Two Royal Navy frigatesYarmouth and Activelay offshore to provide naval gunfire support. Cold, exhausted and running low on ammunition, the Argentines finally surrendered. I can remember lying there with all this firing going over my head. "Get down! A half-hour into the engagement, shortly after 10 p.m., G Company commenced the assault on Tumbledown. 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. On the eastern half of the mountain the platoons of conscripts of La Madrid and Mio platoon, were attempting to renew their advance, having already wounded six Guardsmen, so Colonel Scott ordered Right Flank to push on to clear the final positions. 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. In a sense the casualty figures are misleading. Clark Mitchell MID 2022-11-13. Mount Tumbledown, Mount William and Sapper Hill lie west of the capital. On Mount William's southern slopes, one of the tanks was taken out of action by a booby trap. 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 and Royals, attacked the Argentinian marine company entrenched on the lower slopes of Mount William. The Argentinians had well dug-in machine guns and snipers. Meanwhile, the United States, concerned Argentina might draw the Soviet Union into the fight as an ally, tried to stem the conflict diplomatically. He was one of 43 British soldiers wounded on Tumbledown; nine had been killed. Port Stanley. 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. 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 2nd Platoon, led by Marine Second Lieutenant Marcelo Oruezabala, was dug in between Tumbledown and William. 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. From then on we fought from crag to crag, rock to rock, taking out pockets of enemy and lone riflemen, all of whom resisted fiercely. The decisive final battle of the war took place on Mount Tumbledown, Argentinian shoes in a rock sangar position, untouched for 40 years, Expended rifle round casings provide direct evidence of a moment in the battle, The project directors, Tim Clack and Tony Pollard, on the battlefield site, A 3D model of a section of Mount Tumbledown drone survey, Doug Farthing in a teaching session at the Falkland Islands Community School in Port Stanley, The remains of Argentine field kitchens known as ranchos at the eastern end of Tumbledown, Artist Douglas Farthing painted the mountain at the point of the advance, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. As the Guardsmen and Royal Marines consolidated their positions, the British lost a Volvo Bv 202 tracked vehicle to an anti-tank mine planted in the Sapper Hill sector. Theres been no update to these figures over the last 13 years, or assessments of the numbers of Argentine veterans who took their own lives over what combat veteran Robert Lawrence remembers as a short, bloody, wet and dirty war, fought on the edge of the world.. Close to the heart of any Scots Guardsman, a battlefield study of Mount Tumbledown saw the party given an overview of the famous 1982 battle. "A patrol from G Squadron SAS commandeered a civilian yacht at Bluff Cove, had its engine repaired by army engineers and sailed east along the coast in broad daylight. By mid-June, after grueling cross-country marches (yomps, in Royal Marine lingo) with full packs in bitter temps across the pitted Falklands tundra, British forces were within striking distance of Port Stanley, but they faced a strong defensive perimetera ring of hills occupied by dug-in Argentine army and marine units. We were supposed to finish the attack and they would give us covering fire from Tumbledown During the night we followed the Scots Guards and then our CO told us to stop. By this time Lawrence was near the summit, desperately looking for an enemy administration and supply area. 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. The Argentinian forces defending the mountains were Commander Carlos Robacio's 5th Marine Infantry Battalion (BIM 5). About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . [5] Major John Kiszely's Left Flank passed through them and reached the central region of the peak unopposed, but then came under heavy fire. They had been grievously misinformed. [28], No Harriers were shot down on 7 June. Fortunately for the British, the shells nearly all landed in soft peat, which absorbed the blasts; otherwise, the result would have been catastrophic. At the foot of the hill there was an enormous 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. HistoryLearning.com. The unique project is documenting a number of Argentine defensive positions in the 1982 war, in particular for the decisive encounter on Mount Tumbledown. I went through another gap in the rocks and was surprised by three men speaking in English behind and above me and firing over the top of me. 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. 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. By about 815 the following morning, the UK forces had overcome the argentines and held the hills. Three dimensional digital models are being made of a number of structures, such as bunkers and sangars. The next day, the 1st Assault Section (under First Lieutenant Jos Martiniano Duarte) from the 601st Commando Company checked the boat for hidden explosives, then brought it back to Port Stanley for closer examination.[24]. The battle seesawed for a full day and a night. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. 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. Fue impresionante su actitud ofensiva.". Marine Sub-Lieutenant Hctor Mino's 5th Platoon, Amphibious Engineer Company, held the rocks to the right of Marine Sub-Lieutenant Carlos Vzquez's 4th Platoon, 5th Marines. Wiser minds prevailed, and battalion commander Lt. Col. Michael Scott set the assault on Tumbledown for shortly after dusk on the 13th. A group of Sappers went ahead to clear a path through the mines, but when the Welsh Guardsmen advanced they found Sapper Hill abandoned. [23] That night, patrolling near Sapper Hill, a five-man squad (under Sergeant Miguel Angel Martinez) from the 3rd Regiment Recce Platoon discovered an abandoned rubber boat. He said, "Look, Goli Ayo!" The close quarter battle was such that the Argentine artillery was unable to drop shells on to the British attackers. The Argentinian defenders held firm under the British 'softening up' bombardment, which began at 7:30 local time. The Guards took 30 prisoners, several of them RI 6 soldiers. It was rugged going, over scree that gave way under the soldiers boots. In June, Lieutenant Reynoso's Recce Platoon reportedly exchanged small arms fire with a British patrol (possibly G Squadron from the SAS, who had commandeered a yacht at Bluff Cove Settlement to operate behind Tumbledown[25] and had also sent men forward in a helicopter[26]) infiltrated near Sapper Hill, prior to the final land battles. In the third phase, Right Flank would pass through Left Flank to secure the eastern end of Tumbledown. This page was last edited on 23 October 2022, at 23:19. The British capture of heights above Stanley leads to the surrender of the town shortly afterwards. The Argentinian sniper (in fact Private Luis Jorge Bordn or Walter Ignacio Becerra, according to La Madrid[18]), armed with a FAL rifle, had helped cover the Argentinean retreat, firing shots at a Scout helicopter evacuating wounded off Tumbledown and wounding two men (including Guardsman Kenny Mains). A 155 mm howitzer was lightly damaged and six soldiers injured. The team has mapped rock-built fortifications, firing trenches, and mortar and artillery craters. 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. "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.". By 9:00a.m., the Scots Guards had gained the high ground east of Tumbledown Mountain and the Gurkhas commenced deploying across the heavily shelled saddle from Tumbledown south to Mount William, which they took with the loss of eight wounded. 543K views, 6.1K likes, 285 loves, 797 comments, 1.6K shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The British Falkland Islands & British Military: Battle of Mount Tumbledown On the night of 13-14 June 1982. [2], During the battle, the 5th Marines Command Post took five direct hits, but Commander Robacio emerged unscathed.[3]. 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 . Then the FOO was standing and looking and the second shot hit him in the chest.[19]. During the helicopter evacuations of the wounded, Captain Sam Drennan of No. These objects include cooking stands made from fencing wire, cut up oil drums for metal sheeting to construct shelters, bullets and bomb fragments. Major Iain Charles Mackay-Dick (Westcott 1959-1963), 2nd i/c, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards. DeSantis won't say he's running. 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. "All of this adds a richness to field archaeology - which is not seen often," she added. In the centre and to the left of the 4th Platoon were Second Lieutenant scar Silva's RI 4 platoon, which had recently fought well on Goat Ridge. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. Once we had taken that, we would have taken the whole mountain., As Lawrence reached the summit, other guardsmen from various platoons closed up behind and around him. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}514147S 57583W / 51.69639S 57.96750W / -51.69639; -57.96750, Razor's Edge, Hugh Bicheno, p. 288, Phoenix, 2007, Nick van der Bijl, Victory in the Falklands, p.199, Pen and Sword, 2007, Nine battles to Stanley, Nicholas Van der Bijl, p. 190, Leo Cooper, 30 September 1999, Patrick Bishop and John Witherow, The Winter War: Falklands Conflict, p. 133. And William Second shot hit him in the chest. [ 19 ] well dug-in machine guns snipers. Morning, the Argentines and held the hills in the third phase Right. Howitzer was lightly damaged and six soldiers injured this adds a richness to archaeology... Bunkers and sangars prevailed, and mortar and artillery craters and Sapper Hill lie west of the capital 815... 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