The British Army’s largest infantry regiment have been filmed during training to kill enemies in close quarter combat with bayonets while preparing for battle.

Young members of the Rifles are undergoing brutal training over six months while being readied for possible frontline deployment as war rages in eastern Europe.

They are shown being taught to eliminate targets at close range under ‘Sword Lane’ training in tonight’s new Channel 5 documentary Platoon 24/7: Preparing for War.

Sword Lane is designed to test the soldiers’ physical and mental endurance and teach them ‘controlled aggression’ while under extreme exhaustion and little sleep.

An exclusive clip shows the soldiers shouting ‘kill, kill’ as they run through a river before stabbing dummies with their bayonets – referred to as ‘swords’ by the Rifles.

One of the soldiers tells producers: ‘It goes from you being like a normal thinking human to a violent individual. It’s something you can’t really train for, but I suppose it’s probably going to be one of the closest things you’re ever going to get to it.’

Platoon Sergeant Dan Mann, who is responsible for the success of the soldiers, adds: ‘It’s all about controlled aggression to kill the enemy and then turn it off again.’

Another soldier says: ‘Just everything feels heightened. You definitely get in the zone. A lot of people get too far in the zone and it’s hard to come out.’

‘Sword Lane’ training is shown in the new Channel 5 series Platoon 24/7: Preparing for War

Young members of the Rifles are shown undergoing brutal training over a six-month period

The British Army’s largest infantry regiment have been filmed during training to kill enemies 

Sword Lane is designed to test the soldiers’ endurance and teach them ‘controlled aggression’

And a third soldier adds: ‘I can’t remember what I was thinking to be fair, what I was feeling. Anger running through when you’re doing it. 

‘But you have to learn to show that aggression. That’s what gets you through it at the end of the day.’

A fourth also says: ‘If the situation came to it where I had to stab someone, I think I could. But it’s how you react to it.

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‘Being able to move past it or let it dwell on your conscious, on your mind. And you’ll never really be able to say yeah, I can do that until you’ve actually done it.’

The documentary features another section of training called ‘War Face’, in which soldiers are taught how to get in the right mindset for war.

Mann says: ‘It’s all about getting in the riflemans’ heads, getting them angry. 

‘At the end of the day, the rifleman needs to switch from being a regular soldier to a killer.’

One of the soldiers tells producers: ‘You’re in that mindset now, you’re just pure anger and you’re ready to go do what they tell you to do.’

The soldiers are also shown undergoing vehicle recognition training as part of the ‘Top Dog’ competition scrutinising their fitness and mental resilience.

The platoons are 30-strong units of soldiers who eat, sleep and fight alongside each other, with the documentary showing how they grow into a band of brothers who will die for each other.

The training is carried out while the soldiers are under extreme exhaustion and little sleep

The soldiers are shown being taught to eliminate targets at close range in ‘Sword Lane’ training

The first episode follows the soldiers of 13 Platoon, D Company, 5th Battalion The Rifles

The soldiers are readied for possible frontline deployment as war rages in eastern Europe

The first episode follows the soldiers of 13 Platoon, D Company, 5th Battalion The Rifles who mostly arrive with little experience beyond basic training and face a week-long exercise in the Brecon Beacons in Wales.

The team include Callum Hancock, a former bouncer and powerlifter from Cornwall; and Will Halliday, the only one of the group with A-levels.

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Also involved are Owen Morris, 18, who is fresh into the Army after being expelled from school; and Ryan Dutton, who is involved after a lengthy lay off from injury.

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to put British boots on the ground in Ukraine once the war is over.

British and French forces will be placed in ‘military hubs’ in Ukraine as part of peacekeeping efforts in the event a ceasefire is brokered, the Prime Minister said last month.

They would help to train Ukrainian troops and protect stocks of weaponry, aimed at deterring future Russian aggression, it was revealed following a meeting of the coalition of the willing in Paris.

The coalition of some 35 countries has been meeting since March last year to hammer out a means of protecting Ukraine from further attempts by Russia to seize its territory once the war is over.

Platoon 24/7: Preparing For War begins on Channel 5 tonight at 9pm