the falklands war
also known as the malvena war was a
unique conflict
both in terms of its participants and
the way it was fought
although the losses were relatively low
and the status of the territory the
science fought for remained disputed
the war changed the political fates of
the governments both in argentina
and the united kingdom increased
patriotic fervor in both countries
and influenced their mainstream culture
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courtesy of the dev team the falkland
islands
are an archipelago in the south atlantic
which has been ruled by britain since
1833.
it is 13 000 kilometers away from
britain
and 650 kilometers away from argentina
and while the falklands are british
territory argentina has historically had
a claim to the islands
which they call malvina islas
argentina had been ruled by a military
hunter after the 1976
coup d'etat a new hunter led by the
acting president
general leopoldo galtieri air brigadier
general basilio lamidozo
and admiral jorge anaya came to power in
1981
amidst a grave economic crisis and civil
unrest in argentina
the hunter viewed invasion of the
falklands as an opportunity to divert
people's attention from internal
problems
and unite argentinians around a
potential national victory
the hunter knew that the falklands issue
is very sensitive for many argentinians
a member of the hunter admiral anaya who
was the architect
of the plan strongly believed that it
would not be difficult to conquer the
falkland islands
due to a small british military presence
and the unwillingness of the uk
to enter a conflict so far away from
britain
argentina started the invasion of the
falklands on april 2nd
1982 with amphibious commando troops
under the command of lieutenant
commander guillermo sanchez sabarats
landing near cape pembroke the
argentinian invasion forces were 600
troops strong
against 50 to 100 british troops in the
falklands
the argentines were able to defeat the
british in the moody brook barracks
and then take the government house in
port stanley
this effectively meant the defeat of the
british in the falklands
argentina was able to gain initial
success suffering just
one casualty this was the first time
a british territory was invaded by a
foreign power
since world war ii
britain responded by creating a war
cabinet
and deciding to send a task force to
regain control of the falklands
the war cabinet was meeting daily and it
is said that prime minister margaret
thatcher was very attentive to
propositions by the opposition
but was resolute in execution of
decisions which had already been made
and never looked back
the task force was gathered hastily and
started setting sail for the falkland
islands on april 4th some vessels of the
task force left britain as late as may
12th
the task force consisted of 127
ships 43 royal navy vessels
22 royal fleet auxiliary ships and 62
merchant ships
including two aircraft carriers britain
had 42 aircraft
versus 122 argentine aircraft
britain's strategy was to secure
complete air and sea dominance around
the falkland islands through its navy
and aircraft
before the deployment of ground troops
britain wanted to create a so-called
exclusion
zone for 200 miles around the islands
to prevent any argentinian vessels
operating around the falklands
argentina tried to counter this strategy
by surrounding the british navy
gathering in the northeast of the
falklands from the south and the
north-west of the islands
on may 1st british operations on the
falklands opened with the black buck
1 attack on the airfield at stanley
which did minimal damage to the aircraft
runways of the falklands
but at the same time prevented the
argentines from stationing their air
force directly on the islands
on may 2nd the british submarine hms
conqueror
sank argentinian light cruiser ara
general valgrano
which forced the southern part of the
argentine fleet to go back to the
mainland
and effectively killed the plan of
surrounding the british navy
323 crew members of the general belgrano
died in this incident
which was almost half of the total
argentine casualties during the war
argentina retaliated two days later with
the sinking of the destroyer hms
sheffield with an exorcist missile
britain was not able to secure complete
dominance of the air and sea around the
falklands
but still decided to proceed with
deployment of its troops to the islands
despite the risks
on may 21st the 4 000 men of three
commando brigade were put ashore
as follows second battalion parachute
regiment
to para from the roro ferry norland
and 40 commando royal marines from the
amphibious ship
hms fearless were landed at san carlos
3rd battalion parachute regiment 3 para
on the amphibious ship hms intrepid
landed at port san carlos green beach
and 45 commando from rfa stormness
were landed at ajax bay red beach
argentina strengthened its attack on the
british navy
with an aim to destroy as much supply
and support as they could
to make the lives of british troops in
the falklands as hard as possible
the following vessels were destroyed
between may 21
and may 25th hms ardent on the 21st of
may
hms antelope on the 24th of may also
lost on this day was hms coventry
and mv atlantic conveyor on the 25th of
may along with a vital cargo of
helicopters
runway building equipment and tents the
initial british plan was to move
troops in helicopters over the island
due to the very difficult landscape of
the falklands for marching
the destruction of the helicopters was a
very heavy blow for the land campaign of
the british troops
since the land troops were forced to
move on foot instead
argentina had 2000 of its troops in the
east falklands
one thousand atku screen and around ten
thousand in the stanley area
it is necessary to note that despite
numerical superiority
the majority of the argentine troops
were conscripts
which obviously meant that the
argentines were at a disadvantage
in comparison to the professional
british troops
from early on the 27th of may until the
28th of may
to para approximately 500 men with
artillery support from eight commando
battery royal artillery
approached and attacked goose green
which was held by the argentine 12th
infantry regiment
the argentines were on the ridge giving
them an advantage over the british
troops
tupara intended to complete the battle
during the night
since they would have been easy targets
during daylight
but they failed to do so the british
were able to succeed in pushing the
argentines deep into goose green
after 14 hours of intense battle due to
the decision to send two companies to
move around the ridge
and surprise the argentines from their
left flank
and the timely attack of two harrier
jets on the artillery positions of the
12th infantry regiment
both sides were exhausted despite being
in a precarious position themselves
the british commander kieval decided to
take his chances
and send a request of surrender to the
argentines in a very confident and
demanding tone
threatening them with bombardment the
argentine commander piagi
reluctantly agreed as a result
961 argentine soldiers were taken as
prisoners of war by the british
a significant part of the argentine
troops were defeated
[Music]
by june 1st a further 5 000 british
troops arrived
and the offensive on stanley was to
start
major general moore was to lead the
british offensive of around 9 000
troops the plan was to proceed in two
stages
the first stage was to defeat the
argentine troops in and around mount
london
while the second stage focused on mount
tumbledown
the success of this plan would open the
road to stanley
the supplies and reinforcements were to
be transported by the royal fleet
auxiliary in bluff cove
on june 8th at night but due to a lack
of coordination
the operation had to proceed in daylight
this was spotted by the argentines
and they launched an air strike on those
ships
as a result the british suffered their
heaviest single loss in the falklands
war
with 56 servicemen killed argentine
general mario menendez
commander of argentine forces in the
falklands was told that 900 british
soldiers had died
he expected that the losses would cause
enemy morale to drop
and the british assault to stall the
british assault on mount harriet
two sisters and mount london started
simultaneously on july 11th
after a long and painful march from san
carlos
after heavy fighting britain succeeded
despite
losing 33 of its soldiers argentina lost
59
personnel on the night of june 13th
britain defeated argentina at mount
tumbledown
thanks to the immense bravery of the
scots guards
this battle cost 10 british lives and 30
argentine
and opened the road to stanley for the
british troops
on june 14th a ceasefire was declared
and britain was in control of the
falklands
argentina lost 649 servicemen
versus 255 british losses in
74 days of conflict
the falklands war resulted in the
restoration of british reign over the
islands
britain started to invest more in the
islands and gradually surrendered more
power to the residents of the falklands
thatcher's conservative government
became more popular
and won the general elections in the
following year in a landslide
despite being behind in the polls prior
to the start of the war
the military hunter was ousted in
argentina partly due to the defeat
in the falklands war argentina restored
democracy
in 1983 we are planning to cover more
modern conflicts
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