Falklands War

The Falklands War was an armed struggle fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom, from April 2 to June 14, 1982, on the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), South Atlantic. It broke out when an Argentinian invading force composed of 650 men captured the islands during the late hours of April 1 and early hours of April 2. The next day, a small Argentine military unit, composed of 65 marines, would also seize South Georgia Island.

Although the British government had obtained secret information that the Argentinean military government was planning to invade the islands, the British people were shocked and outraged, even though most of the British population did not even know where the islands were located. Manipulated by mass media, the British public opinion regarded it as a total foreign aggression on British soil.

The man who decided to launch such an invasion was General Fortunato Galtieri, president of Argentina, and army commander who presided over the military junta that ruled the country. The reason for such an unexpected attack was twofold: 1) the Argentina’s historic demands to exert her State sovereignty over the islands since the British had invaded them in 1833, as they defeated and expelled the Argentinean military detachment and their small population; 2) the military government needed some important event to distract public attention from its domestic problems, such as unemployment, inflation, and growing budget deficit. At the time, the Prime Minister of Great Britain was the Conservative Margaret Thatcher, a single-minded woman of great determination and whom the Argentine military had underestimated. On April 5, two British aircraft carriers, the HSM Invincible and the HSM Hermes, set sail for the Falklands, leading 120 surface vessels and one nuclear submarine.

The first military encounters occurred before the British landed on the islands. On May 2, an Argentinian cruiser, the ARA General Belgrano, was sunk by the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror, as it headed towards the islands; 323 Argentinian sailors got killed, and 700 rescued. On May 4, an Argentine Navy strike aircraft, a Super Étendard, launched a French-made Exocet missile and hit HMS Sheffield, a destroyer Type 42, which sank four days later. Three other British warships an one transport ship were struck and sunk by the Argentinian attack aircraft A4 Skyhawks and Super Etendard on May 21, 1982: the HMS Coventry, HMS Ardent, HMS Antelope, and the Atlantic Conveyor. However, the carrier-based British fighters, Sea Harriers, had begun their hunt for enemy aircraft, shooting down 36 enemy fighters, thus obtaining air superiority for the British fleet. As a result, the British 2 Para Battalion and the 45 Commando Royal Marines were able to land on the shore of San Carlos Bay, on the west coast of Eastern Falkland on May 21. They were followed by other units, such as the 42 Commando, 40 Commando, 3 Para, and Gurkha Rifles.

On May 28, the 2 Para men fought the first ground battle of the war, the Battle of Goose Green, in which the British had the difficult task of eliminating machine gun nests and pillboxes located on top hills. Having defeated the Argentinians, the British paratroopers headed east, toward Port Stanley, the capital of the Falklands. Meanwhile, the Royal Marines defeated the Argentine Army infantry regiments 12 and 6, and one marine battalion BIM 5 at the battles of Two Sisters, Mount Tumbledown, Mount Kent, and Bluff Cove. Meanwhile, the 3 Commando Brigade defeated the 4th Monte Casero Regiment at the Battle of Mount Harriet, which was fought from June 11 to June 12. At the same time, on exactly the same date, the British 3 Para managed to overrun and take the Argentinean positions on Mount Longdon as the Argentinean conscripts fell back towards Stanley.

The British were professional soldiers highly trained during the Cold War to fight against Soviet troops in cold weather conditions. As a result, the cold and windy weather of the Falklands did not affect them as it affected the Argentine conscript soldiers who had only had 2 months of military training in the warm weather of Argentine northern provinces.

As the bulk of the British ground forces closed in on Stanley, most of the Argentinian troops panicked and ran away towards the capital, but ferocious battles were fought between the Royal Marines and some hard and stubborn Argentine units. Finally, on June 14, the commander of the Argentine forces on the Falklands, General Mario Menendez, surrendered and signed the cease fire together with the British commander Major General Jeremy Moore. The Falklands War had ended.

Below, Royal Marines surrender to the Argentinean marine commandos and naval frogmen, who were the first to set foot on the shores of the Falklands on April 1 and 2, 1982.

Below, map of East Falkland showing the landing points during Operation Rosario, the Argentine invasion that triggered the war.

Argentinean Air Force A-4 Skyhawk aircraft attack British ships in San Carlos Water (footage/video)