The Falklands Conflict, Forty Years Later

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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)

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

[Slim]

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.

[Slim]

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."

[Slim]

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.