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The Falkland Islands
A history of the 1982 conflict
Battles of the Falklands Conflict
Mount Harriet - 11/12 June 1982
Introduction
In
the last land action to take place during the night of 11/12 June, 42
Commando attacked Mt Harriet. This was a different proposition in many
ways to the other mountain defences. The Mount Harriet positions had
been prepared almost as soon as the Argentines landed, as they considered
the most likely line of attack to recover the islands to be a landing
south of Stanley, much as they themselves had done. The mountain was
defended in depth with nine minefields to the south and west protecting
the long, open approaches, and well sited firing positions in the hard,
jagged rock that made up the slopes to the peak. The whole of C Company
of the 4th Regiment was based on the mountain, along with various support
units making it a formidable position indeed. 42 Commando had been based
on Mount Challenger and Mount Wall prior to the attack, and had been
carrying out patrols to recce the area in detail.
The
patrols had been finding routes through minefields and harassing the
Argentines from the west, in an attempt to make the enemy think that
this would be the direction that the attack would finally come from.
With the information obtained from the patrols Lieutenant Colonel Nick
Vaux and his staff decided a direct assault would be both bloody and
costly. Mount Harriet was going to be a very tough nut to crack. A flanking
attack was planned, possible because a route around the southern flank
had been discovered through the minefields. Captain Peter Babbington's
K Company would attack the eastern end of the mountain, then one hour
later L Company would attack the western ridges moving on to take Goat
Ridge after the whole of Harriet had been secured. J Company would stay
as a reserve on Mt Wall and act as a diversion, making as much noise
as possible.
After
dark on the 11th June K and L Companies set off for the start line.
They had to march eight miles from Mount Wall to the start line in a
southerly arc across very open ground. Because this ground was in full
view of the Argentine positions, the march had to be made as stealthily
as possible, threading through minefields, hoping not to be detected
and lose the element of surprise. As they made their slow and painstaking
approach, artillery fire was striking the western defences on Mount
Harriet and as an additional deception, captured Argentine weapons were
being fired to give the impression that Argentine outposts were in action
against a British force attacking the western face. Because the start
line was in 5 Brigade's area of responsibility, a Reece Platoon from
the Welsh Guards were supposed to meet the Marines and guide them to
the start line, having secured the area, but they could not be found.
Some accounts say that the Guards were finally found sitting by a fence
chatting and smoking, compromising the security of the start line. The
reaction of the Marines to this situation is better imagined than described.
Due
to the difficulty finding the Welsh Guards H-hour was delayed by one
hour, so the two Companies could secure their respective start lines.
At 2200 hrs the code word 'Vesuvius' was transmitted and the battle
begun. J Company on Mount Wall started firing onto the forward slopes
of the mountain as a decoy, which they carried on for the whole battle,
and K Company left their start line. K Company advanced with 1 Troop
to the left, 2 Troop to the right and 3 Troop to the rear, leaving a
Company frontage of 150 metres. They moved in total silence and covered
700 metres before 1 Troop engaged the enemy. Artillery fire was called
for, and a walking barrage of great accuracy preceded the Marines about
100 metres ahead of their advance. At this point, 2 Troop rushed forward
and started clearing the most eastern end of Harriet. They cleared four
mortar positions in only 45 minutes, but during this attack Corporal
Larry Watts was killed storming a tented position. Six Argentines were
killed in the almost hand-to-hand fighting, and over twenty more were
captured. While 2 Troop had been clearing the eastern end, 1 and 3 Troops
had started to work their way westwards through the rocks and up what
was effectively the back of the mountain.
The
Sections 'pepperpotted' uphill with great skill and good radio communications.
Every time they were held up they called for artillery fire. The radio
net was well disciplined to control the supporting fire, first star
shells were fired which lit up the area, then the high explosive shells
followed and the nearest radio set to the fall of shot issued the fire
corrections. Milan anti-tank missiles were also fired from the fire-support
base 800 metres away and the smaller anti-tank rockets were once again
used in their 'bunker-buster' role. A fire was started in a medical
store, and since the news of the battle and the fall of the eastern
end of the mountain was now with the Argentine commanders, they ordered
their artillery to fire on the mountain using the fire as an aiming
point. British and Argentine shells fell together, causing casualties
and confusion on both sides. K Company captured most of their objective
without any further casualties. They then had to cross a saddle, which
was part of L Company's objective, to reach and secure the first part
of the next ridge. However they were pinned down by a machine gun dominating
the saddle.
In
another example of the inventiveness and initiative of the average Royal
Marine, Corporals Steve Newland, Mick Eccles and 'Sharkey' Ward worked
together to take out the machine gun. Cpl Newland shot the machine gunner
with excellent marksmanship, before he was shot in the legs by a second
rifleman behind the gun position as he moved forward to take advantage
of the temporary lull in the firing. Cpls Eccles and Ward then fired
two 66 mm rockets with great accuracy into the bunker, and moved forward
rapidly until they were standing against the rock face directly below
the Argentine position. They were ready to back up their earlier attack
by throwing grenades into the bunker, when Lieutenant Heathcote, the
Troop Commander, and a machine-gunner, Marine Barnett, arrived and called
on the Argentines to surrender. There was some confusion, and the two
Corporals clambered over the rock wall into the bunker in very aggressive
style. One Argentine looked as if he was going to throw a grenade so
he was shot, and the other seventeen enemy soldiers in the position
surrendered to the four Marines. All three of the Corporals were awarded
the Military Medal for their quick thinking and tremendous courage.
3 Troop then pushed forward, taking out positions with 66 mm anti-tank
rockets and phosphorous grenades. They moved through the Argentine Regimental
Aid post and reached the Company boundary after six and a half hours
fighting. Just beyond the boundary was the Argentine Command post, so
3 Troop took up positions and fired on the CP. The Commanding Officer
was not there, but the enemy who were present surrendered en masse.
K Company had now taken its entire objective, with only one Marine killed
and nine injured.
L Company was advancing up the eastern half of Mount Harriet with 4
Troop to the left, 5 Troop to the right and 6 Troop to the rear. As
they departed their start line one hour after K Company the element
of surprise was lost and they came under heavy fire after only 200 metres.
They called for Milan support and then pressed on. They slowly moved
up the mountain through the maze of rock gullies and outcrops and took
out six machine-gun positions en route. L Company finally took their
objective after five hours of heavy fighting, suffering 11 wounded but
none killed, a testament to the skill with which they moved and fought
in the rough terrain.
L
Company then moved to take Goat Ridge to the north of Mount Harriet,
a long tall feature dominating the centre of the valley and the approaches
to Mount Tumbledown. As they did so they came under fire from a small
rocky outcrop. They withdrew and called artillery fire onto the enemy
position. L Company then moved forward again and found that the enemy
had withdrawn and Goat Ridge was unoccupied. Mount Harriet and all the
objectives was taken with only 2 British fatalities and 26 wounded,
the other fatality was from enemy artillery fire. Fifty Argentines died
and 300 prisoners were taken in what amounted to a textbook operation,
brilliantly planned and executed with discipline and determination over
steep, rough and well defended ground.
Major
General Jeremy Moore had intended for the next trio of objectives, Wireless
Ridge to the north, and Mounts Tumbledown and William to the south,
to be attacked the following night. The reconnaissance and preparation
for these attacks was not completed in time however, partly due to a
daylight raid by Skyhawks on the 3 Commando Brigade Headquarters on
Mount Kent and the 2 Para positions near Mount Longdon in which the
British suffered no casualties but three helicopters were damaged, so
a twenty-four hour delay was called. The last objectives surrounding
the capital were about to be attacked, and the final battle was about
to begin.
Date Last Updated :
Friday, October 1, 2004 3:53 PM
In
the last land action to take place during the night of 11/12 June, 42
Commando attacked Mt Harriet. This was a different proposition in many
ways to the other mountain defences. The Mount Harriet positions had
been prepared almost as soon as the Argentines landed, as they considered
the most likely line of attack to recover the islands to be a landing
south of Stanley, much as they themselves had done. The mountain was
defended in depth with nine minefields to the south and west protecting
the long, open approaches, and well sited firing positions in the hard,
jagged rock that made up the slopes to the peak. The whole of C Company
of the 4th Regiment was based on the mountain, along with various support
units making it a formidable position indeed. 42 Commando had been based
on Mount Challenger and Mount Wall prior to the attack, and had been
carrying out patrols to recce the area in detail.
The
patrols had been finding routes through minefields and harassing the
Argentines from the west, in an attempt to make the enemy think that
this would be the direction that the attack would finally come from.
With the information obtained from the patrols Lieutenant Colonel Nick
Vaux and his staff decided a direct assault would be both bloody and
costly. Mount Harriet was going to be a very tough nut to crack. A flanking
attack was planned, possible because a route around the southern flank
had been discovered through the minefields. Captain Peter Babbington's
K Company would attack the eastern end of the mountain, then one hour
later L Company would attack the western ridges moving on to take Goat
Ridge after the whole of Harriet had been secured. J Company would stay
as a reserve on Mt Wall and act as a diversion, making as much noise
as possible.
After
dark on the 11th June K and L Companies set off for the start line.
They had to march eight miles from Mount Wall to the start line in a
southerly arc across very open ground. Because this ground was in full
view of the Argentine positions, the march had to be made as stealthily
as possible, threading through minefields, hoping not to be detected
and lose the element of surprise. As they made their slow and painstaking
approach, artillery fire was striking the western defences on Mount
Harriet and as an additional deception, captured Argentine weapons were
being fired to give the impression that Argentine outposts were in action
against a British force attacking the western face. Because the start
line was in 5 Brigade's area of responsibility, a Reece Platoon from
the Welsh Guards were supposed to meet the Marines and guide them to
the start line, having secured the area, but they could not be found.
Some accounts say that the Guards were finally found sitting by a fence
chatting and smoking, compromising the security of the start line. The
reaction of the Marines to this situation is better imagined than described.
Due
to the difficulty finding the Welsh Guards H-hour was delayed by one
hour, so the two Companies could secure their respective start lines.
At 2200 hrs the code word 'Vesuvius' was transmitted and the battle
begun. J Company on Mount Wall started firing onto the forward slopes
of the mountain as a decoy, which they carried on for the whole battle,
and K Company left their start line. K Company advanced with 1 Troop
to the left, 2 Troop to the right and 3 Troop to the rear, leaving a
Company frontage of 150 metres. They moved in total silence and covered
700 metres before 1 Troop engaged the enemy. Artillery fire was called
for, and a walking barrage of great accuracy preceded the Marines about
100 metres ahead of their advance. At this point, 2 Troop rushed forward
and started clearing the most eastern end of Harriet. They cleared four
mortar positions in only 45 minutes, but during this attack Corporal
Larry Watts was killed storming a tented position. Six Argentines were
killed in the almost hand-to-hand fighting, and over twenty more were
captured. While 2 Troop had been clearing the eastern end, 1 and 3 Troops
had started to work their way westwards through the rocks and up what
was effectively the back of the mountain.
The
Sections 'pepperpotted' uphill with great skill and good radio communications.
Every time they were held up they called for artillery fire. The radio
net was well disciplined to control the supporting fire, first star
shells were fired which lit up the area, then the high explosive shells
followed and the nearest radio set to the fall of shot issued the fire
corrections. Milan anti-tank missiles were also fired from the fire-support
base 800 metres away and the smaller anti-tank rockets were once again
used in their 'bunker-buster' role. A fire was started in a medical
store, and since the news of the battle and the fall of the eastern
end of the mountain was now with the Argentine commanders, they ordered
their artillery to fire on the mountain using the fire as an aiming
point. British and Argentine shells fell together, causing casualties
and confusion on both sides. K Company captured most of their objective
without any further casualties. They then had to cross a saddle, which
was part of L Company's objective, to reach and secure the first part
of the next ridge. However they were pinned down by a machine gun dominating
the saddle.
In
another example of the inventiveness and initiative of the average Royal
Marine, Corporals Steve Newland, Mick Eccles and 'Sharkey' Ward worked
together to take out the machine gun. Cpl Newland shot the machine gunner
with excellent marksmanship, before he was shot in the legs by a second
rifleman behind the gun position as he moved forward to take advantage
of the temporary lull in the firing. Cpls Eccles and Ward then fired
two 66 mm rockets with great accuracy into the bunker, and moved forward
rapidly until they were standing against the rock face directly below
the Argentine position. They were ready to back up their earlier attack
by throwing grenades into the bunker, when Lieutenant Heathcote, the
Troop Commander, and a machine-gunner, Marine Barnett, arrived and called
on the Argentines to surrender. There was some confusion, and the two
Corporals clambered over the rock wall into the bunker in very aggressive
style. One Argentine looked as if he was going to throw a grenade so
he was shot, and the other seventeen enemy soldiers in the position
surrendered to the four Marines. All three of the Corporals were awarded
the Military Medal for their quick thinking and tremendous courage.
L
Company then moved to take Goat Ridge to the north of Mount Harriet,
a long tall feature dominating the centre of the valley and the approaches
to Mount Tumbledown. As they did so they came under fire from a small
rocky outcrop. They withdrew and called artillery fire onto the enemy
position. L Company then moved forward again and found that the enemy
had withdrawn and Goat Ridge was unoccupied. Mount Harriet and all the
objectives was taken with only 2 British fatalities and 26 wounded,
the other fatality was from enemy artillery fire. Fifty Argentines died
and 300 prisoners were taken in what amounted to a textbook operation,
brilliantly planned and executed with discipline and determination over
steep, rough and well defended ground.
Major
General Jeremy Moore had intended for the next trio of objectives, Wireless
Ridge to the north, and Mounts Tumbledown and William to the south,
to be attacked the following night. The reconnaissance and preparation
for these attacks was not completed in time however, partly due to a
daylight raid by Skyhawks on the 3 Commando Brigade Headquarters on
Mount Kent and the 2 Para positions near Mount Longdon in which the
British suffered no casualties but three helicopters were damaged, so
a twenty-four hour delay was called. The last objectives surrounding
the capital were about to be attacked, and the final battle was about
to begin.