The Battle of Two Sisters was an engagement of the Falklands War during the British advance towards the capital, Port Stanley. It took place from 11 to 12 June 1982 and was one of three battles in a Brigade-size operation all on the same night, the other two being the Battle of Mount Longdon and the Battle of Mount Harriet. Fought mainly between an assaulting British force consisting of Royal Marines of 45 Commando and an Argentine Company drawn from 4th Infantry Regiment (Regimiento de Infantería 4 or RI 4).
One of a number of night battles that took place during the British advance towards Stanley, the battle led to British troops capturing all the heights above the town, allowing its capture and the surrender of the Argentine forces on the islands.
45 Commando was instructed to seize Two Sisters Mountain under cover of darkness, and to continue onto Mount Tumbledown if time permitted. However, Argentine resistance proved stiffer than anticipated, and the second phase of the attack was cancelled.[5]
The Argentinian force originally occupying Mount Challenger was commanded by Major Ricardo Cordón and consisted of the 4th Infantry Regiment or RI 4. The bulk of the defenders were drawn from C Company, with the 1st Platoon (Sub-Lieutenant Miguel Mosquera-Gutierrez) and 2nd Platoon (Sub-Lieutenant Jorge Pérez-Grandi) positioned on the northern peak of Two Sisters, and the 3rd Platoon (Sub-Lieutenant Marcelo Llambías Pravaz) on the southern peak. The 1st Platoon of A Company (Sub-Lieutenant Juan Nazer) and the Support Platoon (Second Lieutenant Luis Carlos Martella) were located on the saddle between the peaks.[6][7]
Major Óscar Jaimet’s B Company of the 6th Mechanized Infantry Regiment or RI Mec 6, acted as the local reserve, and occupied the saddle between Two Sisters and Mount Longdon.[8] In early June, Jaimet’s company was reinforced by the Support Platoon under Second Lieutenant Marcelo Dorigón, drawn from B Company of the 12th Regiment (RI 12). This platoon had remained on Mount Kent after the rest of B Company had been helicoptered forward during the Battle of Goose Green.[9]
No-Man's-Land
Night of 11 to 12 June, west of Stanley
On 2 June, the 4th Regiment's Operation Officer, Captain Carlos Alfredo López-Patterson, arrived to help in the defence of Two Sisters. He would visit the rifle platoons in order to maintain the defenders informed and raise morale:
In those visits, one thing that always moved me was that, while I saluted Second Lieutenant Llambias Pravaz, the soldiers in that platoon would clap and they cheered. It must have been because they noticed that I was recognizing the valour they were acquiring in that place. Because they were very isolated, waiting for the enemy, just them and their souls. Or, perhaps, because seeing their commander who is going to share a few words - a brotherly gesture of a young man towards other young people - they felt their desire revived to fight. One day, a lad approached me and said "Since we have got to dance in this one, we are going to do it well. We are going to support the Second Lieutenant who has fallen sick and still remains with us. We have got to help the one whose feet get cold or the one who freaks out. Because from here we all leave together or no one leaves at all". What could I say?[11]
On 4 June, the three rifle companies of 45 CDO advanced on Bluff Cove Peak, on the lower slopes of Mount Kent, and were able to occupy the feature without opposition and were met by patrols from the Special Air Service (SAS). On the night of 29 May, a fierce firefight had developed over capturing the two important hills, as they were intended to form part of an Argentine Special Forces line.
Captain Andrés Ferrero's patrol (3rd Assault Section, 602 Commando Company) reached the base of Mount Kent but were then promptly pinned down by machinegun and mortar fire. First-Sergeant Raimundo Máximo Viltes was badly wounded when a bullet shattered his heel. Air Troop had two SAS men wounded by rifle fire.[12]Probing attacks around the D Squadron, SAS positions continued throughout the night and at 11:00 am local time on 30 May, about 12 Argentine Commandos (Captain Tomás Fernández's 2nd Assault Section, 602 Commando Company) tried to get up the summit of Bluff Cove Peak, but were driven off by D Squadron who killed two of the attackers, First Lieutenant Rubén Eduardo Márquez and Sergeant Óscar Humberto Blas.[13]
First Lieutenant Márquez and Sergeant Blas had shown great personal courage and leadership in the contact and were posthumously awarded the Argentine Medal of Valour in Combat. During this contact, the SAS suffered another two casualties from grenades after the Argentine Commandos had stumbled on a camp occupied by 15 SAS troopers.[14][15]
Throughout 30 May, Royal Air Force Harriers were active over Mount Kent. One of them, responding to a call for help from D Squadron SAS, was badly damaged by small arms fire while attacking Mount Kent's eastern lower slopes. Sub-Lieutenant Llambías-Pravaz's platoon was later credited with the destruction of Harrier XZ963 flown by Squadron Leader Jerry Pook[16] with another claim going to 35 mm Oerlikons of the 601st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Roberto Enrique Ferre.[17][18] The Harrier crashed into the South Atlantic 30 miles from the carrier HMS Hermes, Squadron Leader Pook ejected and was rescued.
On 5 June, two Royal Air Force Harriers operating from 'Sids Strip', the San Carlos Forward Operating Base, attacked the Argentine defenders on Two Sisters with rockets around midday.[19]
A heavy mist hung over the Murrell River area, which assisted the 45 Commando Recce Troop to reach and sometimes penetrate the Argentine 3rd Platoon position under Subteniente Marcelo Llambías-Pravaz. Marine Andrew Tubb of Recce Troop later recalled:
We were actually inside the Argentine position, so we ended up shelling ourselves. We did a lot of patrols up to Two Sisters ... that time [6 June] we pepper-potted [fire and maneouver] for about 400 metres to get out [the 3rd Platoon Sergeant, Juan Domingo Valdez, had launched a counter-ambush.[20]], through the Argy lines, firing 66mm rockets to fight through and regroup. We got artillery again to smoke us out. It took us well over an hour to get away and it seemed like a few minutes. We killed seventeen of them, and all we had was one bloke with a flesh wound.[21]
(2 Army privates, Jose Romero and Andres Rodriguez and three sappers of a Marine mine-laying party were actually killed.[4])
For his patrol action, Lieutenant Chris Fox received the Military Cross, while Subteniente Llambías-Pravaz was able to pilfer and sport a Commando Beret that the Royal Marines had left behind during the Argentine counter-ambush.[22] In general terms, the Argentines were thoroughly entrenched, about 6,000 metres or less across no-man's-land. The Argentine positions were mined and heavily patrolled.
The 4th Regiment also carried out patrolling, and on the night of 6–7 June, Corporal Oscar Nicolás Albornoz-Guevara along with eight conscripts (including Private Orlando Héctor Stella, his pathfinder) from Subteniente Miguel Mosquera-Gutierrez's 1st Platoon crossed Murrell River and reached the area of Estancia Mountain where they detected a number of British vehicles, but the patrol soon came under mortar fire from 3 PARA and had to withdraw.[23]
On 8 June, Corporal Hugo Gabino MacDougall of B Company, 6th Regiment, claimed to have shot down a Harrier using a shoulder-launched Blowpipe missile.[24] The British confirm the loss of a GR.3 Harrier (XZ989) on that day, following an emergency landing at San Carlos due to battle damage. The pilot, Wing Commander Peter Squire walked away uninjured and XZ989 was scrapped post-war.[25][26][27][28]
The 12th Regiment Support Platoon under Subteniente Dorigón attached to Major Jaimet's B Company would reportedly live off the land. Private Ángel Ramírez:
We ate raw sheep, we would butcher sheep and place it on flames. You know that the soil in the Malvinas Islands is like coal, it is black turf, you dig a hole, light a fire, and it is all like petrol, everything burns. We ate barbecued sheep, we ate it half raw and cooked.[29]
At about 2.10 am local time on 10 June a strong 45 Commando fighting patrol probed the 3rd Platoon position. In the ensuing fight, Special Forces Sergeants Mario Antonio Cisneros and Ramón Gumercindo Acosta were killed; two more Argentine Special Forces lying in ambush for the Royal Marines were wounded. The British military historian Bruce Quarrie later wrote:
A constant series of patrols were undertaken at night to scout out and harass the enemy. Typical was the patrol sent out in the early hours of the morning of 10 June. Lieutenant David Stewart of X-Ray Company, 45 Commando, had briefed his men during the previous afternoon, and by midnight they were ready. Heavily armed, with two machine-guns per section, plus 66 mm rocket launchers and 2-inchmortars, the Troop moved off stealthily into the moonlit night towards a ridge some four km away from where Argentine movement had been observed. Keeping well spaced out because of the good visibility, they moved across the rocky ground using the numerous shell holes for cover, and by 04.00 [1 am local time], were set to cross the final stretch of open ground in front of the enemy positions. Using a shallow stream for cover, they moved up the slope and deployed into position among the rocks in front of the Argentine trenches. With the help of a light-intensifying night scope, they could see sentries moving about. Suddenly, an Argentine machine-gun opened fire and the Marines launched a couple of flares from their mortar, firing back with their own machine-guns and rifles. Within seconds three Argentine soldiers and two [Royal] Marines were dead. Other figures could be seen running on the hill to the left, and four more Argentine soldiers fell to the accuracy of the Marines' fire. By this time, the Argentine troops further up the slope were wide awake, and a hail of fire forced the [British] Marines to crouch in the shelter of the rocks. The situation was becoming decidedly unhealthy and Lieutenant Stewart decided to retire, with the objective of killing and harassing the enemy well and truly accomplished. However, a machine-gun to the Marines' right was pouring fire over their getaway route, and Stewart sent his veteran Sergeant, Jolly, with a couple of other men to take it out [They knew they were cut off with what looked a poor chance of escape. In these circumstances any panic or break in morale and the game was up]. After a difficult approach with little cover, there was a short burst of fire and the Argentine machine-gun fell silent. Leapfrogging by sections, the Troop retreated to the stream, by which time the Argentine fire was falling short and there were no further casualties.
Major Aldo Rico, commander of the 602 Commando Company, had a lucky escape in this engagement, when an enemy 66mm projectile exploded uncomfortably close to him and First Lieutenant Horacio Fernando Lauría.[30] Captain Hugo Ranieri, who took part in this intense engagement as a specialist sniper, claims that First Lieutenant Jorge Vizoso-Posse, although wounded, shot three of the retreating Royal Marines in the back.[31] First Lieutenant Horacio Fernando Lauría and Sergeant Orlando Aguirre claim to have destroyed a British machine-gun with rifle-grenades in this engagement.[32]
On that same night (9–10 June), a friendly fire incident occurred when Royal Marines returning from a reconnaissancepatrol were mistaken for Argentines in the dark and a British mortar team opened fire on them. In the confusion, four Royal Marines (Sergeant Robert Leeming, Corporals Andrew Uren, Peter Fitton and Marine Keith Phillips) were killed and three were wounded.[33][34][35] The next day, Sub-Lieutenant Llambías-Pravaz's men recovered the rucksacks and weapons the Royal Marines had left behind,[36] and these were presented as war trophies to Argentine war correspondents in Port Stanley who filmed and photographed the British equipment.[37]
The Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre also carried out patrolling against Two Sisters; Sergeant Joseph Wassell and Lieutenant Fraser Haddow played an important part in the capture of the mountain when they discovered with their binoculars from their observation post on Goat Ridge, the command-detonated barrels of mines the Argentinian Marine engineers (under the direction of Major Jaimet) had dug in and planned to use on the saddle and eastern half of the mountain.[38]
On 11 June, several GR-3 Harriers took off from San Carlos airbase to drop cluster bombs on Mounts Longdon, Harriet and Two Sisters Mountain.[39]
The Argentine Medical Officer with the 6th Regiment's B Company, First Lieutenant Alejandro Steverlynck reports that one Argentine soldier was killed during the final British air attack on Two Sisters and that he had to comfort with the assurance his wounds were minor and that he would now have a warm hospital bed and be able to watch the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Stanley Hospital before the young soldier died in his arms a short time later, but not before obtaining a smile from the dying man before the morphine that was applied took any real effect.[40]
Night battle
Captain Ian Gardiner's X-Ray Company spearheaded the assault on Two Sisters, accompanied by the unit's Commando-trained chaplain, the Revd Wynne Jones RN. Lieutenant James Kelly's 1 Troop secured the western third of the spineback on the southern peak ('Long Toenail') without opposition. However, at 11:00 pm local time,[41] Lieutenant David Stewart's 3 Troop encountered stiff resistance on the spineback and was unable to advance. After their attempt to dislodge the Argentine 3rd Platoon failed, Lieutenant Chris Caroe's 2 Troop launched a follow-up attack, but were beaten back by artillery fire called in by the Argentine Forward Observation Officer (FOO), Sub-Lieutenant Javier Tagle, of the 4th Airborne Artillery Group.[42][43]
For nearly four hours, X-Ray Company remained pinned on the slopes.[44] British softening-up fire swept back and forth across the high ground, but the Argentine 3rd Platoon under Second Lieutenant Llambías-Pravaz, supported by a section from Mario Pacheco's 10th Engineer Company and shouting Guarani war cries,[45] repelled all attempts to dislodge them. The position was finally cleared at about 2:45 am.[46][47]
Recognising that a single company could not secure Two Sisters before dawn, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Whitehead brought up the battalion’s remaining two rifle companies.[48] At about 12:30 am local time,[49] Yankee and Zulu Companies began their assault on the northern peak of Two Sisters, known as 'Summer Days'. In a hard-fought engagement lasting two hours,[50] the Marines faced two well-positioned Argentine rifle platoons under Subtenientes Mosquera-Gutiérrez and Pérez-Grandi. Despite sustained heavy machine-gun and mortar fire, they succeeded in capturing the summit.
Argentine mortar platoon commander Lieutenant Martella, who had already expended much of his ammunition attempting to stop 42 Commando’s advance on Mount Harriet, was killed during this phase of the battle.[51] Two British platoon commanders were wounded in the bombardment, and a Royal Engineer attached to clear booby traps was killed. Marine Chris Cooke later recalled: "The three officers in my company pledged to have a drink together at the other end of the island, but only one made it, the other two left with shrapnel wounds."[52]
Zulu Company platoon commander Lieutenant Clive Dytor was awarded the Military Cross for rallying 8 Troop and leading a bayonet charge to take the peak. Reflecting on the moment, he said:
"I began listening to our rate of fire and I realised we were going to run out of ammunition. Then I remembered a line in a book about the Black Watch in the Second World War. They were pinned down and the adjutant stood up and shouted, 'Is this the Black Watch? Charge!’ What I didn’t remember, until I read it again later, was that he was actually cut in half at that point by a German machine gun. The next thing I knew I was up and running on my own, shouting, 'Zulu, Zulu, Zulu,’ which was our company battle cry and also the battle cry of my father’s old regiment, the South Wales Borderers."[53]
Second Lieutenant Aldo Eugenio Franco and his RI 6 platoon, having abandoned a planned counterattack[54] in conjunction with Major David Carullo’s Panhard armoured car squadron,[55] because Argentine forces no longer held the peaks of Two Sisters,[56] provided covering fire for the withdrawal and prevented Yankee Company from attacking C Company during its retreat.[57][58]
Augusto Esteban La Madrid, a second lieutenant in the local reserve who had been tasked with supporting Major Cordon, told historian Martin Middlebrook that during the final stages of the action, "Subteniente Franco's platoon was left as a rearguard, but he made it back to Tumbledown OK."[57]
Sub-Lieutenant Nazer had been wounded while covering the withdrawal. The remnants of his platoon, placed under the command of Corporal Virgilio Rafael Barrientos, later occupied positions on Sapper Hill. Sub-Lieutenants Mosquera-Gutiérrez and Pérez-Grandi were also wounded during the British bombardment, and their remaining troops were placed under the command of Captain Carlos López Patterson, the 4th Regiment’s Operations Officer. He established blocking positions between Mount Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge alongside the dismounted 10th Armoured Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, under Captain Rodrigo Alejandro Soloaga.[59]These forces engaged forward elements of 3 PARA, notably A Company on Mount Longdon, with heavy machine-gun and mortar fire during 12 and 13 June. This pressure eventually forced No. 3 Platoon (Lieutenant David Wright) to withdraw from the eastern summit.[60]
After securing Two Sisters, 45 Commando came under retaliatory fire from surrounding Argentine positions. Captain Gardiner’s X-Ray Company reported Corporal Frank Melia wounded during the daylight hours of 12 June, after attracting mortar fire originating from Tumbledown Mountain.[61] Several Marines sheltering in abandoned Argentine bunkers on Two Sisters were incapacitated due to near-misses from Argentine shellfire including 105mm OTO Melara and 155mm CITER L33 rounds. Although the bunkers provided some protection, repeated shock waves from close impacts caused temporary and, in some cases, permanent hearing loss.[62]
On 13 June, two Argentine A-4 Skyhawk from Grupo 5, attacked vehicles and helicopters stationed near 3 Commando Brigade Headquarters, located on the lower western slopes of Two Sisters near the Murrell River. The raid resulted in one helicopter crewman injured and significant damage to three Gazelle helicopters.[63][64][65]
The attack, involved one Skyhawk dropping bombs while the second strafed with 20 mm cannon fire.[66] The damage was confined to helicopters and nearby vehicles, one crewman suffered a blast wound and perforated eardrums, another a mild concussion.[67] Overall disruption to 3 Commando Brigade operations was limited, though the damage did cause delays to 2 PARA's preparations for the following evening’s assault.[68]
On the morning of 14 June, as 45 Commando positioned on the forward slopes of Two Sisters prepared to reinforce the Welsh Guards consolidating on Sapper Hill, a Snowcat tracked vehicle from 407 Transportation Troop entered a minefield. The driver dismounted to warn following vehicles of the danger, but stepped on an anti-personnel mine, sustaining severe injuries that required evacuation by helicopter.[69]
Naval bombardment
Naval gunfire support was provided by HMS Glamorgan's twin 4.5-inch (114mm) guns. The naval gunfire officer accompanying the Royal Marines had been wounded early in the battle for Two Sisters,[70] but Bombardier Edward Holt from 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, took over and continued to give swift and accurate directions to the destroyer and was subsequently awarded the Military Medal.[71]
On the night of the battle Glamorgan was asked to remain in action longer than planned, to help Yankee Company clear Subteniente Aldo Franco's rifle platoon on the eastern half of Two Sisters covering the Argentine withdrawal.[72] As the destroyer took a short cut closer to the shoreline a RASIT radar of the Argentinian Army tracked her movements.[73]
Two MM38 Exocet missiles had been removed from the destroyer ARA Seguí[74] and secured on launcher, dubbed 'ITB' (Instalación de Tiro Berreta) "trashy firing platform".[75] The missiles, launcher, transporter, and associated electronics trailer were flown by transport aircraft to the Falkland Islands on 31 May.[76]
At 0336 local time, the British skipper, Commander Ian Inskip, looking at the radar screen, realized that Glamorgan was under attack by an anti-ship missile, and ordered a highspeed turn just before the Exocet struck the port side adjacent to the hangar. The missile skidded on the deck and detonated, making a 10 by 15 feet (3.0m ×4.6m) hole in the hangar deck and a 5 by 4 feet (1.5m ×1.2m) hole in the galley area below, where a fire started.[77]
The blast travelled forwards and down, and the missile, penetrated the hangar door, causing the ship's Wessex helicopter (HAS.3 XM837) to explode and start a severe fire in the hangar. Fourteen crew members were killed and about twenty wounded.[78]
Aftermath
The next morning Colonel Andrew Whitehead looked in wonderment at the strength of the positions the enemy had abandoned. "With fifty Royals," he said, "I could have died of old age holding this place." (Max Hastings, Going To The Wars, p.363, Macmillan 2000) Although the British unit seemed at the time to have had an easy victory, those actually engaged with the enemy platoons would have been unlikely to agree. Marine Nick Taylor that fought for the southern peak of Two Sisters as part of X-Ray Company explained in a 2012 interview with a major British newspaper that it was the “ferocity and superior firepower of the British forces (that) gained the advantage and the Argentinians retreated”.[79]
Thirty years later, Marine Keith Brown recalled the fighting for the northern peak and concluded
My impression of a night attack was that it was nothing like I expected it to be – in terms of a fairly ordered affair with people running and taking out machine-gun nests. It was just hugely confusing. It was fairly arbitrary as to who seemed to be injured – lots of bangs and flashes and very loud noises. You had naval artillery and mortars and heavy and light small arms fire as well. It was terrifying, to be honest. I don’t know how my colleagues felt. We were pretty much pinned down and we came under direct fire from the Argentinians. Up to that point, it was all to do with artillery and mortar rounds, but this was direct fire and they were using what seemed to us to be tracers, which was pretty daft. So, you could see where their fields of fire were and we were down low on the ground.[80]
British-American historian Hugh Bicheno has been critical of the 6th Infantry Regiment's 'B' Company who, he claims, withdrew in a disorderly manner from front-line positions at the opening of the battle, although this seems to have little foundation. Brigadier-General Oscar Luis Jofre had certainly been planning to counterattack on Two Sisters but with the defenders no longer in possession of the twin peaks, he ordered the abandonment of the feature and later wrote All of a sudden, we suffer the first emotional impact. It was 04.45 when we received reports from Major Jaimet saying that the defenders on Two Sisters could no longer resist the enemy attack and would begin their withdrawal.[81] Major Oscar Ramón Jaimet has gone on record, saying in the Argentinean newspaper La Gaceta that he had designated Sub-Lieutenant Franco to cover the Argentinean withdrawal and that Argentinean artillery fire was brought down in error amongst the company.[82] Indeed, the company withdrew in good order, according to the Spanish-speaking warrant officer attached to 3 Commando Brigade Headquarters in the fighting.[83] The Argentine Army Official Report on the war recommended Major Oscar Ramon Jaimet and CSM Jorge Edgardo Pitrella of the 6th Regiment's B Company for an MVC (Argentine Nation to the Valour in Combat Medal) for the conduct of their fighting withdrawal and subsequent behaviour on Tumbledown (this was later granted to Major Jaimet, Pitrella was awarded the Argentine Army to the Effort and Abnegation Medal).[84]
Sergeant-Major George Meachin of Yankee Company later praised the fighting abilities and spirit of the Argentine defenders of the northern peak in the form of the men of Pérez-Grandi and Mosquera-Gutierrez:
We came under lots of effective fire from 0.50 calibre machine guns ...At the same time, mortars were coming down all over us, but the main threat was from those machine-gunners who could see us in the open because of the moonlight. There were three machine-guns and we brought down constant and effective salvos of our own artillery fire on to them directly, 15 rounds at a time. There would be a pause, and they'd come back at us again. So we had to do it a second time, all over their positions. There'd be a pause, then 'boom, boom, boom,' they'd come back at us again. Conscripts don't do this, babies don't do this, men who are badly led and of low morale don't do this. They were good steadfast troops. I rate them.
Hugh Bicheno described the moonscape of devastation:
Although Wireless Ridge and the saddle between Tumbledown and William are still heavily scarred, even after more than twenty years the beaten zone between the Two Sisters bear the most eloquent witness to the awesome power of the British artillery, which fired 1,500 shells at the Two Sisters that night. The still-churned area occupied by Nazer's platoon in particular leaves one in no doubt why they decamped immediately, while the saddle itself is dimpled with craters, testimony to the tenacity of Martella's Heavy machine guns and mortars.
—Hugh Bicheno, Razor's Edge: The Unofficial History of the Falklands War, p. 242, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006
With the telephone lines to the command post in shreds, Llambías Pravaz led his men to join M Company, 5th Marine Infantry Battalion on Sapper Hill.[85] He had nearly been killed in the fighting when a rock impacted his helmet after a Milan missile exploded close behind him.[86]
The X-Ray Company Marines were in awe of the Argentines in the depleted 3rd Platoon who had put up such determined resistance, and their company commander, Captain Gardiner in the book Above All, Courage (Above All, Courage: The Falklands Front Line: First-Hand Accounts, Max Arthur, pp.389–390, Sidwick & Jackson, 1985) later said:
A hard cadre of some twenty men had stayed behind and fought, and they were brave men. Those who stayed and fought had something. I for one would not wish to face my Marines in battle.
Some 30 years later, Marine Nick Hunt of X-Ray Company got in contact with Sub-Lieutenant Marcelo Llambías-Pravaz, and in a televised reunion on the southern peak of the mountain, he returned the pictures he had found of the army officer and his platoon of conscripts the morning after the Royal Marines had stormed the position.[87]
Casualties
Seven Royal Marine Commandos and a sapper from 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers were killed taking Two Sisters.[88][1][89][90] Another 17 British marines in 45 Commando,[91][92] including platoon commanders (Lieutenants Fox, Denning and Davies) were wounded. 20 Argentines were killed in the first eleven days of June and the night of the battle, with 50 wounded[4] and 54 taken prisoner.
HMS Glamorgan, which was providing Naval gunfire support (NGS) stayed in her position to support the Royal Marine Commandos who were pinned down. HMS Glamorgan stayed past the time she was meant to leave and was hit by a land-based Exocet missile, fourteen crew were killed and more wounded as a result of this attack.[93][94]
↑ "Two SAS men had been flown in with gunshot wounds that were quite obviously more than 24 hours old. We knew better than to ask them about the circumstances of their injuries, and instead simply operated on them. The anaesthetist, Malcolm Jowitt, used Ketalar, in injectable and steroid-based general anaesthetic that had some occasional and highly interesting side effects. One of the SAS men, a big ex-Sapper, came from round his op and started singing bawdy rugby songs, quite tunefully, at the top of his voice!" The Red and Green Life Machine: A Diary of the Falklands Field Hospital, Rick Jolly, pp. 87-88, Century Publishing, 1983
↑ 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands 1982. Nicholas Van der Bijl, David Aldea. pp. 63–64. Leo Cooper, 2003
↑ Twilight Warriors: Inside the World's Special Forces. Martin C. Arostegui. p. 205. St. Martin's Press, 15/01/1997
↑ "Suddenly there was a burst of firing, and the distinct crack of at least one grenade going off ... One of the blokes took splinter wounds from the grenade in his back and was brought up to our position to be looked after ... The other casualty's shrapnel wounds were unpleasant but not serious." SAS: Sea King Down, Mark Aston & Stuart Tootal, Penguin Books, 2021
↑ La Guerra de las Malvinas, p.352, Editorial Oriente, 1987
↑ "During another action, an enemy aircraft fell victim to the 601 Air Defence's 35mm batteries. The plane came down in the water and the pilot, Squadron Leader Pook was rescued shortly after." Moro, p. 272, English edition
↑ "The two GR3s remained until 11.30 am when they took off to rocket Argentine troops positions on Two Sisters." The Royal Navy and Falklands War, David Brown, p. 284, Pen & Sword, 1987
↑ 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands 1982. Nicholas Van der Bijl, David Aldea. p. 169. Leo Cooper, 2003
↑ Neillands, Robin. By Sea and Land: The Story of the Royal Marine Commandos. Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2000, p. 402. ISBN 9780304352584.
↑ https://www.scribd.com/document/672943373/5MAY-HAR-PROD-traba. Harrier GR.3 XZ989 was stripped for spares and repatriated to the UK. In March 1983, it was assessed as beyond economical repair and allocated for ground-instructional duties at RAF Gütersloh in West Germany. The airframe was later scrapped following the closure of RAF Gütersloh in 1993.
↑ In total, we carried out 130 attack sorties and lost three aircraft, all to ground fire. A fourth Harrier crashed during vertical landing at the 850 ft metal runway at San Carlos. This mishap stemmed from damage by small arms fire. Harrier: Ski-Jump to Victory, John Godden, p. 29. Brassey’s, 1983.
↑ The final GR.3 to be lost was XZ989, flown by Peter Squire, which suffered a power loss on returning to the matted landing site; his aircraft hit the ground rather hard, irretrievably damaging it. BAE/McDonnell Douglas Harrier, Andy Evans, p. 75. Crowood Press, 1988.
↑ "It was during the night of 9/10 June that a returning British fighting patrol from 45 Commando Royal Marines was mistaken for the enemy and Sergeant Bob Leeming, Corporal Andy Uren, Corporal Pete Fitton, and Marine Keith Phillips were killed in the subsequent firefight which occurred just before the main assault on Two Sisters"COMMANDO Veterans Association
↑ Malvinas: relatos de soldados, Martín Balza, p. 120, Círculo Militar, 1985
↑ La Guerra de las Malvinas, p. 420, Editorial Oriente, 1987
↑ Royal Marine Commando 1950–82: From Korea to the Falklands, William Fowler, p. 57, Osprey Publishing, 21/04/2009
↑ "The GR3s, on the other hand, had a busy day. Four two-plane missions took from the airstrip, three to drop bombs on the Argentine positions on Two Sisters, Mount Harriet and Mount Longdon - the objective for the land assault due that night - and the other to bomb the Moody Brook barracks and Mount Tumbledown." The Royal Navy and Falklands War, David Brown, p.313, Pen & Sword, 1987
↑ Tte médico, Steverlynck Alejandro, Available on YouTube
↑ "Ten minutes later the 150 men of X Company were as good as new and began their assault at 11 pm." No Picnic: 3 Commando Brigade in the South Atlantic 1982, Julian Thompson, p. 131, Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg, 1985
↑ "2 Troop battered their way to the top, to be temporarily forced off by the enemy artillery firing defensive fire tasks on to the objective." No Picnic: 3 Commando Brigade in the South Atlantic, Julian Thompson, p. 132, Casemate Publishers, 1992
↑ "Inicialmente se apoyó al RI 4 en el MONTE DOS HERMANAS , dirigió el fuego hasta el momento del repliegue el subteniente GAVIER TAGLE." La Artillería Argentina en Malvinas, Horacio Rodríguez Mottino, p. 149, Editorial Clio, 1984
↑ Nine Battles to Stanley, Nick van der Bijl, p. 178, Pen & Sword Books, 2014
↑ "Second-Lieutenant Llambías-Pravaz's 3rd Platoon, on Long Toenail, the south-western feature, opened fire on X Company at 11.30 pm and was not dislodged until about 2.45 am." 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands 1982, Nicholas van der Bijl & David Aldea, p. 177, Leo Cooper, 2003
↑ "To the west, X Company had pushed Llambias-Pravaz' platoon and Corporal Pacheco's section off Long Toenail by about 2.45am." Nine Battles to Stanley, p. ?, Leo Cooper, 1999
↑ No Picnic: 3 Commando Brigade in the South Atlantic 1982, Julian Thompson, p. 132, Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg, 1985
↑ "For the next two hours the men were pinned down, unable to move due to the sheer weight of enemy fire coming down the mountain towards them. In one mortar blast their troop commander was also badly wounded in the neck by shrapnel, a Royal Engineer attached to the troop to clear enemy booby traps was killed and a troop signaller received a scalp injury." The 72-hour battle that won the Falklands War, The Telegraph, 12 June 2022
↑ “Cuando aclaró, a eso de las nueve de la mañana del sábado, vi que también se estaban replegando los vehículos cazatanques Panhard: habían sido enviados para apoyar a los dos regimientos y volvieron bajo una lluvia de fuego.” Malvinas A Sangre y Fuego, Nicolás Kasanzew, p. 182, Editorial Abril, 1982
↑ Malvinas: Testimonio de su Gobernador, Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Carlos M. Túrolo, p. 273, Editorial Sudamericana, 1983
1 2 3 The Fight for the "Malvinas": The Argentine Forces in the Falklands War, Martin Middlebrook, p. 239, Penguin, 1990
↑ 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands 1982, Nicholas van der Bijl & David Aldea, p. 178, Leo Cooper, 2003
↑ “Corporal Frank Melia heard a mortar coming in which must've had his name on it because as it came in, he dived, and the only place to go was in this hole on top of the bodies! The mortar went off really close and a bit of shrapnel carved a neat nick right out of the top of his head. He survived, and never was nonchalant about mortar fire again.” Above All, Courage: The Falklands Front Line – First-Hand Accounts, Max Arthur, p. 278, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985
↑ “The Argentine artillery fire was pretty accurate, so the bunkers vacated by our enemies were now put to use again and protected many men from the worst of the onslaught ... Shells were landing within a few metres of our positions and the shock waves rattled one to the core. Men were deaf for hours and some the damage to their hearing was permanent and irreparable.” The Yompers: With 45 Commando in the Falklands War, Ian Gardiner, Pen & Sword, 2012
↑ McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, Brad Elward, p. 759, Crowood, 2001
↑ Above All, Courage, Max Arthur, p. 85, Cassell & Co., 2002
↑ The Falklands 1982: Ground Operations in the South Atlantic, Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012
↑ No Picnic, Julian Thompson, p. 147, Casemate Publishers, 1992
↑ I Counted Them All Out and I Counted Them All Back: The Battle for the Falklands, Brian Hanrahan & Robert Fox, p. 147, Chivers Press, 1982
↑ The Falklands 1982: Ground Operations in the South Atlantic, Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012
↑ Forgotten Voices of the Falklands, Hugh McManners, p. 432, Random House, 2008
↑ "The naval gunfire support spotting officer was wounded during the early stages of the attack, but his assistant, Bombardier E. M. Holt, took over and continued to give accurate directions to the ship and was subsequently awarded the Military Medal." The Royal Navy and Falklands War, David Brown, p. 318, Pen & Sword, 1987
↑ "While we in 45 Commando were all heavily engaged on our mountain, the battle for Two Sisters continued out at sea. The knock-on effect of all the delays meant that HMS Glamorgan was still being asked for fire missions when she should have been sailing away from the coast before daylight and safety from air attack. Captain Mike Barrow, knowing that 45 Commando were fighting for their lives on Two Sisters, decided that he should stay as long as he possibly could to support us." The Yompers: With 45 Commando in the Falklands War, Ian Gardiner, p.?, Pen & Sword, 2012
↑ "Glamorgan was about seventeen miles offshore and taking a short cut across the shore-based Exocet limit line when her radar picked up a signature the same size and speed of a 155mm shell ... Glamorgan launched a Seacat missile which passed close to the missile, however, it skipped onto the flight deck and skidded into the hangar. Burning fuel from a Wessex flooded through a hole into the galley and a fireball thundered into the gas turbine room." 9 Battles To Stanley, Nick van der Bijl, p. 63, Pen & Sword, 2014
↑ "All three companies then fought brisk battles on their objectives, suffering eight killed and seventeen wounded in the process." Jigsaw Puzzles: Tactical Intelligence in the Falklands Campaign, Giles Orpen-Smellie, p.?, Amberley Publishing Limited, 2022
↑ "The British had lost twenty-three men on Longdon, eight on Two Sisters and another seven on Mount Harriet, the Argentines having fought more valiantly than is often remembered." Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979-1982, Dominic Sandbrook, Penguin UK, 2019
↑ "All three companies then fought brisk battles on their objectives, suffering eight killed and seventeen wounded in the process." Jigsaw Puzzles: Tactical Intelligence in the Falklands Campaign, Giles Orpen-Smellie, p.?, Amberley Publishing Limited, 2022
Max Arthur (2002). Above All, Courage: The Eyewitness History of the Falklands War (Cassell Military Paperbacks S.). Cassells Military Paperbacks. ISBN0-304-36257-3.
Martin Middlebrook (2003). The Fight For The Malvinas. Pen and Sword Books / Leo Cooper Paperbacks. ISBN0-85052-978-6.
Scheina, Robert L (2003). Latin America's Wars: The age of the professional soldier, 1900–2001. Brassey's. ISBN1-57488-452-2.
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