Summary
of
Main Events
ARGENTINE
FORCES
Fleet transport “Bahia Buen Suceso”
(3,100 ton, 1951);
TASK FORCE 60 (Capt
C.
Trombeta), icebreaker
“Bahia Paraiso” ; (flagship - 9,600 tons, one
Army Puma and one Alouette, 1978); frigate “Guerrico”
(950 tons, Exocet, 1x100mm gun, 1978); approx 100
marines
BRITISH
FORCES
Ice patrol vessel “Endurance” , (3,600
tons, two Wasps, Capt
N
J Barker (CBE) RN),
22 Royal Marines
Pre-Invasion
Events
1.
19th March - “Bahia Buen Suceso” at Leith
2.
24th - "Endurance" reached Grytviken
3. 25th
- “Bahia Paraiso” off Leith
4.
31st - Royal Marines left at King Edward Point as
“Endurance” headed for Stanley
5.
3rd April - “Guerrico” arrived with “Bahia Paraiso” in
Battle for Grytviken
6.
3rd - “Endurance” returned later that day
Battle for
Grytviken
1.
Army Puma landed first Argentine Marines
2.
On second flight from “Bahia Paraiso”, the Puma was
hit and crashed across the Cove with the Marines on
board
3.
“Guerrico” sailed in to be hit by anti-armour weapons,
and back out in the Bay opened fire
4.
More Argentine Marines landed from the Alouette and
headed through Grytviken for the British positions
Argentine Claim -
Argentina had long claimed
South Georgia not so much in its own right, but as a
dependency of the Falklands. The opportunity to exercise
this claim was provided by Argentine businessman
Constantino Davidoff, who contracted with the Scottish
company of Christian Salvesen to clear away scrap
whaling material littering parts of the island.
Having
agreed arrangements with the British Embassy in Buenos
Aires, Davidoff chartered the fleet transport "Bahia
Buen Suceso" to carry him and his workmen to South
Georgia, and although there is no conclusive evidence
the Argentine Government had deliberately planned what
followed, the ship's illegal entry led to invasion. She
arrived at Leith on
Friday 19th March and started operations without
observing the usual formalities of reporting first to
the island's Magistrate, the base commander of the
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) located at King
Edward Point near Grytviken.
Incident - When a BAS
team reached
Leith that Friday
19th March to find "Bahia
Buen Suceso" in the harbour and workmen ashore with the
Argentine flag flying, the incident was reported to
Governor Hunt in Stanley, 900 miles away, who gave
orders to the Magistrate that the Argentines must obtain
proper authorisation. This they refused to do. Meanwhile
ice patrol ship "Endurance" sailed in to Stanley on
passage back to
Britain and at the end of what was supposed to be her
last season in the Antarctic.
Negotiations
- Two days later, early on Sunday 21st March and at
the start of nearly two week's diplomatic efforts to
resolve the incursion, "Endurance", on orders from Fleet
HQ at
Northwood near London sailed for South Georgia. In
addition to her own thirteen Royal Marines she took on
board nine more from the small Falkland's garrison of
Naval Party 8901. That
same day - the 21st, BAS men set up an observation post
overlooking
Leith and saw the Argentine transport sail away leaving
behind some of the civilian workers. "Endurance" reached
Grytviken on
Wednesday 24th at the start of a week of coastal patrols
and replaced the BAS men above
Leith with Marines
flown in by Wasp. As negotiations continued between
London and Buenos Aires, "Endurance" took no steps to
remove the scrap men, but the Argentines had already
ordered icebreaker "Bahia Paraiso" to sail to protect
them, and by Thursday 25th, she had arrived at
Leith. Approximately one hundred Marines went ashore
under the command of Lt Cdr of Marines Alfredo Astiz and
the icebreaker used her Alouette helicopter to shadow
"Endurance" for the
next few days.
Defence and
Invasion - Almost a week later on Wednesday 31st
March and as the Falkland's invasion threatened,
"Endurance" landed her heavily-armed Royal Marine detachment
at King Edward Point to prepare defences, and then
unnoticed by "Bahia Paraiso", slipped out of Cumberland
Bay that evening and headed for Stanley. Two
days later on news of
Stanley's capture,
"Endurance" reversed course, by which time frigate
"Guerrico" had sailed from Argentina to join "Bahia
Paraiso" as the hastily assembled TF 60. The other two
frigates - "Drummond" and "Granville" - previously on
their way to support "Bahia Paraiso" played no part in
the events that followed.
Terrain
typical of South Georgia. Tug "Salvageman" in
Grytviken later in the war (Courtesy - United Towing
Ltd)
Battle for Grytviken,
Saturday 3rd April - That morning "Guerrico" and the
"Bahia
Paraiso" under the command of Captain Trombeta and by now
with many of the marines re-embarked from Leith, arrived
off Grytviken. The Magistrate was called on to surrender
by radio, but he passed authority for the island to Lt
Mills, and at mid-day, with the Alouette going ahead to
reconnoitre, "Guerrico" laying out in the Bay and
the Puma about to land the first twenty troops
near King Edward Point, battle commenced. As the
troop-carrying Puma made her second trip in from "Bahia
Paraiso" she was hit by small arms fire and badly damaged
just off the Point with two Marines killed. Barely
managing to lift off, she made it to the other side of
King Edward Cove before
crashing [first Argentine aircraft loss - a1]. The
Alouette was also hit, but only lightly damaged and
continued to bring in more Marines across from the base.
Now "Guerrico" sailed in to support the landings and
opened fire on the British positions, but it was her turn
to be hit by hundreds of rounds of small arms fire as well
as 66mm LAW and 84mm Carl Gustav anti-tank weapons before
heading back out into the Bay.
Surrender - From
there, she used her 100mm gun against Lt Mill's men as
the Argentine Marines moved around the Cove, through the
whaling station at Grytviken
and closed in. Trapped, with one man wounded and having
convincingly defended British sovereignty, he decided to
surrender. All 22 Royal Marines as well as the 13
civilians at Grytviken were taken prisoner. "Endurance"
arrived too late the
same day
to take part in the action, but from extreme range flew
in a Wasp. Landing across Cumberland Bay from Grytviken,
the crew could only observe the
Argentines in possession of the scientific base. She
stayed on station for two more days, before sailing
north early on Monday 5th April to replenish and meet
the first ships of the British Task Force. The Royal
Marines returned in triumph to Britain on the 20th April
by way of Montevideo, and just six days later, the
Argentine forces
at Grytviken and Leith were
themselves in British hands.
British
Gallantry Awards
RM
Detachment HMS Endurance - Defence of
Grytviken
Lt K P Mills (DSC) RM
Sgt P J Leach (DSM) RM
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