Tuesday, November 15th. The recapture of South Georgia.
On the 3rd April 1982 23 Royal Marines, commanded by Lieutenant Keith Mills RM, surrendered to the Argentinians after putting up a brave resistance in the face of air and naval support, armed as they were with only infantry weapons. The Marines did not lose a single man in the action, but destroyed two helicopters and did severe damage to the ARA Guerrico, a frigate operating in support of the Argentine Marines attacking Grytviken.
Given that there was still a small hope of the conflict being resolved in the United Nations, the recapture of South Georgia was seen as the first logical step in recovering all the British territories in the South Atlantic. It was hoped that a successful operation on the remote and forbidding island may give the Argentine leadership pause for thought, and prove that the British Task Force now sailing south and approaching the Falkland area rapidly, was serious in both capability and intent.
Therefore, on the 7th April Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse was ordered to plan the islands recapture. It was known that the Argentine forces that remained on South Georgia were based at Leith and Grytviken, and had limited if any naval and no air support. Because of the terrain of South Georgia, described as a cross between the volcanic areas of Iceland and the dark side of the Moon, along with the frequently inhospitable and dangerous climate, it was also known that the Argentine troops did not stray far from these places. The Argentine force was commanded by a naval engineering officer named Lt. Commander Alfredo Astiz. Astiz had a poor reputation as an officer and a military commander, but to be fair the forces under him were insufficient to properly occupy and control the whole island. As a result, members of the British Antartic Survey (BAS) and 2 women from ITV, Cindy Buxton and Annie Price, who were already on assignment for the ‘Survival’ nature programme on the island, had remained at large and undetected.
The plan to recapture the island had been formulated under the codename Operation ‘Paraquet’. The word is an early way of spelling ‘parakeet’, although it was changed unofficially almost immediately Operation ‘Paraquat’, a form of weed-killer.
The operation, a subsidiary of the main Operation Corporate aimed to recapture of the Falkland Islands from Argentina, was successfully achieved, leading to the island being restored to British rule on April 25th, 1982.
The operation was originally supposed to involve both Special Air Service and Special Boat Squadron forces being infiltrated onto South Georgia by helicopter, but the plan had to be changed when the helicopters transporting the troops crashed on Fortuna Glacier. The revised plan involved two Royal Navy vessels subjecting the Argentine garrison at Grytviken to an artillery bombardment. The Argentine garrison numbering 156 Marines and Navy personnel, surrendered to M Company, 42 Commando, Royal Marines, after fifteen minutes.
One of the most famous and legendary signals of the entire Falklands War was made by the British forces’ commander after the surrender at Grytviken:
Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God save the Queen.
Rejoice at Margaret Thatcher’s remarks on the recapture of South Georgia.
[Ignacio Wenley Palacios]
in Military
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