Between The Wheels

8th March, 1982

Sovereignty discussions between Britain and Argentina have taken place irregularly since 1964, when the United Nations passed a resolution calling on the two nations to negotiate a peaceful solution over the disputed islands.

Deputy Foreign Minister Richard Luce met with his Argentine counterpart Ernesto Ros in New York last month. But last week the Argentine Foreign Minister Costa Mendez announced that Argentine reserves the right to "employ other means" if Britain refuses to cede sovereignty.

Two days ago, a Hercules aircraft operated by the Argentine military airline LADE landed at Port Stanley, ostensibly due to a fuel leak. But several senior Argentine military officers were aboard, and the local LADE commandant provided them with a tour of Stanley and the immediate vicinity.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher instructs the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence to prepare contingency plans in case of an Argentine blockade or invasion of the islands.

You have to wonder whether Thatcher put the Argentinians up to this.  Certainly saved her bacon domestically.  If no prompting was carried out it was serendipitous; I bet she thanked them to herself

I hadn't heard that one before - in all honesty I don't think even Neil Oliver would buy that one.

I remember reading an analysis in the '80s that suggested she would have won the '83 election either way. I wouldn't quite say the 'Falklands Factor' was a myth, but I do think it's overstated.

I've been there twice (the Missus once)  - and it's a sh*thole.

Quote from: Slim on March 08, 2022, 02:59:37 PMI hadn't heard that one before - in all honesty I don't think even Neil Oliver would buy that one.

I remember reading an analysis in the '80s that suggested she would have won the '83 election either way. I wouldn't quite say the 'Falklands Factor' was a myth, but I do think it's overstated.

It was slightly tongue in cheek until I read this...

It states that the Conservative Government were looking to hand South Atlantic Islands over to Argentina. When this plan stalled in Parliament Argentina thought if they attacked the UK would hand them over as they were looking to anyway!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-falklands-gamble#_=_

The decision to attack in this light could be seen as a political gambit, realising how poorly she was perceived at the time and knowing that the general population reacts well to the stirring up a bit of national sovereignty and pride.  Islands that were otherwise a burden, suddenly became more attractive

I can accept your second paragraph there but definitely not the speculation in the last paragraph. Obviously the decision to attack the islands was not taken by Mrs Thatcher.

Quote from: Slim on March 08, 2022, 04:16:20 PMI can accept your second paragraph there but definitely not the speculation in the last paragraph. Obviously the decision to attack the islands was not taken by Mrs Thatcher.

Apologies, the decision to send a task force to defend the Falklands

Quote from: pxr5 on March 08, 2022, 03:02:55 PMI've been there twice (the Missus once)  - and it's a sh*thole.

Business or pleasure?

Agreed about Foot - a bit like with Corbyn the Labour party really shot themselves in the shoe encased organ

Quote from: Nick on March 08, 2022, 04:49:45 PM

Quote from: pxr5 on March 08, 2022, 03:02:55 PMI've been there twice (the Missus once)  - and it's a sh*thole.

Business or pleasure?

Haha, certainly not pleasure. If the earth has an arsehole, the Falkland Islands is it. I don't think many people would ever choose to holiday there.

I have it on very good authority that defeat in The Falklands was not too far away from being the outcome

I liked Michael Foot, but his worldview had already had its day by the time he became leader. Healey might have been a more moderate and stronger leader potentially, but the political philosophy that both men espoused was already in the dustbin of history, where it belonged.

Long before 1983 Healey had crawled to the EMF, cap in hand, to beg for money to prop up the British state because that awful, final British socialist government in which he served as Chancellor had run out of other people's money to spend. Their terms for bailing us out were to impose public spending cuts that made the austerity budgets of the 2010s look positively extravagant - and all that culminated of course with the infamous Winter of Discontent at the end of the previous decade.

No, the British People had had enough of that model of ruining British industries by privatising them, removing competition by making them monopolies then crippling them with the militant trade unionism that had Labour in its pocket. Margaret Thatcher saved us from all that starting in 1979 and if she hadn't, we'd have been a third-world country by the '90s. We near enough were by 1979.

It wasn't the Falklands War that won the 1983 General Election for the Conservatives. It was Michael Foot's "longest suicide note in history"; a manifesto that called for wholesale renationalisation, abandonment of our nuclear deterrent, and for Britain to leave the EEC at a time when it was a relatively benign trading partnership. The country had already woken up.

To our credit we never looked back, and when Labour next had a spell in office it was a considerably less harmful government that even had a modest privatisation of its own and wisely chose to build on the precious Thatcher legacy.

By the way I'm not sure you'll find anyone of note in the Parliamentary Labour Party complaining about those defence cuts before they were implemented. Keir Starmer didn't invent hindsight.

9th March, 1982

Argentine scrap metal merchant Constantino Davidoff notifies the British Embassy in Buenos Aires that a group of his workmen will leave for South Georgia in two days' time on a vessel chartered from the Argentine navy, the Bahia Buen Suceso. Davidoff has signed a contract with Christian Salvesen, a whaling firm, to dismantle their property at Leith.

Davidoff is required first to report to British authorities on arrival.

South Georgia is a remote and inhospitable British Overseas Territory about eight-hundred miles east-south-east of the Falklands and is also claimed by Argentina.

Weren't the Falklands mostly important to us as they justified our "cake slice" of the Antarctic?

19th March, 1982

Davidoff's scrap metal workers arrive at Leith whaling station on South Georgia. They fail to ask permission to land from the British Antarctic Survey base at Grytviken.

After hearing gunshots, a party of four scientists from the base finds a party of fifty mixed civilian and Argentine military personnel barbecuing one of the island's endangered population of reindeer. The scrap metal workers have been joined on their journey by Argentine marines posing as civilian scientists.

Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Astiz, in charge of the Argentine Buzo Tactico marines present, parades his men in uniform and raises the Argentine flag.

The BAS personnel report the incident to London.

24th March, 1982

The ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance lands a detachment of twenty-two Royal Marines from Port Stanley, at Grytviken, South Georgia. They have been sent to investigate the presence of Argentine military personnel there.

26th March 1982

Against a background of increasing tensions with the UK, General Leopoldo Galtieri convenes a meeting of his military Junta to discuss their next move.

A plan to seize the Malvinas by force between June and October 1982 has already been considered. But Argentina has chronic economic problems and the Junta is under pressure at home. Galtieri decides that the time has come to embark on a military adventure to fulfil his country's long-standing claim to the territory.

His armed forces will invade and occupy the islands in one week's time, on Friday 2nd April, 1982.

It is a bold decision. But the Junta considers that Britain, no longer the great power it once was, has lost the resolve to defend its territorial interests abroad. It maintains only a vestigial military presence in the region. Galtieri concludes that the British will not be prepared to go to war over a small group of islands 8,000 miles away from home.

It is a miscalculation that will cost the lives of hundreds of his servicemen, decimate his air force, bring down his military regime and extinguish any possibility of gaining sovereignty over the islands for Argentina.

I was a day late with that last one, sorry.

28th March, 1982

British Intelligence intercepts and decodes a signal ordering the submarine ARA Santa Fe to conduct a beach reconnaissance off Port Stanley to prepare for disembarkation of Argentine forces.

Argentina restates its claim to the Islas Malvinas and dependencies, stating that there will be no negotiations over the presence of its forces on South Georgia. It cancels leave for military and diplomatic personnel, sends stores and equipment to the naval bases of Puerto Belgrano and Comodoro Rivadavia, and begins overflights of Stanley.

30th March, 1982

Contingency planning begins for the possibility of sending the largest naval fleet assembled by Britain since the Second World War.

British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and his Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Luce make a joint statement to Parliament, declaring that further escalation of the dispute is in no-one's interest, and that they will pursue a diplomatic solution.

In Buenos Aires violent anti-government demonstrations take place, heightening the Junta's appetite for a foreign adventure.

31st March, 1982

Events start to move quickly now.

British Intelligence scrutinises signal intelligence from the South Atlantic. It indicates that the Argentine fleet is now at sea and moving into a position from which an assault on the Falklands is possible within forty-eight hours.

A full assessment is passed to British Defence Secretary John Nott and Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Luce (the Foreign Secretary is in Israel) in the afternoon. Nott visits the Prime Minister at the House of Commons in the early evening. She summons a number of Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office officials to the meeting, along with the Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Henry Leach.

Nott is hesitant, offering the MoD view that it might be impossible to retake the islands once seized. He is a capable minister, an excellent administrator and an ex-soldier. But he is not an inspirational Defence Secretary in a time of crisis.

Thatcher also asks Leach for his opinion. From her memoirs, published in 1993:

He was quiet, calm and confident: "I can put together a task force of
destroyers, frigates, landing craft, support vessels. It will be led by the
aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible. It can be ready to leave in forty-
eight hours." All he needed was my authority to begin to assemble it. I gave
it him, and he left immediately.

We reserved for Cabinet the decision as to whether and when the task force
should sail. Now my outrage and determination were matched by a sense of
relief and confidence.

In Washington, British ambassador Sir Nicholas Henderson urgently seeks an audience with Secretary of State Alexander Haig, taking with him the intelligence reports. Haig asks his staff why they hadn't informed him already, but the American intelligence services had not been aware of the situation. Haig immediately sets up a working group under his deputy, Thomas Enders.

Thatcher drafts and sends an urgent message to President Reagan, asking him to attempt to warn off Galtieri, with whom he has considerable influence. He agrees to do this.

Late in the evening, Brigadier Julian Thompson, senior fighting commander of the Royal Marines, is telephoned at his home on Dartmoor and made aware of the situation. Of his three operational infantry units, 40 Commando is the most accessible, training in North West England. He orders its six hundred men to return to Plymouth immediately.

1st April, 1982

A cabinet committee meets to review intelligence and the military position. Ministry of Defence chiefs meet to review the Chief of Naval Staff's proposals for the dispatch of the fleet.

A Royal Marine generals meeting also takes place at the Ministry of Defence. It is determined that the Falkland Islands' garrison cannot be reinforced by air; the logistics are too complicated.

Intelligence reports indicate clearly that a large Argentine fleet is approaching Port Stanley.

Galtieri refuses to take Reagan's phone call for a few hours, but eventually agrees to speak with him. Reagan stresses Britain's resolve to resist an invasion, and points out that Argentina will be seen as the aggressor in any conflict. He tells Galtieri that the United States does not want a war between two allies in the South Atlantic. But Galtieri dismisses his concerns.

Defence Secretary John Nott informs the Prime Minister that he is now convinced of a need to send a naval task force if the islands are invaded.

At Port Stanley, Governor Rex Hunt receives a warning from London that an invasion fleet is on its way from Argentina. By chance, the Marine garrison of Naval Party 8901 on the islands is at double strength, save the Marines who have been dispatched to South Georgia - a relief group has arrived, and the outgoing group has not yet left for Britain. Hunt summons the two commanding officers to Government House and informs them that "it looks as if the buggers mean it".

Major Mike Norman, the senior Marine officer, addresses the military personnel on the islands, and tells them that they are about to start earning their pay the following day. The Marines take it well, but some of the naval staff from Endurance are said to have gone a little pale. The Marine garrison now fortifies its defences as best it can. A two-man watch is posted on the headland overlooking the harbour entrance. Men are sent to guard the airfield, the road into town, and Government House itself.

At 20:15 the Governor makes a radio broadcast, announcing to a shocked population that "there is mounting evidence that the Argentine armed forces are preparing to invade the Falklands". He tells his fellow inhabitants to keep off the streets.

In Buenos Aires, the military Junta tells newspapers to prepare special editions, informing them that "by tomorrow the Malvinas will be ours".

Fourteen members of the Argentine Tactical Diver's Group special forces unit are put ashore undetected near Pembroke Bay by the Argentine submarine Santa Fe. Their task is to plant beacons for the main landing, and to capture the airstrip at Port Stanley.

The Argentine destroyer Santisima Trinidad halts five hundred metres off Mullet Creek, to disembark Lieutenant-Commander Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots' 1st Amphibious Commando Group in twenty-one Gemini assault craft. They are ordered to capture Government House.

2nd April, 1982

As his invasion fleet moves into formation off the Falklands, Argentine Rear Admiral Jorge Allara transmits by radio a request to Governor Rex Hunt to surrender peacefully. His proposal is rejected.

Admiral Carlos Busser, in charge of the Argentine invasion operation ashore, addresses his forces at sea. He warns them that any excesses against British forces or the islanders will be punished severely.

Argentine commandos land at Mullet Creek at 04:30 and reach the Royal Marine barracks at Moody Brook ninety minutes later. They have orders to capture the garrison without inflicting loss of life, using tear gas grenades (although the barracks will later be found to have been attacked with automatic fire and phosphorous grenades). But they find the buildings empty; the Marines have already been deployed to defensive positions.

The commandos now make their way to Government House, where they meet fierce resistance from Major Norman's group, dug in around the building. At least two Argentines are killed attempting to approach the building. The Royal Marines and Argentine commandos exchange fire for two hours there.

At 06:00, Twenty amphibious warfare vehicles accompanied by stores-carrying vehicles land at Yorke Bay from the assault ship ARA Cabo San Antonio. An Argentine army platoon secures the airport, which they find undefended. The armoured column progresses along the airport road into Stanley, where at 07:15 they take machine gun and anti-tank weapon fire from a section of Royal Marines positioned to defend the approach to the town. Three missiles score a direct hit on one of the amphibious vehicles. None of its occupants emerge.

Finally at 08:00, Governor Hunt sends a deputy with a white flag to offer a face-to-face meeting with the Argentine commander. This is accepted. With several thousand Argentine servicemen now ashore, reinforcements weeks away and less than eighty defenders outnumbered by roughly eighty-five to one, Hunt agrees to order the Marines to surrender, provided their safe passage to the United Kingdom is guaranteed.

The Royal Marines have ensured that Argentina's conquest cannot be claimed to be peaceful, they have inflicted several fatalities on their enemy, and have suffered no losses. They finally surrender, following an imperfectly observed ceasefire while negotiations take place, at 09:30.

The Royal Marines defending Government House are made to lie face down by an Argentine commando NCO as they are searched, and are photographed by Argentine reporters. An Argentine officer physically strikes the commando responsible on seeing this, and apologises to the British soldiers. The photograph will cause exactly the revulsion in Britain that his government had hoped to avoid.

News of the invasion is received with shock and disbelief in Britain, but at this point most do not believe that it will lead to an actual war.

Defence Secretary John Nott holds a press conference to confirm the news at 18:00. The cabinet meets and formally decides to send a task force.

Galtieri announces the news to his people, saying that his government had no alternative. He promises that the islanders' lives will not be disrupted, and rather optimistically expresses a hope that there will be no breach in good relations with Britain. He announces that General Mario Benjamin Menéndez is appointed as the first Governor of the Islas Malvinas.

Buenos Aires now erupts with scenes of jubilation. The Plaza de Mayo, scene of violent anti-government protests only days earlier, fills with tens of thousands of people, many waving Argentine flags, some openly weeping tears of joy.

149 years of British colonial rule in the Islas Malvinas has come to an end. Argentina's ancient claim to the islands has been fulfilled at last.

3rd April, 1982

The House of Commons meets, for the first time on a Saturday since the Suez crisis in 1956. The Prime Minister informs Parliament that a British territory has been invaded by a foreign power, and that preparations are under way for the dispatch of a naval task force.

Parliament gives its support to this, but the Government is criticised for failing to foresee and prepare adequately for an attack. Defence secretary John Nott, already an unpopular figure with the Tory Right for his defence spending cut proposals, now faces calls to resign, and gives what Thatcher will call in her memoirs "an uncharacteristically poor performance" in his winding-up speech.

The UN Security Council passes Resolution 502 by ten votes to one, with four abstentions, demanding immediate Argentine withdrawal from the islands. Argentina ignores this.

Captain Alfredo Astiz contacts the detachment of Royal Marines on South Georgia by radio from the Bahia Paraiso at Leith, and urges them to surrender. Their commander, twenty-three year old Lieutenant Keith Mills, declines. He is ordered from London to "not resist beyond the point where lives might be lost to no avail".

But Mills intends, in his own words, to "make their eyes water".

Mills and his men sight an Argentine Puma helicopter and bring it down with a volley of intense automatic fire, killing two Argentines and wounding four others. A section of Argentine troops approaches Shackleton House, where the Marines are dug in, but is pinned down by heavy gunfire from the British defenders. The Argentines request fire support from the Argentine corvette ARA Guerrico.

As the corvette comes into view, the British defenders attack it with small arms fire and anti-tank weapons, badly damaging it, killing at least one Argentine seaman and wounding several others.

After two hours, with a greatly superior Argentine force established ashore and one of his men wounded in the arm, Mills offers to surrender - but warns the Argentines that the Royal Marines will keep fighting unless offered safe passage off the island. This is agreed.

For his resistance, Keith Mills will receive the Distinguished Service Cross.

Documentary / interview about the South Georgia battle, early on in the conflict. Interestingly Keith Mills states that the oft-repeated claim that he said he would "make their eyes water", which I have repeated myself above, is not actually true (11:52 in)

5th April, 1982

The aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible sail from Portsmouth with a number of other ships. Rolling news coverage of the Task Force's departure is shown on BBC Television. Huge crowds are there at the docks to see them off, many waving flags. The sailors and other servicemen line the decks, standing smartly to attention as the huge naval vessels slide out of their ports.

D Squadron, Special Air Service leaves by air for Ascension Island, a tiny British possession in the mid-Atlantic used as a staging post for the Falklands campaign.

Amid severe criticism in the press and from the right of his own party, British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington takes responsibility for his department's failure to foresee and prepare for the invasion and resigns, along with several other Foreign Office ministers.

Although the country's mood is overall one of patriotic fervour and the mainstream Labour Party supports the campaign, there are those on Labour's left who are virulently opposed to it. For them it seems as though Britain is threatening to commit an act of imperialist aggression. That the Falklands has just suffered an armed invasion by an unambiguously fascist regime does not seem to trouble them nearly so much as the prospect of their own country defending its territory and people.

6th April, 1982

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Sir Galahad sails from Devonport with 350 Royal Marines and three Gazelle helicopters from 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron.

Francis Pym replaces Lord Carrington as Foreign Secretary.

The Prime Minister sends messages to the heads of state and heads of government of the European Community countries and the US, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, asking for their support by banning arms sales to, and imposing financial sanctions against, Argentina.

Royal Marine Brigadier Julian Thompson and key support staff leave Stonehouse Barracks by helicopter, to join HMS Fearless which has already sailed from Portsmouth.

Sir Julian Bullard, a senior Foreign Office diplomat, arrives in Brussels to begin lobbying members of the European Commission.

US Secretary of State Al Haig holds a meeting at which his deputy Thomas Enders and Assistant Secretary for European Affairs Lawrence Eagleburger are present.

Enders argues that America cannot afford to compromise its position in South America. Eagleburger insists that America cannot afford to undermine the certainty of support for a NATO ally.

It is something of a dilemma.

7th April, 1982

A secret report from the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research states "Tory moderates and Foreign Office are concerned that Prime Minister Thatcher has been listening largely to the Ministry of Defense, especially senior naval officers, and may not adequately be considering non-military options". The US Embassy in Buenos Aires comments "British pressure has made the Argentines more disposed to negotiate than they were four days ago".

US Secretary of State Al Haig boards a Boeing 707 equipped with bunks and office equipment, bound for London. He takes with him a relatively small team. He insists that no press are to accompany him. The Prime Minister has agreed to his diplomatic mission on the understanding that Resolution 502, requiring the Argentines to withdraw from the islands, will be honoured before any negotiations take place.

Britain now announces that a 200 mile maritime exclusion zone around the Falklands will come into effect on Monday 12th April, the estimated date of arrival of the Navy's hunter-killer submarine HMS Spartan.

The ocean liner SS Canberra is requisitioned as a troop carrier on its return to Southampton from a world cruise.

Britain freezes $1.4 billion of Argentine assets held in British banks.

Veteran Labour ex-minister Tony Benn, indignant that his country is about to defend its people against an armed occupation imposed by a fascist dictatorship, asserts that:

"The Task Force involves enormous risks, it will cost this country a far greater humiliation than we have already suffered, and, if history repeats itself, it will cost the Prime Minister her position. The attempt will fail."

8th April, 1982

Al Haig arrives in London for the first stage of a long and demanding diplomatic "shuttle" mission. Thatcher makes clear to him that he is being received as a friend and ally, to discuss ways in which the US can help secure an Argentine withdrawal. She stresses to him that a wider principle than mere ownership of the Falkland Islands is at stake: that of the use of force to seize a disputed territory.

Washington's outwardly "even-handed" approach is viewed with suspicion by some in Britain. But the War Cabinet's position is firm and unambiguous: Britain will enter negotiations when Argentina complies with UN Resolution 502 and withdraws its forces from the Falkland Islands.

In a conversation recorded in a secret memorandum made public years after the war, the Prime Minister expresses concern to Haig about the impartial stance taken by President Reagan so far in the dispute. But Haig assures her that privately, the United States is not impartial.

801 Naval Air Squadron, operating Sea Harriers from HMS Invincible as it makes its way south, begins a weapons trials programme, testing its armaments against a target towed behind the ship at the end of a six hundred foot wire.

10th April, 1982

Having familiarised himself with the British position in London, US Secretary of State Al Haig flies to Buenos Aires to meet President Galtieri and his foreign minister, Costa Méndez. They are alarmed by the British response to the invasion, but despite Haig's attempt to persuade them to the contrary, they appear to believe that the British are bluffing.

Haig's arrival coincides with tens of thousands of Argentinians gathering at Plaza de Mayo to show their support for their President.

As the Task Force steams south, 801 Naval Air Squadron conducts air combat and intercept practice from Invincible.

11th April, 1982

Haig leaves Buenos Aires for London for the next round of talks. He hopes that it may be possible to reach an agreement between both sides for an interim administration on the islands, prior to starting long-term sovereignty negotiations. But the Junta's position appears to be divided.

Haig instructs his deputy, General Vernon Walters, to see Galtieri privately and persuade him as to the seriousness of his situation. Walters stresses that the British will fight if necessary. Galtieri dismisses this, declaring "that woman wouldn't dare".

Walters replies "I wouldn't count on that if I were you".

Task Force Commander Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward chairs a meeting of his captains aboard HMS Glamorgan to discuss likely threats and tactics.

Quote from: Slim on April 11, 2022, 11:00:39 PM11th April, 1982

 Walters stresses that the British will fight if necessary. Galtieri dismisses this, declaring "that woman wouldn't dare".

Walters replies "I wouldn't count on that if I were you".

;D
Quote of the conflict?

14th April, 1982

Haig returns to Washington, en route to Buenos Aires. He meets with President Reagan and suggests that the time has come to threaten the Argentine military Junta with the full weight of American support for Britain if they do not honour Resolution 502. Reagan agrees.

HMS Glamorgan turns north to rendezvous with the approaching carriers Invincible and Hermes as they progress southward.

A squadron of Royal Navy ships led by Captain Brian Young in HMS Antrim makes a rendezvous with HMS Endurance, 1,000 miles north of South Georgia. Aboard are a group of special forces and Royal Marines, tasked with the recapture of South Georgia.

Young receives orders from Northwood Headquarters to:

• Recapture Grytviken and Leith
• Neutralise Argentinian Communications
• Capture or kill Argentinian military
• Arrest and remove Argentinian civilians

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher addresses Parliament on the current situation.

The Argentine fleet leaves Puerto Belgrano, to prepare to confront the approaching British fleet if necessary.

15th April, 1982

Al Haig returns to Buenos Aires, to continue his efforts to find a solution acceptable to both sides that will prevent conflict.

The British War Cabinet meets at the Ministry of Defence to arrange for more troops to be sent to join the Task Force, and to examine the most recent draft of the peace proposals.

Mrs Thatcher receives a message from President Reagan. Reagan says that he has received a telephone call from an anxious Galtieri, who says that he wants avoid a war. She replies:

I note that General Galtieri has reaffirmed to you his desire to avoid conflict. But it seems to me - and I must state this frankly to you as a friend and ally - that he fails to draw the obvious conclusion. It was not Britain who broke the peace but Argentina. The mandatory Resolution of the Security Council, to which you and we have subscribed, requires Argentina to withdraw its troops from the Falkland Islands. That is the essential first step which must be taken to avoid conflict. When it has been taken, discussions about the future of the islands can profitably take place.

Any suggestion that conflict can be avoided by a device that leaves the aggressor in occupation is surely gravely misplaced. The implications for other potential areas of tension and for small countries everywhere would be of extreme seriousness. The fundamental principles for which the free world stands would be shattered.

A British naval group consisting of three type 42 destroyers and the frigates Brilliant and Arrow takes up its holding position in mid-Atlantic. The two carriers and their escorts are still to the north, but the cabinet wishes to establish a British force as deep as possible in the Atlantic while the diplomatic effort continues.

16th April, 1982

Al Haig returns to Buenos Aires. He intends to present a five point plan. This involves withdrawal by both sides, a three-flag administration until the end of the year, restored communication with the mainland, negotiations for a long-term solution in the new year and consultation with the islanders.

Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward, in command of the naval Task Force, is helicoptered to HMS Fearless to discuss options for amphibious landings with Brigadier Julian Thompson and his staff of 3 Commando Brigade, and Commodore Michael Clapp, in charge of the landing-force ships. One option considered is to establish a bridgehead on West Falkland to be defended while an airstrip is built to receive Hercules transports and Phantom fighter aircraft.

Woodward's leadership style is not well received by the commando brigade staff. One officer present later says that "he made us feel like a bunch of small boys under scrutiny of the headmaster".

The European Community suspends all Argentinian imports.

The hunter-killer submarine HMS Conqueror enters the operational area to patrol the Maritime Exclusion Zone.

18th April, 1982

Admiral Woodward and the carrier group leave Ascension Island and sail south, toward the Falkland Islands and possible confrontation with the Argentine military.

Al Haig and his team spend the day in talks with representatives of the government and military in Buenos Aires. Little progress is made. At a meeting with the full Junta, Haig stresses that Britain is quite prepared to take military action. He points out that their forces are better equipped and better trained than their Argentine opponents. He tells them that Washington will not tolerate the fall of Mrs Thatcher's government.

Admiral Jorge Anaya, in charge of the Argentine Navy and the most hawkish of the three-man ruling Junta, dismisses this. He believes that a democracy cannot sustain significant casualties and is sure that Britain has no stomach for a fight.

Haig finally tells the Junta that Argentina must enter realistic negotiations on the basis of Resolution 502, requiring them to withdraw their forces, or America will side with Britain. In response to this Anaya leans across the table and tells Haig, to his face, that he is lying.

20th April, 1982

The troop ship Canberra, carrying 3 Commando Brigade, arrives at Ascension Island.

On South Georgia, civilian British Antarctic Survey personnel carry out covert surveillance of strategic positions on the island. They find little evidence of Argentine activity outside Grytviken and Leith. They radio their information back to their headquarters in Cambridge, where it is relayed to the Royal Navy and the elite special forces units, the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service.

An RAF Victor reconnaissance aircraft flies a radar mapping mission over South Georgia.

The Type 22 frigate Broadsword and Type 42 destroyers Coventry, Glasgow and Sheffield enter the operational area.

British forces are now converging on the South Atlantic. Attempts to reach a diplomatic solution have failed.

The British cabinet orders the repossession of the Falkland Islands.

21st April 1982

A patrol from Mountain Troop, D Squadron SAS is inserted by helicopter from HMS Antrim onto Fortuna Glacier, on the northern side of South Georgia. Their mission is "to recon Leith, Stromness, Husvik and East Fortuna Bay for a squadron-sized attack".

The Argentine government renames Port Stanley. It declares that henceforth, the capital of the Islas Malvinas will be known as Puerto Argentino.

The Task Force makes its first contact with the enemy. Long range radars on several of the fleet's ships including Invincible detect a high level contact approaching the Carrier Battle Group, at a range of 150 miles and a height of 40,000 feet. A Harrier is scrambled from Hermes to intercept, and the unwelcome visitor is turned away. It is an Argentine Air Force Boeing 707 reconnaissance aircraft. Present rules of engagement dictate that combat air patrols are to
"visibly escort the aircraft and dissuade it from overflying the force".

22nd April, 1982

Following a night sheltering against the conditions in dramatically worsening weather, Captain John Hamilton, commanding the SAS recon patrol on Fortuna Glacier at the northern edge of South Georgia, is forced to call a halt to the operation. He sends a signal to Antrim: "Unable to move. Environmental casualties imminent". A helicopter is sent to retrieve the men into a howling blizzard, but crashes onto the glacier in a sudden whiteout. A second lands successfully but suffers the same fate within seconds of takeoff.

Finally, Lieutenant Commander Ian Stanley brings a third helicopter down onto the glacier.

Grossly overloaded with seventeen bodies - all of the SAS men and helicopter crews have survived - he pilots his Wessex helicopter back to Antrim and brings it down onto a pitching deck in a controlled crash. For his skill and bravery in extreme circumstances, he will be awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

An SBS patrol from HMS Endurance is inserted by helicopter At Hound Bay on South Georgia.

An Argentine Boeing 707 reconnaissance aircraft attempts to overfly the Task Force once again, but is turned away before it can overfly the fleet once more, by a Harrier scrambled from Invincible.

Foreign Secretary Francis Pym boards a Concorde to fly to Washington, to respond to Al Haig's peace proposals.

General Galtieri visits the Falkland Islands.

The US Embassy in Argentina sends a report to Washington relaying an opinion gleaned from a "well-informed politician who has served in and generally supports the military government". Said politician says that "there are no politicians in the country who think that the invasion of the islands was anything other than a colossal error". He also believes that "if there is a major incident in which large numbers of Argentines are killed .. the public will be uncontrollable.  Among their targets will be the US Embassy".

The first British Task Force ships enter the waters of the Falkland Islands.

23rd April, 1982

Invincible locks her Sea Dart surface to air missile system onto an aircraft approaching the Task Force from the Argentine coast. The Harrier pilot sent to intercept it reports that it is a Brazilian airliner, with normal navigation and running lights on, on a direct line to Durban in South Africa. Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward immediately orders "weapons tight", preventing any British ship or aircraft from engaging the plane.

Details of the interception are printed in the Brazilian press in coming days, with passengers alleged to have been frightened. Woodward's reply to the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy when asked to report the incident includes the sentiment "Inconvenience to passengers' underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian".

A reconnaissance patrol from Boat Troop, D Squadron SAS, put ashore from the ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance, reports to Antrim that the Argentine presence at Leith consists of a garrison of sixteen Argentine marines with no supporting artillery.

Endurance intercepts transmissions from an Argentine C-130 to and from an Argentine submarine. Signal strength indicates that the sub is approximately one hundred miles from Endurance and possibly closer to Antrim. Captain Young, in command of the South Georgia Task Force group, sends his two tankers escorted by Plymouth two hundred miles to the north-east, out of harm's way. Further intercepts disclose that the submarine, Santa Fe, has orders to deliver reinforcement troops to the garrison at Leith.

HMS Brilliant, equipped with state-of-the-art sonar and two anti-submarine-warfare helicopters, is detached from the main Task Force and sent to South Georgia.

Foreign Secretary Francis Pym returns to London by Concorde, following a four-hour session with Secretary of State Al Haig at the State Department. The two men have arrived at a compromise proposal, to be considered by the British and Argentine governments in the hope of averting armed conflict.

A message is passed from the British Government to the military Junta in Argentina, via the Swiss embassy in Buenos Aires:

In announcing the establishment of a Maritime Exclusion Zone around the Falkland Islands, Her Majesty's Government made it clear that this measure was without prejudice to the right of the United Kingdom to take whatever additional measures may be needed in the exercise of its right of self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. In this connection, Her Majesty's Government now wishes to make clear that any approach on the part of Argentine warships, including submarines, naval auxiliaries or military aircraft, which could amount to a threat to interfere with the mission of British Forces in the South Atlantic will encounter the appropriate response.

The British Foreign Office advises British nationals in Argentina to leave.

A British Sea King helicopter, carrying out a replenishment mission from Hermes, crashes into the South Atlantic in bad weather at night. The pilot is rescued but a crewman is lost, becoming the first British fatality of the Falklands campaign.

24th April, 1982

The Prime Minister examines a proposal for a peaceful settlement agreed by her Foreign Secretary Francis Pym and US Secretary of State Al Haig, and is horrified. She tells him that the terms are totally unacceptable. She will later describe the plan as "conditional surrender".

She asks the Attorney-General to scrutinise the document. He confirms her fears. The plan would withdraw the Task Force, immediately remove sanctions imposed on Argentina, allow large-scale Argentine immigration to the islands and erode the islanders' right of self-determination.

The cabinet meets to discuss the proposal, and Pym recommends that it should be accepted. But the rest of the cabinet agrees with the Prime Minister: the proposal is unacceptable.

Defence Secretary John Nott suggests that Haig should put the plan to the Argentinians first. If they reject it, as he believes they will, then the British Government need not even respond to it.

Off South Georgia, Brilliant makes rendezvous with Antrim. The Task Force group once again moves inshore. Additional SAS and SBS patrols are inserted onto the island.

In response to the British warning of the previous day, the Argentine military Junta issues a statement appealing to the British Government's wisdom, urging it to end its "long series of provocations unbecoming a civilised nation", and warning that the Argentine armed forces will respond to any British aggression.

Two Argentine commandos, Máximo Nicoletti and Antonio Nelson Latorre, leave Buenos Aires for Paris, en route to Malaga. They are carrying counterfeit passports, military scuba gear and a large quantity of cash in US dollars. Their mission is to rendezvous with two colleagues, travel south to Algeciras, then swim across the bay to Gibraltar where they will plant limpet mines on a high-value British warship target. They are ordered, if caught, to claim to be Argentine patriots acting independently of their government and military.

At 23:00, Argentine Foreign Secretary Costa Méndez leaves for Washington, to attend a meeting of the Organisation of American States. He tells reporters: "I travel with great faith in Latin American solidarity, with great faith in our America", and that he hopes for a peaceful settlement.

25th April, 1982

Antrim's Wessex III helicopter picks up an unidentified radar contact just off South Georgia. Its pilot, Lieutenant Commander Ian Stanley, makes visual contact.

It is an Argentine submarine. It is in fact the ARA Santa Fe, heading out to sea but still surfaced after landing reinforcements for the garrison at Grytviken.

His navigator and weapons officer, Lieutenant Chris Parry, quickly works out the ballistic calculations for the movement of the submarine. She is heading 310 degrees northwards at eight knots. He directs his pilot to fly along the submarine's track in the water, and arms both the helicopter's depth charges.

Parry briefly thinks about the men he may be about to kill, but Ian Stanley is already counting down the range to the target. As he calls "on top, now, now, now!" Parry sees the submarine's fin pass under his aircraft, and releases both charges.

Stanley brings the Wessex sharply around to starboard to see the results. Two large explosions detonate either side of the sub, shooting plumes of water into the air.

The badly-damaged Argentine vessel, unable to dive, is now attacked by air to surface missile and machine gun fire from Wasp helicopters from Endurance and Plymouth, but limps back to beach at Grytviken harbour, where her crew hastily scramble ashore.

The main invasion force of Royal Marines intended to recapture South Georgia is still two hundred miles away. But Major Guy Sheridan, in charge of land forces for the operation, senses that the initiative is now with the British and improvises a composite company of seventy-six Royal Marines, SBS and SAS men on Antrim to press home the advantage while the enemy is in disarray. They hastily arm and equip themselves in the confined space of the destroyer's mess-decks, as an SAS group ashore secures a landing site for the men to be inserted by helicopter.

Antrim and Plymouth now provide for the Argentine garrison a demonstration of the naval firepower available to their opposition. Directed by a naval gunfire officer in a Wasp, they bombard the low hills opposite the garrison at Grytviken. Only a minor adjustment would bring punishing, heavy fire on their positions.

The Argentine garrison capitulates quickly. A radio message is received on Antrim in broken English: "Surrender... we have injured... es terminado". In the background can be heard the sound of men singing in Spanish: the defenders are singing their national anthem. The assault force from Antrim approaches the main buildings at Grytviken to find two white flags fluttering
in the sea breeze.

In Britain, TV programmes are interrupted by a newsflash carrying the news "British Forces are reported to be ashore on South Georgia".

Lieutenant Commander Lagos, in charge of Argentine forces on South Georgia, signs the formal surrender in the British Antarctic Survey base at King Edward Point. South Georgia has been reclaimed without a shot being fired by ground forces, and without a fatality on either side. Additionally, Argentina's submarine force has been halved.

Captain Alfredo Astiz, in charge of the smaller garrison of fifteen Argentine marines at Leith twelve miles away, is instructed to lay down his arms before the arrival of British forces, or face the consequences.

The Royal Navy embarks one hundred and fifty dejected Argentine prisoners aboard its ships. The scrap metal dealers who had arrived on 19th March and whose activities precipitated the conflict are also taken into custody.

Major Sheridan sends the following signal:

Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God save the Queen.

The news is received in London with euphoria. John Nott announces the news to the press from the steps of 10 Downing Street, accompanied by the Prime Minister. Of this episode she will later write:

A remark of mine was misinterpreted, sometimes wilfully. After John Nott had made his statement journalists tried to ask questions. "What happens next, Mr Nott? Are we going to declare war on Argentina, Mrs Thatcher?" It seemed as if they preferred to press us on these issues rather than to report news that would raise the nation's spirits and give the Falklanders new heart. I was irritated. 'Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the Marines.. Rejoice'. I meant that they should rejoice in the bloodless capture of South Georgia, not in the war itself. To me war is not a matter for rejoicing. But some pretended otherwise.

The United States expresses "grave concern" over the news, saying it will remain committed to a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Argentine Foreign Minister Costa Méndez angrily warns that the British action will have "very grave consequences for peace". As he arrives in New York for a meeting of the Organisation of American States and talks with Secretary of State Haig, he tells reporters that Argentina is now "technically in a state of war" with Britain.

26th April, 1982

The Organisation of American States meets in Washington. Argentine Foreign Minister Costa Méndez, warning that British forces may be about to land on "Argentine territory" as he imagines it, proposes a resolution demanding the withdrawal of the British Task Force. US Secretary of State Al Haig also speaks. Clearly irritated by what he sees as interference in his diplomatic effort, he says that the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance treaty has no application to the conflict, and attacks Argentina's aggression. An OAS official will later say of Haig's contribution that "it was as if he could see the Nobel Peace Prize alreadywithin his grasp".

On South Georgia, British forces decide to move the crippled Argentine submarine Santa Fe to a safer location. She is in a dangerous condition, still armed with torpedoes and at risk of sinking, which would obstruct the harbour. Five members of her own crew are enlisted for this task, under Royal Marine guard. Tragically, during the short passage, Argentine crewman Felix Artuso attempts to operate one of the submarine systems and is shot dead by a Royal Marine who mistakenly believes that he is trying to open the main vents and scuttle the submarine, killing everyone aboard. Artuso had been warned not to touch the controls, but did not understand.

A detachment of Royal Marines arrives at Leith, 12 miles from Grytviken, to take the surrender of the Argentine marines under the command of Captain Alfredo Astiz.  Astiz has a couple of tricks up his sleeve. He encourages the party of Royal Marines across a minefield to accept his surrender. Fortunately the mines' trigger mechanisms are frozen solid in the sub-zero conditions. He also attempts to lure British helicopters onto a helipad that he has previously mined, but the pilots are suspicious, and land elsewhere.

Astiz is something of an embarrassing prisoner of war, as he is wanted by the French and Swedish governments for crimes against their citizens. He is a member of the infamous Task Force 332, involved in the disappearance, torture and deaths of a large number of dissidents in Argentina.  Although the Argentine commander at Grtyviken has already surrendered all Argentine forces on South Georgia, Astiz insists on signing a separate surrender document, and is granted his wish.

The Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano puts to sea from Tierra del Fuego accompanied by two destroyers, the ARA Piedra Buena and the Bouchard. All three are ex-US Navy vessels.

The Prime Minister makes a statement to Parliament on the recapture of South Georgia.

A survey conducted by the Daily Star shows that 80% of adult Britons support the use of military force to regain the Falkland Islands.

As the Carrier Battle Group of the Task Force nears the Falklands, the British Government declares a "defence area" around the fleet. The hunter-killer submarine HMS Splendid reports a sighting of an Argentine task group composed of two Type 42 destroyers and Exocet frigates moving south along the coast at ten knots. She is ordered to continue shadowing the destroyer group.

The hunter-killer submarine HMS Conqueror is moved from her northern holding position south- west of the Falklands, outside the exclusion zone.  BBC Radio News reports on the capture of South Georgia.

The veteran Labour politician Tony Benn, a vocal opponent of the war, also offers his opinion, for what it's worth. He describes the recapture of the island as "insignificant", and asserts that the retasking of Vulcan bombers for a conventional role "can only mean a bombing of the mainland".

Missed a few of these, will have to catch up:

1st May, 1982

The carrier battle group, thirteen ships strong, slips into the Total Exclusion Zone in the early morning darkness.

Meanwhile, an RAF Vulcan bomber from Ascension Island, captained by Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers, approaches the Falkland Islands at a height above the sea of 300 feet, beneath radar height. He locks his attack radar onto offset targets on the coast.

Following a climb to 10,000 feet for his bombing run, the Vulcan's attack control system releases a stick of twenty-one bombs at predetermined intervals over five seconds, three miles from the air strip at Port Stanley. As the last bomb is released, he turns northward for base, nearly 4,000 miles away. T
he Vulcan is fourteen miles away and climbing as the first bomb arrives. The bombs are aimed to strike in a line, angled across the runway. One hits the runway at its mid point, cratering the concrete. Others cause serious damage to airfield installations, Argentine aircraft and stores. Two Argentine Air Force personnel are killed.

It is, as of May 1982, the longest bombing mission ever attempted, enabled by a total of eight mid-flight refuellings. The intention is two-fold: to deny the airstrip at Stanley to high-speed combat aircraft, and to help the Junta and the Argentine people understand that their mainland is within the reach of British retribution.

As the strategic bomber heads homeward powered by four Rolls-Royce Olympus engines, twelve Sea Harriers from Hermes launch a further attack, guarded by a combat air patrol mission from Invincible.

Four of the Harriers attack anti-aircraft gun positions to the north and south of Stanley airfield with 750 pound bombs. A second group of five Harriers then attacks the airfield itself, dropping 600 pound cluster bombs on parked aircraft and stores, setting fire to buildings and destroying
an Argentine aircraft.

The other three Harriers streak in low over Falkland Sound to attack the airfield at Goose Green. They find an Argentinian Pucará ground attack aircraft taxiing to take off and blow it up, killing the pilot and several ground crew.

One Harrier is damaged in the raid when a 20mm shell punches a hole in its tail fin. The Argentines will claim that several of the Harriers were shot down. But all of the Sea Harriers return safely to Hermes, or as the BBC's reporter Brian Hanrahan famously puts it, "I counted them all out, and I counted them all back".

Early in the afternoon, Glamorgan, Alacrity and Arrow, their battle ensigns raised, close to within twelve miles of the Falklands coastline, from where they commence a punishing naval bombardment of reported Argentine positions near Port Stanley.

The Argentine Air Force attempts to retaliate. Two Mirage III fighter aircraft from an airbase on the mainland are detected on an inbound course to the Task Force, but are ambushed by a pair of Invincible's 801 Naval Air Squadron Sea Harriers on combat air patrol.

Flight Lieutenant Paul Barton pulls into a tight turn, undetected behind the two Argentine Mirages as they make their approach. Very quickly, the trailing Mirage is in his sights and Barton's Sidewinder missile locks on to its target. The Mirage attempts to climb away, but explodes in a vivid ball of flame as the missile makes contact.

Barton's wingman, Lieutenant Steve Thomas, pulls sharply round into a descending turn as the other Mirage passes him. He locks a Sidewinder missile onto the exhaust of the enemy aircraft, and fires. The missile explodes close to the tail of the Argentine fighter as it descends into cloud, damaging it severely. The Argentine pilot attempts to bring his crippled aircraft down onto Stanley airfield. This leads Argentine gunners on the ground to believe that they are under
attack again. They open fire on their own aircraft, destroying it completely and killing the pilot.

A few minutes later another force of Argentine aircraft arrives, including two formations of Dagger fighters and a group of Canberra bombers. A group of three Daggers finds Glamorgan, Alacrity and Arrow. Two bombs fall either side of Glamorgan and two just astern Alacrity. Arrow is hit by cannon fire and one sailor is injured. Two Sea Harriers from 800 Squadron are attacked by the second group of Dagger fighters. The Harriers destroy one of them. The other Argentine
aircraft withdraw and run for home.

A force of six Argentine Canberra bombers then approaches, detected by HMS Glamorgan. Lieutenant Commander Mike Broadwater and Lieutenant Alan Curtis of 801 Squadron are vectored to intercept, 150 miles out. Curtis engages one of the Canberras with a Sidewinder. It explodes into a dozen pieces. The other bombers disappear into cloud to escape, and turn back.

SBS and SAS reconnaissance teams are inserted by helicopter onto the Falkland Islands. They are tasked to hide up and report on Argentine troop positions, movements and morale.

After nightfall, Glamorgan, Alacrity and Arrow move back in toward the coast and continue to bombard enemy positions, to demonstrate that the Task Force has not been deterred by the attention of the Argentine air force.

2nd May, 1982

The United Nations and the government of Peru both present proposals for a peaceful settlement. Foreign Secretary Francis Pym meets UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar in New York. Ideas presented by the UN and Peru closely resemble the final American proposals, which have already been rejected by Argentina.

At Algeciras, Argentine commandos tasked with carrying out Operation Algeciras (see 24th April) observe a high value target, the British frigate HMS Ariadne arriving at Gibraltar. They are refused permission to attack it because this would seriously undermine the possibility of a peaceful settlement arising from the Peruvian peace plan.

In the early hours, a Sea Harrier reconnaissance reports surface contacts to the north-west of the Task Force carrier group, at a range of two hundred miles. It is the Argentine carrier, the Veintecinco de Mayo and her escort of two destroyers. On Hermes, Task Force commander Admiral Sandy Woodward concludes that the enemy intends to launch an air strike from their carrier against the Task Force at first light.

The Argentine carrier has ten A4 Skyhawk fighter bombers, each armed with three 500 pound bombs. The General Belgrano and her two destroyers are situated two hundred miles to the south-west of the British Task Force. Fearing that he is about to become the victim of a classic pincer movement, Woodward decides that he has no choice but to remove one claw of the pincer. He does not have a submarine in contact with the Argentine carrier group, but HMS Conqueror has been tracking the General Belgrano for two days.

Woodward sends the following signal:

From CTG [Commander Task Group] 317.8 to Conqueror,
text priority flash - attack Belgrano group

The Belgrano is presently outside the exclusion zone, and Woodward knows that the present rules of engagement do not allow him to order her to be engaged. Furthermore, he knows that his signal will be scrutinised by British Naval Headquarters at Northwood before it can be received by his submarine commander. But Woodward hopes that the stark, uncompromising delivery of his order will impress upon his seniors the necessity of a change in the rules of engagement to allow the attack.

The British War Cabinet meets at 10:00 and is made aware that an urgent decision is required.  A change to the rules of engagement, allowing Conqueror to attack the Belgrano is quickly agreed.

Woodward arranges his warships in formation to defend against a dawn strike from the decks of the Argentine carrier. But the attack does not materialise. The Veintecinco de Mayo's launch equipment is in poor repair. She can only launch her Skyhawks into a following wind, and the air is too still.

Conqueror raises her communication antenna and receives the order to attack at 17:30. She goes deep and fast to continue her pursuit of the Argentine cruiser. At 18:30 her captain, Christopher Wreford-Brown, judges that the submarine is close enough for a final approach, at a range of just over two miles. At 18:57, he turns in to adopt a firing position, and comes to periscope depth. He checks the distance to the enemy vessel through his periscope, and gives the order to fire a pattern of three torpedoes.

In a previous life as the USS Phoenix, the old warship survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She will not survive the attention of the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic.  The first torpedo blows off her bow. The second penetrates the side of the ship before exploding in the aft machine room, where more than two hundred men are killed instantly or doomed, and destroying the ship's power and communications systems. The third strikes a glancing blow against one of the escorting destroyers, but does not explode.

Belgrano begins to list to port, and sinks towards the bow. Her captain gives the order to abandon ship. Fifteen minutes later, Belgrano's stern rises high into the air. She sinks quickly as Conqueror turns to dive swiftly away. 368 Argentine servicemen die.

It will prove to have been a decisive engagement. The Argentine Navy soon retreats to cower in safe, shallow waters off its mainland, and will never chance its arm against the British fleet again. It has effectively already been defeated.

At 22:00, Woodward directs Glamorgan and her group to bombard positions around Port Stanley once more.

3rd May, 1982

HMS Coventry reports a surface radar contact to Hermes, 70 miles north of the Falklands. The flagship sends a Sea King helicopter to investigate. The British aircraft is fired upon by two 700-ton Argentine patrol boats.

Glasgow and Coventry launch their Lynx helicopters to attack the enemy vessels with their Sea Skua missiles, from a range of eight miles. One missile sinks the first patrol boat immediately following a massive explosion. Another finds the bridge of the second, killing eight Argentine sailors including the captain as it explodes, putting the craft out of operation.

Conqueror returns to make contact with the remnants of the Belgrano battle group, with a view to attacking one or both of the destroyers. She finds them conducting search and rescue operations. The British submarine slips away, leaving them to continue their unhappy task unmolested.

An Argentine Aermacchi light attack aircraft crashes in bad weather returning to Stanley airfield. The pilot is killed, and the aircraft destroyed.

Galtieri rejects the Peruvian peace plan.

Now that hostilities have broken out, Máximo Nicoletti, leading the team of Argentine commandos tasked with sabotaging a British warship at Gibraltar, requests permission to claim to be acting under orders of the Argentine military in the event that he and his men are caught. This is refused, but Nicoletti is ordered to carry out the attack.

4th May, 1982

A second Vulcan bomber raid is mounted from Ascension against the airfield at Port Stanley. It is less successful than the first. All twenty-one bombs miss the runway. Two Argentine soldiers are wounded.

Harriers from 800 Naval Air Squadron attack the airfields at Port Stanley and Goose Green once again. One Harrier is shot down by radar-controlled anti-aircraft cannon at Goose Green. Its pilot, Lieutenant Nicholas Taylor, is killed instantly.

The Sun newspaper publishes what remains possibly its most famous, or infamous cover, featuring a photograph of the Belgrano displayed under the headline GOTCHA.

The British War Cabinet meets, and discusses the reaction to the sinking of the Belgrano.

At Algeciras, Antonio Latorre and Héctor Rosales, part of the Junta's four man commando team ordered to sabotage a British warship in Gibraltar, are arrested by the Spanish authorities. The owner of a car rental business used by the Argentine commandos had considered their behaviour suspicious and called the police. The other two men are also arrested. In spite of their orders, they declare themselves to be Argentine agents.

The four men are taken to Madrid, from where they are returned to Buenos Aires secretly without being questioned or charged with an offence. Spain has recently become a member of NATO, and does not want uncomfortable questions to arise.

The Type 42 Guided Missile Destroyer HMS Sheffield, having relieved HMS Coventry from defence watch, is hit by a French-built Exocet missile, fired from an Argentine Super Étendard aircraft, skimming the ocean surface to avoid radar detection at a range of eight miles. The French-built weapon detonates eight feet above the waterline on Deck 2, causing a split in the hull. The crew had just five seconds warning that the missile was incoming.

A missile from a second Super Étendard is fired at HMS Yarmouth, but fails to find its target. On Sheffield, thick, acrid smoke begins to fill the lower decks. Before long fire is raging. Casualties are evacuated as the men fight to contain smoke and flames, but after four hours the situation is assessed as hopeless. The ship's electrical generator systems have been destroyed, preventing anti-fire mechanisms from working properly.

Captain Sam Salt gives the order to abandon ship. Arrow comes alongside the vessel and men jump from ship to ship. Others are winched aboard by helicopter. Twenty men have been killed and another twenty-four are wounded.

The news is met with shock as it breaks at home. The BBC political commentator, John Cole, responds to the news on the BBC's evening news bulletin with emotional disbelief.

MPs rush into the House of Commons to hear Defence secretary John Nott announce the loss, a visibly shocked Mrs Thatcher standing beside him.

A personal footnote here, if I may - my brother, in the Royal Signals at the time, was on leave at home after a few months being stationed in Belize.

On seeing HMS Sheffield being struck, he expected he'd be sent to the Falkland Islands and, sure enough, he soon got the call: he was to fly out to Ascension Island, where he would be transferred by helicopter on to the QE2.

There's a really good BBC Radio 4 drama called "Belgrano".  It's set a couple of years after the war and centres on Clive Ponting the civil servant who decided to leak information surrounding the sinking of the Argentinian warship to the Labour MP Tim Dalyell

Here's Part 1 if you're interested...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016x8x

I can imagine very well the spin the BBC will have put on that, so I'll pass - but thanks for the heads up anyway.

Quote from: Slim on May 05, 2022, 03:52:34 PMI can imagine very well the spin the BBC will have put on that, so I'll pass - but thanks for the heads up anyway.

Pity! I pictured you listening to it on one of your long spins

OK, I will listen to it then.

I have been enjoying your day by day write up Slim.
Keep going

5th May, 1982

The British Cabinet meets in an emergency session to discuss the loss of Sheffield, and the fleet's vulnerability to similar future attacks. The Peruvian peace plan is considered. The cabinet does not find it particularly appealing, even in the wake of the loss of one of its destroyers - but a response is necessary.

6th May, 1982

Two Harriers flying Combat Air Patrol duties disappear from radar and fail to return to Invincible. Lieutenant Alan Curtis and Lieutenant Commander John Eyton-Jones are assumed to have collided in cloud, converging to investigate a radar contact.

The loss of the two aircraft in addition to the Harrier lost over Goose Green means that 15% of the battle group's air cover has now been lost, along with three experienced pilots.

The Prime Minister states in the Commons that the Government had made a "constructive response" to the Peruvian peace proposal. But later that evening the military Junta in Argentina, emboldened by its success against Sheffield, rejects the Peruvian plan - stating however that it will consider proposals from the United Nations.

7th May, 1982

In heavy fog, the Task Force battle group sits out to the east of the Falklands, out of reach of Argentina's air bases.

Two Harriers are scrambled to intercept a possible air raid from the west. It turns out to be a Neptune reconnaisance aircraft with fighter escort, but rapidly departs to the west. The two British aircraft are recovered to deck with some difficulty: Invincible manages to keep station with a gap in the fog to allow them to land.

Britain now declares that the total exclusion zone is extended to twelve nautical miles off the Argentine coast. Any enemy vessel encountered anywhere outside Argentine territorial waters is liable to be attacked without warning.

UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar discusses peace proposals in New York with British and Argentine delegations.

A review of the "South Atlantic Crisis" is sent to all US diplomats in Latin America, with copies to diplomats in NATO countries, plus the Southern Command and the Atlantic command. It includes the comment:

Summary: Popular opinion throughout Latin America has supported Argentina's claim to the Falkland / Malvinas islands, but hemisphere governments have been reluctant to legitimize the use of force. With the announcement of US support for the UK April 30 and the sinking of General Belgrano May 2 Latin sentiment for Argentina has solidified. The Anglo-Argentine conflict has divided Spanish speaking countries from the English speaking Caribbean, jeopardized the Inter-American system, provided Cuba the opportunity to repair relations with Argentina and adopt the mantle of Latin American solidarity, ignited nationalist feelings throughout the hemisphere, and revived latent anti-Americanism, which has yet to erupt widely in public but is simmering beneath the surface.

President Reagan admits to reporters that he is concerned about the extension of the exclusion zone, but adds "I don't want violence to break out again. I'm hoping that we can have this ceasefire and the removal of all forces".

8th May, 1982

The British War Cabinet takes the crucial decision of the war: to send the landing force south from Ascension Island. The Task Force does not yet have air superiority and remains concerned about the remaining Argentine submarine, so it is a considerable risk. However with the the South Atlantic winter approaching, delay presents the risk of failure.

Canberra sails from Ascension at 22:00, with 3 Commando Brigade aboard. The slower logistics landing ships have already departed.

Task Force Commander Admiral Sandy Woodward makes plans to harass and attack Argentine positions on the islands with a combination of naval gunfire and air attacks, at a meeting of senior staff.

In a letter to The Times, the Archbishop of Canterbury notes that it is a cardinal principle of the Just War theory that the cost of every action should be counted. "It is possible for a war to be waged at such a high cost as to entail so much suffering that this would out-weigh any attainable good", he opines.

But although in the Middle Ages the church was regarded as an authority on the question of whether armed conflict was justified, that's not really the case in 1982.

9th May, 1982

Admiral Woodward and senior staff scrutinise plans to land the British ground force on the islands. Carlos Water is favoured as a location for the landing. It is partially protected from air attack by hills and mountains, and has two main entrances from open ocean.

Yarmouth takes the abandoned Sheffield, still afloat but burned out following an Exocet strike, in tow. The intention is to take her to South Georgia for salvaging.

In the early hours, a Harrier from Invincible delivers flares to illuminate each of the airstrips on the islands. The idea is to give troops on the ground the impression that a landing is underway, to spread fear and chaos, and keep them awake. This appears to have the desired effect. The Argentine government announces that an invasion by British troops has begun at Darwin and Fox Bay.
Coventry and Broadsword close to within twelve miles of Stanley.

Alacrity engages Argentine positions around Port Stanley with her 4.5 inch gun.

Coventry detects an incoming Hercules transport, escorted by two Skyhawks. She fires Sea Dart missiles. The two Skyhawks disappear from radar, but the Argentines will claim that they crashed in bad weather. In any event, both pilots are killed.

Later, Coventry detects a contact at a range of thirteen miles, and fires Sea Dart again. The Argentine Puma helicopter which is its target is destroyed, and her crew of three are killed.

Two Harriers from Hermes detect a surface contact, fifty miles south-south-east of Stanley. It is an Argentine fishing trawler, the Narwal. She has already been warned away once. Woodward assumes she is engaged in intelligence-gathering activities, and orders her to be attacked. One Harrier strafes the trawler with 30mm cannon fire. The other attacks with a bomb. It is fused for high altitude delivery so does not explode, but is still a potent enough weapon to immobilise the vessel and kill one unfortunate member of the crew, Omar Alberto Rupp.

Rupp's last words, spoken to his captain as he lies dying, will become famous in Argentina: Capi, no voy a poder ver a mi hijo ("Chief, I will never know my son").

An SBS team is dispatched by helicopter to board the trawler, carrying combat knives, garrotes and sub-machine guns. They are instructed to use minimum force to take over the vessel and capture its occupants. The crew do not resist. The first SBS man down from the helicopter above finds one of the crew steadying the rope for him.

All but one of the trawler-men are fishermen. The other, a younger man, is an Argentine Naval Intelligence officer.

The prisoners are taken to Invincible. The fishermen are reluctant to believe that they have been taken there, as Argentinian national news has reported that Invincible has been sunk. They are accommodated on one of the mess decks.

The Argentine officer, having been captured out of uniform in a war zone, asks for permission to write a last letter home to his wife and children before his execution. The ship's captain, Jeremy Black, sends the Roman Catholic Padre down to assure him that his captors have no plans to shoot him. Unfortunately, the sight of the Padre turning up for a chat has the opposite effect.

10th May, 1982

Admiral Woodward decides to check Falkland Sound, the stretch of water between West and East Falkland, for mines, in advance of sending ships there to land and supply ground forces. But he has no minesweeper available, so sends his Type 21 Frigate HMS Alacrity, his most expendable warship, to circumnavigate East Falkland. Woodward records that Captain Christopher Craig accepts what is a potential suicide mission with dignity and bravery.

HMS Sheffield begins to sink under tow, six days after being struck by an Exocet missile. Yarmouth releases her to her final resting place.

Argentina declares the entire South Atlantic to be a war zone.

The Task Force is briefed about the plans to establish a beachhead at San Carlos, now agreed by the British cabinet.

The Type 82 destroyer HMS Bristol leaves Portsmouth accompanied by the fleet tanker RFA Olna, heading south to reinforce the carrier battle group. The Type 21 Frigates Active and Avenger along with the Leander Frigates Andromeda, Minerva and Penelope sail south from Devonport.

The chairman of the South American Fisheries and Export Board, Alejandro Rico Moreno, condemns the "cowardly" sinking of the fishing trawler Narwal on the 9th of May, claiming that the ship's crew were all civilians.

Henry Kissinger gives a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Office of the Foreign Secretary. He says:

In the Falkland crisis, Britain is reminding us all that certain basic principles such as honor, justice, and patriotism remain valid and must be sustained by more than words.

The BBC broadcasts a notorious edition of its documentary series Panorama entitled Can We Avoid War? It will be described by a former cabinet minister as "one of the most despicable programmes it has ever been my misfortune to witness". Another will say that it is an "odious and subversive travesty".

11th May, 1982

In the early hours before dawn, as she patrols Falkland Sound in search of mines, Alacrity acquires a surface radar contact ahead. It is the Argentinian naval transport Isla de los Estados. The British frigate fires a star shell overhead to illuminate the target, then brings her 4.5 inch gun to bear on the enemy vessel. The first round ignites the transport ship's cargo of jet fuel and ammunition, sinking it immediately. Only two of the twenty-four men aboard survive. This is the only surface action between British and Argentine ships of the entire war.

Alacrity completes her circumnavigation of East Falkland without finding a mine the hard way, to rendezvous with Arrow to the east of Cape Dolphin.

US Secretary of State Al Haig secretly sends his deputy Vernon Walters back to Buenos Aires to investigate the possibility that Washington might still play a diplomatic role.

A reconnaissance patrol from Boat Troop, D squadron SAS performs an infiltration by canoe to report on enemy positions at Pebble Island, at the northern tip of West Falkland. Intelligence reports indicate that the Argentines have deployed a sizeable garrison, ground attack aircraft and a radar site there, only nineteen miles from the proposed landing site at Carlos Water. The intention is for personnel from 22 SAS to be inserted by helicopter to destroy the deployed aircraft, radar site, ground crew and force protection garrison. The SAS commander had requested three weeks to recon and prepare the mission. Woodward has given them five days.

12th May, 1982

The QE2 leaves Southampton for the Falklands carrying 3,000 soldiers from the Scots Guards, Welsh Guards and the Brigade of Gurkhas.

Brilliant, riding "shotgun" for Glasgow in a Type 22-42 combination bombarding Argentine positions at Port Stanley, detects four aircraft incoming. They are Argentine A4 Skyhawks. The enemy fighter bombers come in low and fast toward the ships and break into two pairs, making for each British target.

Brilliant fires a salvo of Sea Wolf missiles. Two of the enemy aircraft are blown out of the sky immediately. The third veers to avoid being hit, and hits the sea at a speed of 400 knots, achieving a similar effect. A sailor up on the gun direction platform is heard to comment "its like a fucking war film up here!" [there has been speculation, never confirmed by the Royal Navy, that the Argentine pilot who flew into the sea was the victim of a laser weapon, intended to temporarily blind pilots of attacking aircraft. The Navy did have these fitted to some of its ships].

Glasgow's Sea Dart malfunctions. A microswitch has become encrusted with salt, from excessive exposure to sea water. The fourth Skyhawk gets through and releases its bombs at Glasgow. They miss.

Minutes later, a second wave of four Skyhawks comes in from the west. With his missile system disabled, Glasgow's captain orders everyone who can fire a gun to the upper decks, to man the machine guns. Seven miles out, the Argentine pilots begin to weave and zig-zag, to confuse Brilliant's Sea Wolf system. They are successful.

As Brilliant opens fire with every available weapon, two bombs sail over her decks, just missing the British ship.

Another of the Skyhawks is hit by machine gunners from the deck of Glasgow, but manages to get a bomb on target, three feet above the waterline. It passes through the upper part of the Auxiliary Machine Room and leaves the ship through the other side at about the same height. No-one is injured. Damage control parties, standing in freezing water, manage to cover the holes. Pipes and hoses are rigged to pump out the sea water. Some of the ship's critical systems are out of action, but engineers work to repair the Sea Dart system, and have it operational within thirty minutes.

The Argentine pilot who has taken machine gun fire on pressing home his attack on Glasgow attempts to make an emergency landing at Goose Green, but is shot down by his own side's anti-aircraft fire. He becomes the fourth Argentine Skyhawk pilot to die on this day.

Fifteen minutes later, a third wave of Skyhawks is detected by Brilliant, circling to the west. But perhaps after news of earlier Skyhawk losses comes through, they withdraw.

The Junta releases a private note saying that a transfer of sovereignty to a fixed deadline is no longer a precondition. But it has already offered a similar concession, then withdrawn it.

Quote from: Slim on May 14, 2022, 01:01:56 AM12th May, 1982

The QE2 leaves Southampton for the Falklands carrying 3,000 soldiers from the Scots Guards, Welsh Guards and the Brigade of Gurkhas.

I remember watching that on the telly. I was 9 years old.

As mentioned, my eldest brother was helicoptered on to the QE2 from Ascension Island.

Pretty sure he has a framed photo at his house of a group shot of him and his colleagues in full uniform on the ship as they make their way south.

13th May, 1982

Hermes, Broadsword and Glamorgan detach from the main Task Force to insert an SAS assault team into Pebble Island, at the north of West Falkland, with the objective of neutralising a squadron of Argentine ground attack aircraft on the ground. Broadsword is tasked to be Hermes' goalkeeper in case of air attack. Glamorgan is to move inshore and open up a diversionary bombardment.

But the forward SAS recon party has not yet been able to transmit a report on enemy positions there, so the mission is postponed due to insufficient information. Task Force commander Sandy Woodward orders the ships to withdraw again to safer waters to the east.

In the House of Commons the Falkland Islands conflict is considered again in a stormy debate, with members divided over the merits or otherwise of pursuing a peaceful settlement on the available options.

Foreign Secretary Francis Pym states that the British Government is committed to the search for a peaceful settlement. But he stresses that until Argentina is committed to a withdrawal of its forces and is willing to commence it, the Government cannot commit itself to a ceasefire.

The Prime Minister warns that a peaceful solution may not be possible, and assures the House that no military option or action will be stopped by virtue of negotiations to date.

The following are contributions in the Commons on this day from Michael Meacher, Labour's Member of Parliament for Oldham West. All will be shown to have been seriously misjudged in every respect:

It is clear that if we won the battle it would only be with outrage to world opinion, which has hitherto largely supported us. According to a recent MORI poll, before the destruction of HMS Sheffield sixty percent of Britons opposed the loss of one British life to regain the Falklands. The straight military option could not be played without a violent polarisation of opinion in Britain. When the carnage inexorably mounted, as it would, it would not be without strong opposition from the majority.

In the end there must be a negotiated settlement that meets at least the minimum of agreement in Argentina.

The so-called military solution does not make political sense. Even if we succeeded in retaking the islands by sheer force of arms, there is the question whether we could consolidate such a position. We would be faced by a virulently angry and bitterly humiliated Argentina. In that situation, could such a tiny population, not itself a nation, 400 miles from a hostile mainland in whose economic ambit it irrevocably lies, be maintained in safety and freedom indefinitely, except at a cost that any government must surely find prohibitive?

I say to the Prime Minister: Stop this nineteenth century gunboat diplomacy. Stop before more lives are lost. Stop before the government become obsessed with victory to save face at the expense of innocent people. Talk, talk, talk until the government can find a negotiated settlement for the sake of peace and humanity.

14th May, 1982

More Harrier strikes are carried out against targets around Port Stanley.

Cardinal Hume, leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, warns that the forthcoming visit to the UK by the Pope is in danger. It is, he says, a "fair conclusion" that it will be called off unless there is a cessation in hostilities.

Admiral Fieldhouse makes his first presentation to the War Cabinet of the dispositions of ships and men for the landing at San Carlos, scheduled for the weekend of 21-22 May.

The independent Labour movement magazine Tribune publishes a piece criticising Labour leader Michael Foot's support for the Government's "war of petty prestige and the crudest chauvinism", saying that this is his "darkest hour as leader of the Labour Party".

The Prime Minister gives a speech to the Scottish Conservative Party Conference. She says that "after six weeks we need to remind other nations that if they believe in justice at all they cannot be even-handed between the aggressor and the aggrieved", and that "the Government want a peaceful settlement but your Government totally rejects a peaceful sell-out". And she repeats her warning of a day earlier:

I should not be doing my duty if I didn't warn you in the simplest and clearest terms that for all our efforts, those of Mr. Haig, and those of the Secretary General of the United Nations, a negotiated settlement may prove to be unattainable. Then we should have to turn to the only other course left open to us. And that is why, as I have repeatedly said in the House of Commons, the Government, in its attempts to find a diplomatic solution, has done nothing which forecloses any military action now, or any military option for the future. Nothing is being held up because we are negotiating.

The SAS recon team at Pebble Island reports its information on enemy troop dispositions and asset locations to Hermes. The carrier is brought within forty miles of Pebble Island, to mount an assault by D Squadron, 22 Special Air Service against the airfield there.

Late at night, forty-five SAS men and a naval gunfire support team are inserted by helicopter six kilometres from the air strip. Their arrival has been delayed by fierce winds, and the objective to kill the Argentine garrison in addition to destroying the ground attack aircraft is abandoned due to time constraints.

The assault team splits into two groups. One holds the approach against a possible Argentine counter-attack, while the other moves rapidly among the enemy aircraft, placing short-fused plastic explosive demolition charges on each of them. As the charges go off, Glamorgan begins to shell the airfield, guided by the gunfire support team, destroying the ammunition dump and fuel stores. The SAS men systematically rake the enemy aircraft with their M16 assault rifles for good measure. Overhead, parachute flares from the British ship light up the night sky.

As the British assault team regroups to withdraw, the Argentine garrison, having been content to keep their heads down during the shelling, attempt a counter-attack. The raiding party successfully ends this effort by shooting dead the Argentine commander as he attempts to rally his troops.

One SAS trooper is slightly wounded by shrapnel from explosive charges under the airstrip set off by the Argentines, in the belief that the British operation is a full-scale assault to take over the air base. All of the British forces are successfully exfiltrated by helicopter and back aboard Hermes before dawn.

In addition to the ammunition stores, fuel supplies and Argentine commanding officer, all of the aircraft at the base - six FMA IA 58 Pucará ground attack aircraft, four Turbo Mentor light attack aircraft and one Short SC.7 Skyvan utility transport aircraft - have been destroyed. Argentine forces at Pebble Island will pose no threat to the proposed British effort to establish a beachhead on the islands.

This is a great account of the Falklands conflict Slim. Are you using a single or multiple sources?

Thanks! It's actually from a book I wrote ten years ago that did use a lot of different sources.

From the intro:

The following have been of invaluable assistance to this exercise and are warmly recommended to anyone interested in the subject of this book:

The Battle For The Falklands by Max Hastings and Robert Fox, two journalists who reported from the islands during the conflict.
One Hundred Days, a memoir of the conflict by the Task Force commander, Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward.
Battle For The Falklands: The Winter War by Patrick Bishop and John Witherow.
The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher.
No Picnic by Brigadier Julian Thompson - a very thorough account of the land offensive by the key British ground forces commander.
Sea Harrier Over The Falklands by Commander "Sharkey" Ward, leader of 801 Naval Air Squadron on Invincible.
Storming The Falklands by Tony Banks.
Down South: A Falklands War Diary by Chris Parry.

In addition hours of footage from old TV programmes were scoured on YouTube, newspapers from 1982 were pored over and websites too numerous to mention provided useful information. Transcripts from Hansard, the records of parliamentary debate at Westminister, proved especially illuminating – and in some cases, damning.

I wish I could credit all of the various contributors and uploaders to these sources, but I thank them sincerely anyway. 

Brilliant effort! Well done!

Thanks!

15th May, 1982

Civilians aboard the troop-carrying vessels Canberra and QE2 heading south, including news reporters, are read the Declaration of Active Service, placing them under military discipline.

A Harrier group is sent to bomb Port Stanley Airfield, and to perform reconnaissance photography of Goose Green, Pebble Island and Fox Bay.

In Buenos Aires, President Galtieri says that it is probable that diplomatic negotiations will bring an interim settlement to the conflict. But he adds that if Britain insists on pursuing a military solution, "we will maintain the military situation five or six months, or five or six years". He goes on to say:

As I now have the blood of more than 400 Argentines on my shoulders, the Argentine people, not I, I am sure, are willing to accept not only 400 deaths, but 4,000 or 40,000 more.

The Soviet Union complains that Britain has "arbitrarily closed vast expanses of the high seas to ships and aircraft of other countries in disregard of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas".

16th May, 1982

The War Cabinet drafts final proposals for a peaceful settlement, to be put to Argentina. The Prime Minister is persuaded to make a "very reasonable" offer, as she later describes it in her memoirs. She is prepared to do this because she is convinced that the Argentinians will reject it. The proposals envisage a UN administrator and staff instead of the British Governor, but government "in accordance with the laws and practices traditionally obtaining" (ie those established under British rule).

They will be offered on a strictly take-it-or-leave-it basis, and if rejected, will be withdrawn.

The Junta will be required to respond within 48 hours. There will be no negotiation of the terms. The Government is particularly concerned that the diplomatic initiative will not be allowed to compromise military operations, with the landing of ground forces on the islands due to take place in a few days' time.
Britain's United Nations Ambassador Tony Parsons returns to New York and hands the British proposals to UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar.

A MORI opinion poll conducted  on this day indicates 69% satisfaction of the Government's handling of the Falkland Islands situation, and gives the Conservative Party a 15 point lead over Labour.

A pair of Sea Harriers finds two Argentine supply ships in Falkland Sound. One of the ships is attacked by cannon fire, resulting in sufficient damage to cause the ship, the Bahia Buen Suceso, to be beached.

Glamorgan shells the coastline between Stanley and Choiseul Sound as a diversion while Alacrity returns to Falkland Sound. She inserts an SBS team near the Sussex Mountains, to provide advance reconnaissance for the San Carlos beach-head.

17th May, 1982

An SAS reconnaissance team is launched from Invincible on a stripped-down Sea King helicopter, to be inserted on the coast of mainland Argentina. Their mission is to set up an observation post to collect intelligence on the Rio Grande air base defences, for the possible execution of Operation Mikado - an ambitious plan to land an SAS assault team at the base, destroy the Argentine Super-Étendard strike fighters there and kill the pilots in their quarters.

It is a one-way mission. The Sea King will not have enough fuel to return to Invincible, so its three man crew have been ordered to continue on to Chile and destroy the aircraft there, after inserting the recon team in Argentina.

The SAS team is inserted just inshore in Argentina, as planned. The helicopter crew continue on to Chile, land ten miles from Punta Arenas, then go into hiding after setting fire to their aircraft.

The plan to assault Rio Grande air base will be abandoned after careful consideration determines that it is a suicide mission with negligible chance of success. The recon team will be picked up off the coast of Argentina by a British diesel sub, HMS Onyx.

Harriers are sent on photographic reconnaissance missions over key locations on the islands.

In the late evening, a Sea King helicopter from Hermes patrolling as part of the carrier's anti-submarine screen suffers an altimeter failure and hits the sea in poor weather. Her crew are rescued. Hermes' captain, Lin Middleton, attempts to recover the helicopter, which is floating and undamaged. He noses the carrier up to it until the Sea King is just yards ahead of the bow, with a view to lifting it out of the water using the carrier's crane. Then the thought occurs that if the helicopter's depth charges go off, Hermes will probably sink. Task Force commander Sandy Woodward will record the incident in his memoirs:

Very, very gently we backed away and sent for Brilliant to come over and sink the Sea King. As it sank, now a couple of miles away from us, the depth charges went off. It remains, to this day, a subject Lin and I do not discuss.

In New York, US Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick and her Spanish-speaking deputy, Jose Sorzano, meet with a number of Argentine emissaries - businessmen and diplomats as well as senior military officers - in an attempt to persuade Argentina to accept the most recent British peace proposal. Sorzano tells Miguel Mallea Gil, the military attache at the Argentine Embassy In Washington, that "the British are going to kick the hell out of you".

Quote from: Slim on May 17, 2022, 02:32:53 PMIn New York, US Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick and her Spanish-speaking deputy, Jose Sorzano, meet with a number of Argentine emissaries - businessmen and diplomats as well as senior military officers - in an attempt to persuade Argentina to accept the most recent British peace proposal. Sorzano tells Miguel Mallea Gil, the military attache at the Argentine Embassy In Washington, that "the British are going to kick the hell out of you".

Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I read that! What a competent military and command we had in those days

Quote from: David L on May 17, 2022, 07:20:22 PM

Quote from: Slim on May 17, 2022, 02:32:53 PMIn New York, US Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick and her Spanish-speaking deputy, Jose Sorzano, meet with a number of Argentine emissaries - businessmen and diplomats as well as senior military officers - in an attempt to persuade Argentina to accept the most recent British peace proposal. Sorzano tells Miguel Mallea Gil, the military attache at the Argentine Embassy In Washington, that "the British are going to kick the hell out of you".

Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I read that! What a competent military and command we had in those days

You might want to watch this then. I've read a lot on The Falklands conflict and quite a lot of this was news to me:

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/falklands-war-the-untold-story

18th May, 1982

Two hundred miles north-east of the Falklands, the British amphibious task group carrying the landing force joins the carrier group, in advance of a major landing on the islands. The amphibious group is headed by the assault ships Fearless and Intrepid, carrying the Brigade Headquarters and landing craft. Each carries roughly six hundred and fifty Royal Marines. Behind them are Canberra, carrying two thousand men of 3 Commando Brigade, and the QE2, carrying a further three thousand troops.

The military chiefs of staff make their formal presentation of the landing operation, Operation Sutton, to the War Cabinet. It is approved, on the basis that it can be stopped at any time until the evening of 20th May, to allow the Government to consider any reply from the Argentine Junta to its final proposals.

The container ship Atlantic Conveyor arrives with a further twelve aircraft and additional pilots. Four are RAF Harrier GR3 ground attack aircraft. The remaining eight are Sea Harriers. The new aircraft transfer to Hermes and Invincible.

19th May, 1982

News of the Argentine response to the final British proposals for a peaceful settlement is received by the British Government. The Junta has rejected them. The War Cabinet now orders Admiral Woodward aboard Hermes to proceed with Operation Sutton, the landing of ground forces on the islands, at his own discretion.

All British concessions are now withdrawn; the Government will not allow any more diplomatic initiatives to impede the progress of the ground operation.

In surprisingly calm weather, a cross-decking operation is organised, to disperse ground troops between the ships of the amphibious group, and spread the risk of loss: Woodward cannot risk sending the whole of 3 Commando brigade to San Carlos in Canberra. Troops from the 40th, 42nd and 45th Royal Marine Commando and the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Parachute Regiment are redeployed among the assault ships, by landing craft and helicopter.

At 21:44, a Sea King helicopter loaded with SAS and SBS men en route to Intrepid strikes an albatross, cutting all power to the engine and causing it to crash into the sea. Eight men are rescued, but twenty-two drown, including twenty SAS soldiers. It is the worst single disaster that the regiment has suffered since 1945.

20th May, 1982

UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar makes a last minute attempt, in messages to General Galtieri and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to intervene with a plan for a peaceful solution to the crisis. But his proposals are sketchy and unclear, and Mrs Thatcher is unwilling to hold up the military timetable for an intervention that may come to nothing.

De Cuellar receives no reply from the Argentine Junta about his proposals, and admits the failure of his efforts to the Security Council.

The British Government publishes its own final proposals, already rejected by the Argentines. To his great credit, opposition leader Michael Foot offers his support for the Government's diplomatic approach:

The right hon. Lady and the Government have presented the terms of their document to us. Since I received it earlier today, I have read it, and I believe that it presents a clear and formidable case. Anyone who claims differently would not be reading it intelligently. The Government have stated clearly the principles on which they have acted - the principles of democracy and self-determination - and they have indicated some matters on which they have been prepared, I shall not say to compromise, but at any rate to make proposals which they believed would help towards a settlement.

It is important that that should be underlined, too, particularly in view of the accusation made in some quarters that the Government have been solely intransigent on the matter, as is said in Buenos Aires. The reputation of the case in this document is a matter of value for the present and for the future. If the Government could secure a settlement on the basis that they have proposed, we in the Opposition would be gratified as, I am sure, would the country and the world. In my view, they are fair proposals, and it is right that they should have been presented in these terms.

Escorted by the warships Antrim, Ardent, Argonaut, Brilliant, Broadsword, Plymouth and Yarmouth, the initial British troop convoy approaches the Falklands, helpfully masked by poor weather. Woodward's tactic is for the ships to head in the direction of the main Argentine garrison at Port Stanley in order to disguise the intended destination in the event that they are detected, then just short of the coast of East Falkland, to break sharply westward toward San Carlos.

The approach to San Carlos goes undetected, in the thick grey mist. Each of the amphibious group commanders now receives orders:

TOP SECRET OPERATION SUTTON
CTG 317.0 19N 190230Z MAY
SHIPS PASS TO EMBARKED FORCES
1. D-DAY IS 21 MAY 82.
2. H-HOUR IS 210639Z.
3. BREAK DOWN AND ISSUE FIRST LINE AMMUNITION FORTHWITH.
4. ACT IMMEDIATELY.

Forty men from D Squadron SAS are landed by helicopter to mount a diversionary attack against the Argentine garrison at Darwin. They have brought machine guns, Milan missiles and mortars with them. They convince the Argentine commander that his men are being attacked by a force of battalion strength.

Glamorgan also performs a diversionary action, bombarding the area north of Berkeley Sound.

A Wessex III helicopter from Antrim sweeps Fanning Head, with a thermal imager. A small Argentine garrison is known to be present there, at the approach to San Carlos Water. The Wessex locates the enemy positions and returns to Antrim.

At 23:00, an SBS assault team is helicoptered to within striking distance of Fanning Head. The British want to establish a large force of men and supplies ashore at San Carlos before the Argentines find out about the landing, so don't particularly want to be overlooked by Argentine troops.

Three RAF Harrier GR3s attack an Argentine fuel supply area at Fox Bay. It is the first operational mission to be carried out by the newly-arrived RAF aircraft and pilots, and the first offensive mission flown by the RAF from an aircraft carrier since October 1918. The Argentines have arranged their 40 gallon drums and fuel containers to avoid being destroyed by a single bomb - but this means that they are laid out in a pattern ideal for engagement with cluster bombs, which is what the Harriers are armed with. All three aircraft return to Hermes safely, having successfully destroyed their target.

Labour backbench MP and conspiracy theorist Tam Dalyell, a prominent critic of the war not only during it but for many years following its conclusion, writes a piece for the London Review of Books. He writes:

Certainly [the islanders'] customs, interests and welfare should be taken into account, though most of the propaganda, such as the supposed hardship of driving on the left-hand side of the road, is humbug. Most of the Falklands roads are narrow dirt-tracks. To say that their views are paramount conjures up the spectre of the Falkland Islands tail wagging the dog of British defence policy and contravening the sensitivities of 230 million South Americans.

He goes on to say:

If charges of cowardice are to be levelled at anyone – and I would rather they were not – then they would have to be directed towards those politicians who for a myriad of reasons have been unwilling to confront Falkland Islanders and the British public with the truth. The truth is that, as Julius Goebel, an American academic, argued in his The Falklands, published in 1927, the Malvinas belong, on the doctrine of uti possidetis, to Argentina.

21st May, 1982

Antrim steams into Falkland Sound and at 01:30, takes up her position six miles from Fanning Head, ready to provide gunfire support to the SBS team tasked with neutralising the Argentine presence there, overlooking the approach to the planned beach-head.

At 01:45, the assault ships Fearless and Intrepid, bearing the landing craft for the initial landings, steam into Falkland Sound. The whole of 40 Commando and 3 Para are now aboard the two vessels. At 02:30 the gates of their flooded docks open and their landing craft emerge into the sea. Behind them Canberra, Stromness and Norland enter Falkland Sound, protected by the naval guns of Plymouth. They take up position at the gateway to the inlet.

Brilliant clears the narrows just before 03:00 and takes up position close to the shore of West Falkland, preparing her Sea Wolf missile systems to defend the amphibious group against enemy aircraft in the event of an air attack.

At 03:50, Antrim opens fire on the Argentine positions at Fanning Head, as the SBS men open fire with machine guns. With the assistance of a Royal Marine officer, Rod Bell, who speaks fluent Spanish, the assault team invite the Argentines to surrender. The response is a volley of machine gun fire. The SBS team counter with sustained fire of their own, using machine guns, grenade launchers and rocket launchers.

As the enemy's response subdues, the British soldiers move forward, to within hand grenade range of the Argentine positions before the surviving defenders elect to surrender. Eleven of the sixty Argentines have been killed. Six surrender; the rest have fled. The SBS have suffered only light injuries.

At approximately 07:30, landing craft carrying 2 Para surge into the shallows of San Carlos Water. The paratroopers wade ashore unopposed and head five miles inland, to take the strategic high ground overlooking the landing area in the Sussex Mountains. They find their objective undefended. 40 Commando hit the beaches slightly to the north, and dig in with four armoured vehicles below the west ridge of the Verde Mountains. Two platoons make their way to the settlement of San Carlos, awakening the local inhabitants who confirm that there are no enemy troops in the area, and apprising them of the situation.

Rapier surface-to-air missile launchers are carried ashore, slung under Sea King helicopters.

Unfortunately a party of forty-two Argentines retreating eastwards from San Carlos manage to engage a Sea King escorted by two armed Gazelle helicopters. The Sea King breaks away and is unscathed, but both Gazelles are shot down into the sea. The Argentine officer in command attempts to stop his men from shooting at the helicopter crews as they struggle in the water, but fails. Three of the four men are killed. The fourth is badly wounded.

Men of C Company, 40 Commando raise the Union Jack on a flagpole at San Carlos, at first light.

As day breaks, two Sea Harriers engage and destroy three Argentine helicopters parked near Mount Kent, while the sixteen landing craft return with a second British assault wave - 45 Commando come ashore at Ajax Bay, followed by 3 Para and 42 Commando, a mile west of San Carlos.

At 08:22, Lieutenant Carlos Daniel Esteban, having fled from the SBS assault at Fanning Head, informs the Argentine garrison at Goose Green about the landings. The Argentine high command at Port Stanley does not believe that a landing operation is feasible at San Carlos, and dismisses the British operation as a diversion.

A Harrier GR3 on an armed reconnaissance mission piloted by Flight Lieutenant Jeffrey Glover is shot down by a British-made Blowpipe missile by Argentine troops over Port Howard on West Falkland. Glover ejects and is taken prisoner. He is well treated by his captors.

But at 10:00, an Argentine Aeromacchi aircraft is dispatched to San Carlos to take a look. As the pilot crosses the last hilltop, he sees laid out before him what looks to him to be "the entire English fleet". He comes in low above the waves and engages the British frigate Argonaut with cannon and rocket fire. Three sailors are wounded, and the ship's radar array is damaged. For his courage in engaging the amphibious force alone in what is normally considered a trainer / light attack aircraft, the Argentine pilot will receive his country's highest award for bravery.

Three Argentine Pucará ground attack aircraft are scrambled from Goose Green. One is shot down by a Stinger missile fired by an SAS trooper. Another is intercepted by the Sea Harrier of 810 Naval Air Squadron Leader 'Sharkey' Ward, and shot down at low level by 30mm cannon fire. Its pilot, Major Carlos Tomba, ejects at the last possible moment and manages to return to his base at Goose Green on foot. The third Pucará retreats to Goose Green, unscathed.

By chance, a shell from Ardent destroys a Pucará as it attempts to take off from Goose Green.

The Argentine Air Force now attacks in earnest from the mainland. Two Mirages and a Dagger are shot down by two Sea Harriers on combat air patrol from Invincible. Sea Harriers from Hermes destroy two of three incoming Skyhawks.

Antrim is hit by a bomb that fails to explode, but passes through her Sea Slug magazine. Several fires break out on the British ship. Another wave of three Daggers strafes her with cannon shells. One of the Daggers attempts to attack the supply vessel Fort Austin, but is blown up by a Sea Dart from Broadsword.

Several crewmen on Brilliant are injured by shrapnel from cannon shells from incoming Mirages. Plymouth engages and blows up an Argentine Dagger with a Sea Cat missile.

A wave of four Skyhawks coming in low across the land attempt to bomb Ardent, but miss. One is so low that he hits Ardent's radar aerial with his underwing fuel tank. Two of the Skyhawks are engaged and destroyed by Sea Harriers from Hermes.

The most lethal and sustained Argentine air raid of the day comes late in the afternoon. Six Skyhawks come through the narrows flying low, at high speed. One is shot down - but five make it through. Two bombs hit Argonaut without exploding, but cause crippling damage. Two men are killed.

Another formation of three Skyhawks, navy aircraft this time, head for Ardent. They drop nine bombs. Three of them find their target. Two explode. Later she is hit by another seven bombs in a Skyhawk attack. One kills or wounds the entire fire-fighting team. All three Argentine aircraft are engaged by Harriers and destroyed, but not before their grim work has been done. Ardent has twenty-two men dead and thirty-seven wounded. She is critically damaged. As her situation becomes hopeless, her captain gives the order to abandon ship. Yarmouth places her stern on her bow, and transfers the remaining ship's company, beginning with the wounded. The captain is last to step across.

In the evening, a solemn General Galtieri addresses the Argentine people on television. He tells them that the British have established a foothold on the islands, but promises that they have suffered heavy losses. In one sense, this is true. Ardent is burning and abandoned. Argonaut and Antrim are badly damaged, Brilliant and Broadsword less so. One Harrier has been shot down by anti-aircraft fire. In return Argentine forces have lost fourteen of their aircraft, plus three helicopters on Mount Kent.

But the British have overcome the greatest single hurdle of the Falklands campaign: four thousand professional soldiers and over a thousand tons of equipment, ammunition and supplies have been established onshore without a single loss to ground forces.

The settlement of San Carlos is already in British hands. Photographs of the Union Jack flying there have been flashed around the world's news services over the last few hours.

22nd May, 1982

By first light, five battalions of Marines and Paras are dug in on the eastern shores of Carlos Water. The landing force expands two of its beach-heads uncontested. 3 Para pushes west and north out of Port San Carlos to seize the surrounding high ground. 42 Commando moves a few miles east and digs in.

An Argentine Boeing 707 reconnaissance aircraft comes within eight miles of Coventry. The British ship locks on her Sea Dart missile, but it fails to fire - the flash doors have become encrusted with salt from the heavy seas.

The smoking and abandoned HMS Ardent finally sinks.

Reinforcements arrive - Exeter, a Type 42 destroyer intended to replace Sheffield, two Type 21 frigates, Ambuscade and Antelope - and a despatch vessel, Leeds Castle.

Canberra is escorted out of San Carlos Bay by Brilliant. She has performed her task unscathed. It is possible that some of the Argentine pilots refrained from attacking her in the belief that she was a hospital ship.

Admiral Woodward sends Broadsword and Coventry to the north-west, to act as a "missile trap" for incoming Argentine air raids.

Four Harriers attack Goose Green airfield at low level. They don't find the Pucarás they're looking for, so attack a camouflaged vehicle and a line of fox holes instead, before returning to Hermes unscathed.

23rd May, 1982

Four Harriers are sent to bomb an airstrip on West Falkland. They find three Argentine Puma helicopters and one Augusta, and destroy them.

An Argentine patrol ship is also attacked by a Harrier, starting fires on board and causing it to run aground in Choiseul Bay. A total of sixty combat air patrols are launched from Hermes and Invincible on this day.

Antelope's Lynx helicopter attacks and cripples an enemy freighter with a Sea Skua missile.

At lunchtime a formation of Skyhawks arrives low and fast off the coast of West Falkland. The newly-arrived Antelope is hit by a thousand pound bomb that fails to explode. The attacking Skyhawk is destroyed by a Sea Wolf missile from Broadsword. A second Skyhawk also attacks Antelope with a direct hit with a thousand pound bomb. It too fails to explode but kills one sailor and wounds another. The successful Skyhawk is hit by the ship's 20mm cannon on its approach. It hits the ship's main mast, and the pilot is killed.

Eight more Skyhawks appear in the next ninety minutes. None of them successfully attacks a ship. Half an hour later, three Daggers attack. One is intercepted by a Harrier on combat air patrol and splashed, using a Sidewinder.

Two Royal Engineer bomb disposal experts attempt to deal with one of Antelope's two unexploded bombs. It explodes, killing one of them and badly injuring the other, who loses an arm. The explosion has opened a hole in the ship's side, 30 feet wide. With another unexploded bomb still in her hull and fire now raging through her decks, Antelope's captain gives the order to abandon ship.

At 22:00 four Sea Harriers are launched from Hermes to bomb Port Stanley. Lieutenant Commander Gordon "Gordy" Batt's Sea Harrier crashes into the sea shortly after take off. No trace is ever found of him or his aircraft.

Repairs are carried out to Glasgow and Argonaut.

In the House of Commons, responding to pressure for the ground forces to move out from their beach-head as soon as possible, Defence Secretary John Nott states "there can be no question of pressing the force commander to move forward prematurely".

24th May, 1982

Coventry and Broadsword are sent to operate off the north coast of the islands, to provide advance radar warning and attempt missile interception of incoming air attacks.

The abandoned and burning Antelope sinks when fire reaches the second unexploded bomb.

Supply ships continue to unload stores in San Carlos Bay.

At 12:45 a formation of five Skyhawks attacks the supply vessels Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot and Sir Bedivere. All three are hit, but none of the bombs explodes.

Fifteen minutes later, four Daggers arrive from the same direction. They strafe Fearless and Sir Galahad, and bomb Sir Lancelot, where damage control teams are attempting to fight fires. Fort Austin, Norland and Stromness are also attacked, but are not hit. All four Daggers are hit by ground fire. Three are badly damaged and will play no further part in the conflict, but all make it home.

Another formation of Daggers attacks, this time from the north-west. But Coventry's radar detects them early and vectors two Harriers onto them. Lieutenant Commander Andy Auld downs two of them with Sidewinders. Lieutenant Smith splashes a third. The fourth turns for home. The Harriers are running low on fuel, and the last Argentine aircraft escapes to fight another day.

Three Skyhawks attack, but score no hits. All are hit by ground fire. One suffers a serious fuel leak and crashes into the sea on the way home, killing the pilot. The other two are seriously damaged, but make it back to base.

A total of nine (or seven by some accounts) Argentine aircraft are shot down, with several others suffering crippling damage. By now, the Argentinians know San Carlos Bay as 'Death Valley', while British sailors call it 'Bomb Alley'.

Flight Lieutenant Glover, the Harrier pilot taken prisoner on the 22nd, is flown to Commodoro Rividavia air base on the Argentine mainland, on a departing Argentine C-130 transport plane. He is treated correctly by his captors, and his biggest concern is that the C-130 will be shot down by a Harrier on the way. Fortunately, it isn't.

Brigadier Julian Thompson, in charge of land forces at the beach-head, calls a meeting with his commanders. They are eager to move out and engage the enemy, but he urges them to be patient. Headquarters at Northwood are frustrated that he has not yet moved his forces forward from San Carlos. But he does not have the necessary supplies onshore yet, and available helicopters are still being used to offload the ships.

HMS Glasgow, damaged by an air attack on 12th May and still unfit for operations despite repairs, is sent home by Woodward.

In his diary, Admiral Woodward writes:

Argentinian Air Force has to be in a bad way. They put up 46-odd aircraft on Saturday. Virtually nothing on Sunday, and some 23 or so (only 17 came into the AOA [Amphibious Operating Area]) today. They lost 15 or so on Saturday and nine today. I find it hard to believe they have many aircraft or pilots left. COMAW [Commodore Amphibious Warfare] reported today's aircraft as real kamikazes - so they are probably young braves who don't know any better. Truly, a terrible business and I can only hope the Args stop soon.

Reading your excellent account, it appears to me that the Argentine Air Force were somewhat plagued by using ordnance that failed to operate as it should. Is the rate they suffered of bombs failing to detonate about par for the course? Or were we extremely lucky?

If I remember correctly the problem was mostly that the bombs were set to fuse only after travelling a set distance from the aircraft, and the Argentine pilots were forced to come in low to avoid radar detection and SAM interception.

Just found an excellent post on this here:

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-so-many-bombs-fail-to-explode-when-dropped-by-the-Argentinian-Air-Force-on-British-ships-during-the-Falklands-War

Also this one, a comment on the same page which is a bit more succinct:

QuoteAs others have written the Argentinian pilots flew at very low level, both to avoid anti-aircraft fire and to ensure accuracy. Despite their skill and courage, this meant the bombs did not fall long enough for the fuses to arm before impact.

The bombs should have been fitted with retardation kits to slow their descent, using either folding, metal petals or a ballute (a type of parachute). Unfortunately, for the Argentinians, the Junta had failed to procure such kits, and the Argentinian Navy and Airforce had to do their best with inferior equipment.

It was not the first or last time that brave men's lives have been wasted because of poor procurement decisions.

So it wasn't the distance as I remembered above, but the duration of travel from the aircraft. Makes sense, gives the aircraft time to clear the blast from whatever altitude as long as the bomb takes long enough to reach the target.

Question duly answered - thanks!

25th May, 1982

Argentina's national day.

Harrier strikes are again carried out on the runway at Port Stanley.

Coventry and Broadsword, in a forward position on 'picket duty' detect a formation of Skyhawks circling out over the Atlantic in preparation for an assault on the amphibious operations area. Coventry locks a Sea Dart onto one of them, and blows it up.

Three hours later, four more Skyhawks come in at high speed, north over San Carlos Water. Yarmouth destroys one of them with a Seacat missile. The other three drop bombs, but fail to find targets. Coventry acquires a lock on one of them as they cross the narrows, launches Sea Dart once more and destroys its second Skyhawk of the day.

Coventry's Spanish-speaking officer intercepts an Argentine signal and hears the command: "get that Type 42 out there". And at 17:00, six Skyhawks take off from Rio Gallegos and rendezvous with a tanker to refuel. Only four go forward with full tanks, and are picked up by Royal Navy radar one hundred miles west of San Carlos Water.

Coventry and Broadsword's missile systems fail to lock on as two of the enemy aircraft approach the two warships - the Skyhawks have come in over land, wing to wing, confusing the ship's radar systems. Four bombs are lobbed at Broadsword. One hits, ricocheting off the sea to smash up through the hull and flight deck, wrecking the ship's Lynx helicopter before plunging over the side.

Minutes later the second pair of Skyhawks hurtle toward Coventry from behind Pebble Island, low over the water. This time Broadsword's Sea Wolf missile system locks on, but Coventry's Sea Dart cannot see the attacking aircraft against the land behind.

Coventry's captain manouevres her to reduce her profile as a target. He unwittingly slews her into the path of the destroyer's Sea Wolf launcher. A missile cannot be fired.

The Argentine pilots release three bombs into Coventry. All explode, killing nineteen men instantly and blowing a hole in the bottom of her hull. Her captain comes round from the impact of the blast in an ops room full of choking smoke lit only by clothing on fire. He orders the ship to the north-east, but she is already finished. Water is rushing in. She will capsize in less than a minute, and be lost beneath the waves in less than twenty. The crew have already begun to abandon ship.

Helicopters from San Carlos recover the survivors. Two hundred and sixty leave for England the same night in the supply ship Fort Austin. Twenty are treated in the hospital ship Uganda and the field hospital at Ajax Bay.

The Argentinians now attempt an Exocet attack on the carrier battle group. Two Super Étendards take off from Rio Gallegos and fly north, refuelling in mid air. They carry two of only three remaining air-launched Exocet missiles. One hundred and ten miles north of the Falklands, the two strike fighters turn south. They locate the battle group on radar, seventy miles north east of the islands.

The Type 21 frigate HMS Ambuscade detects the two enemy aircraft at twenty-four miles out. Within minutes both aircraft have released their Exocets. But Ambuscade has released chaff, which successfully diverts the missiles. Unfortunately, as they fly through the chaff, the two French-built missiles find another target. They adjust course to skim the water for another four miles directly toward the container ship Atlantic Conveyor.

Both missiles (or possibly just one, the other falling short) smash through the supply vessel's port quarter, nine feet above the waterline, causing a massive explosion. She had been directed to the relative safety of the carrier group in advance of a night-time run to San Carlos to offload her much-needed cargo of vehicles and stores for the ground forces.

Eleven men are killed, including the ship's master, Ian North. Thankfully the Harriers she has brought south have already been flown off, as have one Chinook helicopter and one Wessex helicopter. But six Wessex, three Chinooks and a Lynx - all needed to transport ground troops forward - are lost, as are tents, numerous ground vehicles and materials intended to construct a Harrier runway on the islands.

Five thousand tons of stores and five thousand, five hundred ground troops are now ashore.

In Chile, the aircrew who destroyed their Sea King helicopter there following a one-way flight to insert an SAS recon team into Argentina have remained undetected for eight days. Chilean authorities have now found the burnt-out helicopter and are looking for the men. As the men stroll casually into Punta Arenas to make contact with the British embassy there, a car pulls alongside them. A police captain steps out, and asks "are you the three British airmen?"

The men claim to be from "the British ship in the port", but the Chilean explains that there isn't one. He drives them to the air base. They are flown to Santiago, and invited to spend the night at General Pinochet's palace.

26th May, 1982

Brigadier Julian Thompson, in charge of land forces at the beach-head until the arrival of Major General Jeremy Moore, is summoned to the satellite terminal at Ajax Bay and ordered by military headquarters at Northwood in England to assault the Argentine garrison at Goose Green, approximately fifteen miles to the south.

Thompson considers Goose Green to be strategically irrelevant. He prefers to ignore the Argentine presence there while he pushes north-east toward the main Argentine presence at Stanley. But the British Government, wary of possible pressure for a diplomatic solution against a background of British losses over the preceding days, is impatient for good news and progress. And the Navy in particular cannot afford to keep losing ships while the ground forces are dug in at San Carlos Bay. In his diary, Admiral Woodward writes: "the battle is high risk at sea and in the air. It must now go high risk on land". On a separate piece of paper he records the same sentiment in somewhat less diplomatic terms: "THEY'VE BEEN HERE FOR FIVE DAYS AND DONE FUCK ALL!"

Thompson summons his commanders to an urgent meeting, and reluctantly orders the second battalion of the Parachute Regiment - usually known as 2 Para - to undertake the assault at Goose Green. They will have to reach their objective on foot. The Paras begin to move from their position at Sussex Mountain toward their objective at 20:00.

Harrier GR3s attack an Argentine position at Port Howard using cluster bombs. Later an Argentine Army Puma helicopter is caught by a Harrier on the northern slopes of Mount Kent. It too is subjected to a cluster bomb attack and destroyed.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 505 is passed, calling for Britain and Argentina to work with the Secretary General to achieve a ceasefire. The resolution also asks the Secretary General to renew his efforts for peace "bearing in mind the approach outlined in his statement of May 21st". The original text had begun "in accordance with the approach", but Britain rejected this - as it implied a concession which had now been withdrawn.

Secretary of State for Defence John Nott makes a statement to the House of Commons. He says:

Our forces on the ground are now poised to begin their thrust upon Port Stanley; behind them are another 3,000 men of 5 Brigade, whilst reinforcements and resupply are virtually denied to the Argentine garrison on the island. Generally the military objective to repossess the Falkland Islands has gone forward exactly as we planned it. We have had losses and there may be more on land and sea, but the people of the Falkland Islands can be assured that our resolve is undiminished.

True to form, the veteran Labour back-bencher Tony Benn asks:

.. is he aware that no one believes that a military solution for either side could be sustained? As everyone believes that negotiations will have to take place in the end, how many more lives do the Government believe it sensible to lose before they go to the United Nations for a ceasefire to permit negotiation, or do they intend, in pursuing an ultimate military victory, that the awful tragedy that is unfolding should be continued to its bitter end?

History will prove no friend of Mr Benn's assessment.

27th May, 1982

Two pairs of Skyhawks attack British positions at San Carlos and Ajax Bay. One of the enemy aircraft is shot down by an anti-aircraft gunner on HMS Intrepid. Its pilot ejects.

Six men are killed at Ajax Bay and a quantity of ammunition is destroyed. Parachute bombs are used against 40 Commando's position at San Carlos, but only two men are killed. It is the first time that the Argentines have engaged targets on land.

Reinforcements rendezvous with the carrier group - the Leander-class frigates Penelope and Minerva, and the Type 42 guided-missile destroyer Cardiff.

Three hours before dawn, D Company, 2 Para arrives at Camilla Creek House, a small cluster of farm buildings several miles north-west of Darwin and Goose Green. They signal that the area is clear of Argentines, and the rest of the battalion moves up to join them, huddling in the cold to snatch a few hours' sleep.

First light reveals that the house lies in a hollow, invisible on all sides to any enemy more than five hundred yards away.

At 13:00, one of the Paras tunes to the BBC World Service news, and hears that paratroopers are poised to attack Darwin and Goose Green. This causes a high degree of consternation, not to mention outrage, as they had intended their attack to be a complete surprise. The Paras now dig into defensive positions across a widely dispersed area, to prepare for enemy air or artillery attack.

RAF Harrier GR3s from Hermes now attack the Argentine positions at Goose Green, using cluster bombs again. They then turn in to attack with 30mm cannon fire, but one of the Harriers is shot down by an anti-aircraft gun. Its pilot, Squadron Leader Bob Iveson, ejects and runs to cover to avoid capture, dropping his seat mounted survival kit. But just after dark he finds a small house unoccupied, containing beds, sleeping bags and food.

The Paras' C Company moves forward to reconnoitre, but is fired on. A four-man Argentine patrol sets off on a recon mission in a civilian landrover. They are ambushed by a 2 Para tactical team who shoot their commander and take the rest prisoner.

At 16:00, Colonel Jones gives orders for the battle to his officers. It is to be a "six-phase night-day, silent-noisy battalion attack to capture Darwin and Goose Green". He intends to dispose of the enemy's outer positions in darkness, leaving only the settlements themselves to be seized in daylight, to minimise the risks to the civilian population.

It will be the British Army's first set-piece battle since the Korean War.

Three 105mm guns are helicoptered in to support the attack, each with 320 rounds of ammunition. At 18:00, C Company begins its advance to the start line, led by engineers tasked with ensuring the three bridges on the route are clear of mines. The remainder of the battalion moves forward at 22:00.

The Task Force troop ship Canberra makes rendezvous with QE2 at South Georgia, to take on board more troops.

45 Commando and 3 Para also advance from the beach-head at San Carlos. They set out on foot toward Douglas settlement.

The rest of D Squadron SAS joins their initial recon element on Mount Kent to the east, only twelve miles west of Port Stanley.

In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister faces questions on the Falkland Islands situation. She is encouraged by some opposition members to be prepared to offer concessions which have been withdrawn, in the hope that a solution to avoid further conflict might still be found. She rejects this:

In the published proposals that we debated last Thursday there was a linked withdrawal of British forces and Argentine forces. Those proposals have been withdrawn and as our ambassador to the United Nations made clear when he voted for the resolution, there can now be no question of a British withdrawal.

The proposals in that document were for an interim arrangement so that we should not have further conflict. The proposals in that document were rejected. We have now gone into the islands to do what I believe the islanders wish - to repossess them, to restore British administration, to reconstruct the life of the islands and then to consult the islanders on what they want.

28th May, 1982

The CIA issues three intelligence reports on US satellite surveillance of Argentine forces. The first notes the location and quantity of Argentine troops at Goose Green and notes their "improved defensive positions". It also lists the Argentine aircraft stationed at the Stanley airstrip. The second document provides specifics on Argentine naval vessels stationed at Puerto Belgrano, on the Argentine mainland. The third is a detailed outline of aircraft stationed at an Argentine base.

At 06:30, 2 Para begins its offensive on Goose Green and Darwin, in complete darkness, supported by naval gunfire from the Type 21 frigate Arrow in Falkland Sound. Their first objective is the Argentine platoon at Burntside House. A Company overwhelms the enemy positions there quickly, with a deluge of machine gun fire and grenades. They find four British civilians lying on the floor terrified, and two dead Argentinians. The rest of the enemy have fled to the rear. Thankfully the only non-combatant casualty is a dog which has lost a tooth.

Thirty minutes later, B Company assaults and overcomes an Argentine platoon to the west, killing twenty-four of them.

Colonel 'H' Jones, in command, now moves A Company forward toward Darwin, and B Company forward to attack a defended ridge running west from Darwin Hill. The Paras now come under sustained fire from Argentine mortars, artillery and machine guns. By this time, Arrow's 4.5" gun has jammed, and the Paras have run out of mortar ammunition.

Arrow is ordered to return to the relative safety of the San Carlos anchorage at first light.

As dawn breaks, the battle has turned in the Argentines' favour. The Paras' forward elements are caught in open ground sheltered only by contours, facing a determined enemy well dug into defensive positions along the ridge. They struggle to gain momentum, and start to take casualties. Along the length of the isthmus, pinned down by heavy fire, men lie and crouch. Some Paras in B Company, deadlocked and unable to move forward, make themselves a mug of tea.

Fearing that the Argentines will soon bring reinforcements, Jones now gathers the men he has around him for a concerted assault on the ridge. He divides the group into two. Twelve men attempt to assault an Argentine machine gun post but suffer fatalities and are beaten back.

'H', a brave but impulsive man, famously now attempts to break the deadlock at Goose Green by personally taking out a machine-gun position. Clutching his submachine gun and accompanied by two NCOs, he dashes up a gully towards it. But seconds later he is fatally wounded by gunfire from a trench to his rear, within a few feet of his objective. He dies almost immediately. For his courage under fire, he will be awarded posthumously the highest military honour for valour in the face of the enemy - the Victoria Cross.

Command now falls to his second in command, Major Chris Keeble. Two other Paratroop companies manage to move around the west of the ridge, undetected by the Argentines. The British artillery positions have now received fresh stores of ammunition, and Keeble brings artillery fire down onto the ridge.

Milan anti-tank missiles are brought up by the support company, and used to devastating effect against Argentine trench positions, in combination with grenades. White flags begin to appear. The Paras are in control of the ridge on Darwin Hill by 11:10, and the tide of battle has turned once again in their favour - but they have still not encountered the main Argentinian force.

Two Skyhawks attack, but their bombs miss the British positions. Two Pucarás attack with napalm and rocket fire. They too miss their targets. One is shot down by a Blowpipe surface to air missile.

A scout helicopter flying ammunition from San Carlos to the Paras at Goose Green is shot down by two Pucarás. It is the only Argentine air to air victory of the entire war, but the victor crashes his aircraft into a mountain after flying into low cloud. His body won't be found until 1986.
Two Aermacchi light attack aircraft also attempt to engage British positions in the afternoon. Blowpipe claims one of these, as well.

Keeble orders A Company forward. They attempt to take a schoolhouse a kilometre north of Goose Green, but it is aggressively defended. Following a firefight during which approximately fifty Argentines are killed, a white flag appears. A subaltern from D Company walks forward to take the surrender, but is shot dead. In response, the Paras unleash a withering volley of machine gun and rocket fire into the building, which quickly catches fire. No enemy survivors emerge.

Meanwhile, Argentine anti-aircraft guns are being used to fire at British positions on the ridgeline, keeping the Paras there pinned down.
Three Harrier GR3s, previously unable to fly due to fog, now run in at between 50 and 100 feet, and perform a precise and devastating attack on the Argentine gun positions with cluster bombs, followed by cannon fire. Some of the defenders scream and sob in terror as the violent blast of the explosions from the British weapons ripples across the peninsula. It is an hour before dusk. Enemy resistance now begins to fade. They are not yet beaten, but they are surrounded by British paratroopers.

Keeble orders his men, now exhausted, to pull back into the dead ground, off the ridgeline. As night falls he orders the British artillery to stop firing, and orders his men to fire only if attacked. The Argentines accept the gesture, and also cease fire. The dead and wounded are helicoptered out. Ammunition and supplies are brought forward to the Paras from San Carlos.

By this time, civilians at Darwin have reported that 112 civilians are being held by the Argentines at the hall in Goose Green. This limits Keeble's options, somewhat.

In the darkness, Argentine conscripts kneel and pray, some clutching their rosaries. Around them, British paratroopers take refuge in shellholes. Some will discover at dawn that they have sheltered in craters where stray cows have wandered onto anti-tank mines.

Despite warnings from senior Catholic clergy in the UK that he would stay away if Britain continued to take part in armed conflict, it has been the first day of Pope John Paul's 1982 visit to the UK. Public opinion in Argentina, a Roman Catholic country, is said to be shocked that his hosts should launch an attack on the same day that the Supreme Pontiff arrives there. It doesn't cause a controversy in the UK.

5 Infantry Brigade transfers from QE2 to Norland and Canberra at South Georgia, to prepare to go ashore.

British bombardment by air and sea of Port Stanley recommences.

This is Sergeant Barry Norman (1:15 in), who was with 'H' Jones when he gave the order to assault the trench where he was killed. Although he doesn't say so explicitly, I get the impression he believes his commanding officer acted foolishly and impulsively.

Years ago I read an account by another of his men who was there, that 'H' "unravelled".

29th May, 1982

At first light, Major Chris Keeble, in charge of 2 Para at Goose Green, sends two Argentine POWs into the besieged garrison there, with a note bearing the following surrender terms:

  MILITARY OPTIONS

  We have sent a POW to you under a white flag of truce to convey the following
  military options:

  1. That you unconditionally surrender your force to us by leaving the township,
  forming up in a military manner, removing your helmets and laying down your weapons.
  You will give prior notice of this intention by returning the POW under a white
  flag with him briefed as to the formalities by no later than 0830 hrs local time.

  2. You refuse in the first case to surrender and take the inevitable consequences.
  You will give prior notice of this intention by returning the POW without his
  flag (although his neutrality will be respected) no later than 0830 hrs local time.

  3. In the event and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Geneva
  Convention and Laws of War you will be held responsible for the fate of any
  civilians in Darwin and Goose Green and we in accordance with these terms do give
  notice of our intention to bombard Darwin and Goose Green.

  C KEEBLE
  Commander of British Forces, Goose Green Area
  29 May 1982

The POWs return, with a request from the Argentine commander for a meeting. Keeble and a number of other officers put aside their personal weapons and walk to a hut on the airfield, with the two civilian journalists accompanying 2 Para. There they meet two Argentines: Air Commodore Pedroza and a naval officer.

Pedroza asks to consult Menéndez, the Argentine military governor at Port Stanley, by radio. Menéndez reluctantly gives Pedroza the discretion to act as he sees best.

Pedroza agrees to release the civilians. And he agrees to surrender, with one pre-condition - his men must be allowed to submit with dignity. Keeble replies that they can do whatever they like, as long as they surrender. Roughly one hundred and fifty Argentine air force men emerge. Pedroza addresses them. They sing their national anthem and lay down their weapons.

At the same moment, the Paras are amazed to see a huge column of Argentine soldiers, many more than expected, emerge from Goose Green, marching in three ranks.

More than nine hundred more men lay down their weapons before the Paras.

The battle has cost seventeen British lives including that of the commanding officer, while at least fifty Argentines have been killed (some accounts have the number of Argentine dead as high as two hundred and fifty). The Paras take more than a thousand Argentine prisoners and a large quantity of munitions, including three valuable anti-aircraft guns. The Argentine small arms and ammunition are distributed among the British ships at San Carlos Water.

The first major ground battle of the Falklands campaign has seen a British Army battalion assault and decisively defeat a well-armed and supplied force roughly twice its strength in number, in well prepared defensive positions.

Major General Jeremy Moore arrives onshore, and takes command of British land forces.

Two Argentine Daggers attack ships in San Carlos. One is destroyed by a Rapier missile. The pilot is killed.

An Argentine C-130 transport aircraft is used to attack a British tanker. One of its bombs hits the vessel, but bounces off and into the sea, unexploded.

The Organisation of American States condemns Britain's military action and calls on the US to stop helping Britain. The US, Chile, Columbia and Trinidad & Tobago abstain.

At 17:30, a group of 170 Argentine special forces assembles at Port Stanley to be taken to Mount Kent by helicopter. Their task is to establish a forward defence line there. But thirty men of D Squadron SAS are already operating on the mountain, only twelve miles west of Stanley. They have been tasked with holding the high ground until reinforcements from 42 Commando are sent to join them.

A Harrier is lost on Invincible when the carrier makes a hard turn to port in high winds and lurches strongly against the sea. The aircraft, ready to launch on a wet deck, slides over the side. Lieutenant Commander Mike Broadwater ejects and is recovered from the sea. In the wardroom that evening, as the Captain is being entertained by 801 Naval Air Squadron, one of the pilots comes up to him after a few drinks and says "that'll teach you to treat the ship like a fucking speedboat, eh, Sir?"

Hours after the Argentine surrender at Goose Green, British signals intelligence intercepts a message from General Menéndez, the commander of the Argentine forces at Port Stanley, to Buenos Aires. It warns Galtieri to prepare for defeat.

Quite a nice summary of the battle, including some neat 3D CGI in this video, 25 minutes in:

30th May, 1982

45 Commando reaches Teal Inlet, an estuary at the north-east of East Falkland.

3 Para presses east toward Mount Estancia, accompanied by light tanks of the Blues and Royals.

Royal Marines from 40 Commando are flown by helicopter to reinforce D Squadron SAS on Mount Kent. As they arrive, an Argentine special forces patrol encounters an SAS patrol on the mountain. The Argentine patrol sends the message "We are in trouble", followed forty minutes later by "There are English all around us... you had better hurry up" before being overcome.

In the late afternoon, the Argentinian Air Force puts into operation its plan to strike one of the British carriers with its last remaining air-launched Exocet. They launch two Super Étendards, one with the missile and the other for additional radar assistance. They are accompanied by four Skyhawks, each armed with two five hundred pound bombs. The Skyhawk pilots are briefed to follow the trail of the Exocet to the carrier as the Étendards turn for home. The plan is to run due east for four hundred miles, refuel then turn north-west, to catch the battle group from the rear.

The Étendards come in low below radar height, pop up to acquire a target and the Exocet is fired at a range of twenty-one miles. Cardiff, Avenger and Exeter detect the incoming aircraft. Exeter fires Sea Dart, which obliterates the lead Skyhawk, killing the pilot. A second Skyhawk is also destroyed, either by Exeter's second Sea Dart or Avenger's 4.5-inch gun.

The Exocet passes harmlessly mid-way between Exeter and Avenger, with several miles to spare on each side (some accounts speculate that it was hit by a 4.5-inch shell).

The two remaining Skyhawk pilots attack Avenger, but their bombs miss. They make it home safely and report that they have bombed Invincible, and that the British carrier had been struck by the Exocet. The Argentines are somewhat disappointed not to hear this mentioned on the BBC World Service news later on.

[For years, the Argentine Air Force claimed to have inflicted serious damage on the British carrier. It had a page dedicated to the operation on its official air force website in 2012. Even more remarkably, some Argentines actually believe that Invincible was sunk, and that this was covered up.]

At Goose Green, Argentine prisoners are tasked with moving a pile of artillery shells and mortar rounds. One of them becomes the victim of a booby trap set by one of his comrades. There is a huge explosion, and he is engulfed by flames. There is no way to reach him through the inferno, and a British paratrooper shoots him to end his suffering.

Two Harriers from Hermes successfully attack Argentine positions at Mount Wall, but one is hit and loses fuel rapidly. Squadron Leader Jerry Pook makes a planned ejection on the return journey east of the Falklands in rough seas, but is picked up in ten minutes by a helicopter crew.

31st May, 1982

In a forty minute meeting, US Ambassador to the UN Jeane Kirkpatrick pleads with President Reagan to intervene before the British forces slaughter the Argentine garrison at Port Stanley. She fears that a humiliating defeat for Argentina will badly damage Washington's Latin American relations.

Reagan does his best. He telephones Margaret Thatcher and broaches the subject delicately. "Your impressive military advance could maybe change the diplomatic options", he says, and he urges her to consider seeking a settlement. He outlines a Brazilian peace plan to her, envisaging a ceasefire, military withdrawal and a third-party peacekeeping force.

Thatcher heatedly dismisses this. The sacrifices and progress her forces have made so far have diminished her interest in a negotiated settlement to zero.

In his autobiography, Reagan will recall the telephone call, and admit that she was right.

Meanwhile, newspapers report a feud between Kirkpatrick and US Secretary of State Al Haig, who is considerably more supportive of Britain than she is. She has accused him of bullying tactics, and even described his department as "Brits in American clothes".

The rest of 42 Commando is helicoptered to join their forward elements on Mount Kent - the British now hold this strategic high ground only twelve miles from Stanley. 3 Para secures Mount Estancia.

A lone Vulcan bomber from Ascension Island launches a Shrike missile attack against Argentine radar installations guarding Stanley airfield. It causes only minor damage.

A 20-man unit from the Royal Marine Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre is helicoptered in to assault Top Malo House, a disused sheperd's residence on high ground overlooking the route from San Carlos toward Mount Kent. A British observation post has seen a patrol of Argentine special forces occupy the house. Not wishing 3 Commando Brigade's advance toward Stanley to be overseen by an Argentine patrol able to direct artillery fire onto it, the decision has been taken to remove the threat.

The British Marines split into two teams - a seven man fire group, supporting a twelve man assault group. As they poise to begin the assault, the Marines' sniper is tasked with shooting open a window in the top floor to be targetted by a grenade launcher. As he takes aim, one of the enemy soldiers appears at the window, so he takes both of them out.

The assault group fires a 66mm rocket into the house, charges forward, halts and fires two more. Some of the Argentines run for a stream bed fifty metres away, shielded by smoke from the house, now in flames. They put up a fight for a few minutes, but the Marines shoot dead their commanding officer when he tries to escape, and the surviving Argentines throw down their weapons and surrender. Five Argentines have been killed and seven wounded. The British have three wounded.

As the Argentines are taken prisoner, the British commander has some advice for them. He disapproves of their choice of observation post. "Never in a house", he tells them.

Three Harrier GR3s attack Stanley airfield.

Quote from: Slim on May 31, 2022, 02:48:10 PM31st May, 1982




As the Argentines are taken prisoner, the British commander has some advice for them. He disapproves of their choice of observation post. "Never in a house", he tells them.

Is that for strategic reasons or for the etiquette of war, do you know?

Quote from: dom on May 31, 2022, 04:08:46 PMIs that for strategic reasons or for the etiquette of war, do you know?

Tactical. Where is the first place you would look for an enemy observation team?

I assume you didnt mean to add a  ;) to your question.

Keep up the good work Slim.

The patrol's commander Rod Boswell comments on this here (1:09 in):


"they shouldn't have been in an isolated farmhouse, most certainly not inside it anyway and if they were, they should have had sentries well clear of the building to cover their approaches"

and later

"these men, the first warning they had of our presence was a building exploding all around them"

1st June, 1982

The newly arrived 5th Infantry Brigade begins to disembark at Port Stanley from the transports Norland, Baltic Ferry and Atlantic Causeway. The Gurkhas arrive on Norland and set off immediately to march to Goose Green.

The War Cabinet meets again to discuss options for a negotiated settlement. The Foreign Office is considerably more interested to explore a diplomatic solution than the Prime Minister.

North of the islands,  an Argentine C-130 'Hercules' transport aircraft climbs to 8,000 feet briefly to make a brief radar sweep of the area for British ships. In doing so, it makes itself visible to HMS Minerva's radar. Minerva's air controller vectors two Harriers flying combat air patrol from Invincible to investigate the contact.

Lt Commander "Sharkey" Ward, flying the lead Harrier, makes radar contact at 38 miles. The Hercules turns to run for home about three hundred feet above the waves, but the two Harriers close in quickly on the large, slower aircraft.

Ward's first Sidewinder falls away just before impact. He closes to one mile and fires a second. Both starboard engines burst into flames as the missile finds its target, but the huge aircraft is still airborne. Ward closes to guns range and unleashes a volley of 30mm high-explosive cannon fire into the rear of the aircraft. The Hercules banks and dives to the right with its elevator and rudder controls shot away, until its right wingtip hits the sea surface, and the aircraft cartwheels and breaks up. All seven crew are killed.

A Sea Harrier from 801 Naval Air Squadron is shot down by an Argentine surface to air missile south of Port Stanley. The pilot ejects and is rescued by a British helicopter after nine hours in a dinghy. He later admits that he was "not entirely sure that the approaching helicopter was British, but by this time I was so cold that I wasn't really fussed who picked me up".

Two Harrier GR3s fly directly from Ascension Island to land on Hermes, their epic journey supported by air-to-air refuelling from Victor tankers. The Task Force now has five GR3s.

By far my favourite of the Falklands Conflict books I've read is Sharkey Ward's Sea Harrier Over The Falklands. It's a real page turner; my only qualification would be that for some reason he has a visceral resentment of the RAF and this colours everything he writes about them. And he definitely enjoys his status as a maverick.

I have two editions of this book, the original paperback that I bought in the '90s and a Kindle version, acquired years later.

Sharkey met the son of one of the men he killed in the encounter described above, nearly thirty years later.

https://wander-argentina.com/porteno-corner-ezequiel-martel/

In the original edition he writes that he didn't lose any sleep over the fate of the men who died when he shot down their aircraft, but in the later edition, published subsequently to this meeting, he discreetly removes that remark.

Early on in the conflict, before they'd flown a combat mission, Ward and his pilots discussed what they'd do if called on to shoot down an unarmed transport plane. They agree that they'd pull up alongside the cockpit and signal to the crew to bail out.

On this occasion he didn't have enough fuel to do that. But I wonder if the Argentine crew could have saved their lives by ditching their aircraft?

2nd June, 1982

Very little aircraft activity from Argentina, the carriers or the Falklands due to extremely poor weather on this day.

In an interview on British television, Mrs Thatcher is questioned about diplomatic options and the possibility of a role for Argentina in the Falkland islands. She says that she would be prepared to cease fire if the Argentines honour resolution 502. But she "cannot .. see a role in anything related to sovereignty for the Argentines on the Falkland Islands".

An advance party from 2 Para is helicoptered to Swan Inlet House, halfway between Goose Green and Fitzroy. They assault the building but find it unoccupied except for an abandoned Argentine army jacket. Using a telephone in the house they call a number in Fitzroy, thirty miles to the east. A teenage girl answers, and brings her father, Ron Binney, to the telephone. Binney, the local manager, informs them that the Argentines have already withdrawn.

Canberra anchors in San Carlos Water again to disembark men of 5 Infantry Brigade, following which there are over 9,000 British ground troops on the islands.

A report from Robert Fox recorded at the battle of Goose Green is broadcast on Radio 4. He describes the relentless mortar fire, attacks from Pucará ground aircraft, and the act of "almost unbelievable bravery" on the part of Colonel H. Jones that led to his death.

Royal Engineers complete construction of a small airstrip at Port San Carlos suitable for Harriers and helicopters.

Argentine diplomats visit the UN with a major concession - they are now prepared to accept the final British peace proposals, with the modification that the islands are placed under UN trusteeship while sovereignty negotiations take place. But the British cabinet withdrew those proposals at the moment they were rejected.

3rd June, 1982

Still no air activity from the carriers, Argentina or the islands, due to poor weather.

2 Para advance to occupy Bluff Cove and Fitzroy. British forces are now in control of all of East Falkland up to, but not including, the high ground defending the main Argentine presence at Port Stanley. Isolated Argentine patrols and observation posts to the west continue to be destroyed in "mopping up" operations performed by the Ghurkas in airborne attacks.

3 Para mounts a probing attack on Mount Longdon, but runs into well-directed enemy artillery fire and is ordered to withdraw.

Another Vulcan 'Black Buck' raid is carried out against Argentine radar positions at Port Stanley. The Argentines turn off their radar installations to defeat the British radar-homing missiles as soon as the strategic bomber is detected inbound, but the Vulcan crew manage to tempt them into turning them on momentarily by descending toward the airfield and achieve a missile lock. An Argentine 'Skyguard' radar position is destroyed and four of its operators are killed.

On the return journey, the Vulcan's in-flight refuelling probe breaks and the crew are forced to divert to Rio de Janeiro. The crew jettison documents containing sensitive information out of the crew hatch over the ocean before landing. The crew and aircraft will be detained by the Brazilian authorities for nine days. The Brazilians confiscate the aircraft's one remaining Shrike missile.

At the Versailles Summit, President Reagan presents a five-point plan to Great Britain. Its aim is to involve third-party nations in a peacekeeping operation following withdrawal of British and Argentine forces. But by now the military campaign has gained too much momentum for a new diplomatic initiative seriously to be considered, let alone succeed.

4th June, 1982

Poor weather prevents air activity from the South Atlantic by either side, once again - but a British C-130 transport aircraft on a flight-refuelled trip from Ascension Island drops high priority supplies next to a Task Force ship to the east of the islands.

A UN Security Council resolution sponsored by Spain and Panama calling on both sides to "cease fire immediately" is voted on. Britain casts a veto, and so does the US, after UN ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick is instructed to do so by US Secretary of State Al Haig. Later however, the US government changes its mind - and Kirkpatrick announces that she would have abstained, had communication from Washington reached her in time.

Spain, perhaps irritated by the wholehearted support given to the Falklands campaign by the inhabitants of Gibraltar, its own "Malvinas" hopeless cause - becomes the only NATO country to criticise Britain's military action.

45 Commando arrives below Bluff Cove Park, south-west of Mount Kent, where they set up a Commando Patrol Base.

Brigadier Julian Thompson sends a signal to divisional headquarters:

Have just heard the BBC World News reported that quote Teal Inlet is HQ of force attacking Stanley unquote I am absolutely fed up with hearing my plans broadcast on BBC News.

5th June, 1982

Weather clears sufficiently for Harrier GR3s and Sea Harriers from the carriers to perform combat air patrols, then land at the forward operating base now established at San Carlos. This ability to land and refuel on the islands provides a considerable increase in operational performance.

Harriers from Hermes fly reconnaissance missions looking for enemy activity, and ground based Exocet launchers.

The Scots Guards board the assault ship Intrepid headed for Fitzroy to reinforce elements of 2 Para already there, with Plymouth to provide close escort.

6th June, 1982

Intrepid, having delivered the Scots Guards to Bluff Cove, now takes aboard 2 Para units already there and ferries them to Fitzroy, before returning to San Carlos Water.

The Welsh Guards embark on Fearless, also heading for Fitzroy. Troops are being moved by sea primarily because of a lack of available helicopters following the successful Argentine attack on Atlantic Conveyor.

Active and Ambuscade detach from the carrier group to bombard Argentine positions in the Mount Harriet area.

Cardiff detects a radar contact over East Falkland and engages it with Sea Dart, at a range of eleven miles. Unfortunately, it is a British Army Air Corps Gazelle helicopter. Its crew are killed. A lack of adequate communication between the two services will ultimately be determined as a contributory cause, but the Ministry of Defence will not confirm that the helicopter was shot down by a British ship until 1986.

Government minister Cecil Parkinson appears on television, and, noting that there has been an "enormous change of mood" in Britain since the landings, states that there will now be "no place for the Argentinians in those islands or in the future administration of them".

Brigadier Julian Thompson orders his commanders to attend an Orders Group meeting the following day, June 7th. He believes he now has sufficient information to conduct a brigade attack on Mount Longdon, Two Sisters and Mount Harriet, the "outer crust" of the Argentine defences around Port Stanley, in two or three days' time.

7th June, 1982

Two Argentine Lear jets, part of the Grupo 1 reconnaissance squadron, are detected inbound at 40,000 feet by Exeter's radar. The British ship waits until they are in missile range then fires Sea Dart.

The missile blows the tail off one of the enemy aircraft but leaves the pressure hull intact. Unfortunately the Lear has no escape system. Her crew of five have two agonising minutes to compose themselves for death as they plummet towards the cold terrain of Pebble Island. As the aircraft hits the ground, its senior occupant Vice Commodore Rodolfo De La Colina becomes the highest ranking Argentine officer to die in the Falklands conflict.

The other Lear turns sharply for home.

Alacrity's 4.5 inch gun barrel is worn out. Admiral Woodward orders her to return home for repairs. Her captain, Commander Christopher Craig, is unable to persuade him to change his mind, so after transferring her stores and munitions, she heads north.

Harrier GR3s attack an Argentine artillery position near Sapper Hill, to the west of Port Stanley. Both aircraft fire two pods of two-inch rockets into their target.

An observation post manned by men from 3 Para near Murrell Bridge, north-west of Port Stanley, is discovered by the Argentine special operations unit Compañía de Comandos 601. The Paras hold them off in a firefight lasting 40 minutes then withdraw with no casualties, leaving some of their equipment behind.

The Welsh Guards arrive at Fitzroy from San Carlos in early morning on the assault ship Fearless, but a shortage of landing craft means that half of them must return. They leave San Carlos again late at night on the landing ship logistics vessels Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram.

ITV broadcasts a programme entitled Paying For The War as part of its World In Action documentary series. The programme considers the financial cost of the war, and the possibility of a boost in sales to British-made equipment.

8th June, 1982

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Sir Galahad arrives at Bluff Cove off Fitzroy carrying the Welsh Guards, to reinforce 5 Brigade. A similar ship, Sir Tristram is already at anchor and offloading ammunition. Unfortunately, the ships are visible to Argentine positions on high ground to the north-east.

The ships' locations are relayed to the Argentine mainland via Port Stanley. Five Daggers and five Skyhawks take off from bases on the mainland to attack the British ships.

The five Daggers fly up the western side of Falkland Sound at wave-top height. But as they turn hard right toward their targets, they encounter HMS Plymouth steaming out of Carlos Water. With the element of surprise lost, the Daggers quickly revise their attack plans and engage Plymouth.

The British warship is hit by four bombs, none of which explode. One passes straight through the ship's funnel. Two of the bombs cause damage but bounce off into the sea. The fourth hits an armed depth charge, causing fires which take some time to control. Five of the ship's company are injured but no-one is killed and Plymouth is not fatally damaged.

One of the Daggers is damaged by a Sea Cat missile, but all turn and speed back to the mainland.

The five Skyhawks now attack the RFA vessels at Fitzroy shortly after 16:10. Three attack Sir Galahad, finding their target with two, possibly three five-hundred pound bombs. The resulting explosion causes dreadful carnage among the Welsh Guardsmen aboard.

Sir Tristram is hit by the remaining two Skyhawks but fortunately, is not packed with troops and is only lightly damaged.

Within minutes of the attack, helicopters are winching men from Sir Galahad and from liferafts, hovering low over the water to push survivors' boats toward the shore with the down draught from their rotors. Men of 2 Para dash to the shore, to pull men from the rafts, and help the casualties.

News of the attack is received with shock in Britain. Pictures of the rescue operation, with helicopters swarming around the vessels and men with terrible injuries being brought ashore appear on television in the evening.

Later, a landing craft transporting vehicles of 5 Brigade headquarters is attacked by four Skyhawks. One of the Argentine fighter bombers scores a direct hit, killing six men on board. Two Harriers on combat air patrol intercept and destroy three of the Skyhawks with Sidewinders, Flight Lieutenant David Morgan downing two of them within seconds of each other. The fourth escapes.

In all, the British have lost fifty-one men and forty six injured. It is the single worst loss of life inflicted on British forces during the conflict.

Even so, Argentine accounts of their successes are greatly exaggerated, as usual. The British commander of ground forces, General Jeremy Moore, learns that General Menéndez in Stanley has been told that an estimated nine hundred British ground troops have lost their lives.

Moore urges military HQ in the UK to sustain this disinformation as long as possible. This they do, withholding the number of casualties and instead announcing that British losses are "heavy" and that the assault on Stanley is likely to be delayed.

Two patrols of men from the Royal Marine Mountain & Arctic Warfare Cadre and 42 Commando are sent after last light to report on enemy dispositions east of Mount Harriet. The men from 42 Commando find and engage an enemy heavy machine gun position before withdrawing and continuing to their objective. The two patrols establish a covert observation post behind enemy lines, forty metres from a route used by the Argentinians to connect positions on Two Sisters and Tumbledown.

9th June, 1982

Early in the morning, Lieutenant David Stewart leads a 45 Commando troop strength fighting patrol to Two Sisters. They cross 1,000 metres of open ground undetected, kill two enemy sentries and engage the enemy on the western slope for thirty minutes, killing seven Argentines before they withdraw with no casualties to themselves. This is one of a number of patrols carried out around this time in order to harrass and establish moral dominance over the enemy.

Task Force helicopters busily resupply front-line troops with stores and ammunition, in preparation for the advance on Stanley.

Harriers from Hermes carry out two sorties. One pair attacks Argentine artillery positions on the northern slopes of Mount Longdon with two pods of two-inch rockets each. A second pair attacks a 155mm gun position adjacent to Sapper Hill. One aircraft takes minor damage from anti-aircraft shrapnel, but all return safely to the carrier.

The Mountain & Arctic Warfare Cadre observation post established behind enemy lines overnight observes enemy activity during the day and prepares a detailed map of enemy dispositions before withdrawing three hours after dark. Their information causes alterations to plans to attack Two Sisters and Mount Harriet. Grid references of enemy positions seen on Tumbledown are passed to 5 Infantry Brigade.

10th June, 1982

In good flying weather the carriers launch forty-four combat air patrols, sometimes with as many as sixteen aircraft over the islands simultaneously.

Harrier GR3s perform photo reconnaissance missions low past Two Sisters and Mount Longdon and past defensive positions at Port Stanley. Film from one of the aircraft shows a remarkable shot of Argentines on the ground attempting to aim their Blowpipe missile launcher at it as it speeds past at an altitude of three hundred feet.

Yarmouth performs a naval gunfire bombardment of Argentine positions in the mountains.

Captain John Hamilton leads a 22 SAS patrol on the hills above Port Howard, in West Falkland. Two miles north of the settlement, he moves forward with a radio operator, Sergeant Fonseca, to observe Argentine positions there.

Shortly after dawn, Hamilton and Fonseca realise they are being surrounded by a large force of enemy soldiers. Hamilton decides that they will fight their way out, ordering Fonseca to move first while he gives covering fire. The SAS captain is shot in the back and unable to move, but continues to cover his comrade's escape until killed. Fonseca is captured when he runs out of ammunition.

The Argentines at Port Howard will bury Hamilton with full military honours. Their commander, Colonel Juan Ramon Mabragaña, later describes him as "the most courageous man I have ever seen". Hamilton, also the commander of the SAS recon patrol landed and rescued from Fortuna Glacier, will be awarded the Military Cross posthumously.

British forces are now in control of East Falkland up to two lines of high ground held by the Argentines in defence of Port Stanley. Brigadier Julian Thompson now gives orders to his commanders to capture the westernmost "outer crust" of the Argentine defences: 3 Para will capture Mount Longdon, 45 Commando will capture Two Sisters and 42 Commando will take Mount Harriet. 2 Para will remain in reserve between and behind 3 Para and 45 Commando, ready to reinforce either if required.

To reduce their vulnerability in approaching well defended positions in exposed, open ground, the British will attack in darkness during the following night, 11/12 June. All of the British ground forces are well trained in night-fighting. Thompson knows that most of the enemy soldiers facing them aren't.

11th June, 1982

Sea Harriers from both carriers carry out combat air patrols over the islands, occasionally flying offensive missions against Argentine ground positions. A group of four Sea Harriers attacks the airfield at Port Stanley using radar-fused air burst bombs delivered several miles from the target.

Harrier GR3s engage ground targets all around the islands. Enemy positions on the slopes of Two Sisters are attacked using cluster bombs and 30mm cannon fire. Artillery and troop positions on Mount Harriet and Mount Longdon are also subjected to cluster bomb attacks.

Ground force commanders brief their men for a night assault on Two Sisters, Mount Longdon and Mount Harriet.

Shortly after 21:00, one of the Paras approaching Longdon steps on an anti-personnel mine, severely injuring his leg and alerting the enemy to their approach. One platoon of conscripts is still struggling out of its sleeping bags when a platoon of Paras is among them, machine-gunning and grenading the helpless Argentines in their tents. As they gain a foothold on the mountain, the British are forced into narrow, rocky gullies down which the enemy, well dug in in the rocks and crags further up, hurl grenades. They face a battalion of the enemy's 7th Regiment, supported by snipers with night vision equipment.

The assault by 42 Commando on Mount Harriet begins with a blistering naval bombardment from Yarmouth. The advance company starts to make its way up the mountain undetected. Two Argentine sentries are killed quietly with knives.

Men from Ardent, Coventry and Antelope return home on the QEII.

12th June, 1982

In the early hours, men of 42 Commando, 3 Para and 45 Commando press their attack on Two Sisters, Mount Longdon and Mount Harriet.

45 Commando captures the southern peak of Two Sisters, its first obective, without difficulty but men are pinned down by heavy fire as they attack the northern peak. They break the deadlock using 66mm rockets to great effect against the Argentine positions.

After two hours of fighting their way to the summit, despite sustained machine gun and mortar fire from the enemy, Two Sisters is in British hands, at a cost to 45 Commando of four men killed and seventeen wounded. The Argentines have lost twenty killed. Fifty-four are taken prisoner. Many of the Argentines have trickled away into the darkness before the British can reach them.

But the most serious British casualties of the battle for Two Sisters are inflicted miles from the mountain. The destroyer Glamorgan, having bombarded Argentine positions during the battle, is withdrawing to rejoin the battle group at 02:35 when a streak of light is seen to break away from the shoreline. It is an Exocet, fired from an improvised land-based launcher.

The sea-skimming missile plunges through Glamorgan's upper deck abreast of the hangar and into the galley, where it explodes. Her Wessex helicopter blows up, killing six men instantly. In all, thirteen men aboard the British ship are killed, and more wounded. But the crew have put out the fires and got her underway again a few hours later. The destroyer is badly damaged but not out of action and will survive her encounter with an Exocet.

At Mount Harriet, men of 42 Commando scale the hill under cover of heavy naval and artillery bombardment. They are within one hundred yards of the summit when the Argentines detect them and open fire. The British troops take on the enemy soldiers dug into the rocks with 66mm rockets and machine gun fire, clearing bunkers with grenades and small arms as they work their way uphill in the darkness. They take the summit with the loss of only one man killed.

Argentine officers and senior NCOs fight doggedly, attempting toward the end of the battle to prevent their men from surrendering by shooting at them. The British solve this problem by shooting the officers and NCOs.

Eighteen Argentines are killed, and over one hundred are taken prisoner.

A dozen prisoners gathered at the base of Harriet are told in sign language by a Royal Marine, to walk, not run. They misunderstand this, and think that they are being ordered to run so they can be shot. When the battalion padre appears wearing his cross, the prisoners scramble to hide behind rocks, thinking they are about to receive the last rites.

On Longdon, the Paras push forward and upwards under murderous fire. As they claw their way uphill in the darkness, the British soldiers are sometimes upon their enemy as soon as they see them, skewering them with bayonets or firing into them at point blank range. In brief lulls in the fighting, the screams of dying soldiers from both sides can be heard. Some of the wounded Argentines are finished off with bayonet or bullet when the Paras reach them as they move forward.

At one point in the battle, most of a Para company is pinned down by a heavy machine gun position. Sgt Ian McKay takes command when his platoon commander is hit in the leg. He and two other soldiers attempt to outflank the enemy positions, but as they move forward, they come under fire. Two soldiers fall, one dead, one wounded. McKay charges forward and attacks alone, clearing the enemy positions with grenades to allow his men to move forward at the very moment he is killed. For his selflessness, perseverance and courage, he will be awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

Two Paras manage to crawl up undetected to each side of an Argentine machine gun bunker and post grenades through the firing slit. As soon as their grenades explode, they jump into the bunker and finish off the enemy conscripts with their bayonets. Both Paras, Privates Ben Gough and Dominic Gray, will be mentioned in despatches.

After ten hours of brutal fighting under heavy punishment from well dug in machine gun positions and accurate sniper fire, the Paras have gained the summit by first light, at a cost of seventeen lives and forty wounded. Argentine casualties are much higher. Fifty enemy soldiers are taken prisoner. Many more are killed or wounded, some by British support groups as they attempt to withdraw.

As dawn breaks to reveal the debris of battle - abandoned packs, sleeping bags, tents, blood-stained medical dressings, dead bodies - the British are in command of the first line of high ground leading to Stanley, only a few miles away. But they continue to take casualties from Argentine artillery fire aimed into their newly gained positions through the day.

In the early morning, a British Wessex helicopter slides over the ridge north of Port Stanley's harbour and approaches the town. The pilot fires a missile at the Town Hall, where senior Argentine officers are known to be holding a conference. Unfortunately he misses, but gets away unscathed under a hail of fire.

His effort is not entirely wasted. Minutes later, an Argentine helicopter returning to Stanley is shot down by a nervous Argentine anti-aircraft gunner.

Another 'Black Buck' Vulcan raid is carried out, this time against Argentine positions to the south of Stanley airfield, using 1,000 pound bombs.

The Harriers also carry out ground attacks over the islands. In the afternoon, two GR3s perform armed reconnaissance of the road east of Mount Harriet. As they reach the target area, Argentine troops in the open are seen and attacked with cluster bombs and 30mm cannon. This brings cheers from British troops on Harriet who hear the explosions, and know that no-one within 100 metres of a cluster bomb attack is likely to survive.

The Argentines send a formation of Skyhawks from the mainland to attack British positions near Darwin. But as they approach the target, they see a pair of Sea Harriers silhouetted against cloud in the distance. They jettison their weapons and external fuel tanks, and turn and run for home.

13th June, 1982

British ground forces regroup and resupply to prepare to assault the last line of Argentine high ground defences before Port Stanley.

The Second Battalion, Scots Guards will assault and capture Mount Tumbledown, assisted by mortar detachments from 42 Commando and the Gurkha Rifles, as well as support from the Blues and Royals, equipped with two Scorpion and two Scimitar armoured vehicles.

2 Para will attack and capture Wireless Ridge.

The Ghurkas are tasked with capturing Mount William, once Tumbledown is secure. This will allow the Welsh Guards to attack Sapper Hill, the final obstacle.

In the morning, the Scots Guards are helicoptered from their position at Bluff Cove to an assembly area near Goat Ridge, west of Tumbledown.

The Argentine patrol craft Rio Iguazú is strafed by a Sea Harrier from 801 Naval Air Squadron, then engaged with a Sea Skua missile fired by Penelope's Lynx helicopter, before dusk.

The Argentines launch eleven aircraft from the mainland against British ground positions. Seven Skyhawks attempt to bomb the headquarters of 3 Commando Brigade on the western slopes of Mount Kent, in an attempt on General Moore, his staff, and all his unit commanders as they discuss the night's operations. But their bombs fall harmlessly away away from the British positions, only causing light damage to two helicopters, which remain operational.

3 Para's positions on Mount Longdon are attacked by four Skyhawks, without success. The only casualty is a helicopter rotor blade which is replaced within hours.

British Forward Air Controllers are now in place on hills overlooking Argentine positions. They provide aiming for laser-guided bombs delivered by Harrier GR3s, one scoring a direct hit on an Argentine company headquarters position. An Argentine artillery position is also engaged and destroyed in a GR3 strike.

After dark, a formation of Canberra bombers is sent to attack British ground positions. One of the Canberras is engaged and destroyed by Sea Dart, fired from Exeter.

2 Para begin their attack on Wireless Ridge at 21:45. As D Company move forward to to the positions from where they will begin their assault, a devastating volume of artillery fire, augmented by naval gunfire from Ambuscade and Yarmouth offshore, is poured onto the Argentine positions by the British.

As the big guns fall silent and the Paras fix their bayonets to assault the hill, a chilling instruction is issued:

"No prisoners, lads".

The battle's momentum cannot be compromised. The Paras cannot afford to secure prisoners while fighting uphill in pitch darkness.

As they reach the first enemy trenches, they find them empty. Their occupants, mostly teenage conscripts, have already fled under the fierce bombardment from the British ships and 105mm guns. But as the Paras start out along the ridge, they come under heavy fire from entrenched positions further uphill.

At 20:30, just as the Paras are commencing their attack on Wireless Ridge, a reconnaissance platoon of the Scots Guards supported by four light tanks commences an attack on an Argentine marine company dug in on the lower slopes of Mount William. It is a diversionary attack, intended to draw the enemy's attention from the assault on Tumbledown, to the west.

As they approach, one of the tanks hits a mine, but the occupants are unharmed. When the troops make contact, a heavy firefight breaks out. Two British soldiers are killed and four more wounded, before the position is secured by the Guards after two hours of fighting, clearing trenches one by one with grenades and small arms.

Having mounted a successful diversion, the platoon withdraws, carrying their wounded through a minefield - where they suffer more injuries, though none fatal.

The main body of the Scots Guards launches their attack on Tumbledown in the cold darkness at 21:00, thirty minutes after the start of the diversionary attack. They secure the western end without opposition, but as they continue, supported by naval gunfire from Yarmouth and Active, they meet fierce enemy machine gun and small arms fire. The guardsmen attempt to dislodge the Argentines, protected in their rock bunkers, using grenade launchers, mortar fire and light anti-tank weapons.

14th June, 1982

At midnight, the Scots Guards are pinned down by three enemy platoons as they attempt to capture Mount Tumbledown, aided by the 4.5 inch guns of HMS Yarmouth and HMS Active offshore. The British troops face withering fire from well-entrenched positions further up the summit. They reply with rocket fire, but with little apparent effect.

The Argentines can be heard shouting abuse in Spanish, taunting the Guards in the odd word of English and even singing as they defend the mountain from the British. For hours, Argentine snipers, machine guns and small mortars slow the advance of the British as they claw their way upward under the chatter of machine guns, from rock to rock and crag to crag. The fighting is fierce, hand to hand, in darkness or the dead light of flares. Several Argentines die by the bayonet.

But when a detachment of thirty Scots Guards gains the high ground to the northern end of the summit, the tables are turned, and it is now they who are able to bring down withering fire on their enemy. Led by a British Major who personally kills three Argentines, shooting two and bayonetting a third, the British soldiers storm the summit in a bayonet charge. A brief counter-attack in which several of the Guards are injured by machine gun fire on the summit is defeated, and Tumbledown is in British hands by 08:00.

Of the ninety or so Argentines who had defended Tumbledown, roughly forty have been killed, and thirty are captured. The Guards have taken the mountain for the loss of ten men killed.

From their hard-won summit, the Guards can see street lights and moving vehicles in Stanley, less than five miles away. As the Argentine survivors withdraw, they are shelled mercilessly by British artillery.

As the Scots Guards push up Tumbledown, 2 Para continues to exchange fire in the early hours with the Argentine 7th infantry regiment, tasked with defending Wireless Ridge. They find themselves up against punishing fire from well armed, well motivated enemy soldiers. The Paras call in artillery support - with unfortunate consequences. Ten of the rounds hit their own positions, causing casualties.

But slowly, supported by gunfire from British light tanks with night vision equipment and aided by their own machine gunners, the Paras make their way up and along the ridge, fighting in small groups or pairs, taking Argentine positions with grenades and small arms, fighting at close quarters, often upon their enemy as soon as they see them.

Some of the Argentines fight to the death; usually their own. But some of the young Argentine conscripts just pull their sleeping bags over their heads, wishing it would all go away. The Paras take no chances, neutralising them quickly with bayonet or bullet, then moving on into the darkness.

One young Argentine soldier jumps to his feet with his hands in the air, attempting to surrender. As he pleads for his life, the Paras in front of him hesitate. But they can't afford to compromise their momentum by taking prisoners. As the boy crumples to his knees in despair, one of the Paras throws a tarpaulin over him, shoots him, and finishes him off with a bayonet.

At one stage the Argentines attempt a counter-attack against the light tanks supporting the British assault, but the tanks respond by inflicting what even an Argentine account of the battle describes as a "great slaughter". The gunners in the British tanks are so moved by the carnage before them that they hold their fire, to allow their enemy to recover their wounded and withdraw.

As dawn breaks, the Paras are in control of Wireless Ridge. From the summit in the first light of day they make out lines of Argentine soldiers retreating to Port Stanley, silhouetted against the rising sun. No quarter is given. The Paras engage them with powerful belt-fed machine guns, cutting many of them down as they flee.

But the battle is not quite over yet. Shortly afterwards, a group of about fifty Argentine volunteers enlisted by an Argentine major at Stanley attempts a bayonet charge counter-attack, singing the Malvinas March. The Paras are alarmed to see this, though it is, as a British officer describes it, "quite a sporting effort, but one without a sporting chance". The Argentine attack is quickly defeated by artillery, mortar and small arms fire.

Two Harriers are tasked to perform a cluster bomb attack on Sapper Hill. The Harrier GR3s have already engaged Argentine anti-aircraft positions to great effect with laser guided bombs earlier in the day. But a British observer reports a white flag flying from the Argentine position which is their target. The RAF liaison officer receives a frantic message from Brigadier Thompson: "FOR CHRIST'S SAKE STOP THAT ATTACK!" The Harrier pilots are warned off, and disengage their attack.

With Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge now secure, the Ghurkas are ordered to assault Mount William, to the east. They meet spasmodic shelling, but to their great disappointment, the Argentines flee as soon as they see them coming. They sweep forward to take the position with no resistance. The Welsh Guards advance to capture Sapper Hill.

Argentine resistance now crumbles. Across the British radio network, the news is passed quickly - "The Argies are legging it - they're running everywhere". Along the length of the British line, officers watch Argentine soldiers running across the hillsides back to Stanley. British gunners hasten their retreat as artillery observers call shellfire down upon the tiny, stumbling figures in the distance, from their newly captured high ground. One of the Royal Artillery officers will recall that "it was a most pathetic sight, and one which I never wish to see again".

And in Stanley, as frightened and dejected survivors of their encounters with the British stream into the town, the situation for the Argentine garrison deteriorates rapidly. The British now own the last defensible positions in front of them. The defenders have been beaten decisively by the British everywhere they have fought them. As thousands of Argentine soldiers, already poorly fed and supplied, prepare to face the British onslaught on Stanley that must surely come soon, their discipline and morale collapses. Some of the conscripts come to blows with their superiors.

Menéndez calls General Galtieri in Buenos Aires. He reports that the situation is hopeless. In standard fascist dictator style however, Galtieri orders him to gather his forces and fight the British to the last man. Menéndez replies "My general, you do not know what we are fighting here".

With their enemy in obvious disarray and retreating from the hills, 2 Para now takes advantage and immediately advances toward Stanley. As they approach, white flags begin to appear from the Argentine positions. The British paratroopers exchange their helmets for red berets and stride triumphantly into the outskirts of the town.

At 13:00, a senior Argentine officer broadcasts a short message to the British: General Menéndez wishes to negotiate. A few hours later, a delegation of British officers arrives in Stanley, on a Gazelle helicopter dangling a white flag. When they meet the first Argentine Governor of the Malvinas, it is soon clear to them that he has no intention of continuing to fight.

At first Menéndez offers to capitulate only on East Falkland, leaving his few forces on West Falkland, who have not been pressed by the British, to fight on. He also insists on returning his troops home in Argentine ships. But he reluctantly drops these conditions when the British representatives make it clear that they will not accept them.

Menéndez sheds a tear, then shakes the hands of the British officers.

At 10:15 UK time, The Prime Minister rises from her seat to address the House of Commons:

After successful attacks General Jeremy Moore decided to press forward and the Argentines retreated. As our forces reached the outskirts of Port Stanley large numbers of Argentine soldiers threw down their weapons. They are reported to be flying the white flag over Port Stanley.

Her statement is met with loud cheers. As she returns to Downing Street, crowds gather there, and sing Rule Brittania.

News of the Argentine capitulation reaches Buenos Aires. Where it had erupted with joy weeks earlier, the Argentine capital now erupts in anger and dismay. Crowds fill the streets, expressing their fury not only toward the British, but to the military Junta who have presided over the loss of their beloved Islas Malvinas. British TV news will show enraged, red-faced Argentines shaking their fists and shouting at TV cameramen and reporters from car windows.

Galtieri will be removed from power in a matter of days.

Major General Jeremy Moore flies into Stanley at 21:00, to formally accept the Argentine surrender. Moore and Menéndez exchange salutes as they meet. Moore is careful to treat Menéndez with dignity and respect.

Moore allows Menéndez to cross out the word UNCONDITIONAL preceding SURRENDER on the instrument of surrender. He is not allowed to insert the words ISLAS MALVINAS.

The Argentine general applies his signature to the document, surrendering all Argentine forces on the islands, and bringing to an end his seventy-four days as Governor of the Islas Malvinas.

Moore sends the following message, to London and all Task Force commanders:

The Falkland Islands are once more under the government desired by their inhabitants. God save the Queen.

Nearly ten thousand Argentine troops lay down their arms, defeated. The Junta sullenly refuses to declare a cessation to hostilities from the mainland, but they too know when they've had enough. They will not provoke the British further.

Britain in 1982 is not the global superpower it had been decades earlier. But it remains a historic military power with an indomitable spirit, and the art of war deeply ingrained in its DNA.

The men of the British Task Force have completed their mission.