1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands

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Argentine invasion of the Falklands
Part of Falklands War
British Marines surrender their weapons to Argentinian amphibious commandos
Date 2 April 1982 Location Port Stanley, Falklands Islands Result Argentinian victory Beginning of the Falklands war
Combatants
United Kingdom	Argentina
Commanders
Governor Rex Hunt Major Mike Norman RM Major Ian Nott RM Major Phil Sommers FIDF	Admiral Carlos Busser Lieutenant commander Guillermo Sánchez-Sabarots Lieutenant commander Pedro Giachino†
Strength
46 marines 11 RN sailors 25 FIDF's troops	600 troops (some 60 actually clashed with British forces)
Casualties
82 POWs 2 coastal boats confiscated 2 small planes confiscated	1 killed 2 wounded 1 Amtrac vehicle damaged

Argentina mounted an invasion of the Falkland Islands (The Malvinas) on April 2, 1982 after the civilian occupation of South Georgia on March 19, before the Falklands War began. This article describes the initial defence organised by the Falkland Islands' Governor Sir Rex Hunt giving command to Major Mike Norman RM, the landing of Lieutenant-Commander Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots' Special Forces, the attack on Moody Brook Barracks, the battle between the troops of Hugo Santillan and Bill Trollope at Stanley, and the attacks and final surrender of Government House.

[edit] Defence

Governor Sir Rex Hunt was informed by the British Government of a possible Argentine invasion on Wednesday March 31. The Governor summoned the two senior Royal Marines officers of Naval Party 8901 to Government House in Stanley to discuss the options for defending the Falklands.

He said during the meeting, "Sounds like the buggers mean it", remaining composed despite the seriousness of the situation that the islands faced.

Major Mike Norman RM was given overall command of the Marines due to his seniority, while Major Gary Noott RM became the military advisor to Governor Hunt. The total strength was 68 Marines and 11 sailors, which was greater than would normally have been available because the garrison was in the process of changing over. Both the replacement and the troop preparing to leave were in the Falklands at the time of the invasion. This was decreased to 57 when twenty-two Royal Marines embarked aboard the Antarctic patrol ship Endurance to observe Argentine soldiers based at South Georgia. But their numbers were reinforced by 25 Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF) members.¹ Graham Bound reports instead in his book Falkland Islanders At War that approximately forty (both serving and past) members of the (FIDF) reported for duty at their Drill Hall. Their commanding officer, Major Phil Sommers, tasked the volunteer militiamen with guarding such key points as the telephone exchange, the radio station and the power station. Skipper Jack Solis, onboard the civilian coastal ship Forrest operated his boat as an improvised radar screen station off Stanley.

[edit] Operation Azul

The Argentine operation codenamed Azul (blue) began in the late evening of Thursday April 1 when the Argentine destroyer Santisima Trinidad halted 500 metres off Mullet Creek and lowered 21 Gemini assault craft into the water. They contained 92 special forces troopers of Lieutenant-Commander Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots' 1st Amphibious Commandos Group and the small party under Lieutenant-Commander Pedro Giachino that was to capture Government House.² The Argentine Rear Admiral Jorge Allara had requested that Rex Hunt surrender peacefully, but the proposal was rejected.

The operation had been called Rosario (Rosary) during the planning stage, but it was renamed Azul (blue) after the colour of the Virgin Mary's robe.

[edit] Sanchez-Sabarots

Pedro's party had the shortest distance to go: two and a half miles due north. Moody Brook Barracks, the destination of the main party, was six miles away, over rough Falklands terrain. Lieutenant-Commander Sanchez-Sabarots, in the book The Argentine Fight for The Falklands (Pen and Sword Military Classics), describes the main party's progress in the dark:

"It was a nice night, with a moon, but the cloud covered the moon for most of the time. ... It was very hard going with our heavy loads; it was hot work. We eventually became split up into three groups. We only had one night sight; the lead man, Lieutenant Arias had it. One of the groups became separated when a vehicle came along the track we had to cross. We thought it was a military patrol. Another group lost contact, and the third separation was caused by someone going too fast. This caused my second in command, Lieutenant Bardi, to fall. He suffered a hairline fracture of the ankle and had to be left behind with a man to help him. … We were at Moody Brook by 5.30 a.m., just on the limits of the time planned, but with no time for the one hour's reconnaissance for which we had hoped."

The main party of Argentine Marines assumed that the Moody Brook Barracks contained sleeping Royal Marines. The barracks were quiet, although a light was on in the office of the Royal Marine commander. No sentries were observed, and it was a quiet night, apart from the occasional animal call. Lieutenant-Commander Sanchez-Sabarots could hear nothing of any action at Government House, nor from the distant landing beaches; nevertheless, he ordered the assault to begin. Lieutenant-Commander Sanchez-Sabarots continues his account:

"It was still completely dark. We were going to use tear-gas to force the British out of the buildings and capture them. Our orders were not to cause casualties if possible. That was the most difficult mission of my career. All our training as commandos was to fight aggressively and inflict maximum casualties on the enemy. We surrounded the barracks with machine-gun teams, leaving only one escape route along the peninsula north of Stanley Harbour. Anyone who did get away would not able to reach the town and reinforce the British there. Then we threw the gas grenades into each building. There was no reaction; the barracks were empty."

The noise of the grenades alerted Major Norman to the presence of Argentines on the island, and he thus drove back to Government House. Realising that the attack was coming from Moody Brook, he ordered all troop sections to converge on the house to enable the defence to be centralised.

[edit] Pedro Giachino

Lying on a small hillock south of Government House, Lieutenant-Commander Giachino faced the difficulty of capturing this important objective with no radio and with a force of only sixteen men. He split his force into small groups, placing one on either side of the house and one at the rear. Unknown to them, the Governors' residence was the main concentration point of the Royal Marines. The first attack against this building came at 6.15 a.m. when Lieutenant-Commander Giachino, with four of his men, entered the servants' annexe, believing it to be the rear entrance to the residence. Three Royal Marines, Corporals Sellen and Fleet and Marine Dorey, who were placed to cover the annexe, beat off the first attack. Giachino was hit instantly as he burst through the door, while Lieutenant Diego Quiroga was hit in the arm. The remaining three retreated to the maid's quarters. Giachino was not dead, but very badly wounded. An Argentine medic, Corporal Ernesto Urbina, attempted to get to Giachino but was wounded by a grenade. Giachino had been shot whilst carrying a live hand grenade. The Royal Marines had attempted to persuade the officer to get rid of the grenade so that they could give him medical treatment, but he refused. After the surrender of the British forces at Government House, Giachino was taken to Stanley Hospital but died from heavy loss of blood.

[edit] Hugo Santillan and Bill Trollope

There was a more pressing action on the eastern edge of Stanley. Twenty US-built LVTP-7A1 tracked amphibious armoured personnel carriers from the 1st Amphibious Vehicles Battalion, carrying D and E Companies of the 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion, had been landed from the tank landing ship Cabo San Antonio, and were being watched by a section of Royal Marines under the command of Lieutenant Bill Trollope. The armoured column trundled along the Airport Road into Stanley, with three Amtracs (Numbers 05, 07 and 19) in the vanguard, and, near the Ionospheric Research Station, at exactly 7:15 am, was engaged by a section of Royal Marines with anti-tank rockets and machine-guns. This from Lieutenant-Commander Hugo Santillan's official post-battle report:

"We were on the last stretch of the road into Stanley. … A machine-gun fired from one of the three white houses about 500 metres away and hit the right-hand Amtrac. The fire was very accurate. Then there were some explosions from a rocket launcher, but they were inaccurate, falling a long way from us. We followed our standard operating procedure and took evasive action. The Amtrac on the right returned fire and took cover in a little depression. Once he was out of danger, I told all three vehicles to disembark their men. … I ordered the crew with the recoilless rifle to fire one round of hollow charge at the ridge of the roof of the house where the machine-gun was, to cause a bang but not an explosion. We were still following our orders not to inflict casualties. The first round was about a hundred metres short, but the second hit the roof. The British troops then threw a purple smoke grenade; I thought it was their signal to withdraw. They had stopped firing, so Commander Weinstabl started the movement of the two companies around the position. Some riflemen in one of the houses started firing then; that was quite uncomfortable. I couldn't pinpoint their location, but one of my other Amtracs could and asked permission to open up with a mortar which he had. I authorized this, but only with three rounds and only at the roofs of the houses. Two rounds fell short, but the third hit right in the centre of the roof; that was incredible. The British ceased firing then."³

The Amtrac on the right manoeuvred itself off the road into a little depression and as it did so, disembarked the Marines inside out of view. This encouraged the Royal Marines to think that Marine Mark Gibbs had scored a direct hit on the passenger compartment of the APC.

Lieutenant Bill Trollope, with No. 2 Section, describes the action:

"Six Armoured Personnel Carriers began advancing at speed down the Airport Road. The first APC was engaged at a range of about 200 to 250 metres. The first three missiles, two 84 mm and one 66 mm, missed. Subsequently one 66 mm fired by Marine Gibbs, hit the passenger compartment and one 84 mm Marines Brown and Betts hit the front. Both rounds exploded and no fire was received from that vehicle. The remaining five APCs which were about 600 to 700 metres away deployed their troops and opened fire. We engaged them with GPMG, SLR and sniper rifle [Sergeant Shepherd] for about a minute before we threw white phosphorus a smoke grenade and leap-frogged back to the cover of gardens. Incoming fire at that stage was fairly heavy, but mostly inaccurate." (Graham Bound, Falklands Islanders At War, Pen & Sword Books, 2002, pp. 52-53)

Lieutenant Trollope and his men withdrew along Davis Street, running behind the houses with Argentinean Marines in hot pursuit, and went to ground firing up the road when it became obvious they could not reach Government House.

[edit] Government House and surrender

One of the amphibious commandos after the fall of Stanley's Government House

At Government House, Major Norman received a radio report from Corporal York's section, which was positioned at Stanley Harbour, observing any possible Argentinean ship movement. The Corporal proceeded to report on three potential targets in sight and which should he engage first. "What are the targets?" the Major enquired. "Target number one is an aircraft carrier, target number two is a cruiser…", at which point the line went dead.

Corporal York decided to withdraw his section and proceeded to booby trap their Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, before paddling their Gemini assault boat north across Port William. As he did so, York claimed an Argentine destroyer began pursuing them (the corvette ARA Granville according to Argentinian sources). His initiative led to the Gemini reaching an anchored Polish fishing vessel, hiding the small assault boat in its shadow. They patiently waited for a chance, before moving to the shore and landing on a small beach.

Back at Government House, another incident occurred, when three Argentine survivors of the skirmish at the House inadvertently alerted Major Noott to their presence, while they had been preparing to leave their hiding place. The Major fired shots into the maid's room ceiling. The startled Argentines tumbled down the stairs and surrendered to the Major, becoming the first POWs of the Falklands War, albeit by then, Governor Hunt had already been in contact with Argentinian officials negotiating a truce. Indeed, a sort of ceasefire was established after that meeting.

There is some evidence that the use of stun grenades during the battle for Government House led the Royal Marines inside to believe they were facing a company of Marines and were hopelessly outnumbered. Actually, after the failure of Giachino's platoon to break into the residence, the Marines were surrounded only by a dozen of elite troops. Certainly Governor Hunt called Patrick Watts (at the radio station, Radio Stanley), by telephone and said he believed the attacking force to be about 200:

"They must have 200 around us now. They've been throwing grenades at us. They came along very quickly and very close, and then they retreated. Maybe they are waiting until the APCs come along and they think they'll lose less casualties that way." (Graham Bound, Falkland Islanders At War, 2002)

Full audio of the telephone call and the invasion of the radio station can be found on the BBC website

Alerted by the sound of the approaching Amtracs, the Royal Marines in Government House saw the vehicles that had earlier on been engaged by Lieutenant Trollope and his section, pushing on toward Moody Brook and link up with Sanchez-Sabarots, with his Commandos plodding along the road to reinforce his colleagues at Government House. Major Norman had earlier advised Rex Hunt that the Royal Marines and the Governor could break out and set up a 'seat of government' elsewhere, but he decided to surrender to the now overwhelming Argentine forces. Corporal York's section remained un-captured. On the 4th of April, his section reached a secluded shepherd's hut owned by a Mrs Watson. He had no radio, and due to worries about possible civilian deaths chose to surrender to Argentine forces. They gave their position to the Argentines using a local islander's radio, and York subsequently ordered his men to destroy and then bury their weapons.

After the surrender, the Royal Marines and the members of the FIDF were then herded onto the playing fields. Pictures and film were taken of the British prisoners arranged face-down on the ground, which galvanised the British public when they were broadcast on television. The Argentine intention appeared to have been to show the lack of British casualties, but the images became a painful reminder of a national humiliation. Soon afterwards, the Royal Marines were moved to a C-130 transport aircraft, which would take them to Uruguay and on to the United Kingdom. Members of FIDF were not taken to Argentina along with members of NP 8901; instead they were returned to their homes.⁴

Rex Hunt was allowed to make a farewell address on local radio, and even wore his Governor's ceremonial uniform, attracting ridicule from the Argentines, before changing back into civilian clothes. One Marine as he headed up the ramp, gave an Argentine guard a parting shot that would come true in 72 days' time. "Don't make yourself too comfy mate, we'll be back."

In Buenos Aires, huge flag-waving crowds flooded the Plaza de Mayo upon hearing the news. Argentina's losses in the operation were one dead and three wounded. In London the government was in a state of shock on what became known as "Black Friday". The next day, Argentine forces seized the island chain of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, 1500 km to the east of the Falklands. In that action, the Argentines suffered one sailor from the ARA Guerrico and two Marines killed (Navy Corporal Guanca and Marines conscripts Mario Almonacid and Jorge Águila) and again there were no British casualties.

[edit] Operation Timeline

A. 21:30 1 April - The Type 42 destroyer ARA Santisima Trinidad begins loading marines of the Amphibious Commandos Group into 21 small inflatable motor boats. These set out for Mullet Creek but sail too far north and are caught up in beds of Kelp, which cause problems for the boats. They decide to head for the nearest beach, which is near Lake Point.
B. 23:00 1 April - The first group of 91 men lands on an unnamed beach at Lake Point. The group splits into a smaller force commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Giachino which heads towards Government House, and a larger force commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Sabarots which heads towards Moody Brook Barracks.
C. 04:30 2 April - A small advanced team of the Tactical Divers Group is landed from the Submarine ARA Santa Fe.
D. 05:30 2 April - Lieutenant-Commander Sabarots force reaches and surrounds the Barracks. They throw tear gas grenades into the buildings and fire machine gun tracer over the buildings. They find the buildings are deserted.
E. 06:00 2 April - 20 FMC Amtracs and several LARC-V stores-carrying vehicles are launched from Cabo San Antonio. The force splits into 3 groups:
* A four Amtrac vanguard. Including one carrying the Army Platoon. * The main force of 14 Amtracs. * The second in command, a recovery Amtrac and LARC vehciles.
F. 06:30 2 April - The first Amtracs land and meet no resistance. The Army platoon captures the deserted airport.
G. 06:30 2 April - A 16-man Argentine force reaches government house, where they are stopped by 31 Royal Marines, 11 armed Royal Navy personnel and 1 local. Two Argentines are wounded (one would later die), and 3 are captured inside the House, although by then talks with Argentinian officials about surrender had already begun.
H. 07:15 2 April - Having met no resistance, the Argentine Amtracs advance on Stanley, when they are ambushed from a house about 500 metres from the road. Royal Marines use rockets and machine gun fire. The Royal Marines fall back to government house. One of the Amtracs is scarred by machine gun fire, and there is one minor injury.
I. 08:00 2 April - The Argentine Amtrac force secures Stanley.
J. The Argentinian Navy's divers team begins clearing the runway and seizes the lighthouse.

[edit] See also

• 1833 invasion of the Falkland Islands

[edit] References

• Note 1: Anderson, Duncan (2002). The Falklands War 1982 (Osprey Essential Histories). Osprey Publisher, 17-19. 
• Note 2: 1982: Argentina invades Falklands. BBC On this day. Retrieved on 20 March, 2005.
• Note 3: Martin Middlebrook (1989). The Fight For The Malvinas: The Argentine Forces In The Falklands War. Viking, 36-37. ISBN 0-14-010767-3. 
• Note 4: Graham Bound (2002). Falklands Islanders At War. Pen and Sword Books, 35 ff.. ISBN 0-85052-836-4. 
• Martin Middlebrook (2003). The Argentine Fight for the Falklands. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 0-85052-978-6. 
• John Smith (1984). 74 days - An Islander's Diary of the Falklands Occupation. Century Publishing. ISBN 0-7126-0361-1. 
• Note 3: Naval Party 8901 And the Argentine Invasion. Britain's small wars. Retrieved on 20 March, 2005.

[edit] External links

• Falklands Island Invasion, Operation Rosario

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