FALKLANDS 25TH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT, APRIL 2007 iii
small security unit led by General
de Brigada (Brigadier General)
Benjamino Menéndez, the islands’
military governor.
The departure of the British task
force shook the junta to its core.
Only now did Argentina consider
defending the islands.
“The English aren’t going to
allow a country like Argentina
to give them a slap in the face,”
Vicealmirante Juan Lombardo
warned. “They are going to
respond.”
Belatedly, the junta began to
reinforce the islands: a regiment
was sent to occupy West Falkland,
a marine battalion and an Army
brigade to East Falkland.
In all 13,000 Argentinian troops
were sent to defend the islands. But
the affable Benjamino Menéndez
didn’t have the fuel, food, resources
or helicopters to support them.
And another shock awaited
miral Woodward vents his frustration
the invader: the attitude of the
s sail south
islanders. They did not embrace
the Argentinians as liberators, they
just two days. Now he had to defend
despised them like jackbooted
them – and set about making what
goose-steppers.
preparations he could in the time
left.
Aboard HMS Antrim, Rear Admiral
The lighthouse at Cape
John Forster ‘Sandy’ Woodward
Pembroke, on the approaches to
contemplated the task ahead of
Stanley, was disabled. Machine-
him.
guns were set up overlooking a
A submariner by trade, Woodward
beach the marines expected the
had been overseeing Spring Train
Argentinians to use.
as Flag Officer First Flotilla.
In the canteen at Moody Brook,
Now he had a new title:
the small barracks outside Stanley,
Commander Task Force 317, the
Norman rallied his men with a final
armada – and ground and air forces
pep talk:
– Britain was assembling to re-take
Forget the Falklands. We can’t save
the Falklands.
them. We’re fighting for what we stand
It was a daunting prospect: to
for, and we’re fighting for each one
lead a heterogenous task force more
of us. If you survive tomorrow, it’s
than 8,000 miles and invade islands
because you’ve fought better and been
held by a determined enemy.
lucky.
From the outset, Sandy
Woodward planned for war, not
Moody Brook barracks became the
peace – and told his sailors as ● As he has done for centuries, King Neptune holds court aboard HMS Fearless as the assault ship crosses the Equator
first casualty of war.
Picture: PO(Phot) Pete Holgate, 3 Cdo Bde much. “Everyone should face up
Before dawn on the second they
to the real possibility of war,” he
were surrounded by Argentine
shame Major Mike Norman was Rowdy Yates until a shipmate shook with all your charts,” his adjutant more. wrote. “We have a very long haul
special forces, who threw in
forced to witness: the raising of the him on Friday. spurted out. They waved Union Flags, ahead.”
grenades and sprayed the buildings
Bandera Oficial de Ceremonia on Barely awake, the leading hand “You’re joking.” shouted, cheered, and hung out
with machine-gun fire. No-one was
the flagpole outside Government was bemused. “No I am not.” hastily-crafted banners: Go get ’em,
inside.
House. “What are you on about? Where Few men in Britain knew the Give ’em hell, God bless, Britannia
A coup de main at the governor’s
The invaders brought a band, the hell are the Falklands? They’re islands, their coastline, their rules ok. I
F Sandy Woodward’s men
shared his misgivings, they rarely
betrayed it.
house fared less well. Sixteen
a choir and a guard of honour for up near Scapa Flow, aren’t they?” topography, their people, better Carriers Hermes and Invincible King Neptune held court as the
Argentinian marines found
the occasion. As the band played than Southby-Tailyour. glided out of the harbour almost task force crossed the Equator, war
themselves outnumbered by a
the Argentine national anthem and Navigator Ian Inskip knew where For two years he had headed silently, their decks lined with or no war.
the Falklands were. A keen listener the Royal Marines detachment at sailors and airmen, Sea Kings and Aboard Antrim, food, alcohol
slightly larger ad hoc force of Royal
the choir sang, a huge Argentine
to the World Service, he had already Moody Brook but more than that Sea Harriers. The sirens sounded and chocolate were rationed. Capt
Marines, armed sailors and a pistol-
flag began to rise up the pole. Half-
way up the rope snapped and the taken steps of ordering charts he had conducted a detailed survey three times, a nod to the throng of
Brian Young, Antrim’s commanding
carrying Rex Hunt.
symbol of Argentina crumpled on of the South Atlantic for HMS of the coastline and the beaches. well-wishers.
officer, also clamped down on any
“Come out, Mr Hunt. Time to
the ground. Glamorgan. He grabbed his charts and made “We are quite unprepared for the
hoarding and late-night parties.
give up, Mr Hunt,” the Argentinians
Elsewhere in Stanley the light His prescience paid off. At 4am for the first train to Poole. amazing scenes of patriotic fervour
Over the ship’s loudspeaker,
cried. The response was choice
blue and white flags of Argentina on the second, the destroyer was as we leave harbour,” a diarist in
Young rallied his men: “And now
Anglo-Saxon and a hail of fire.
were flying. Everywhere it seemed. ordered to head south. By Saturday April 3 there was no Invincible recorded. “A send-off
Antrim will fight this war her way
“It was a bit like ‘cowboys and
The newly installed governor The lieutentant commander hiding British humiliation. The the like of which we have never
– and we’ll start right now.”
indians’,” Mike Norman recalled.
of the islands, General Jorge dashed off a few lines to his wife, Falklands had been invaded. British seen before and which none of us
David Tinker was not convinced
“They went away but you knew
García, began issuing a flurry of Marianne. “You know where the citizens were being ruled against will ever forget.”
it would come to war. The 25-
they were going to come back.”
proclamations to the islanders: they trouble is brewing and Glamorgan their will by a foreign dictatorship. Throughout the first week of
year-old officer believed the mere
Come back they did – and
would be free to worship, free to is a powerful ship and likely to be in ‘Caught with our pants down’ April, the dockyards and ports of
presence of a British task force
in force. From 6.30 onwards,
enter or leave the Falklands, free the front line. screamed the Portsmouth News. southern England emptied. From
off the Falklands would make the
Argentine troops and armour began
to continue their normal jobs, they “If anything should happen to me, MPs in the House of Commons Marchwood, the Royal Fleet
Argentinians host the white flag.
pouring ashore on a beach west of
would even be free to walk the please remember I was thinking of were no less forgiving. Auxiliary; from Devonport, ten
“We’re here until something else
Cape Pembroke.
streets – providing they hung white the family all the time. Remember Margaret Thatcher found the frigates; from Portsmouth, assault
happens,” he wrote home. “The
Within an hour, Stanley airport
flags on their doors or gates first. Glamorgan with pride.” mood in Westminster distinctly ships Fearless and Intrepid.
comforts of life – and the goodies
had been seized and, within two,
But all stores, banks, schools and Lt David Tinker, the captain’s hostile as she opened a debate on Ewen Southby-Tailyour was
(leave, pay, fun time in foreign
armoured vehicles were rolling into
the post office were to be closed secretary, was rather excited. It the Falklands. flown aboard Fearless off Lyme
ports) – all become irrelevant.”
the capital itself.
immediately. was rather like 1914 when Britain MPs jeered, cat-called, cried out Bay on April 6 and given a
Tinker’s shipmates in HMS
There, on the eastern extremity
Carlos Büsser strolled down Ross dispatched battle-cruisers to rout their disapproval. cramped cabin “a four-berth hole
Glamorgan prepared their ship for
of Stanley, the invader met fierce
Road, along Stanley’s waterfront, von Spee and his squadron. The premier told the House that of Calcutta”. His bunk was so tight
war. The upper deck and ship’s
machine-gun and rocket fire. The
to admire his prize. “This,” he “There’s a terrific force of ships a task force was readying to sail it was impossible to lie sideways
boats were painted grey, carpets,
fire-fight lasted several minutes
recalled, “this was when I felt my assembling – 16 British warships for the Falklands. The islanders without knocking the bunk above.
chair covers, formica fittings,
before the marines tossed a purple
deepest emotion.” steaming south across the Atlantic were “few in number but they “And if I have one of ‘those’ dreams
even the wardroom’s piano, were
smoke grenade and withdrew. The
But all he had done was awaken at a great rate of knots,” he wrote to have the right to live in peace, to it could seriously embarrass him.”
tossed overboard. At all times crew
sole casualty was an Argentine
a sleeping giant and filled her with his wife Christine. “Terrific!” choose their own way of life and
carried their orange survival suits,
soldier who cut his hand on a sliver
terrible resolve. to determine their own allegiance,” For years Argentinians had dreamed
anti-flash gear, respirators. The
of metal.
The telephone in Ewen Southby- she continued. of recapturing the Malvinas. Their squeak of the ship’s sonar was a
At Government House in west
HMS Invincible was one such
Tailyour’s flat in London rang. “Their way of life is British. military had planned it manifold. constant companion as it listened
Stanley, Mike Norman realised
sleeping giant that Friday.
The Royal Marine was supposed Their allegiance is to the Crown.” Now the junta had executed those for Argentine submarines.
the defence of the islands was
Alongside in Portsmouth, with
to be attending the second day of Britain would do all she could to plans. But it had never expected to It was most frustrating for the
impossible and told the governor
most of her crew on Easter leave,
a course on ‘Oil, Islam and the uphold that right. defend these islands. Britain didn’t marines, particularly those on the
such.
with her Sea Harriers back home
Middle East’, but a fine dinner have the balls to re-take them. cruise ship Canberra. In barely a
After contact was made by radio,
at Yeovilton, the carrier was at 47½
and even finer drinks at the Royal
Carlos Büsser and two officers
hours’ notice to move.
Cruising Club had rather sabotaged M
ONDAY April 5 was a murky, The only force the junta planned week the pride of the P&O line had
misty day in the Solent. to keep on the Malvinas was a been converted into a troopship,
carrying a white flag strode down
In the small hours the duty
the final day of the course. The historic walls of her swimming pools boarded over,
Ross Road West towards the seat of
officer picked up a signal from the
“The Argentinians have invaded Portsmouth were crammed her lounges turned into mess decks,
imperial power.
communications office: be at four
the Falkland Islands and you are with people who lined her promenades filled with green
Büsser, dressed in combat
hours’ notice to sail.
wanted back here immediately the seafront for a good and red berets keeping fit.
fatigues and a baseball cap, shook
By 6am telephones across
two miles and It wasn’t all bad, though. The
hands with Major Norman, but the
Portsmouth and beyond were
cruise ship mentality persisted.
governor refused to offer his hand.
ringing as sailors were recalled.
There were regular dinner parties
“You are not invited. We
Before mid-day another signal had
(for the senior officers). And for
don’t want you here,” Rex Hunt
arrived from Fleet Headquarters in
the ranks, plenty of chips and cans
blustered.
Northwood: prepare for extended
of beer (which vanished at the
Büsser was an officer and a
operations in the South Atlantic.
alarming rate of 7,000 tins a day,
gentleman. “The only sensible
despite being rationed).
thing you can do is tell these brave
Leading Hand David ‘Rowdy’ Yates
Physical training began at 7am
men to stop fighting,” he told the
had been enjoying his well-earned
AÉROSPATIALE EXOCET AM39 AIR-TO-SURFACE ANTI-SHIP MISSILE
sharply to shake off the chips
governor.
leave in Gibraltar.
and booze. There were weapons
Rex Hunt pondered, then made
Exercise Spring Train, major
drills, intelligence briefings, first
his decision. “You’ve given me no NATO war games, were about to
NO WEAPON in Argentina’s arsenal in 1982 was so feared as the
aid instruction, live fire exercises
option. I will order my men to lay begin, and there was no better way French-made Exocet missile.
AM39 Exocet missile against floating targets.
down their arms.” for the men of HMS Antrim to Born in the late 1960s, initially as a ship-to-ship missile, by the
As HMS Fearless passed through
It was the right thing to do, but prepare for such an exercise than a 1970s an air-launched version of the radar-guided missile was in Manufacturer: Aérospatiale,
the Tropics, temperatures within
it went against everything which good run ashore. development. Britain was among the buyers of Exocet, which takes France
and without soared. The wardroom
the Corps stood for, Mike Norman The Antrim lads settled down to it name from exocoetidae – flying fish; so too was Argentina, but in Entered service: 1979
– directly beneath the landing
thought. Defence of the Falklands a weekend of booze and music in extremely small numbers. Weight: 1,477lb (670kg)
ship’s flight deck – became an
was impossible, yet laying down the Rooke club; the club provided When the war began 2 Escuadrilla de Caza y Ataque – 2nd Fighter Length: 184in (469cm)
oven. To keep cool officers lay on
arms seemed wrong. “I’d have the booze (at a price, of course), and Attack Squadron – possessed just five Super Étendard jets and Diameter: 14in (35cm)
the wardroom floor, occasionally
fought,” he declared later. “It’s not sailor-musician Shep Woolley the same number of Exocets. Not a single missile had been fired by Wingspan: 43in (110cm)
raising their heads to sip a beer.
our job to surrender.” provided the music. Argentine pilots on trials to conserve the minute supply. Range: 43 miles (70km)
Scrabble and Uckers ceased; in
The ignominy of surrendering Spring Train caught up with Had she waited another six months to invade the Falklands, Speed: 707mph (Mach 0.93)
the heat, the pieces became too
British soil to a foe was compounded them on Monday March 29. The Argentina’s Exocet threat would have been all the greater: 14 Super Powerplant: Solid propellant
slippery to hold.
by the indignity of being forced to force left The Rock behind and Étendard jets would be able to operate from the nation’s sole aircraft rocket and Narval booster
Enthusiasm and confidence in
lie on the road as the Royals were NATO nations began their business carrier and the stockpile of missiles would have grown to 15. Warhead: 363lb (165kg)
HMS Ardent bubbled down from
searched by their captors. in great waters. The missile remains in service with Armed Forces around the world
shaped charge
the ship’s captain, Cdr Alan West.
And there was one final act of Normal life resumed for caterer today. Continued on page ivmarina
Falklands1a.indd 3 21/3/07 11:51:02
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