It made us wonderwhat lay ahead., What lay immediately ahead for Right Flank was intense enemy fire. James D. Ladd, By Sea, by Land: The Royal Marines 1919-1997: An Authorised History, p. 403, HarperCollins, 2000, "The firefight rolled backwards and forwards. The successive governments of Argentina had felt the islands to be theirs, however, and over the decades had lodged a series of formaland wholly ineffectualprotests. Alongside the Scots Guards, mortar troops from 42 Commando, Scorpion light tanks, 1/7, This battle saw 43 British soldiers injured and 9 men killed, while Argentinas 5. At 4.30 p.m., on 7 June 1982, a British Harrier bombing positions held by the 5th Marine Battalion was hit by concentrated fire from M Company (under Marine Sub-Lieutenant Rodolfo Cionchi) on Sapper Hill. The road to the capital was open, the war virtually over. The battle was depicted in the BBC television play Tumbledown, about the experiences of Robert Lawrence before, during and after the war. Thirty-three years ago this spring Argentina and Britain waged war over a contested patch of tundra in the bitter South Atlanticand many still wonder why, https://www.historynet.com/crags-of-tumbledown/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot. To help identify the bunkers, the Guardsmen fired flares at the summit. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown By Regan Brands Significance Freed the Argentinean people from a harsh military rule. The third phase began at 06:00, when RF Company began attacking their designated targets. I can remember lying there with all this firing going over my head. The 5th Platoon, led by Lieutenant Hctor Omar Mio, was positioned behind the 4th Platoon, facing north in support of Lucero's men. At one stage Lieutenant Colonel Michael Scott, (Commanding Officer of 2 SG), thought the battalion might have to withdraw and attack again the next night, The old nails were being bitten a bit, if we had been held on Tumbledown it . On Mount William's southern slopes, one of the tanks was taken out of action by a booby trap. One replied, Get within 200 meters of them, and theyll run away. Only later did the guardsmen learn the PARAs had faced mainly poorly outfitted and trained teenage conscripts. As he gazed down at the lights of Port Stanley some 4 miles distant, an enemy rifle in each hand, a 7.62mm high-velocity armor-piercing round slammed into his head at 3,800 feet per second, destroying nearly 45 percent of his brain. Unwilling to abandon the hill, Commander Carlos Robacio on Sapper Hill was planning to counter-attack and drive back the Guardsmen. The archaeological evidence painted a "vivid picture", enabling the team "not just to map these remains within the landscape but also to plot the footsteps of those who fought across that incredibly rugged terrain", he continued. [5] Major John Kiszely's Left Flank passed through them and reached the central region of the peak unopposed, but then came under heavy fire. After the battle Pipe Maj. James Riddell of the 2nd Scots Guards stood near the rocky crest of Tumble- down, cradling his bagpipes to play a haunting quick-march he had composed to commemorate his regiments actions. The Battle of Mount Longdon was an engagement of the Falklands War between British and Argentine forces, which took place on 11-12 June 1982, resulting in the British victory and their occupation of a key position around the besieged Argentine garrison. The delay caused by the mines probably saved many lives. Still, the commander of the Royal Marines 42 Commando unit praised the beaten Argentine marines: [They] marched smartly, holding their regimental colors high as they marched along the streets of Port Stanley. The British coveted the enemys regimental flags, but to their disappointment the Argentines doused their banners with gasoline and burned them to ashes as their enemies watched. They came on us fast, and we fell back We eventually got through to Stanley, through what I would like to say was a perfect barrage fired by the Royal Artillery. The Argentinians had well dug-in machine guns and snipers. The project is the first time that war veterans have taken part in an archaeological survey of their own battlefield. Till at last the ground they'd proved Of those eight brave men who died? A group of Sappers went ahead to clear a path through the mines, but when the Welsh Guardsmen advanced they found Sapper Hill abandoned. Some of the guys had surrendered, but I didn't want to do this. One guardsman sought to scale a rock shielding an enemy sniper and was shot off it. Terms of Use| At the time of the battle, Marine Teniente de Navio (Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant) Eduardo Villarraza's N Company held Mount Tumbledown. His charge reached the top of the mountain, although it absorbed a massive amount of his men, and in the end he and a group of six others were on top of Mount Tumbledown, three of whom were, however, injured. The platoon commander [Marine Sub-Lieutenant Carlos Daniel Vazquez] then called Private Ramon Rotela manning the 60 millimetre mortar and Rotela fired it straight up into the air so that the bombs landed on ourselves. 656 Squadron would win the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing a wounded Gurkha and Guardsman from the middle of a minefield. Wiser minds prevailed, and battalion commander Lt. Col. Michael Scott set the assault on Tumbledown for shortly after dusk on the 13th. The decisive final battle of the war took place on Mount Tumbledown, Argentinian shoes in a rock sangar position, untouched for 40 years, Expended rifle round casings provide direct evidence of a moment in the battle, The project directors, Tim Clack and Tony Pollard, on the battlefield site, A 3D model of a section of Mount Tumbledown drone survey, Doug Farthing in a teaching session at the Falkland Islands Community School in Port Stanley, The remains of Argentine field kitchens known as ranchos at the eastern end of Tumbledown, Artist Douglas Farthing painted the mountain at the point of the advance, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. During the battle, Guardsman Philip Williams was knocked unconscious by an explosion, and left for dead. "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. 12 June proved to be the toughest day for the Argentine Marines. He played a quick march he had composed "on the back of a fag packet" [cigarette pack],[15] during the battle, following a long tradition in which Pipe Majors were encouraged "to write tunes to commemorate any actions in which their regiments have been engaged". The Argentinians, in the form of Second Lieutenant Augusto La Madrid's platoon from Major Jaimet's B Company and Marine Lieutenant Hector Mio's amphibious engineer platoon (rallied by Marine Lieutenant Waldemar Aquino and Marine Second Lieutenant De Marco), now counter-attacked and a burst of machine gun fire from La Madrid's men wounded three Guardsmen, including Lieutenant Alasdair Mitchell (commander of 15 Platoon). They fired all around it so that it would run into the bullets, it tilted, began to smoke and was lost at sea. 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! During the recovery, the aircraft caught fire on Hermes flight deck, owing to a fractured reaction pipe. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . In a sense the casualty figures are misleading. But where the glory, where the pride, In the gathering gloom a force of some 30 Scots Guards of Headquarters Company, supported by four light tanks of the Blues and Royals, moved south toward nearby Mount William in a bid to draw the enemys attention. Nobby knew what we were up to and had dropped in to tell us that he was going to take his patrol forward by helicopter that night and establish an observation post at Port Harriet House." "En la madrugada del da 31, dos ataques areos con aviones Vulcan y Harrier sobre las posiciones del RI 3, del RI 25 y la zona del aeropuerto, pusieron fuera de servicio, transitoriamente, el radar de vigilancia de la Fuerza Area." 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. He played a quick march he had composed "on the back of a fag packet" [cigarette pack][51] during the battle, following a long tradition in which Pipe Majors were encouraged "to write tunes to commemorate any actions in which their regiments have been engaged". He called it The Crags of Tumbledown Mountain, and it would become a staple at events featuring pipe music. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement of the Falklands War which took place on the 13th/14th June 1982, and was part of a series of battles that took place during the advance towards Port Stanley.The British force consisted of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards with mortar detachments from 42 Commando, Royal Marines and the 1/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles with support from . The 2nd Battalion Scots Guards had lost eight dead and 43 wounded. Read about our approach to external linking. Although Margaret Thatchers government rode a wave of popular sentiment into another term of office, many Britons continued to question the necessity of an armed conflict that had claimed the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, as well as three Falkland Islanders, and left thousands more wounded over an ancient possession of questionable worth, thousands of miles distant, that few of their countrymen had even known existed. These men earned his respect and the respect of the nation. Lawrence lay on the frigid ground for hours before a helicopter arrived to evacuate him and the other wounded. I remember thinking, wrote Lawrence, that this was just like the movies.. To Guardsman Tracy Evens, the Sapper Hill positions looked impregnable: We were led to an area that the company would rest at for the night, I still took in the fact the Argies had prepared Sapper Hill well, they had depth positions that would have made the task of taking it very hard.[47]. Right Flank had achieved this at the cost of five wounded, including Lieutenant Lawrence. J. M. Kneen and D. J. Sutton, "Marine Vince Comb, seventeen and a half years old and the youngest man in the troop, was the machine gunner and was hit by bullets in the wrist and arm. It was released as a single by the Pipes and Drums of 2SG a year later.[16]. [39] The 5th Marines worked their way back into Stanley, leaving the 2nd Platoon of Marine Second Lieutenant Marcelo Davis and 3rd Platoon of Marine Second Lieutenant Alejandro Koch of M Company to cover the retreat. Halfway across the open ground 2 Platoon went to ground to give covering fire support, enabling us to gain a foothold on the enemy position. The number and variety of features had been a surprise, he added, and the survey had made it clear that events on other battlefields towards the end of the war, such as on Mount Longdon, had an effect on the Argentine defence of Tumbledown. It was the Guardsmen of the Crown 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. (In all, 18 German Shepherds under Sub-Lieutenant Paz were deployed in and around Stanley.). To help identify the bunkers, the Guardsmen fired flares at the summit. By 6 a.m., Left Flank's attack had clearly stalled and had cost the British company seven men killed and 18 wounded. The insights the veterans provided, Prof Pollard said, created a "unique intersection" of physical remains, landscape and memory which "brought the past into the present". This footwear was "wholly inappropriate" for the Falklands weather and terrain but had been "carefully" placed there for safe keeping, said project co-director and Oxford University archaeologist Dr Tim Clack. + Follow. [16][17] He named the tune The Crags of Tumbledown Mountain. In the most ferocious fighting of the battle, seven guardsmen died while trying for the summit. A half-hour into the engagement, shortly after 10 p.m., G Company commenced the assault on Tumbledown. They were held by the Argentine 5th Naval Infantry Battalion (BIM 5), a reinforced, cold weather trained and equipped, Marine battalion. Major Iain Charles Mackay-Dick (Westcott 1959-1963), 2nd i/c, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards. Finally, the PARAsdespite the death of their charismatic commander, Lt. Col. Herbert H Jonesgained the upper hand. I heard Private Roberto Barboza yell "The English are here!" Nick Van Der Bijl, Victory in the Falklands, p. 224, Pen and Sword, 2007. Let your pride hover as does the hawk. The Guards took 30 prisoners, several of them RI 6 soldiers. I guessed that they were adjusting onto our muzzle flashes so I told all the company to stop firing with their small arms. These objects include cooking stands made from fencing wire, cut up oil drums for metal sheeting to construct shelters, bullets and bomb fragments. I hadn't fired directly at a British soldier, as they had been too hard to get a clear shot at. Throughout the fight the mountain was bathed in unearthly light as star shell illumination rounds fired by British naval vessels fell slowly to earth on parachutes, casting long, eerie shadows over the craggy landscape. [40], Marine Privates Roberto Leyes, Eleodoro Monzn and Sergio Ariel from M Company were killed protecting the Argentine retreat. I was shooting, doing my work. In the centre of the 4th Marine Platoon position were the remnants of Second Lieutenants scar Silva's and Marcelo Llambas-Pravaz's RI 4 platoons as well as the remnants of Second Lieutenants Celestino Mosteirn's and Marcelo Dorign's RI 12 platoons, which had recently fought on Two Sisters, Goat Ridge and Mount Harriet. Simultaneously the Major opened fire, killing him.[4]. Major Kiszely, who was to become a senior general after the war, was the first man into the Argentine position, personally shooting two Argentinian conscripts and bayoneting a third, his bayonet breaking in two. Close to the heart of any Scots. Meanwhile, the 7th Duke of Edinburghs Own Gurkha Rifles had bypassed Tumbledown to capture Mount William to the south, while the Welsh Guards seized Sapper Hill, and 2 PARA took Wireless Ridge. Through shell and mortar fire they moved, Geoffrey Underwood, Our Falklands War: The Men of the Task Force Tell Their Story, p. 42, Maritime Books, 1983, "9 Troop were inadvertently set down 3km east of the intended landing zone, and were on Sapper Hill. Within days of the Argentine occupation the Thatcher governmentdeclaring the 1,800 Falkland residents to be of British tradition and stockhad established a war cabinet and begun to assemble a naval armada. [6] The barrage lasted for about forty minutes and more British casualties would have been inflicted if the mortar bombs had not landed on soft peat, which absorbed most of the power of the explosions. 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. It was rugged going, over scree that gave way under the soldiers boots. Mount Tumbledown. Reaching the rear positions of N Marine Company, Second Lieutenant Franco took the time to set free several German Shepherds left behind in the Argentine retreat from Tumbledown. According to Dhanbahadur Rai, a Gurkha: The Scots Guards were to attack Tumbledown, with the Gurkhas following behind. An enemy helicopter flew overhead without opening fire, and the bewildered Argentinians took no offensive action against the SAS party for two days, during which G Squadron called down artillery fire onto the back of Tumbledown." According to Guardsman Mark Cape,[11] another three Guardsmen defending the summit were also wounded in this action, when Mio, De Marco and Privates Oscar Poltronieri and Carlos Muela attacked their position with hand grenades.[12]. "After some time an explosion was heard. [62], An ode was written in honour of the fallen:[63]. Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Rod Eldridge from Waterloo Uncovered assisted the project in his capacity as a mental health professional and said the archaeological work helped support the veterans' "new and updated appraisals of what happened during the battle for Tumbledown". After two hours of hard fighting, the company withdrew to its main defences on William and the British secured the position. By 8 a.m., after what one British soldier referred to as hours of struggle inch by inch up the rocks, using phosphorous grenades and automatic weapons, Tumbledown was, for the most part, in the hands of the guardsmen. I don't know if I killed anyone. Port Stanley. [56], Two British artists have depicted the battle in painting, Mark Churms[57] and Terence Cuneo, the latter commissioned by the Scots Guards. Wireless Ridge. Nightly naval and aerial bombardment followed. By this time we had ten or twelve dead including one officer [Second Lieutenant Oscar Silva, Argentine Army]. Meanwhile, two Royal Navy frigates, HMS Yarmouth and HMS Active, were pounding Tumbledown with their 4.5 inch guns. They were eventually landed on the slopes of Sapper Hill just as 45 Commando were approaching, so both units attacked and captured the hill. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery, but he spent a year in a wheelchair and was almost totally paralyzed. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. First into the fight, G Company was to seize the western flank of the mountain. It was absolutely horrific. Fuel indications suggested a considerable fuel leak at the same time. And never let men these acts forget, Secretary of State for Defence Sir John Nott himself later wrote, I must confess that I wasnt much aware of the Falkland Islands before the invasion[and] was a bit horrified to see how far away they were. Regardless, although the distant Falklands and South Georgia had long since ceased to be of commercial interest to the United Kingdom, they remained British dependencies, and the Ministry of Defence began immediate preparations for an all-out response to the invasion of the South Atlantic islands. Nick van der Bijl, "Cuando le orden al guardiamarina Davis: "Listo, nos vamos! Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. Marine First Class Private Jos Luis Fazio fought against Bethell's force: At about 2230 hours our battalion had its first intensive gun battle with British companies which appeared out of nowhere. [35] Argentine artillery and Second Lieutenant La Madrid 6th Regiment platoon was still in action, firing on Neame's company and losing another two killed (Privates Horacio Echave and Horacio Balvidares[36]) on Sapper Hill. They had been grievously misinformed. [52][53] He named the tune The Crags of Tumbledown Mountain. Cold, exhausted and running low on ammunition, the Argentines finally surrendered. 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. Ironically, many Britons at the time had no idea where the Falkland Islands were, let alone that they were part of the United Kingdom. Argentine Panhard armoured cars were moved forward to the edge of Stanley to cover the retreating troops. In the face of such punishing fire, explosions and booby traps, the guardsmen struggled on toward the summit, one man advancing while another covered him. [6], Meanwhile, two Royal Navy frigates, HMS Yarmouth and Active, were pounding Tumbledown with their 4.5inch guns. This close-quarters night battle was later dramatised in the BBC film Tumbledown. They Say He Burned Down the Reichstag. At one stage Lieutenant Colonel Michael Scott, (Commanding Officer of 2 SG), thought the battalion might have to withdraw and attack again the next night, The old nails were being bitten a bit, if we had been held on Tumbledown it might have encouraged them to keep on fighting.[6].

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