Battle of Mount Tumbledown

The Battle of Mount Tumbledown took place during the Falklands War. It was fought between the Argentine 5th Marine Infantry Battalion, under Carlos Robacio, and the British advancing forces, composed of an element of the Scots Guards Regiment and units from the 42 Commando Royal Marines, led by Lt Col Micheal Scott, from June 13 to June 14, 1982. It was one of the last battles of this armed conflict as the opposing forces engaged one another just a few kilometers from Port Stanley, East Falkland (Malvinas).

The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was initiated around 21:00 hours on June 13 with a diversionary attack on Mount William slope carried out by a Scots Guards platoon. Preceded by naval artillery fire from two Royal frigates (HMS Yarmouth and HMS Active), that pounded the Argentinian positions, the main British attack on the Argentine well dug-in positions on Tumbledown began at 02:30 hours on June 14, when the British Scots Guards, led by Major Kiszely, charged up the hill. The Argentinians raked the hillside with machine gun fire from their foxholes among the crags and boulders where they had set up their defensive positions.

Although the British employed mortars and rockets to soften up the enemy positions, the Argentinian marines were tenacious and kept shooting from the top of Mt Tumbledown. However, the Scots Guards were adamant and charged at the Argentinian positions over and over again, with several of them being mowed down by vicious machine gun and rifle fire. By 09:00 hours, as it was getting light, the valiant Scottish had managed to capture and secure the wind-whipped craggy hill.

It was a British victory, but a hard-won, since, from all the Argentinian ground forces deployed on the Falklands, the 5th Marine Infantry Battalion was the unit that put up the toughest fight in the war as they were well-trained and well protected in the crags and boulders on top.

Below, Argentinian soldiers and non-commissioned officers on Tumbledown a week before the battle