to know that you’re going to be looked after if you get hit by shrapnel and someone is going to get you.
“If the message to troops is the commanders don’t know when they can be evacuated and receive treatment, morale among those soldiers will suffer.”
Another problem for the UK military is that British soldiers stationed in Estonia rely on the Estonian civil medical sector for their blood supply and medical treatment currently.
Dr Ti warned the current blood supply in Estonia would “run out in the first day” of a major war if it wasn’t reinforced or built up.
And Ben Hodges, the former Commanding General of US Army Europe, said hundreds of civilians and soldiers will be injured in Russian missile strikes and in need of urgent medical treatment.
Gen Hodges said hospitals across Estonia, including the capital Tallinn, will be overwhelmed with the sheer volume of bloodied casualties and could even be hit by Russian missiles like in Ukraine.
He warned that local medics will likely prioritise treating Estonians over injured British soldiers, leaving them without the proper care.
Gen Hodges explained: “Putin will launch missiles against infrastructure and civilian targets, leaving mass casualties in his wake.
“We can’t just assume that the main hospital in Tallinn will be available for wounded British soldiers.”
And with Russian missiles flying ahead, it would be hard to get casualties to other “safe” destinations such as medical facilities in Landstuhl in Germany that the UK has used for years.
Hodges said the problem is that currently, the UK military has no field hospitals in Estonia and relies on the civilian sector – something that would need to be quickly corrected if Russia went on the warfooting.
General Barrons and Lord West urged the UK government to increase defence spending now – not in a few years when Putin will pose an immediate threat to our national security.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps even warned earlier this month that the UK is in a “pre-war world”, yet the Treasury had no major announcement on defence spending in thespring budget.
Lord West said the British military needs to be set up to fight a prolonged war against Russia.
He warned: “We’re not set up for a long, prolonged war against heavy opposition.
“There needs to be a complete revamp and a look at our medical support for our troops.”
General Barrons warned that if that doesn’t happen, hundreds of British soldiers will die in a war against Russia.
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