One of a number of night battles that took place during the British advance towards Stanley, the battle led to British troops capturing all the heights above the town, allowing its capture and the surrender of the Argentine forces on the islands. The next morning Colonel Andrew Whitehead looked in wonderment at the strength of the positions the enemy had abandoned.
Major Aldo Rico, commander of the 602 Commando Company, had a lucky escape in this engagement, when an enemy 66mm projectile exploded uncomfortably close to him and First Lieutenant Horacio Fernando Lauría. Charge!’ What I didn’t remember, until I read it again later, was that he was actually cut in half at that point by a German machine gun. In the confusion, five British troops died, including the mortar troop sergeant, and two were wounded. Night of 11 to 12 June, west of Stanley[4]. The 8th Battery, 29 Commando, Royal Artillery, supported them. ", According to Martin Middlebrook,"The Fight for the 'Malvinas' the Argentine Forces in the Falklands War", page 233, Héctor Rubén Simeoni, Malvinas: Contrahistoria, pp. In the confusion, four Royal Marines (Sergeant Robert Leeming, Corporals Andrew Uren, Peter Fitton and Marine Keith Phillips) were killed and three were wounded. By IAN GARDINER. Leo Cooper, 2003, Martin Middlebrook, p. 239, "The Fight for the 'Malvinas', "The naval gunfire support spotting officer was wounded during the early stages of the attack, but his assistant, Bombardier E. M. Holt, took over and continued to give accurate directions to the ship and was subsequently awarded the Military Medal." Apoyo de fuego Naval fue proporcionado por HMS … First Lieutenant Márquez and Sergeant Blas had shown great personal courage and leadership in the contact and were posthumously awarded the Argentine Medal of Valour in Combat. [23], On that same night (9–10 June), a friendly fire incident occurred when Royal Marines returning from a reconnaissance patrol were mistaken for Argentines in the dark and a British mortar team opened fire on them.
You had naval artillery and mortars and heavy and light small arms fire as well.
[22] First Lieutenant Horacio Fernando Lauría and Sergeant Orlando Aguirre claim to have destroyed a British machine-gun with rifle-grenades in this engagement. The Battle of Two Sisters was an engagement of the Falklands War during the British advance towards the capital, Port Stanley; it took place from 11 to 12 June 1982. 63–64. ‘HMS Glamorgan’ was offshore to give more fire support with her 4.5-inch gun.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'historylearningsite_co_uk-medrectangle-4','ezslot_1',114,'0','0'])); Opposing 45 Commando on Two Sisters were men from the Argentine 4thInfantry Regiment. Nicholas Van der Bijl, David Aldea. The attack was co-ordinated with attacks on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters in an attempt to fully occupy all Argentine forces in the area so that one could not support the other. They received service medals for bravery following the attack, including one Military Cross and four Military Medals. Sub-Lieutenants Mosquera and Pérez Grandi had been wounded in the British bombardment, and the remnants of their platoons were put under the command of Captain Carlos López Patterson, the Operations Officer of the 4th Regiment, who took up blocking positions in the ground between Mount Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge alongside the dismounted 10th Armoured Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron under Captain Rodrigo Alejandro Soloaga, engaging at times with heavy machinegun and mortar fire the forward 3 PARA elements on Mount Longdon throughout the daylight hours of 12 and 13 June. [21] Captain Hugo Ranieri, who took part in this intense engagement as a specialist sniper, claims that First Lieutenant Jorge Vizoso-Posse, although wounded, shot three of the retreating Royal Marines in the back. I for one would not wish to face my Marines in battle. [20]. Conscripts don't do this, babies don't do this, men who are badly led and of low morale don't do this. [28], British-American historian Hugh Bicheno has been critical of the 6th Infantry Regiment's 'B' Company who, he claims, withdrew in a disorderly manner from front-line positions at the opening of the battle, although this seems to have little foundation. The evening of 11 June 1982 saw the Battle for Mount Harriet, one of the major conflicts of the Falkland Islands War, begin. You know that the soil in the Malvinas Islands is like coal, it is black turf, you dig a hole, light a fire, and it is all like petrol, everything burns. He was awarded the MC (accessed Sunday 25 March 2012), MOD news: Marines in emotional return to the Falklands, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Two_Sisters?oldid=4638154, We came under lots of effective fire from. Argentine Nation to the Valour in Combat Medal is the second highest military decoration given by the President of Argentina. The Battle for Two Sisters took place alongside the Battle for Mount Harriet, on 11 and 12 June, 1982, as part of the Falklands War. Nicholas Van der Bijl, David Aldea. Apart from during the Falkands War, when the whole squadron was involved, it operated mostly on individual flight detachments. After a difficult approach with little cover, there was a short burst of fire and the Argentine machine-gun fell silent. The 5th Naval Infantry Battalion is a battalion of the Argentine Marines. On 4 June the three companies of 45 CDO advanced on Bluff Cove Peak, on the lower slopes of Mount Kent, and were able to occupy the feature without opposition; they were met by patrols from the Special Air Service (SAS). Such work was dangerous and a friendly-fire incident on June 10th led to the deaths of four Royal Marines based in a mortar group killed by other Royal Marines out on patrol. We have got to help the one whose feet get cold or the one who freaks out. Write Poetry here. In all 45 Commando lost four men – three Royal Marines and a Royal Engineer Commando. This involved marching for several hours on a very dark night, through a minefield. This went on for well over an hour, shell after shell whistling over our heads and hitting the mountain. HMS Glamorgan, which was providing Naval gunfire support (NGS) stayed in her position to support the Royal Marine Commandos who were pinned down. The British force, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Whitehead, consisted of the Royal Marines of 45 Commando, the anti-tank troop form 40 Commando with support from six 105-mm guns of 29 Commando Regiment. Whitehead had ordered a silent attack. [19]. The artillery fire of 29 Commando covered their advance up the slopes. [4] ], and all we had was one bloke with a flesh wound. Leo Cooper, 2003, Comandos en acción: El Ejército en Malvinas, Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, p. 355, Emecé Editores, 01/01/1986, Así lucharon, Carlos M. Túrolo, p. 316, Editorial Sudamericana, 1982, Malvinas: relatos de soldados, Martín Balza, p. 120, Círculo Militar, 1985, La Guerra de las Malvinas, p. 420, Editorial Oriente, 1987, Royal Marine Commando 1950–82: From Korea to the Falklands, William Fowler, p. 57, Osprey Publishing, 21/04/2009, No Picnic: 3 Commando Brigade in the South Atlantic 1982, Julian Thompson, p. 131, Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg, 1985, No Picnic: 3 Commando Brigade in the South Atlantic 1982, Julian Thompson, p. 132, Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg, 1985, Malvinas: Testimonio de su Gobernador, Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Carlos M. Túrolo, p. 273, Editorial Sudamericana, 1983, The fight for the "Malvinas": The Argentine forces in the Falklands War, Martin Middlebrook, p. 239, Penguin, 1990, 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands 1982. The Argentine positions were mined and heavily patrolled. The route taken by the British to Port Stanley, the Falkland Islands’ capital, was dangerous and made more so by the advantages the Argentines had by being in control of Two Sisters and other strategic vantage points. It was fairly arbitrary as to who seemed to be injured – lots of bangs and flashes and very loud noises. We got artillery again to smoke us out. By IAN GARDINER. Mount….
A heavy mist hung over the Murrell River area, which assisted the 45 Commando Recce Troop to reach and sometimes penetrate the Argentine 3rd Platoon position under Sub-Lieutenant Marcelo Llambías-Pravaz. Private Oscar Ismael Poltronieri who held up Yankee Company with accurate shooting with his rifle and a machine-gun, was awarded the Argentine Nation to the Heroic Valour in Combat Cross (CHVC), the highest Argentine decoration for bravery.
The next thing I knew I was up and running on my own, shouting, 'Zulu, Zulu, Zulu’, which was our company battle cry and also the battle cry of my father’s old regiment, [the] South Wales Borderers."
In early June, Jaimet's company would be reinforced with the Support Platoon under Second Lieutenant Marcelo Dorigón from the 12th Regiment's B Company who had been left behind on Mount Kent, after RI 12's B Company had been helicoptered forward as reinforcements during the Battle of Goose Green. 45 Commando was instructed to seize Two Sisters Mountain under the cover of darkness and proceed onto Tumbledown Mountain if time allowed, but Argentine resistance was stiff enough to cancel the second phase of the attack. The sappers also manned the .30 cal machine gun on the contour to neutralise a similar weapon being operated by the Argentines on Two Sisters Mountain to the south west.
It is named after a troop of sappers who were once billeted at Moody Brook barracks. They reached Mount Kent on June 4th and spent another week (June 4th to June 11th) collating their supplies and sending out patrols to reconnoitre their target. One of them, responding to a call for help from D Squadron, was shot down by small arms fire while attacking Mount Kent's eastern lower slopes. I for one would not wish to face my Marines in battle. Battle of Two Sisters - WikiMili, The Free Encyclopedia - WikiMili, The Free Encyclopedia [35] Colonel Andrew Whitehead realized that a single company could not hope to secure Two Sisters without massive casualties, and brought up the unit's two other companies. Thirteen sailors were killed as a result of this attack. The battle, which took place alongside the Battle for Two Sisters, began with a naval bombardment that immediately killed two Argentine soldiers, wounding others. To be certain you don't encounter textual content that may be offensive, you should. On the night of the battle Glamorgan was asked to remain in action longer than planned, to help Yankee Company clear Subteniente Aldo Franco's rifle platoon on the eastern half of Two Sisters covering the Argentine withdrawal [55] . We did a lot of patrols up to Two Sisters ... that time [6 June] we pepper-potted [fire and maneouver] for about 400 metres to get out [the 3rd Platoon Sergeant, Ramón Valdez, had launched a counter-ambush. Second Lieutenant Aldo Eugenio Franco and his RI 6 platoon, after having scrapped a planned counterattack in support of Major Cordon because the defenders no longer held the peaks,[24] covered the Argentine withdrawal and prevented Yankee Company from attacking C Company as it withdrew from Two Sisters. First-Sergeant Raimundo Máximo Viltes was badly wounded when a bullet shattered his heel. The 4th Infantry Regiment lost twenty killed and 54 men were taken prisoner.