Oscar Ismael Poltronieri (born 2 February 1962) is an Argentine former soldier, who fought in the Falklands War in 1982. He is the only private who received antemortem the highest military distinction of Argentina, the Cross for Heroic Valour in Combat, for his actions during the Battle of Two Sisters. [1] [2] [3]
He was born in Mercedes, Buenos Aires Province, into a poor family and started work as ranch hand when he was a child, never finishing elementary school. In 1981, Poltronieri was called up for military service. With only basic instruction, he was assigned to the Sixth Infantry Regiment to fight during the conflict of the Falklands in 1982. In the last hours of the combat, ignoring an order to withdraw, he stayed with an FN MAG, single-handedly stopping an assault by the Scots Guards. [1]
After the war, he only got temporary jobs and became a beggar due to the desmalvinización , the rejection by Argentinian society of the Falklands conflict and its veterans. Nevertheless, he became the subject of recognition when his story attracted the attention of the main media of the country such as the newspaper Clarín . [4] The Argentine Army eventually incorporated him as civilian personnel at Campo de Mayo base. [5]
He is the subject of multiple tributes including a documentary about his life and songs. [6] [5] [7]
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general who served as President of Argentina from December 1981 to June 1982. Galtieri exercised his control over Argentina as a military ruler during the National Reorganization Process as leader of the Third Junta with Jorge Anaya and Basilio Lami Dozo.
This article describes the composition and actions of the Argentine air forces in the Falklands War, which comprised units of the Air Force, Army, Navy and other services.
Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya was an Argentine admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires. He participated in the right-wing military dictatorship known as the National Reorganisation Process (1976–1983) and, along with Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri and Basilio Lami Dozo, was a member of the Third Military Junta that ruled Argentina between 1981 and 1982. He was the main architect and supporter of a military solution for the long-standing claim over the Falkland Islands that led to the Falklands War.
The Beagle conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war in 1978.
This is a list of the ground forces from Argentina that took part in the Falklands War. For a list of ground forces from the United Kingdom, see British ground forces in the Falklands War.
Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill, who normally went only by his surname, Fogwill, was an Argentine short story writer, novelist, and businessman. He was a distant relative of the novelist Charles Langbridge Morgan. He was the author of Malvinas Requiem, one of the first narratives to deal with the Falklands War. Fogwill died on August 21, 2010, from a pulmonary dysfunction.
Malvinas Day, officially Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the Malvinas War, is a public holiday in Argentina, observed each year on 2 April. The name refers to the Falkland Islands, known in Spanish as the Islas Malvinas.
The cultural impact of the Falklands War spanned several media in both Britain and Argentina. A number of films and television productions emerged from the conflict. The first Argentine film about the war was Los chicos de la guerra in 1984. The BBC drama Tumbledown (1988) tells the story of a British officer paralysed from a bullet wound. The computer game Harrier Attack (1983) and the naval strategy game Strike Fleet (1987) are two examples of Falklands-related games. A number of fictional works were set during the Falklands War, including in Stephen King's novella The Langoliers (1990), in which the character Nick Hopewell is a Falklands veteran. The war provided a wealth of material for non-fiction writers; in the United Kingdom (UK) an important account became Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins' The Battle for the Falklands.
There were many events leading to the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina over possession of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.
International relations between the Republic of Chile and the Argentine Republic have existed for decades. The border between the two countries is the world's third-longest international border, which is 5,300 km (3,300 mi) long and runs from north to south along the Andes mountains. Although both countries gained their independence during the South American wars of liberation, during much of the 19th and the 20th century, relations between the countries were chilly as a result of disputes over the border in Patagonia. Despite this, Chile and Argentina have never been engaged in a war with each other. In recent years, relations have improved. Argentina and Chile have followed quite different economic policies. Chile has signed free trade agreements with countries such as China, the United States, Canada, South Korea, as well as European Union, and it's a member of the APEC. Argentina belongs to the Mercosur regional free trade area. In April 2018, both countries suspended their membership from the UNASUR.
Argentine Nation for Heroic Valour in Combat Cross is the highest national military decoration in Argentina.
Capitan de Corbeta Pedro Edgardo Giachino, was an Argentine Navy officer who became the first serviceman killed in action during the Falklands War.
Operación Soberanía was a planned Argentine military invasion of Chile due to the Beagle conflict. The invasion was initiated on 22 December 1978 but was halted after a few hours and Argentine forces retreated from the conflict zone without a fight. Whether the Argentine infantry actually crossed the border into Chile has not been established. Argentine sources insist that they crossed the border.
The papal mediation in the Beagle conflict followed the failure of negotiations between Chile and Argentina, when, on 22 December 1978, the Argentinian Junta started Operation Soberanía, to invade Cape Horn and islands awarded to Chile by the Beagle Channel Arbitration. Soon after the event, Pope John Paul II offered to mediate and sent his personal envoy, Cardinal Antonio Samoré, to Buenos Aires. Argentina, in acceptance of the authority of the Pope over the overwhelmingly Catholic Argentine population, called off the military operation and accepted the mediation. On 9 January 1979, Chile and Argentina signed the Act of Montevideo formally requesting mediation by the Vatican and renouncing the use of force.
Mario Benjamin Menéndez was the Argentine governor of the Falklands during the 1982 Argentine occupation of the islands. He also served in the Argentine Army. Menéndez surrendered Argentine forces to Britain during the Falklands War.
The Argentine Military Cemetery, Spanish: Cementerio de Darwin, is a military cemetery on East Falkland that holds the remains of 236 Argentine combatants killed during the 1982 Falklands War. It is located at Fish Creek to the east of the Darwin Settlement the location of the Battle of Goose Green. There is a replica of the cemetery at Berazategui in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
The occupation of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was the short-lived Argentine occupation of a group of British islands in the South Atlantic whose sovereignty has long been disputed by Argentina. Until their invasion on 2 April 1982 by the Argentine military junta, they had been governed by the United Kingdom since it re-established control over them in 1833.
Alejandro Jacobo Betts was a Falklands-born Argentine air-traffic controller and activist who worked with the Argentine government as a technical advisor on the Tierra del Fuego's Malvinas Question Provincial Observatory Advisory Council. Betts supported Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands and was a controversial figure in the Falklands as a result. Betts also was the older brother of Terry Betts, who served as a member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council and assisted British forces in the Falklands War. His younger brother Peter served in the British Task Force.
The Argentine military trials of 2009 were held to determine the validity of claims made against officers and NCOs by conscript and other soldiers for alleged brutality and misconduct during the 1982 Falklands War.