Battle of Goose Green - 2 Para against all Odds (28–29th May 1982)

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of the settlement was however insignificant for the entire operation on the falkland islands if it was up to the military the paris would have never assaulted it but once they received the order to go in they went without any questions asked less than two months earlier on april 2nd the argentinian forces invaded the falkland islands part of the british overseas territory in an immediate response the british government ordered the dispatch of a task force to the falkland islands comprising 127 ships the task force set sail on a very dangerous expedition operating nearly 8 000 miles from the home base in late april 1982 two forces engaged each other in the seas around the archipelago on may 12 the british command decided to land troops on east falkland nine days later on may 21st four thousand soldiers of the third commando brigade comprising the second and third battalion of the parachute regiment and 40 and 45 commando of the royal marines landed at the beaches in san carlos waters on the western coast of east falkland it was opposite port stanley the largest town in the area and an argentine stronghold on the islands in the days that followed the men of the third commando brigade established the beachhead it was a hastily organized operation without proper vessels and protection from the air during this time the beachhead was exposed to attacks from the argentine air force the argentine pilots were especially effective in fighting the british vessels of the amphibious group's escorts in the first four days of combat they sunk and damaged eight warships and transport ships one of them was the ss atlantic conveyor a large container ship carrying supplies along with three chinooks six wessex heavy lift helicopters and one westland lynx helicopter suffering heavy losses other transport ships were forced to withdraw to the security of the task force before being unloaded the course of events crippled the logistics for the troops on the island they were left out of ammunition for support batteries entire resupplies of small arms ammo and rations for 18 days the logistical problems that occurred called for an alteration of the initial plans for the recapturing of the island brigadier julian thompson commander of the third commando brigade was reluctant to proceed with operations until his logistics improved the war cabinet back in london didn't share his view although they were aware of the logistical problems and fully acknowledged brigadier thompson's worries they insisted on making progress they feared that the british troops might lose momentum which would be fatal for future operations in the area there was also another reason that pushed the war cabinet to insist on conducting operations as soon as possible diplomatic efforts on solving the crisis increased in the days after landing in san carlos there was a lively campaign at the united nations to call for a ceasefire such a scenario was least favorable for great britain as it would leave the argentines in port stanley and british in san carlos with supply lines stretched thousands of miles long in such a situation the argentines would just have to wait for the british logistics to collapse and cause the entire task force to withdraw on top of everything the british public was eager to see some kind of progress anything that could boost their morale and morale of the troops in the falklands the choice ultimately fell on the small settlements of goose green and darwin on the central isthmus of east falkland even though the airfield near goose green posed a threat to british troops brigadier thompson found any operation in this direction a pure distraction from the primary operation towards port stanley he believed that once port stanley fell the argentines in goose green would surrender as well the opposite scenario was less likely thompson at the end had to give in to demands of the war cabinet and ordered two para to attack the darwin goose green area without helicopters to transport them to the starting point soldiers of tupara began a march southwards from their position walking through 13 miles of wetland and freezing cold weather soldiers of tupara reached their positions at camilla creek before dawn on may 27th the commander of the battalion lieutenant colonel herbert jones immediately sent two patrols to reconnoiter the area the men of tupera had already received reports about their enemy on the isthmus but that intel largely underestimated its strength lieutenant colonel jones believed he was facing no more than 500 enemy soldiers with most of them being conscripted soldiers he didn't consider them to be a major threat to his men however the argentine task force mercedes in the area consisted of three times that number as if a strong enemy presence wasn't a problem enough to power learnt of another complication from back home on may 27th the day before the attack on goose green was planned the bbc broadcasted information that british troops were preparing an attack on the village it completely blew away the expected element of surprise luckily the argentinians doubted the validity of the information didn't send reinforcements to goose green nevertheless the argentinians in goose green were on high alert lieutenant colonel jones was furious with what he thought to be an act of treachery he even threatened to sue the bbc and the whole government if needed nevertheless the plan to attack darwin goose green was still to go ahead at 0-200 hours on may 28th a company of the two paris started the operation with an advance towards their first objective burnt side house their attack was accompanied by supporting fire from the nearby hms arrow however after only a few rounds were shot the guns jammed and left a company with the support of just three 105 millimeter light guns of the eight commando battery the plan was for a company to advance along the eastern shore of the isthmus towards the darwin settlement on the western shore b company was planned to advance towards the enemy positions at boca house and then to encircle the argentinian positions at goose green from the south d company followed along the path of bee company eliminating the remnants of enemy resistance and lastly sea company was left in reserve the first contact with argentinian forces was successful for the british who captured their initial objectives without casualties however as they progressed the argentinian resistance became much stiffer so lieutenant colonel jones had to call in d company to come aid b company as dawn rose at 0 6 30 hours tupara approached the darwin hill stretching across the entire isthmus on the eastern side of the hill just in front of the darwin settlement a company encountered heavy fire from the well-entrenched argentinians pinned down in a gully full of gores they were unable to break the enemy's defense at 0 8 30 lieutenant colonel jones arrived at the position to see for himself the reasons for the delay his plan had been to complete the entire action by that time eager to capture the settlement jones led an attack with the goal of getting around the enemy's positions on the hill in a courageous assault jones reached the rear of the enemy trench when he was shot dead the situation went from bad to worse tupara had lost their commander and a company was pinned down under a hail of enemy bullets still the spirit of the men was very high about a thousand yards to the west b company was in the same situation they too were pinned down by enemy fire realizing they were in a situation in which any maneuver would be futile soldiers of the bee company lit their fires and cooked breakfast while bullets were flying above their heads the unusual picnic was accompanied by a good dose of british humor major chris keeble now in command of tupara decided to concentrate his forces against the position at the boca house on the west while soldiers of b company were suppressing the enemy with milan wire guided anti-tank missiles the company used the opportunity to climb down the cliff to a narrow beach bypass the enemy positions and hit them in the flank at 1200 hours beat company seized boca house with the main enemy defensive positions crushed second power rushed to their ultimate objectives b company then approached the settlement from the southwest deep company attacked the airfield and along with sea company the school house in goose green by that time the british paratroopers had spent almost all of their ammo and were beyond the reach of their logistics they continued to fight with enemy weapons that they had captured along the way the argentinians tried to push them back by sending in two airmachi mb339 planes followed by two fma ia-58 percara aircraft armed with napalm the british soldiers shot down one of each using blowpipe missiles and small arms fire the battle around the settlement lasted for three and a half hours the men of c and d company were just 400 yards from goose green but were stopped by enemy 105 millimeter pack howitzers which at that point were firing with their barrels practically in the vertical position at 16 30 hours task force mercedes received reinforcements from port stanley combat team solari comprising of 132 men landed from helicopters four miles south of goose green after assessing the situation its commander entered the settlement somewhere around midnight after 40 hours without sleep and 14 hours spent in combat soldiers of tupara were exhausted and low on ammunition even though they pushed towards the argentinians they were still far fewer in number they spent the night around goose green believing that tomorrow would certainly bring defeat the argentinians had their doubts as well the commander of the task force mercedes italo angel piaggi found the situation desperate despite having received reinforcements his men were surrounded and on top of everything else low on morale even though he had more men these were inexperienced conscripts fighting against professional highly trained british soldiers major keeble seemed to have been aware of argentinian doubts and early at dawn on may 29 sent a radio message calling for a truce he then sent two prisoners with a message in spanish proposing terms of surrender at 0 9 30 hours british and argentine senior officers met at the airfield the british officers acknowledged that their enemy had fought well and allowed them to surrender with all honors some time later over a thousand argentinian soldiers laid down their arms in a ceremony that included the commander's speech and the singing of the argentine national anthem the battle of goose green was over the daring attack of tupara paid off however at the cost of 18 men including the commanding officer plus 64 wounded the argentine suffered 55 men killed and 86 wounded it was a great victory for the british who despite numerical inferiority managed to defeat the enemy and capture the entire task force defending goose green while the primary job was yet to be done at port stanley the morale boost brought by the victory at goose green was however huge it ensured that the war cabinet and the public in britain would continue to support the operations in the falklands indeed carried by the initial success at goose green the british retook the falklands in just two weeks [Music] you

Channel: Simple History

Views: 888,160

Rating: 4.9295616 out of 5

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, goose green, falklands, 1982, 2nd Para, British 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, airfield, Argentinian forces, Archipelago, 3rd Commando Brigade, San Carlos waters, Margaret thatcher, Argentines, british, Darwin, Port Stanley, Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Jones, Burntside House, Boca House, picnic, breakfast, Major Chris Keeble, MB-339 planes, Pucara, Blowpipe missiles, Task Force Mercedes, Combat Team Solari, Italo Angel Piaggi

Id: kZ4ohW9zuiI

Length: 14min 17sec (857 seconds)

Published: Sun May 16 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Pvt_Jonh]

How it is: Me: Its kinda boring... SL: Yeah... Enemy tow: good day gentlemen.

[u/LowMikeGuy]

Couldn't watch this video without hearing the goose green reggae stomp loading music