Episode 7 – Britain’s Task Force mobilises and eccentric Major Ewan Southby-Tailyour fishes out his Falkland maps

The Argentinians invaded the Falklands on 2nd April 1982 and as you heard last episode, the main force took the islands after a short firefight at Government House which left one Argentinian dead and two wounded and one Royal Marine wounded in the arm there.

The Army’s 25th Regiment was already flying in from the mainland airfield of Comodoro Rivadavia to replace the marine landing force. It would be followed by the 9th Engineer Company, and these two units would constitute the first Argentine Garrison in the Falklands.

Four of the important planes in the coming conflict, the Pucaras, of the 3rd Attack Group then carried out a fly-past and landed at Port Stanley airfield. The Argentinian 25th Regiment to be the main force in the garrison and they were chosen because they were the closest unit to the islands. Some have said they were chosen symbolically as superior troops selected from various units but Argentinians say this was false information.

They were a normal unit with professional officers and NCOs but all the privates were conscripts. This was going to have a bearing on what happened when the fighting started later. The British were sending professionals, whereas the Argentinian backbone of soldiers were all conscripts and in the coming hand-to-hand battles in trenches, this would be a telling difference.

The Falkands British officials were removed on the same day, including most of the Royal Marines which were quickly rounded up. Their commanding officer, Major Norman, later said that his men were treated well by the captors – except when the Argentinian 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion arrived. They weren’t involved in any fighting and yet had set out to humiliate the British troops. While this was going on, Argentina erupted in a day of ecstasy. A communique announced that the fifty two year-old commander of the Buenos Aires first army corps, General Mario Benjamin Menendez had been appointed governor of the Islas Malvinas. At a rally later outside the Casa Rosada presidential palace, General Galtieri told a jubilant crowd that the three commanders in chief of the junta had interpreted the will of the people. His voice constantly broke with emotion at the spectacle before him. Not since the days of Peron had a soldier been so well received. A few days before, this police had shot civilians in the same Plaza, now the square was filled with thousands weeping tears of joy.

In London, the 2nd April was a brilliant spring day – but Westminster and Whitehall were in shock – chilled to the bone by the news. Everyone was talking in hushed tones. It was only hours before that Margaret Thatchers’ cabinet had been discussing methods of deterrence and now these ideas were moot. What was even more incredible, is that throughout Friday morning long after the Argentinians had seized Port Stanley, the British establishment was incredulous about a full invasion. Their communications had been difficult with the Falklands for a number of reasons – including the weather – and they were monitoring the Buenos Aires celebrations with a sense of disbelief.

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