British Army troops and vehicles are en route to Poland to take part in the largest Nato exercise since the Cold War.

Armoured vehicles belonging to 7 Light Mechanised Brigade, also known as “The Desert Rats”, alongside Land Rovers, engineers’ tractors and support vehicles were loaded into a 23,000-tonne cargo vessel, Anvil Point, near Southampton on Tuesday.

Some 600 vehicles will sail from the UK, and 1,500 service personnel will fly out to join the Nato exercise called Steadfast Defender, in a demonstration of the alliance’s unity and capability.

The departure comes as HMS Prince of Wales, which is leading the military maritime mission, set sail for near Norway on Monday.