June 13, 1982 – Falklands War: Battles of Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge
With their flank secure, the main British force at San Carlos Bayset out for Teal Inlet, located 40 kilometers northwest from Port Stanley. In early June1982, a brigade of 3,000 British soldiers also was landed at Bluff Cove andFitzroy, 30 kilometers east from Port Stanley. The Argentineans tried to stop the landings,sending planes that attacked and hit two British transport ships at PortPleasant, near Fitzroy. Britishcasualties from these attacks were 56 killed and 150 wounded. The British, however, successfully securedand completed the landing. By then, thetotal number of British ground troops in the Falklands were 10,000 soldiers,which set out for the re-conquest of Port Stanley.
The Argentinean forces defending the capital alsoconsisted of about 10,000 troops, mostly new conscripts but reinforced with thearrival of more experienced soldiers. TheArgentineans set up the defense of the capital in and around two rings of hillson the western approach outside the city.
On May 31, 1982, British forces captured Mount Kent. The attack on the main Argentine positionswas now set. On June 11, British artilleryunits shelled the first, outer ring of hills. Then under cover of darkness, British ground troops fought their way upthe heights. Before dawn of thefollowing day, June 12, Mount Harriet, Mount Two Sisters, and strongly defended Mount Longdon,had been captured by the British.
On the night of June 13, 1982 British forcesattacked the second ring of hills, MountTumbleweed, Mount William,and Wireless Ridge. By morning of thefollowing day, Argentine forces had abandoned their positions in the heightsand were making a full retreat toward Port Stanley.
The British then advanced and surrounded Port Stanley from the land and sea, forcing the Argentineancommander of the city to ask for a ceasefire, which was granted. Soon thereafter, the British regained controlof the islands and allowed the Argentinean forces to leave. On June 20, the Argentinean presence in Southern Thule ended with the arrival of a British navalforce that forced the surrender of the Argentine garrison.
Aftermath The war had dramatic, contrastingrepercussions in Britain andArgentina. In Britain where elections werescheduled for the following year, Prime Minister Thatcher’s government trailedbadly in the polls and seemed headed for defeat. However, the war, and certainly its outcome,generated a surge of nationalism that swept the incumbents to a decisivevictory in the elections.
In Argentina,the military government also received massive public support when the ArgentineArmy gained control of the Falklands early inthe war. However, after the Argentineforces were defeated and expelled from the islands, protests and riots brokeout in Buenos Aires. General Galtieri resigned and the militarygovernment collapsed. Argentina then began its transitionback to democracy. General electionswere held in October 1983, which led to a civilian government takingoffice. Despite its defeat in the war,to this day, Argentinacontinues to claim ownership of the Falkland Islands.
The war took place during the Cold War period andwas viewed by communist countries as a conflict between two “capitalist”countries. Much of the world followedthe war with great interest. WesternEuropean countries diplomatically supported Britain,while the Non-Aligned Movement and most Latin American countries backed Argentina. At the time of the war, Argentina and Chile were locked in a borderdispute, and the two sides deployed troops in their border in anticipation foran invasion by the other side. Chile officially was neutral in the Falklands Warbut provided intelligence information to the British and tied down Argentineforces.
The United States,the region’s most dominant force, endeavored to stay neutral as it was an allyof both countries, i.e. with Britainin the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and with Argentina in their common war against communismin South America. The U.S. government, led by PresidentRonald Reagan, tried to bring the two sides to negotiate a peacefulsettlement. When the effort failed, the United Statesleaned on the side of the British, providing them with material andtechnological support during the war.
(Taken from Falklands War – Wars of the 20th Century –Vol. 3)
Background In early 1982, Argentina’s ruling military junta,led by General Leopoldo Galtieri, was facing a crisis ofconfidence. Government corruption, humanrights violations, and an economic recession had turned initial public supportfor the country’s military regime into widespread opposition. The pro-U.S. junta had come to power througha coup in 1976, and had crushed a leftist insurgency in the “Dirty War” byusing conventional warfare, as well as “dirty” methods, including summaryexecutions and forced disappearances. Asreports of military atrocities became known, the international communityexerted pressure on General Galtieri to implement reforms.
In its desire to regain the Argentinean people’smoral support and to continue in power, the military government conceived of aplan to invade the Falkland Islands, a British territorylocated about 700 kilometers east of the Argentine mainland. Argentinahad a long-standing historical claim to the Falklands,which generated nationalistic sentiment among Argentineans. The Argentine government was determined toexploit that sentiment. Furthermore,after weighing its chances for success, the junta concluded that the Britishgovernment would not likely take action to protect the Falklands, as theislands were small, barren, and too distant, being located three-quarters downthe globe from Britain.
The Argentineans’ reasoning was not withoutmerit. Britainunder current Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was experiencing an economic recession, and in1981, had made military cutbacks that would have seen the withdrawal from theFalklands of the HMS Endurance, an ice patrol vessel and the British Navy’sonly permanent ship in the southern Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, Britainhad not resisted when in 1976, Argentinean forces occupied the uninhabitedSouthern Thule, a group of smallislands that forms a part of the British-owned South Sandwich Archipelago, located 1,500 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands.
In 1982, Argentina and Britain went to war for possession of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
In the sixteenth century, the Falkland Islands first came to European attention when they were signed byPortuguese ships. For three and a halfcenturies thereafter, the islands became settled and controlled at varioustimes by France, Spain, Britain,the United States, and Argentina. In 1833, Britaingained uninterrupted control of the islands, establishing a permanent presencethere with settlers coming mainly from Walesand Scotland.
In 1816, Argentinagained its independence and, advancing its claim to being the successor stateof the former Spanish Argentinean colony that had included “Islas Malvinas” (Argentina’s name for the Falkland Islands), theArgentinean government declared that the islands were part of Argentina’s territory. Argentinaalso challenged Britain’saccount of the events of 1833, stating that the British Navy gained control ofthe islands by expelling the Argentinean civilian authority and residentsalready present in the Falklands. Over time, Argentineans perceived the Britishcontrol of the Falklands as a misplacedvestige of the colonial past, producing successive generations of Argentineansinstilled with anti-imperialist sentiments. For much of the twentieth century, however, Britainand Argentina maintained anormal, even a healthy, relationship, although the Falklandsissue remained a thorn on both sides.
After World War II, Britain pursued a policy of decolonization thatsaw it end colonial rule in its vast territories in Asia and Africa,and the emergence of many new countries in their places. With regards to the Falklands, under UnitedNations (UN) encouragement, Britainand Argentinamet a number of times to decide the future of the islands. Nothing substantial emerged on the issue ofsovereignty, but the two sides agreed on a number of commercial ventures,including establishing air and sea links between the islands and theArgentinean mainland, and for Argentinean power firms to supply energy to theislands. Subsequently, Falklanders(Falkland residents) made it known to Britain that they wished to remainunder British rule. As a result, Britain reversed its policy of decolonization inthe Falklands and promised to respect thewishes of the Falklanders.
