Nine Battles to Stanley by Nick van der Bijl

Author:Nick van der Bijl [Bijl, Nick van der]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

8

Breakout

3rd Commando Brigade Operations

28 May to 11 June

‘There’s nowt for it but bimble out there to find out ourselves.’ Sergeant Millard, Intelligence Sergeant 42 Commando, on the lack of information

‘We’ll have to bloody well walk,’ was Lieutenant Colonel Whitehead’s response on being told about the sinking of the Atlantic Conveyor. While 2 Para were engaged at Goose Green, 45 Commando broke out of the beachhead and ‘yomped’ to Douglas while 3 Para set out on the long ‘tab’ to Teal Inlet. In front, the SAS, SBS and Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre RM scouted with a recce team from D Squadron already on Mount Kent. The Cadre was small Royal Marines unit skilled in mountain and winter warfare and was ideal for medium-range reconnaissance and flank protection. Its strength was larger than normal because when the Falklands war broke out, the lengthy Grade Two Mountain Leader course was nearing its end and, with the urgent need for specialist troops, the final exercise was the war. Brigadier Thompson regarded the seizure of Mount Kent as critical to the battle for Stanley and issued orders for it to be seized by 42 Commando in a coup de main the following night. On the 29th, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Vaux selected K Company to lead the attack.

A feature of uneven ridges and valleys, Mount Kent was also seen by the Argentines to be key to the defence of Stanley but it had been abandoned the previous day when Combat Team Solari had reinforced the doomed Goose Green garrison. If the company had still been on the feature, the British would have had another difficult battle to win but unaware to the Argentines, the remainder of D Squadron occupied the feature.

What was not known at HQ 3 Commando Brigade was that the Argentines had thrown a Special Forces screen across the British front to gain intelligence and raid its logistic chain as it advanced. So far, the cream of the Argentine Army had been ineffective. Two green-bereted 601 Commando Company sections sent to Port Howard had been cut off for several days after the landings, which meant that brigadier General Daher was in no position to harass the British beachhead, and Lieutenant Commander Camiletti had been captured by 40 Commando, as we have seen, and so he asked Major General Garcia to send another Special Forces company.

Major Aldo Rico, second-in-command of the 22nd Mountain Infantry Regiment and another fervent Malvinist, had already reasoned that, with one Special Forces unit committed to the defence of the Falklands, another should be raised to defend the Atlantic Littoral and provide battle casualty replacements. This was accepted by Army Headquarters and on 21 May, Rico was withdrawn from a mobilization exercise on the Chilean border and ordered to Campo de Mayo to command the new unit, 602 Commando Company. Brought up to a strength of fifty all ranks by four cavalry warrant officer Blowpipe instructors and two medics, few were physically fit for active service after several years in line units.

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