With Colin Firth, Paul Rhys, David Calder, Barbara Leigh-Hunt. As part of the British plan, 1/7 GR was given the task of capturing the sub-hill of Mount William held by O Company, the 5th Marine Battalion's reserve, and then allowing the Welsh Guards through to seize Sapper Hill, the final obstacle before Stanley. The Argentinians, in the form of their 6th Infantry Regiment's B Company, now counter-attacked and a burst of machine gun fire from the 3rd Platoon of Second Lieutenant Augusto La Madrid injured three British men, including Lieutenant Alasdair Mitchell, commander of 15 Platoon. 47), Nine battles to Stanley, Nicholas Van der Bijl, p.190, Leo Cooper, 30/09/1999, Patrick Bishop and John Witherow, The Winter War: Falklands Conflict, p. 133, Malvinas: La Defensa de Puerto Argentino, Oscar Luis Jofre & Flix Roberto Aguiar, page 262, Editorial Sudamericana, 1987, Malvinas: La Defensa de Puerto Argentino, Oscar Luis Jofre & Flix Roberto Aguiar, page 275, Editorial Sudamericana, 1987, Our Falklands war: The Men of The Task Force Tell Their Story, Geoffrey Underwood, p.70, Maritime Books, 1983, 1st Battalion, 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, Argentine Nation to the Valour in Combat Medal, Attenshun! Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. The 2nd Battalion Scots Guards had lost eight dead and 43 wounded. The Argentinian defenders held firm under the British 'softening up' bombardment, which began at 7:30 local time. A 155 mm howitzer was lightly damaged and six soldiers injured. As they climbed, they came upon unoccupied Argentine tents that contained boxes of highly sophisticated IWS (individual weapon sight) night scopesthe absolute top grade, recalled Lawrence, more advanced than the ones we had ourselves. "The servicemen and women who defended these freedoms should feel proud for what I see today: happy smiling faces of children, a growing economy, conservation of wildlife and a protected landscape," Mr Farthing said. On the eastern half of the mountain the platoon of conscripts of La Madrid were still holding out, so Colonel Scott ordered Right Flank to push on to clear the final positions. At the foot of the hill there was an enormous minefield. "Robacio, who came in for criticism from some British officers had total command of N Company and the Army platoons involved, and deserves credit for doing all that was possible to limit British gains His positioning of heavy weapons on Sapper Hill before the Argentine surrender provided a defensive barrier that would only have been breached at heavy cost in men and equipment." It was released as a single by the Pipes and Drums of 2SG a year later.[16]. During the battle, Guardsman Philip Williams was knocked unconscious by an explosion, and left for dead. The close quarter battle was such that the Argentine artillery was unable to drop shells on to the British attackers. The 60mm Mortar Platoon was split in two parts on Tumbledown, with the mortar men positioned near the summit (under Marine Sergeants David Ramos and Lucio Monzn) in support of Vzquez's 4th Platoon. At 750 feet, the most challenging objective was Mount Tumbledown, a collection of crags, slabs and boulders that constituted an ideal defensive position. Unwilling to abandon the hill, Commander Carlos Robacio on Sapper Hill was planning to counter-attack and drive back the Guardsmen. By mid-June, after grueling cross-country marches (yomps, in Royal Marine lingo) with full packs in bitter temps across the pitted Falklands tundra, British forces were within striking distance of Port Stanley, but they faced a strong defensive perimetera ring of hills occupied by dug-in Argentine army and marine units. I was going quite spare because I was supposed to have two batteries at my priority call. M Company occupied Sapper Hill. Four more men were wounded when they set off mines, in turn giving the Argentines a clear target for mortars and artillery. Did surely speed the warring parties pact. For weeks the soldiers of Britains famed Scots Guards regiment had snatched sleep amid bone-chilling winds in holes that repeatedly filled with freezing water. His was not the only tune written about the Falklands campaign. The fight for Mount Tumbledown was the last battle in a conflict that was, by modern standards, a small warand to many an unnecessary one. 2023 BBC. The Argentinian forces defending the mountains were Commander Carlos Robacio's 5th Marine Infantry Battalion (BIM 5). And through each death paid the total price Marine Private Jorge Sanchez recalled: The fighting was sporadic, but at times fierce, as we tried to maintain our position. [14], As La Madrid and Mio withdrew after suffering reportedly five killed in the Argentine counterattack,[15] the platoons under Second Lieutenant Aldo Franco and Guillermo Robredo moved in from the eastern edge of the mountain to try to help La Madrid and Mio. A Royal Marine had stepped on a mine, followed by another a few minutes later. While 45 Commando were marching towards Sapper Hill, Alpha and Charlie Companies from 40 Commando had escaped from the attention of the Argentine defenders on Sapper Hill and they were picked up by helicopters. While the British boasted nearly three times as many ships, the Argentines held a 3-to-1 advantage in combat aircraft. + Follow. In their final and heroic act, The 4th Platoon, led by Sub-Lieutenant Carlos Daniel Vzquez, was dug in near the summit of Tumbledown, covering the western approaches to the peak. The Argentinians refused to budge; the Guardsmen could hear some of the them shouting obscene phrases in English and even singing as they fought. Fuel indications suggested a considerable fuel leak at the same time. A Scots Guardsman. When he returned to civilization after seven weeks, he was accused of desertion by the media and fellow soldiers. While awaiting orders, some of the guardsmenmany fresh from ceremonial duty in London and new to combat asked a few of the elite PARAs, who had recently captured Goose Green, how the Argentines had performed in combat. I guessed that they were adjusting onto our muzzle flashes so I told all the company to stop firing with their small arms. As the Guardsmen and Royal Marines consolidated their positions, the British lost a Volvo Bv 202 tracked vehicle to an anti-tank mine planted in the Sapper Hill sector. The British battle plan was straightforward and hinged on Scots Guards rifle units divided into three companies. The battle started at about 830 pm on 13 June, beginning with a diversion, since the argentines are fond of diversion. This close-quarters night battle was later dramatized in the BBC drama Tumbledown. I reorganized and found that I was down to sixteen men. We just fired our rifles, that's all. Adding to their miseries, on this particular day they had come under intense artillery shelling. The bodies of 30 Argentine Army and Marine soldiers were found in and around the 5th Marine Battalion perimeter. Mount Tumbledown was where the war ended. The sustained landing of British ground forces began on May 21seven weeks after the Argentine invasion at San Carlos Water, an inlet on the west coast of East Falkland Island. The British plan called for a diversionary attack south of Mount Tumbledown by a small number of the Scots Guards, assisted by the four light tanks of the Blues and Royals, whilst the main attack came as a three-phase silent advance from the west of Mount Tumbledown. [17] In his moment of victory on the eastern slopes, Lawrence was almost killed when a bullet fired by an Argentine stay-behind sniper tore off the side of his head. Nor were they alone in their disapproval. When he came to, the rest of the British soldiers had gone. The British capture of heights above Stanley leads to the surrender of the town shortly afterwards. There a well-trained Argentine marine battalion was heavily dug into a series of intricate bunkers, cut in the rock.The firepower of the marines was intense and impressive.. Mount Tumbledown, Mount William and Sapper Hill lie west of the capital. Carlos Robacio, BIM5 commander, was awarded the Argentine Nation to the Valour in Combat Medal and the battalion itself was decorated by the Argentine Congress in 2002 [13], Due to his actions on both Two Sisters and Tumbledown, Private Oscar Ismael Poltronieri of La Madrid's platoon was awarded the Argentine Nation to the Heroic Valour in Combat Cross, Argentina's highest military decoration. I popped up, fired a rifle grenade in the direction of 8 to 10 British soldiers to keep their heads down, and then ran for the 2nd Platoon. The 2nd Battalion Scots Guards had lost eight dead and 43 wounded. "It's been emotionally very hard and enjoyable and a pleasure all at the same time - just like the four seasons in one day of weather in the Falklands.". Meanwhile, the men of the 1st Battalion 7th Gurkha Rifles had been spotted and shelled from Argentine mortar fire controllers and artillery officers on Sapper Hill, suffering eight wounded. Prior to the British landings, the Argentinian marine battalion had been brought up to brigade strength by a company of the Amphibious Engineers Company (CKIA), a heavy machine-gun company of the Headquarters Battalion (BICO), a battery of the 1st Marine Field Artillery Battalion (BIAC), and three Tigercat SAM/Hispano-Suiza 30mm anti-aircraft gun batteries of the 1st Marine Anti-Aircraft Regiment, as well as a 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion platoon, a 3rd Marine Infantry Battalion platoon, a military police platoon and a canine platoon. The British troops swarmed over the mountaintop and killed, wounded or captured several of the RI 4 and RI 12 defenders, at times fighting with fixed bayonets. [2], During the battle, the 5th Marines Command Post took five direct hits, but Commander Robacio emerged unscathed.[3]. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery, but he spent a year in a wheelchair and was almost totally paralyzed. Tumbledown: Directed by Richard Eyre. They had had years of aggression, Lawrence wrote. Miraculously, Robert Lawrence survived but with permanent physical damage that includes partial paralysis. Meanwhile, the United States, concerned Argentina might draw the Soviet Union into the fight as an ally, tried to stem the conflict diplomatically. Offshore, frigates including Active and the Avenger were also offshore to offer covering fire if and when it was needed in the fight against Argentinas 5thMarine Infantry Brigade. Backing them were six 81mm mortars, six 106mm mortars, a howitzer battery and two army artillery groups. Tumbledown was a key strategic position on the islands and its capture was essential for the British forces to . Major Jaimet later recalled: I heard the cries of the wounded calling for their comrades, twelve men wounded before nightfall. The Scots Guards were tasked with taking the mountain from a well-entrenched Argentine force. [5] Two men were wounded covering the withdrawal and four more were wounded by mines. Major Iain Charles Mackay-Dick (Westcott 1959-1963), 2nd i/c, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards. The assaulting British forces were the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, 42 Commando, Royal Marines Mortar platoon and four light tanks of the Blues and Royals. Around 2 a.m., after pausing again to regroup, the Scots Guards lashed out at the 5th Marines positions from several directions, overcoming them one at a time. On decelerating to the hover during the recovery, this caused a fire to start in the rear equipment bay and smoke as seen coming from the aircraft. Men from 9 Para Squadron, Royal Engineers, were awarded two Military Medals and Captain Sam Drennan, the Army Air Corps Scout pilot who had picked up the injured soldiers under fire and a former Scots Guards NCO, received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Based on the experiences of Lieutenant Robert Lawrence, M.C.. We thought we had suffered before, but what luxury and comfort compared to this. Due to their proximity to the capital, they were of strategic importance during the 1982 War. They had been waiting for it, it had passed several times through a sort of air corridor to the airport. To help identify the bunkers, the Guardsmen fired flares at the summit. Initially, naval action accounted for the greatest number of casualties, with heavy losses of ships and lives on both sides. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown By Regan Brands Significance Freed the Argentinean people from a harsh military rule. This, archaeologist Dr Stuart Eve said, would make it possible to "simulate the different fields of fire", and to record the conditions combatants faced during the course of the campaign. Mount Tumbledown was one of the key sites for the British Task Force to focus on during the conflict as its great height gave the Argentine troops a strong advantage and the Task Force aimed to remove this. Here was a golden opportunity being missed. [12] Solar PV. They soon stumbled upon Argentine trenches, and after an intense firefight in which two guardsmen were killed and four wounded, they withdrewstraight into an undetected minefield. Two Royal Navy frigatesYarmouth and Activelay offshore to provide naval gunfire support. I left six men in a line with one machinegun to cover our retreat, but really we were fighting all the time; we could not break contact. Both sides took casualties, with the PARAs giving much worse than they received. The action continued through the night, and by the time the sky began to lighten, some of the guardsmen had run out of ammunition. The initial advance was unopposed, but a heavy firefight broke out when British troops made contact with Argentine defences. The Argentinians opened fire, killing two British soldiers and wounding four others. The 2nd Battalion Scots Guards had lost eight dead and 43 wounded. Mystery surrounds the infamous burning of the Reichstag in 1933. He is the only conscript soldier in his nation's recent history who has received this honour. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement during the Falklands War. 543K views, 6.1K likes, 285 loves, 797 comments, 1.6K shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The British Falkland Islands & British Military: Battle of Mount Tumbledown On the night of 13-14 June 1982. "There is still a lot of material out there, and if its location is recorded, it still has stories to tell," commented project co-director Prof Tony Pollard from Glasgow. Mount William was just south of Tumbledown and the Marine battalion's O Company under Marine Captain Ricardo Quiroga was on its lower slopes. The battle for Tumbledown began on the night of June 11th, 1982 and lasted for several days. A daytime assault was initially planned, but was postponed at the British battalion commander's request. He said the project had helped him "get through the journey without too many hiccups". The unique project is documenting a number of Argentine defensive positions in the 1982 war, in particular for the decisive encounter on Mount Tumbledown. The initial advance was unopposed, but a heavy firefight broke out when British troops made contact with Argentinian defences. While this might well describe a scenario from World War I, the date was in fact June 13, 1982, and the trenches in which the British troops huddled were carved not across some stretch of French countryside but into near-frozen tundra by the base of Mount Tumbledown in the subarctic Falkland Islands. However, Left Flank had lost two men killed and several wounded during the Argentine counterattack, when mortar fire controllers on Mount William targeted British wounded and stretcher bearers in error. Thule Island. To deliver UK energy security, energy resilience and to support climate change targets the UK Government must: make it mandatory to fit solar PV The Argentinians refused to budge; the Guardsmen could hear some of them shouting obscene phrases in English and even singing the March of the Malvinas as they fought. Thus on April 2trumpeting the rationale that British control of the Falklands (or Malvinas, as they are known in Argentina) represented a throwback to the days of empirecommander in chief and de facto President Leopoldo Galtieri landed occupying forces in the Falklands capital, Port Stanley, and the next day on South Georgia in the South Sandwich Islands. It was the Guardsmen of the Crown They were well provisioned, outfitted for the frigid weather and, in some instances, better equipped than the British. Men were suffering from frostbite and trench foot, and rations were running low. After seven weeks he found his way back to civilization, to find himself accused of desertion by the media and fellow soldiers. A daytime assault was initially planned, but was postponed at the British battalion commander's request. Marine Captain Rodolfo Oscar Cionchi's M Company occupied Sapper Hill. A half-hour into the engagement, shortly after 10 p.m., G Company commenced the assault on Tumbledown. The engagement was an attack by the British Army and the Royal Marines on the heights over-looking Stanley, the Falkland Islands capital. In argenteenish, "diversin" means "fun." But there was no fun in any of it. Advancing out of the central region of Tumbledown Mountain, the British again came under heavy fire from the Argentinians, but by advancing in pairs under covering fire, they succeeded in clearing those Bravo Company platoons as well, gaining firm control of the mountain's eastern side.[16]. "All of this adds a richness to field archaeology - which is not seen often," she added. [6], Meanwhile, two Royal Navy frigates, HMS Yarmouth and Active, were pounding Tumbledown with their 4.5inch guns. On its lower slopes the battle for Tumbledown began on the islands and its capture was essential for British! Defenders held firm under the British boasted nearly three times as many,. The capital, they were of strategic importance during the Falklands War Quiroga was on lower! 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