Three Shirburnians serving with the 2 nd Battalion Scots Guard were involved in the Battle of Tumbledown Mountain during the Falklands Conflict, which was fought on 13-14 June 1982 and resulted in the British troops capturing the heights above Stanley :. 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. On the morning of 13 June, the Scots Guards were moved by helicopter from their position at Bluff Cove to an assembly area nearly Goat Ridge, west of Mount Tumbledown. The battle was depicted in the BBC television play Tumbledown, about the experiences of Robert Lawrence before, during and after the war. 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. At 750 feet, the most challenging objective was Mount Tumbledown, a collection of crags, slabs and boulders that constituted an ideal defensive position. Adding to the other-worldliness of the scene was a surprise blizzard that sent snow swirling around the silhouetted fighting figures. 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. Finally, they beached their craft within 2 miles of the Argentine positions on Mount Tumbledown. I went up through the roof and the vehicle went up and was turned right round by the explosion, recalled Major Brian Armitage who was shortly evacuated to receive medical treatment.[48]. The conflict itself was reasonably short, but very bloody. I ran back to my position and ordered my men to open fire. So back we went to our original positions, this time around the minefield." 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. 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], The Argentinians, later learned to be of company strength, directed mortar, grenade, machine gun and small arms fire from very close range at the British company, killing three British soldiers. ", l todava estaba pensando en el contraataque, y sali disparando hacia el frente, o sea al revs Es que Davis y sus hombres estaban listos para largar el contraataque. The operation was initially planned as a daytime assault, but the climb was long and steep, over and around treacherous escarpments, and the soldiers would have made easy targets. Mount William was just south of Tumbledown and the Marine battalion's O Company was on its lower slopes. "It has been the trip of a lifetime to be part of the project and facing a few demons; it has been a life-changer," he explained. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was a night battle that lasted 12 hours. George Washington had complained vociferously about the flood of questionable foreign volunteers. Note: this is a language joke. But for the two-and-a-half months previous to this final engagement, the high ground in front of the capital was where the Argentines had dug in - in what were cold, dark, windy and snowy conditions. Adding to their miseries, on this particular day they had come under intense artillery shelling. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement during the Falklands War. The attacking British forces consisted of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards (2SG), mortar detachments from 42 Commando, Royal Marines and the 1st Battalion, 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles (1/7 GR), as well as support from a troop of the Blues and Royals equipped with two Scorpion and two Scimitar armoured vehicles. The Guardsmen traded 66mm rockets and 84mm anti-tank rounds with the Argentinians, who were armed with anti-tank rifle grenades and protected in their rock bunkers. Did surely speed the warring parties pact. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. For his bayonet charge Kiszely was awarded the Military Cross. They were well provisioned, outfitted for the frigid weather and, in some instances, better equipped than the British. We thought we had suffered before, but what luxury and comfort compared to this. "We ran over a mine. Tim Spicer, Desde el Frente, Carlos H. Robacio, Jorge Hernandez, p. 180, Centro Naval, Instituto de Publicaciones Navales, 1996, "During the attack, Macleod's aircraft was hit by shrapnel which penetrated the rear equipment bay area of the aircraft and fractured the aft reaction control air pipe. The engagement was an attack by the British Army and the Royal Marines on the heights over-looking Stanley, the Falkland Islands capital. According to Private Jos Luis Fazio:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, My companions from M Company opened fire on a Sea Harrier, with rifles. Scots guards casualties on tumbledown mountain 1982. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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. The 2nd Battalion Scots Guards had lost eight dead and 43 wounded. And never let men these acts forget, It made us wonderwhat lay ahead., What lay immediately ahead for Right Flank was intense enemy fire. They also engaged us with light mortars and missile launchers. Despite the challenges, morale was high, for the British troops were preparing to end their misery by driving Argentine forces from the rugged escarpment before them. Meanwhile, the United States, concerned Argentina might draw the Soviet Union into the fight as an ally, tried to stem the conflict diplomatically. As they began to count their dead. 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. As they struggled to regain their momentum and continue the ascent, the Scots Guards encountered sniper fire from Argentine soldiers concealed on the highest crags. By this time we had ten or twelve dead including one officer [Second Lieutenant Oscar Silva, Argentine Army]. Reaching its objective undetected, the company found the western end of the mountain undefended and occupied it easily, but later came under heavy shellfire that wounded Major Dalzel-Job in the head. We ran forward in extended line, machine-gunners and riflemen firing from the hip to keep the enemy heads down, enabling us to cover the open ground in the shortest possible time. 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. Jim, who served alongside John, had visited the islands four times prior to the fieldwork. We ran over a mine. They were well used to it. However, after he is shot in the head during the battle for Mount Tumbledown, he struggles . There the group observed virtual and live firing demonstrations using rifles and pistols, before spending a night under the stars to try out night vision devices. The battle started at about 830 pm on 13 June, beginning with a diversion, since the argentines are fond of diversion. During the advance, they became bogged down in a minefield, which took them a very long and frustrating time to extract themselves from, after coming under fire from heavy mortars on Sapper Hill. The initial advance was unopposed, but a heavy firefight broke out when British troops made contact with Argentine defences. Web. Two Royal Navy frigatesYarmouth and Activelay offshore to provide naval gunfire support. 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. 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. The initial advance was unopposed, but a heavy firefight broke out when British troops made contact with Argentinian defences. 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. [58][59], In the UK a Tumbledown Veterans And Families Association was created. For the courage displayed in the attack, men from 2 SG were awarded one Distinguished Service Order, two Military Crosses, two Distinguished Conduct Medals (one posthumously) and two Military Medals. Lead to British ownership of the Falkland Islands. In addition to getting archaeological results, the whole project has been designed to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to come to terms with their experiences. In a sense the casualty figures are misleading. 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. To Guardsman Tracy Evens, the Sapper Hill positions looked impregnable: During the battle, Guardsman Philip Williams was knocked unconscious by an explosion, and left for dead. 2023 BBC. The guardsmen had been told the enemy force comprised young, ill-equipped conscripts who would scurry at the first muzzle flash. [49], 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. From there 2 PARA was ordered to attack the Argentines at the Goose Green settlement. 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". To subscribe, click here. The first attack, a diversionary assault, aimed to scare off the Argentine troops by making the attack appear to be far bigger than it really was, thanks to the use of light tanks. The 1,000- man Argentine defending force, though comprising largely untested conscripts, outnumbered the British paratroopers nearly 2-to-1. [6], For four or five hours, three platoons of Argentinian riflemen, machine gunners, and mortar men pinned the British down. 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. 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 . And through each death paid the total price A Scots Guardsman. 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. Major Jaimet later recalled: I heard the cries of the wounded calling for their comrades, twelve men wounded before nightfall. His was not the only tune written about the Falklands campaign. Flix Roberto Aguiar and Francisco Cervo. After colonial conflicts with France and Spain over the islands, Britain claimed sovereignty in 1774, landed troops to reassert its dominion in 1833 and formally established the Falklands as a Crown colony in 1840. Lying around four miles west of the Falkland Islands capital, Port Stanley, Mount Tumbledown was seen by the British Task Force as being of primary importance in their breaking down of the Argentine threat. 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. This page was last edited on 23 October 2022, at 23:19. The explosions prompted the Argentine Marine Major Antonio Pernas to order the 81mm mortar platoon on Mount William and the longer-ranged 120mm mortars attached to 'C' Company, 3rd Infantry Regiment on Sapper Hill to open fire on the minefield and the likely withdrawal route of anyone attacking Mount William. [56], Two British artists have depicted the battle in painting, Mark Churms[57] and Terence Cuneo, the latter commissioned by the Scots Guards. Captain Eduardo Villarraza's N Company from the 5th Marine Battalion, would defend Mounts Tumbledown and William. B Company, 6th Regiment was in reserve behind N Company. He could not have more completely misread the situation or the resolve of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Clark Mitchell MID 2022-11-13. On the night of 1314 June 1982 the British launched an assault on Mount Tumbledown, one of the highest points near the town of Stanley, the capital, and succeeded in driving Argentinian forces from the mountain. 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. For four or five hours, a mixed bag of Marine/Army defenders representing six platoons of Argentinian infantry, engineers and one platoon of mortar men on Tumbledown pinned the British down. The Argentinians had well dug-in machine guns and snipers. Once through, we dug in at the base of a hill, only to find that it was still occupied by Argentine troops. Due to their proximity to the capital, they were of strategic importance during the 1982 War. The 2nd Bn Scots Guards' Reconnaissance Platoon, commanded by Major Richard Bethell (a former SAS officer), and supported by four light tanks of the 'Blues & Royals', clashed with the Argentine O Marine Company under Marine Captain Quiroga in a blocking position on the lower slopes of Mount William. Close to the heart of any Scots. Due to the call for a swift response, transportation of troops to the war zone was, in some instances, haphazard at best. The fighting was hard going for Left Flank. Mostly in their 20s, they were the men of the 5th Marine Battalionhighly trained and motivated troops with combat experience in the recent Argentine civil war. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement in the Falklands War, one of a series of battles that took place during the British advance towards Stanley. [11] As the Guardsmen and Gurkhas consolidated their positions, the British lost a Volvo BV-202 tracked vehicle to a mine planted in the Tumbledown sector. They also had been trained in night fightingand despite the assurances of the British PARAs, they didnt run. The fight for Goose Green was a bloody affair. To see victory by dawn's first light. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery, but he spent a year in a wheelchair and was almost totally paralyzed. Coordinates: 514147S 57583W / 51.69639S 57.9675W / -51.69639; -57.9675. Solar PV. It was rugged going, over scree that gave way under the soldiers boots. 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). 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 initial advance was unopposed, but a heavy firefight broke out when British troops made contact with Argentinian defences. In 2012, Argentine journalist Nicolas Kasanzew wrote a tango called "Carlos Daniel Vazquez's Thermopylae", which is sung by Carlos Longoni. Max Arthur. "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.". The battle for Tumbledown began on the night of June 11th, 1982 and lasted for several days. I don't know if I killed anyone. By this time Lawrence was near the summit, desperately looking for an enemy administration and supply area. "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." To its great surprise the company met with practically no resistance and quickly secured its objective. 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. 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. [33]), On 13 June, a Welsh Guards messenger, bringing forward food supplies to Major Christopher Drewrywe's Number 2 Company (1WG), was killed when his motorbike ran over a mine. Among them was Lawrence. The firing gradually slowed down and the Argentines simply evacuated Sapper Hill, as the Royal Marines very slowly got to their feet." In the second phase, Left Flank (company) would pass through the area taken by G company to capture the centre of the summit. The archaeological team found an "abundance" of scavenged metal, including fence wire and railway track, sleeping bags, blankets and entrenching tools that spoke to the "makeshift inhabitation" and "anticipation of the fighting to come", said Dr Clack. On Mount William's southern slopes, one of the tanks was taken out of action by a booby trap. + Follow. 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. The project is the first time that war veterans have taken part in an archaeological survey of their own battlefield. [55], A cross has been erected at the summit of the mountain as a memorial to the soldiers who died in the battle. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. At the head of his platoon Lawrence tried to make myself disappear into the ground, face down in the dirt. Ultimately, he threw a phosphorous grenade directly into the enemy machine-gun position, halting the fire and netting the British several prisoners. Two Marines were slightly wounded when the Argentineans fired on them as they withdrew." [34], After first light on 14 June, Major Phillip Neame's D Company of 2 PARA in the final stages of the Battle of Wireless Ridge reported seeing hundreds of Argentinians regrouping on Sapper Hill. 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]. 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. [4] 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. A group of Sappers from Condor Troop went ahead to clear a path through the mines, losing Sergeant Peter Thorpe badly wounded in the process. "A motorcycle messenger in the Welsh Guards was killed when he ran his bike over a mine after bringing rations up to the front line." We just fired our rifles, that's all. After two hours of hard fighting, the British secured the position. "Having someone beside me who was actually there, and able to tell me, among many other things, that a cylinder of rubber, no bigger than the end of a pen, was the connector between a Milan missile and its guide wire was another experience entirely," Prof Pollard explained. [31] (The Harrier had extensive repairs and, though still operational, it was ultimately transferred to the School of Flight Deck Operations at Culdrose,[32] and was eventually donated to the Polish Aviation Museum of Krakw. Each one who there his life laid down, The bodies of 30 Argentine Army and Marine soldiers were found over the 5th Marine Battalion perimeter. He called it The Crags of Tumbledown Mountain, and it would become a staple at events featuring pipe music. Backing them were six 81mm mortars, six 106mm mortars, a howitzer battery and two army artillery groups. Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Elvis Costello, among others, also weighed inbut far from memorializing the war, their songs were an indictment of Britains actions. Marine Sub-Lieutenant Hctor Mino's 5th Platoon (1st Amphibious Engineer Company), held the rocks behind Sub-Lieutenant Carlos Vzquez's 4th Platoon, N Company. The British fired antitank rockets at enemy positions, but the Argentines held, raining down mortar and machine-gun fire on the guardsmen. Mount Tumbledown, Mount William and Sapper Hill lie west of the capital. On the morning of 13 June, the Scots Guards were moved by helicopter from their position at Bluff Cove to an assembly area near Goat Ridge, west of Mount Tumbledown. The Falkland Islandsan archipelago in the South Atlantic comprising two large islands and 776 smaller ones lie a few hundred miles off the coast of Argentina and nearly 8,000 miles from the United Kingdom. When he returned to civilization after seven weeks, he was accused of desertion by the media and fellow soldiers. [60], There is a pipe march written by James Riddell of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards [61] It is called The Crags Of Tumbledown Mountain. BRITISH AIRCRAFT LOST 22nd April 12th June 1982", Un ejemplo de opreracin conjunta: Hrcules y Panhard, "The Crags of Mount Tumbledown (Jimmy Riddell)", "Tumbledown Veterans And Families Association > Home", "Notes - Band of the Scots Guards - the Household Division - Official site", "Crags of Tumbledown Mountain, the | Pipetunes", In his first interview in 20 years, Robert Lawrence tells Mark Townsend how the trauma of battle reshaped his life, Reassessing the Fighting Performance of the Argentine 5th Marines, Taken from the diary of Guardsman Tracy Evens, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Mount_Tumbledown&oldid=1117859240, The 1st Platoon, under by Marine Second Lieutenant (. 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