The decision was now taken to use
the LSL's to continue 5th Infantry's
move forward. "Sir Tristram" reached Fitzroy on
Monday 7th
to start unloading ammo, and in San Carlos Water, "Sir Galahad" took
on board the rest of the 1st Welsh from "Fearless" before sailing around Lafonia to
arrive on Tuesday morning (8th).
By now, only one LCU and a Mexeflote were left to complete
offloading "Sir Tristram", and although by early afternoon, Rapier
SAM's and 16 Field Ambulance had gone ashore from "Sir Galahad",
plans to move the Guards to Bluff Cove to join the rest of the
battalion had come to nothing. Worse still, the LSL's had been
reported by enemy observers, and around 2.00 pm, five Skyhawk's of Grupo 5 and five Daggers of
Grupo 6 were coming in over the Falklands.
First to be attacked by the Daggers, but in Falkland Sound was
frigate
"Plymouth"
on her way to bombard an Argentine position on West Falkland. Hit by
cannon fire and four UXB's, one of which detonated a depth charge,
she was only slightly damaged. Shortly after, the Skyhawks reached
Fitzroy. Three of them put two or more bombs into the crowded "SIR GALAHAD",
and the other two hit "Sir Tristram" with two UXB's killing two crewmen. The ships
caught fire and were soon abandoned, but by then the results for
"Sir Galahad" were catastrophic with a total of 48 killed - five RFA
crewmen, 32 Welsh Guards and eleven other Army personnel, with many
more badly burned and wounded. "Sir Tristram" was later returned to
the UK for repairs, but the burnt-out "Sir Galahad" was scuttled at
sea as a war grave on the 25th June.
As the FAA's last major effort continued,
four Grupo 4 Skyhawks attacked troops in the Fitzroy area later that afternoon, and
minutes after, four
Skyhawks of Grupo 5 arrived over Choiseul Sound to catch LCU F4
(belonging to "Fearless") sailing from Goose Green to Fitzroy with 5th
Infantry HQ vehicles. Hit by one bomb, which killed the coxswain, Colour
Sgt Johnston (post QGM) and five of the crew, she shortly sank. Two
No.800 Sea Harriers over head on CAP immediately dived to the attack and
brought down three of the Skyhawks with Sidewinders [a67, a68, a69].
During the week, both Land Forces and 5th
Inf HQ's moved to Fitzroy and 3 Cdo Bde's to Mount Kent, and although
the "Sir Galahad" disaster caused delays, planning continued for the
attack towards Stanley. In the first phase, 3 Cdo Bde would take Mount
Longdon, Two Sisters and Mount Harriet, and if possible Tumbledown
Mountain and Wireless Ridge. Otherwise these two plus Mount William
would be assaulted in phase two, and Sapper Hill and the ground south of
Stanley in phase three. As part of the build-up, 3 Cdo continued its
reconnaissance patrols, and the special forces their covert operations,
but with casualties. Only the previous week, an SBS sergeant was killed
in an accidental clash with the SAS, and over on West Falkland, as the
SAS kept a careful watch on the two large Argentine garrisons there, an
observation post near Port Howard was surrounded on Thursday 10th and Capt Hamilton killed as he tried to fight his way out.
With seven of the eight infantry battalions and all five 105mm
batteries forward, the first phase started on the night of Friday 11th, and by next morning 3 Cdo Bde was on
Mount Longdon,
Two Sisters
and
Mount Harriet, but during the night there were other losses. The
supporting warships shelled Argentine positions in the mountains,
and near Stanley, a house in the capital was hit killing two women
and mortally wounding a third in the first and last civilian deaths
of the war. Then as destroyer
"Glamorgan" (pictured above)
retired out to sea after 45 Cdo's attack, a land-launched Exocet
fired from Stanley hit her in the hangar area, badly damaging that
part of the ship, killing thirteen men and destroying her Wessex [b34].
The second phase was delayed until Sunday night (13th), but by the morning, 2 Para had taken
Wireless Ridge
and 2nd Scots were on
Tumbledown, but too late for the Gurkhas to assault
Mount William
in the dark. The movements during the week of the attacking
battalions, including the Gurkhas (less C Coy at Goose Green) are
covered by Parts 44-48. As for 40 Cdo and the 1st Welsh, the badly depleted Guards stayed at Bluff Cove
until Friday 11th when they were reinforced by A and C Coys 40 Cdo
released from San Carlos defence (B Coy remained), and marched that
day to the south west of
Mount Harriet to stay in reserve
for the next two days. During this time, a battalion dispatch rider
was mortally wounded by Argentine shellfire.
Even aside from the Tuesday strikes,
there was little let-up in the air-war during the week. On Monday morning (7th), a reconnaissance Learjet of FAA Grupo 1 was shot down
over Pebble Island by one of "Exeter's" Sea Darts [a66]. Next day, the last two RAF Harrier GR.3's from Ascension arrived on
"Hermes", and earlier, the fourth and last GR.3 lost was damaged beyond
repair landing heavily at the Port San Carlos FOB with a partial engine
failure [b33]. On
Wednesday, RFA "Engadine" flew off her four Wessex HU.5's
of No.847 NAS to San Carlos Water to add to the helicopter lift, and
early Saturday morning, in "Black Buck 7", Stanley airfield was bombed by a Vulcan for the
final time.
Sunday 13th
saw the last Argentine air raids. Late that morning, Skyhawks of FAA
Grupo 5 concluded their successful war with an attack on 3 Cdo Bde HQ on
Mount Kent and 2 Para on Mount Longdon, but without causing casualties,
and that evening, two Grupo 2 Canberras bombed Mount Kent, and as
they turned away, one was brought down by a Sea Dart from "Exeter" (or
possibly "Cardiff") [a70]. All this time,
RAF GR.3's were hitting Argentine positions around Stanley, and still on
Sunday, made their first successful laser-guided bomb attacks.
