The Battle of Mount Harriet was a military encounter between the British 42 Commando (Royal Marines), led by Lt. Col. Nick Vaux, and the Argentinean Army’s 4th Infantry Regiment, under the command of Lt Col Diego Soria. It took place from June 11 to June 12, 1982, on Mount Harriet, East Falkland, about 10 miles from Port Stanley, during the Falklands War.
The 4th Infantry Regiment, which was composed of 500 men, had been deployed on Mount Harriet in April and reinforced in May. These troops were ordered to dug in and wait. The Royal Marines of the 42 Commando, on the other hand, were the advancing forces, which had landed on the beach of San Carlos Bay on May 21, initiating a long march eastward, toward Stanley, on the other side of East Falkland.
Summary
The Battle of Mount Harriet broke out with heavy naval artillery bombing on the Argentine positions, conducted with 113mm Mark 6 guns from the HMS Yarmouth (Type 12 frigate), and was followed by a night attack on the Argentinean mortar and machine gun nests, which were deeply ingrained among the rocky outcrops of Mount Harriet. These assaults on the Argentinean positions were carried out by Royal Marines platoons, beefed up by Welsh Guards elements.
The ferocious fighting lasted for several hours, with the British troops charging up the slopes of Mount Harriet during the night. Several Royal Marine soldiers were mowed down by the lethal tracers that burped from machine guns that were raked across the hill side. After vicious fighting, the Royal Marines managed to capture the Argentinean positions. The men of the 4th Regiment had put up tenacious resistance, despite the technological disadvantage, as they lacked infrared goggles and other high tech equipment to fight in the pitch dark of the South Atlantic night.
The Battle of Mount Harriet ended the next morning, on June 12, with 68 Argentine casualties (18 KIA and 50 wounded) and 310 prisoners; the rest of the Argentine troops fell back to a secondary battle line, which was close to Stanley, right before dawn.
Below, the map shows the British and the Argentinean positions on Mount Harriet right before the battle. It is located about 15 km from Port Stanley.
The commander of the 42 Commando briefs his men before the final assault on Mount Harriet.
