in April 1982 an invasion by Argentina provoked one of the most ambitious military undertakings in British history Britain sent a naval task force and 15,000 men to fight for a small group of islands on the edge of the Antarctic Britain was at war with Argentina but the odds were spectacularly uneven I look at the challenges that face the British struggling to fight 8,000 miles from home while the Argentinians were fighting on their own doorstep they had to fight up here in freezing conditions on exposed hilltops and across wide open ground I'll experience how the British troops use darkness to their advantage against a well defended enemy it was one of the most improbable conflicts ever more than 30,000 men went to war over a group of barren and windswept islands that were home to only 2,000 people this is the story of the battle for the Falklands this may look like a sleepy little seaside town somewhere in the British Isles in fact the United Kingdom is eight thousand miles away these are the Falkland Islands a remote British territory in the South Atlantic the nearest mainland is Argentina just four hundred miles to the west life for the children our thousand people who live here is isolated hardy and undisturbed with an April 1982 all that changed when these islands became the setting for the last invasion of British territory on April the 2nd 1982 about 100 Argentinean Marines landed here on the Falklands their objective to capture the capital Stanley they were the advance party there were 2,000 more men on their way but the job of these Marines was to seize the town and force the British governor of the islands to surrender soon the extraordinary news of the Argentinian invasion hit bulletins across the world the Falkland Islands the British colony and the South Atlantic has fallen but that's what Argentina is saying it claims its Marines went ashore as a spearhead this morning to capture key targets including the capital Port Stanley the islands were defended by just 69 Royal Marines and the invading Argentinians in their hundreds overwhelmed this tiny force they moved up here and surrounded government house demanding the surrender of the Falkland Islands as Argentinean armored vehicles rolled towards government house a firefight broke out trapped inside the British Governor Rex hunt broadcaster defiant message on the local radio station the college will have been known then on try to tank I'm not sure a negative early on in middle the invasion of the Falklands transformed a long-running dispute between Britain and Argentina into a major international crisis for two centuries both countries have claimed the Falklands the Argentinians did control the islands for nearly a decade until 1833 when the British expelled them Britain has governed the Falklands ever since the Argentinians call the islands the Malvinas and they tried to persuade the British to give them up Britain had long considered handing over the small relic of Empire to Argentina but the Falkland Islanders liked their British identity and didn't want to give it up it became clear to the British government that overriding the wishes of the Islanders was out of the question the people here wanted the islands to stay British sovereign territory this made agreement between Britain and Argentina almost impossible talks gotten nowhere and the future of the forth on Islands remained in uneasy deadlock but in 1981 a new military government seized power in Argentina at his head was the army commander general Leopoldo Galtieri his regime was a rule of terror and the country's economy was collapsing he badly needed to find a cause that would win his government popularity it was one issue Galtieri knew his people cared passionately about their claim to the Falkland Islands Galtieri would unite the Argentinian nation by seizing the fork of items from Britain by force it looked like the perfect answer to his problems and on April the 2nd 1982 Cal cherries repossession of the Falklands was going exactly to plan within hours of landing hundreds of Argentinian troops were all over Stanley they had even seized the radio station just a minute yeah we did you take the gun out of my back I'm gonna leave it here if you take the gun away the governor Rex Hunt had little choice but to surrender he broadcast a final message to the Islanders from Government House the governor and the Royal Marines were escorted off the islands and sent back to Britain the civilians were left wondering what would happen next we heard these tremendous bangs on the back door that were shouts for us to come out we had to go out and sit in the yard and this Argentine was there with a machine gun trained on us mum thought we were going to be shot 8,000 miles from Britain the Islanders were left unprotected and isolated when the news of the British surrender hit when Osiris that afternoon 200,000 Argentinians poured into the main square wildly applauding the liberation of the East Las Malvinas gaol Thierry's plan had worked as the crime celebrated Galtieri was confident that Britain would not react he assumed that because the distant Falklands was hardly a vital British interest Britain without fight Philip but gal Gerry was making one crucial error he'd seriously underestimated Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1982 Britain's first female prime minister was governing a country in trouble Britain was in recession unemployment had just passed the three million mark and have been some of the worst rioting of the 20th century but Thatcher was a formidable character she knew that to hesitate could spell doom for her unpopular government she summoned Parliament and gave a defiant response to Argentina's invasion we are here because for the first time for many years British sovereign territory has been invaded by a foreign power the government has now decided that a large task force will sail as soon as all preparations are complete HMS invincible will be in the lead and we'll leave port on Monday and so in the spring of 1982 a British task force set sail ahead lay an 8,000 mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the Falkland Islands in all 93 ships would sail to the Falcons a hastily gathered feat of warships supply ships and even cruise liners like the qe2 at the heart of a fleet were two aircraft carriers HMS invincible and HMS Hermes Hermes was the flagship and home to the Task Force Commander Rear Admiral sandy woodwind Wood was fleet would take three weeks to reach the Falklands during that time Britain would try for a diplomatic solution but if that failed the task force would have to go to war when it got there by April the 17th the first wave of the taskforce had sailed right down into the South Atlantic and was just off Ascension Island that there is British base to the Falkland there was still another 3,500 miles to the Falkland Islands themselves the ships were in two groups to the south was wood woods naval feet this was the advance party made up of two aircraft carriers and fighting ships that would battle for the control of the air of the sea around the Falkland Islands once they had gained air superiority then the men carried in the second group of ships would launch an amphibious landing the only way to win back the Falken would be to have troops fighting on the ground there as the fleet sailed south United Nations and US diplomats tried for a peaceful settlement but by April the 30th any hope of a diplomatic solution evaporated neither side would back down neither Britain nor Argentina had officially declared war but now war seemed inevitable the argentinian garrison of these islands watched the British military response their invasion with growing concern the race was now on to get organized and resupplied before the British arrived the Argentinian army did have some professional soldiers but the majority of its men were young conscripts to strengthen its forces the army recalled reservists more experienced men who could stiffen the ranks of those who just begun their military service my commanding officer came on the radio four o'clock in the morning and told me to wake up over men we had to be in the Malvinas in 36 hours you could see that the soldiers felt very proud by the end of April there were 13,000 Argentinian troops on the islands and with them their new commander the man in charge was Brigadier General Mario Menon des Menendez was a tough soldier who'd made his name fighting rebels and remote parts of Argentina he was quickly sworn in as the new governor of the Falklands his first task was to prepare his defenses strategically Menendez's position was strong as you can see the Falkland Islands are about 400 miles from Argentina that put the islands just within range of Argentina's air force based on the mainland the main two islands are West and East Falkland each around 50 miles from n2n Menendez position 2,000 of his men on West Auckland a thousand men here at Goose Green and about 10,000 in the hills to the west of stem these hills were the Argentineans last line of defense but Menendez hoped his ground troops wouldn't have to fight at all he planned and neutralized the British task force out at sea before they had a chance to set foot on land the Argentinean air force was well trained and could launch high-performance fighter bombers from bases on the mainland these aircrafts could attack the task force once they were within range against this force the British can only take as many fighters as they can fit onto their two aircraft carriers I was just 34 planes 34 against nearly a hundred Argentinean fighters this small force was supposed to gain air superiority protect the British fleet and prepare the way for the amphibious landings all this from the confined flight decks of the two carriers as they plowed through the heaving South Atlantic Seas it was an enormous challenge on the 1st of May 1982 the battle for the Falklands began the first clash between Britain and Argentina was in the air but despite being the underdog the British immediately showed they were a force to be reckoned with there was one thing that the Argentinians hadn't expected britain's latest acquisition the sea harrier god you can feel the power of that thing it's unbelievable that's what's required to get it off this tiny deck whoa this aircraft was brand new untested in combat when it was sent to the Falklands unique in its ability to take off and land vertically and operate from short runways the Harrier quickly proved it was versatile and extremely reliable and the Harriet had another killer advantage it was armed with the latest air-to-air heat seeking missile called Sidewinder for Argentinian aircraft was shot down on the first day by Sidewinder another 15 would follow British seem to be smashing the Argentinian airports but they could only maintain their advantage in the air while their ships below remain safe the most important ships in a teen able task force are the aircraft carriers if the carriers are lost so too are their vital aircraft the two aircraft carriers in the Falklands had to be protected at all costs and although the action continued in the skies the focus of the battle shifted to the rough seas of a South Atlantic on the 1st of May Woodward's main task forces 100 miles northeast of the Falklands the British government had declared a 200-mile exclusion zone around the islands and said he would attack anyone entering it up here to the northwest a cluster of Argentinian warships was approaching among them the Argentinian flagship the aircraft carrier the dentist's Cinco de Meyer she carried aircraft that would soon be within close range of the British fleet but even more menacing the British reckoned was another group of ships to the south of the Falklands a cruiser the General Belgrano and two destroyers which the British believed were armed with lethal Exocet missiles these missiles could sink the British aircraft carriers if they got within range the Royal Navy could not afford to risk an exercise attack on its vital carriers the loss of even one carrier and her combat aircraft could mean defeat without both the British task force would have to withdraw from the fight completed the Argentinians appeared to be threatening a pincer movement against the British fleet the carrier of the Verdi Cinco DeMayo from the north and the Belgrano group from the south the Belgrano group was being tracked by a submerged British submarine the conqueror Congress captain feared that if the Belgrano turned North it would move into these shallow waters the Conqueror would struggle to track the ship in the shallow water and risk losing sight of it the Belgrano might then head for the British fleet and put the taskforce in grave danger beneath the waves conquerors commanding officer saw that the Belgrano was steering an erratic course just outside the exclusion zone the situation was so critical that the Prime Minister herself was consulted she gave the order to attack the conqueror launched its torpedoes there were masses of injured men most of them had been burned there were men covered in oil when I got to my life draft asked ourselves to come with me again I looked at the people who were missing including the commander within 45 minutes the Belgrano had sunk immediately the entire Argentinian Navy fearful of further submarine attacks turn round and headed home the predation scored a huge military success and gal Sierra's plan seemed to be faltering but he was still able to unleash the weapon the British feared most the Argentinians had recently bought five air-launched EXO sets these half-ton missiles could seek out and destroy a ship from over 30 miles away on the morning of the 4th of May two Argentinian strike aircraft each armed with X aset took off from the mainland on that particular day in 1982 Woodward posted three ships like this as his front line of defense they were destroyers HMS Coventry HMS Glasgow and HMS Sheffield they were armed with anti-aircraft missiles these ships could shoot down aircraft but they were unreliable against low altitude targets like exercise that morning things have been relatively quiet for the British task force this is a heartful ski weapons-free faker 41-7 a strength to then just before 2 o'clock the argentinian aircraft were picked up by the radar room on board HMS Glasgow Omega X dancing outside girls go immediately send an urgent warning to all the other ships and went to full action stations herself but 20 miles away onboard HMS Sheffield the scene couldn't have been more different here the ops room wasn't fully manned only part of the message from the Glasgow was picked up but it was worse than that at that exact moment HMS Sheffield was using its satellite equipment to send a message back to Britain and that blocked its radar the Sheffield couldn't see the Argentinian aircraft approaching turning if I'm to read back on the gueules go to fast moving dots possible Exocet missiles suddenly appeared on the radar screen and be closing in at 700 miles of our with a mixture of relief and aura the captain of the Glasgow realized that the missiles were headed not for them but straight for the Sheffield hms sheffield was the first british ship to be destroyed by enemy action since the Second World War of the 281 men aboard 20 were killed and 26 were wounded Ladon Ivan shed on both sides of the conflict by mid-may the South Atlantic winter was closing in some Harriers had been lost in combat and now the bad weather was beginning to hinder the pilots the success of the British plan relied on having complete control of the air to provide cover for landing the ground troops but the British didn't have that cover and now time was running out it was politically unthinkable to abandon the operation now they would have to take the huge risk of putting in the ground troops without total air cover on the 18th of May the second wave of ships including ferries and the cruise line of the Canberra arrived just off the Falklands on board was the amphibious landing force a 3,000 been for a mixture of Royal Marine Commandos and army paratroopers and they were led by brigadier Julian Thompson Thompson was an experienced commander he knew that his troops were vulnerable without air superiority but the pressure of time meant the landings had to go ahead the British had looked at all the landing site options on both West and East Falkland since Stanley over here was their ultimate target it made sense to land here on East Falkland they plumped for this natural harbour here at San Carlos Bay it would be out of range of enemy artillery and was only very lightly defended a great advantage for any amphibious landing and Here I am with San Carlos Bay behind me and that's the entrance over there that's where the British landing force came in these hills also offered Thompson's men and ships some protection against low-level air attack but there was one problem with this landing site it was a long way from San Carlos here across to the spot where Thompson knew the decisive battle would be fought here in the strongly defended mountains just west of Stanley between the two was 50 miles of difficult country Thompson plan to move his landing force right across the island with a shipment of helicopters that were due to arrive any day but now the priority was to get ease men on dry land as soon as possible in the early hours of the 21st of May 3000 British troops headed for the landing beaches each man carried his rifle ammunition and enough rations for two days this was the moment they've been waiting for for weeks once ashore the british troops made their way up into the hills and dug themselves into strong positions one unit the second battalion of the parachute regiment known as tu perra were based up here on the Sussex mountains overlooking the bay it was just a question of time before the Argentinians arrived the men braced themselves for an air attack then at 10:30 all hell broke loose the Argentinian High Command sent in wave after wave of their fighter bombers from the mainland but five hours these aircraft bombed and strength the fleet sitting in the bay the surrounding hills made it almost impossible for the ship's radars to detect the enemy aircraft so the British were unable to get a fix on the attacking planes until it was too late from these positions up here the Paris had a grandstand view of the action in the bay all their supplies for the land campaign was still being unloaded from those ships coming under attack the Paris had to watch helplessly as their lifeline was under fire by the end of the day five British warships were hit and one ship HMS ardent was sinking and attacks continued on the next day the British had positioned anti-aircraft missiles around the bay but it would be days before these delicate units were operational on the water the men had resorted to strapping machine guns onto the ship's rails and a desperate attempt to hit the low-flying Argentinean jets more conventional anti-aircraft guns some operated by sailors as young of 17 did score a few successes but all these efforts did little to blunt the relentless onslaught of the Argentinean air force the British ships unloading vital supplies for the land campaign made easy targets on May the 23rd HMS antelope just out there was the next vessel to take a fatal hit we watched with lumps in our throats 'as antelope raids with fire and finally sunk she was our escort and everybody felt a great loss she was more than just a ship to us in four days eight British ships were damaged and two sunk during these attacks twenty-five men died and many more were injured while the British were reeling from the attacks in San Carlos water the Argentinians were celebrating their triumph on the 25th of May it was Argentina's national day a day of patriotic ceremony and after the successes of the air campaign Menendez and his troops and the Falklands had even more reason to celebrate Selena Sheehan but it wasn't over yet the Argentinean Air Force was preparing another raid that would hit the British land campaign where it really hurts a massive container ship the Atlantic conveyor had just arrived from Britain she was loaded with thousands of tons of supplies but more importantly the helicopters needed by the British forces to get them to Stanley she was preparing to go into San Carlos that night at 3:30 6:00 p.m. on the 25th of May - Argentinian aircraft flying from the mainland picked up the British carrier group just off East Falkland once in range they released their exxor sense the missiles locked onto two frigates the ships fired up metal foil to confuse the missiles radar and the exercise gear de well but then they found another target the defenseless atlantic convey fire ripped through the ship and all nine helicopters still on board were destroyed Thompson was relying on them to carry his men across East Falkland to stab him at one stroke most of his transport had now disappeared Margaret Thatcher wanted Stan Lee back in British hands quickly but the main British force was still 50 miles away and with no helicopters the only way for the troops to get there was to walk the Marines call it yumping and this was to be one of the classic yumps of all time men carried up to 120 pounds of kit on their backs through very uneven ground and with the rain lashing down the men had four days of hard marching ahead of them and at the end of this slog they would have to fight a battle the British main force of 2,000 men were on the move to Stanley but one unit of around 500 men was going in a completely different direction the men of tu perra weren't heading east towards Stanley they were heading south towards a settlement that was heavily garrison by Argentinian troops they had been ordered to win a quick and morale-boosting victory but the battle that lay ahead of them wouldn't go as planned the name of the settlement was goose green the Argentinians had a base at goose cream because of its strategic importance it's on a narrow strip of land just five miles long by a mile wide so the Argentinians had stationed an infantry regiment here centered around a small grassy airstrip this is goose green settlement and San Carlos is beyond those mountains way over the distance there here's goose green on the map cos aware of the British landing in San Carlos the Argentinians reinforced their garrison here at Goose Green fearing an attack from the north ready for a British assault all they could do now was wait the man in command of tu perra was Colonel H Jones known as H to his men he was brave but impulsive and he believed in leading from the front Jones knew Goose Green would be a formidable target and he drew up a detailed battle plan the grounded goose screen was wide open and featureless offering little protection changes objectives were the airstrip and the settlement of goose screen held by the Argentinians to panner was split into several companies they would fight their way south in the dark and then close in on the airfield then they would take the settlement in daylight but the Argentinians held a strong position on the high ground of Darwin Hill they were protected by minefields in front and supporting artillery back behind the airfield 10:30 that night the British began the attack one company about 100 men moved rapidly up here on the left clearing out any enemy positions they came across to parrot making good progress until they reach this spot on the north side of Darwin Hill this was the point at which Colonel H Jones's plan started to go badly wrong one company were pinned down there by fire from well-placed machine guns upon the hill it was rapidly becoming clear there were more Argentinians and they had thought and what's more their will to fight was strong then the Sun began to rise and light flooded across goose cream illuminating the men on the wide-open battlefield the men of to power on the low ground were completely exposed to Argentinian fire and couldn't advance somebody had to do something it was time for Colonel H Jones to do what he thought he did best lead from the front he identified an isolated Argentinean position just up there that he thought he could take out on his own clutching his submachine gun he charged up the hill but immediately withering fire broke out from this hill up there other Argentinian positions he was seemed to fall over be got back up and kept charging then he was shot in the back and collapsed mortally wounded only meters away from his target this memorial marks where Jones fell as the commanding officer Lay Dying it now fell to the second-in-command major Chris Keeble to lead the men to peril were pinned down out in the open and they were still a mile short of their objective the airstrip at goose cream this was too perilous position this is where they were pinned on by heavy fire coming from the Argentinians dug in along this Ridge Keeble decided that rather than risk more losses he'd bring heavy fire down on the Argentinian defenses on the ridge while this was happening two of his other companies moved around to the west to bring pressure on the Argentinians flank slowly to para pushed forward as Argentinian fighter bombers hit them from the air then their luck turned and they got their first air support of the fight two Harriers swept over the battle and dropped cluster bombs on the Argentinian artillery positions after 14 hours of intense fighting the Paris steady progress saw them closing in on the Argentinian but they'd taken a lot of casualties and they were utterly exhausted that night Keeble decided on a cunning ploy to try and Bluff the Argentinians into an early surrender he sent a letter to the Argentinean commander in a highly confident tone he demanded an Argentinean surrender and warned them that he would bombard them heavily and hold them responsible for any civilian casualties if they went on fighting amazingly the gamble worked the Argentinians agreed to surrender the next day the Paras were astonished to see over 900 Argentinians nearly twice their own number and nearly three times more than they'd expected lay down their weapons after six weeks under argentinian occupation Goose Green was back in British hands and the soldiers of tu perra were heroes but the battle for this tiny place had come at a huge cost captain lieutenant fari corporal Hartmann corporal Sullivan more than 70 soldiers were dead 16 British and over 50 Argentinians what had begun as a quick raid to seize back the airstrip and liberate the community had turned into a bloody battle in the struggle for the Falkland Islands the British had won the first round of their land campaign against all the odds but ahead of them still was the battle to regain standing while true para had been fighting at gu screen the main British force had crossed the island and was now just 12 miles from the capital but the soldiers knew they faced a tough fight between them and Stanley University Stanley most of us know what the ring got to get it done fast so the only way to do it is get in there do you have any feelings of apprehension them oh yes definitely well shall over them everything seemed to be going to plan but then the British campaign suffered a massive blow what followed was the largest single British loss of life in the war just a few miles away from the troops - landing ships at Galahad and Sir Tristram were anchored just off this Bay they were packed with nearly 500 troops reinforcements for the assault on Stanley these ships should have been offloaded under cover of darkness but a series of delays and misunderstandings meant they were still here when the Sun came up the Argentinian spotted the ships and called in their Air Force from the mainland - Argentinean fighter bomb swept in on a deadly bombing run they caught both ships in broad daylight packed with troops and ammunition 49 men were killed and a further 115 injured in the disaster but this British tragedy was a significant morale boost for the Argentinians Menendez bestow that 900 British had died and he now expected a slackening in the British momentum but he was in for a rude shock nine days after the landings of San Carlos a senior commander Major General Jeremy Moore took overall control of the British land campaign undeterred by the Argentinian air attacks Moore moved around 9,000 troops into position near the hills surrounding Stanley the battle for Stanley was about to begin here's mine Kent where we are now heavy Argentinean forces lay between Moore here and the capital he would attack in two stages on two separate nights on the first night his offensive would sweep from north to south a three-pronged attack on the Argentinians more planned to take this outer ring of hills the largest of which was month-long them in the north here on the second night the British will assault another ring of hills near a Stanley centred here on bunt tumbledown success would leave them just two miles from Stanley the first targets were the Argentinean troops dug in all over Mount London monk Longden is a natural fortress over 500 feet at its highest point it dominates the surrounding moorland for the British forces this was a dangerous place to attack and after their experiences of goose cream they didn't want their troops caught advancing in the open terrain in daylight so they made a key decision all the battles to retake Stanley would be fought at night night-fighting is a highly effective strategy every soldier the British forces has to be as good at fighting in the dark as in daylight I joined the British Army on a training exercise to experience what it's like the attack began with flares and machine-gun fire once we've crept as close as we could in the pitch dark it's incredible see that's actually quite building just moving around in these positions is very difficult you're weighed down by your equipment there's people tripping over falling in the frozen stream and turning ankles the enemy is not the only challenge in this start a difficult terrain despite our hardness to operate in the dark it's imperative that the attacking troops don't get pinned down the most important thing to fight back we've got to keep up the momentum keep up speed I guess keep getting me off-balance new section we're about to go over this this rise now and impressing the commander here it's constantly telling everyone what's going on in the rest of the battlefield even though it's only fifty or hundred meters away it's very confusing just here firing and lots of shouting he's gone see going around telling everyone what stage we're at trying to keep everything going to plan for the British troops on the falkland keep into the plan and maintaining momentum would be the key to their success when fighting at night at 8 p.m. on the 11th of June the British forces began their attack on Mount London but three para who was spearheading the advance found themselves trapped in a bewildering maze of steep-sided alleyways these narrow gullies here channel the men into the killing grounds the Argentinian machine gunners and snipers up above then grenades were rolled down in amongst them one officer compared it to like being stuck in a bowling alley their grenades they were just bouncing down the side of the rock face we thought that were rocks falling till the first one exploded despite mounting casualties the men pushed forward one sergeant Ian MacKaye dashed off a slope and knocked out a stubborn Argentinean position he was killed but later awarded the Victoria Cross for seven hours the British forces battled their way up Mount London their assault was just too forceful for the Argentinians to hold off so desperate were the Argentinians to smash the British attack at Menendez risked his own men's lives by ordering his own artillery to bring down fire on their own positions here on Mount longer but it didn't do any good by 6:30 a.m. the British had captured the mountain as day broke the British brought in the dead and injured from both sides most of the Argentinian casualties and prisoners were conscript soldiers young men drafted into the Army while these soldiers had fought well many of them were worn down by the conditions before the battle had begun some of them were even captured in their positions like this one huddled up in their sleeping bags trying to escape the battle and the cold I am tired cold unhappy I swear that I can't take it anymore even though this is my duty as a man and a soldier of the fatherland although this had been a bloody battle for both sides the British attacks have taken all the high ground they'd planned to on the first night but another night's fighting still they ahead of the remaining mountains have had to be captured on the second night by far the most vital was that one over there let's tumble down the last major obstacle between the British and Stanley the men charged with recapturing tumbledown with a second Battalion of the Scots Guards just 8 weeks earlier they've been on ceremonial duties like guarding Buckingham Palace this would be the first experience of war for many of them and they now had to confront perhaps the toughest target of the campaign if the Argentinians lost tumbledown they lost Stanley so they'd put their best men up here the elite fifth Marines 700 heavily armed crack troops were dug into the protected positions in the caves and rocks high and the mountain these Argentinian Marines had been trained to fight at night and outnumbered the attacking British forces by almost two to one the Argentinians were confident they could hold the British off as soon as darkness fell the fighting began I was murdered we were coming under water fire machine-gun fire sniper fire you nema it was coming towards us well it's seein expect the unexpected and that was unexpected you cannot really describe her nobody could describe it her floor being though three hours into the battle things were going badly for the British the Scots Guards attack had come to a complete halt they were taunting us the odd word in English calling us to come on and I think they mentioned surrender the combination of cold uncertainty and the general awareness that we were stuck led to the grip ego shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and that stage I thought we had blown it let's mine tumble down behind me up there and here it is on the map cos the scuds guards had approached tumble down from the west and made their way up this slope here unopposed but now one company about 120 men were pinned down here by stiff opposition from the Argentinians positioned in the rocks and crags up above on top of the ridge here then 30 Scots Guards climbed up on the higher ground to the north undetected by the Argentinians down below now they were able to bring sustained fire down on the Argentinians exposed plan the rest of the company stormed the Argentinian strong point the Scots had made the breakthrough as dawn broke the battle was still raging tumbled out and the British forces prepared to throw everything they had into the fight for Stanley they hammered the remaining enemy positions in a final all-out bomba soon Argentinean troops could be seen fleeing the British troops had effectively destroyed their enemy's will to fight and the Argentinians retreated flooding back into Stanley in their hundreds the Argentinian resistance was crumbling as the demoralized defenders poured into Stanley the men were heard arguing with their superiors discipline among the Argentinian troops was breaking down it wasn't long before they were surrounded not the 14th of June the British demanded the Argentinean surrender realizing that he had little choice Menendez accepted after two and a half months the battle for the Falklands was over I've just heard that the white flag is flying over standard the Argentinians are occupied Stanley for 74 days but now as true para marched into the capital it was back in British hands a month later the first British troops arrived back home to jubilant celebrations this victory had given people a renewed sense of pride in their country and a feeling that Britain could lift itself out of its recent decline and riding on the crest of this success was Margaret Thatcher within a year she won the general election with a resounding majority the iron maiden had cemented her position as a major world leader in Argentina the news of the surrender was taken very badly far from uniting the people the war had left the Argentinians furious at the army and the government just three days after Argentina's defeat Galtieri was forced from power and military rule collapsed in Argentina over in the Falklands the legacy of this bitter conflict lives on nearly a thousand people died in the war 252 British servicemen 3:4 cloned Islanders and almost 700 Argentinians after the war the British government offered to return the bodies of the Argentinian dead to Argentina for burial but their government refused they said that these islands were part of Argentina and the bodies would remain here for the Falkland Islanders these graves are a daily reminder that Argentina refuses to drop its claim to their homeland after the war ended Britain greatly increased its permanent military presence on the islands now there's one servicemen for every two civilians living here today the Islanders are still determined the Falklands remain British as long as Britain continues to respect their wishes there will be no early end to this bitter territorial dispute next time in 1991 Kuwait was at the center of the last major war of the 20th century Saddam Hussein's Iraq had invaded leading to a battle unlike anything seen before I'll be getting to grips with some of the challenges faced by the men and women on the front line and I'm going to be explaining the tactics of a war dominated by cutting-edge technology it was called Operation Desert Storm battle for Kuwait
