Episode 14 – The Fuerza Aerea sink HMS Ardent and damage 4 other British warships but lose a quarter of their attacking planes
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
It’s still D-Day – 21st May 1982, and the British have landed over 3000 troops at the Bay of San Carlos Waters,  now they need to shift thousands of tons of material from ship to shore, something that was going to be sorely tested by the Argentinian Air force.  On the morning of 21st May, and the British had made good use of the early morning mist to land their troops virtually unposed as you heard last episode – the only major hitch for the British so far was the retreating Argentinian platoons based at San Carlos and Fanning Head shooting down two Gazelle gunships ki ..read more
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Episode 12 – HMS Alacrity steams up Falkland Sound, the SAS and SBS collect intel and the Narwal is bombed
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
The HSM Sheffield has just been sunk by an Exocet days after the General Belgrano was sent to the depths by two torpedoes.  This war was turning nastier by the minute and not helped by the media on both sides – British Warship sunk by Argies – yelled the Sun Headline  The Daily Star was a bit more direct – its headline was merely: SUNK! The odd thing was that the Sheffield had not actually gone down by the time these stories were published  –  it would take three days for the Sheffield to eventually roll over but there was no denying the palpable shock which ran ..read more
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Episode 8 – The British retake South Georgia after a struggle against Antarctic gales
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
When we ended last episode, the Argentinians had just seized Gryviken in South Georgia on 3rd April 1982 and had begun to move new units into the Falklands replacing the commandos who landed on the 2nd. The British cabinet had met and the Task Force was at sea within 5 days. Elements of the force converged on the Ascension Islands at the end of the second week of April 1982 and were under orders to prepare a number of options for the cabinet’s decision.  Commodore Clapp and Brigadier Thompson aboard the Fearless were wrestling with how to recapture the Falklands. Thompson’s planning ..read more
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Episode 10 – The air war begins in earnest and the sinking of the Belgrano
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
The Vulcan has just bombed Port Stanley airfield, causing significant damage and the Argentinians on the Falklands were about to experience a wave of attacks by Sea Harriers.  While this was happening, Argentina’s most powerful warship the General Belgrano was steaming into the Atlantic for the last time as it turn out.  To the north east, Vice-Admiral Woodward’s battle group of thirteen ships had entered the exclusion zone in the early hours of the 1st May and the flight-deck crews on board the carriers were prepping the sea Harriers for the next blow.  Invincible had mode ..read more
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Episode 6 – The Argentinians invade the Falklands on 2nd April 1982
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
The Argentinians have just landed commandos and attacked the Marine Barracks at Moody Brook, but missed their target as the 40 specialist brit soldiers have been on the move for more than a day already.  As your heard last episode, the British finally managed to get a warning to their Falklands Governor, Rex Hunt, a few hours before the Argentinian fleet anchored off Port Stanley.  Argentinian Rear-Admiral Büsser had been studying the problems of landing at the Falklands since January 1982 and the commandos had carried out the first obvious mission – to strike at the Marine Barracks ..read more
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Episode 3 – Argentina’s junta cranks up the heat on the frigid Falklands but then cry wolf in 1977
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
This is episode three and we’re dealing with the period up to the invasion of the islands by the Argentinians on 2nd April 1982.  Had it been a day earlier, most people across the world would have thought that the news was a horrendous April Food Joke – but it wasn’t.   As we heard last episode, by 1971 negotiations between the British and the Argentinians had vascillated between good intentions and terrible breakdowns. Throughout the 1960s, the British were trying to figure out how to offload the Falklands without causing political condemnation at home. That changed by t ..read more
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Episode 5 – Argentina’s fleet sets sail for the Falklands and commandos land on the morning of 2nd April 1982
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
As we heard last episode, Argentinian businessman Senor Davidoff had chartered a boat to take 41 of his men to South Georgia to salvage metal and other materials from abandoned whaling stations. The had not reported to the British head of a scientific mission at the port of Grytviken despite being told to.  It was March 1982 and the Bahia Buen Suceso had dropped off the scrapmen on the island who were breaking down the abandoned buildings. They’d also been joined by a French film crew who were forced to seek shelter at South Georgia. After they fixed up the broken tiller and mast, they sa ..read more
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Episode 21 – The war "between two bald men fighting over a comb" ends
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
The British had taken most of the hills overlooking Port Stanley by the morning of 14th June 1982 – and 2 Para had been ordered to halt on their position on Wireless Ridge.  They were waiting for the SAS and the Royal Marines who were raiding from the north of Cortley Hill Ridge, a long narrow piece of land running from Moody Brook to the northern arm of Stanley harbour.  That opeation was more of a hindrance than a help to 2 Para because the SAS run into trouble and had to be supported by the artillery that had been clearing the ground for the paras.  Cortley Hill ridge wa ..read more
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Episode 1 - Windswept and wild - an initial history of the disputed Falkland Islands
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
It was an odd war, fought with the same weapons, NATO weapons. But bullets don’t recognize nationalities, neither do torpedoes and missiles and both sides were going to brutalise each other with western arms.  That was only one of many unusual facts about this short sharp war that has left the veterans on both side wondering what it was all for. As we watch Russia invade Ukraine claiming ownership, this is surely a moment to reflect on the Falklands where 255 British military personnel died, along with 649 Argentinians and 3 Falkland Island civilians.  On 2 April 1982, Argentine for ..read more
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Episode 20 – The bloody battles for Longdon and Tumbledown
The Falklands War
by Desmond Latham
1y ago
We heard how the assault of Two Sisters and Mount Harriet went last episode, both  were taken within 2 and a half hours – but 3 Paras attack on Mount Longdon was a different proposition.  It’s a steep sided hill about a mile long running almost west to east, it’s main ridge above 600 feet in places and overall, about 300 feet on average above the surrounding ground. This hill formed only a small part of the Argentinian 7th Regiment and its commander Lieutenant Colonel Ortiz Gimenez overlooked the sector named Plata – or silver. It stretched from Mount Longdon eastwards as t ..read more
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