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
|