This podcast series will endeavour to cover the story from both the British and Argentinian points of view.It was an odd war, fought with the same weapons, NATO weapons. But bullets don’t recognize nationalities, neither do torpedoes and missiles and both sides were going to brutalise each other with western arms. That was only one of many unusual facts about this short sharp war that has left the veterans on both side wondering what it was all for. As we watch Russia invade Ukraine claiming ownership, this is surely a moment to reflect on the Falklands where 255 British military personnel died, along with 649 Argentinians and 3 Falkland Island civilians. In comparison and after 5 days of fighting in the Ukraine, Russia has admitted to at least 500 deaths and thousands of casualties. As I put together this show the numbers in Europe were startling – a million refugees have fled the Ukraine and the war is going to lead to millions more. GK Chesterton wrote onc
The British had taken most of the hills overlooking Port Stanley by the morning of 14th June 1982 – and 2 Para had been ordered to halt on their position on Wireless Ridge.
They were waiting for the SAS and the Royal Marines who were raiding from the north of Cortley Hill Ridge, a long narrow piece…
We heard how the assault of Two Sisters and Mount Harriet went last episode, both were taken within 2 and a half hours – but 3 Paras attack on Mount Longdon was a different proposition.
It’s a steep sided hill about a mile long running almost west to east, it’s main ridge above 600 feet in places …
We pick up after the sinking of the Galahad and the debacle at Fitzroy and Bluff Cove. The British war cabinet was plunged into an argument over information.
New Brigade commander Moore had panicked and sent a message that he’d lost 900 men – we know it was 51. The Argentinians naturally believed t…
It was 30th May and the rusty liner the Canberra headed back into San Carlos water. On board were reinforcements from the 5th Infantry Brigade including the Gurkhas, the Scots and Welsh Guards.
They had been collected from the QE2 liner which had docked at South Georgia with the Guards and the Gurk…
The night of 27th May 1982 was cold and rainy, and waiting for the British on the mile-wide isthmus to the north of the settlements of Darwin and Goose Green were one hundred Argentinian conscripts making up two platoons of 12 Regiment A company, a dozen or so Argentinian reconnaissance soldiers, F…
As we heard in Episode 15, the British were ascendant, but they’d paid a high price.Twenty-six Argentinian planes had been shot down since the landings at San Carlos, ten British ships had been damaged by unexploded bombs, so imagine the carnage had these been fused properly.
Five ships had been su…
The British landings at San Carlos were both a threat and an opportunity for the Argentinians. Obviously allowing the British a toehold on east Falklands was a strategic danger, but now they could concentrate their air attacks on the landing zone, and the ships providing support.
In their first sor…
It’s still D-Day – 21st May 1982, and the British have landed over 3000 troops at the Bay of San Carlos Waters, now they need to shift thousands of tons of material from ship to shore, something that was going to be sorely tested by the Argentinian Air force.
On the morning of 21st May, and the Br…
The British were preparing to land their amphibious force on the north western tip of the East Falklands at a place called San Carlos. I won’t go into the long drawn out debate that took place between commanders over alternatives, because its moot considering what happened next.
However as you’re g…
The HSM Sheffield has just been sunk by an Exocet days after the General Belgrano was sent to the depths by two torpedoes.
This war was turning nastier by the minute and not helped by the media on both sides – British Warship sunk by Argies – yelled the Sun Headline
The Daily Star was a bit more d…
A catastrophe had befallen the Argentinians with the sinking of the Belgrano on May 2nd 1982, all in all 368 sailors died after it was torpedoed by the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror.
While Argentina’s warships never ventured out to sea again, the diplomatic fallout from the sinking caused Britain …
The Vulcan has just bombed Port Stanley airfield, causing significant damage and the Argentinians on the Falklands were about to experience a wave of attacks by Sea Harriers.
While this was happening, Argentina’s most powerful warship the General Belgrano was steaming into the Atlantic for the last…
It’s late April 1982 and the British have retaken the island of South Georgia after a sharp fight against the Argentinians who’d seized the frozen outcrop the day after the Falklands were invaded.
The Argentine fleet had returned to its base after the initial landing on 2nd April, its welcome as th…
When we ended last episode, the Argentinians had just seized Gryviken in South Georgia on 3rd April 1982 and had begun to move new units into the Falklands replacing the commandos who landed on the 2nd.
The British cabinet had met and the Task Force was at sea within 5 days. Elements of the force co…
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 fly…
The Argentinians have just landed commandos and attacked the Marine Barracks at Moody Brook, but missed their target as the 40 specialist brit soldiers have been on the move for more than a day already.
As your heard last episode, the British finally managed to get a warning to their Falklands Gove…
As we heard last episode, Argentinian businessman Senor Davidoff had chartered a boat to take 41 of his men to South Georgia to salvage metal and other materials from abandoned whaling stations. The had not reported to the British head of a scientific mission at the port of Grytviken despite being t…
As you heard last episode, Admiral Jorge Anaya had begun to plan an invasion of the Falklands by 1979, shortly after Argentina won the Soccer World Cup of 1978.
Anaya had been commander-in-chief of the Argentine Navy and a member of the military junta that controlled the country since 1976. But by f…
This is episode three and we’re dealing with the period up to the invasion of the islands by the Argentinians on 2nd April 1982.
Had it been a day earlier, most people across the world would have thought that the news was a horrendous April Food Joke – but it wasn’t.
As we heard last episode, b…
Those who fought in their twenties would be in their mid-sixties now – and there are quite a few thousand vets on both sides commemorating fallen comrades.
As you heard last episode, the ownership of the Falklands has been disputed for centuries although the islanders themselves are very clear who t…
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