The Empire Strikes Back! | Koala Explains: the Falklands War 1982

[Music] good afternoon you be bastards and welcome back to koala explains the series where we talk real world military topics from around the globe and throughout history last time it's a bit of a different video instead of spotlighting one military vehicle being a tank or aircraft or talking about specific military technologies such as active protection systems and today's video by popular request we'll be taking a look at a conflict itself the Falklands War now the reason I chose the Falklands for today's video was purely because at a topic that interests me personally and that's mainly down to the complex logistics involved as well as the aircraft used in it the sea harrier obviously saw its trial by fire and the french designed seaport and dad both of which happened to comprise some of my personal favorite fighter jets of all time before we get started i just want to say i've noticed the vast majority of viewers watching the series are not subscribed to the channel youtube has recently changed their search engine algorithms which has really made things exceptionally hard for me and other creators i know so if you do enjoy today's content then please make sure to browse through the rest of the series and if you do want to it would really mean a lot to me if you would consider subscribing anyway without further ado the Falklands War now I know what you might be saying but koala you can't call the Falklands of war because war was never declared so officially it never was one and you'd be wrong while there was never any official declaration of war in the Falklands there was an official surrender signed by Argentine General Mario Menendez and pot Stanley on the 14th of June 1982 and it was referred to at the time by official sources as the Falklands War while on technicality referred to as an undeclared war both British and Argentine memorials to those killed in the fighting officially commemorate them as having served in the Falklands War so basically if you dispute that you're an [ __ ] the Falkland Islands and overseas territory 8,000 miles away from Britain had been a crown colony since 1840 with a permanent population of British citizens however in all that time the islands had also been claimed by Argentina since a dispute that came to light in 1833 when the Argentine Confederation appointed their own governor of the islands forcing Britain to step in to take back control Breton would retain hold of the islands almost unopposed besides the small matter of two world wars for more than a century Argentina however has never rescinded their claim to the islands citing the Breton took them illegally in 1833 and even to this day referring to the Malvinas as a lost heritage of Argentina although the vast majority of the islands inhabitants repeatedly vote to remain on the British sovereignty the dispute came to a head and the early 1980s when Argentine president Leopoldo Galtieri decided to make a statement of power to his people and gain their support after economic crises and the violent actions of the hunter against the Argentine people by finally solving the issue of those damned islands why Argentina kicked up so much of a stink over a pile of cold wet rocks I'll never know - the Brett's dogs just like home with British military budget cuts and the scheduled withdrawal of the Royal Navy's patrol vessel HMS endurance from the area Galtieri doubted that the United Kingdom would even bother doing anything about an invasion of the islands while it's true that Britain didn't really care all that much for the islands themselves and honestly wanted the inhabitants to change their minds and vote to become Argentinian to improve relations and East trade in South America until such a time Britain had a responsibility to its citizens who lived in the Falklands the UK had even offered a leaseback agreement for the islands in 1980 which Argentina declined and March 1982 an Argentine scrap metal much and received a contract on the nearby island of South Georgia which was mostly uninhabited but was linked to the Falklands and subsequently also claimed by both the UK and Argentina so Breton probably shouldn't have told Argentina that they could go ahead and send men and there we descend the Mex messages Galtieri saw this as his opportunity and sending the Argentine Navy to bring the Mantis s Georgia ignoring all the formalities that come with sending naval vessels to another nations territory he landed troops on the island and raised the Argentine flag on March 19 this was somewhat poor planning as the UK's defence cuts and the withdrawal of HMS endurance won't shade you to take place until a month later and direct actions from the Argentine forces were meant to begin after UN talks that year by which my endurance will be gone and stared HMS endurance was still at Stanley and set sail for South Georgia with a detachment of 22 royal marines on the 25th Galtieri feared that Breton was using the occupation of South Georgia island as an excuse to bolster their naval presence in the area causing his window of opportunity he decided against pleas from US President Ronald Reagan to use the chance while insurance was at sea to land troops on the Falklands and capture them on April 1st 1982 the islands govern the regs Hahn was informed that an Argentine force would attack at dawn the next day which must have signed it'll be bit serious for an April Fool's joke governor hunt quickly someone to senior Royal Marines to work out exactly how they could defend the islands against the six hundred strong Argentine force with a total of 57 Marines plus fifty members of the Falkland Islands Defence Force the decision was quickly made to abandon the military barracks at Moody Brook along with the airport on Cape Pennbrook and focus all attentions on the islands capital Stanley they were however to put up only a token resistance and eventually inevitably surrender little did they know but the Argentine submarine SantaFe a US ballet class sold to Argentina after World War two have been off the coast for several days performing reconnaissance from the invasion at around 10:00 p.m. on April 1st Santa Fe dispatched 14 men from the tactical divers group Argentina's Special Forces to land at Cape Pembroke northeast of Stanley beginning operation Rosario the first real actions of the Falklands War they landed at around 4:30 a.m. on April 2nd establishing a beachhead and signaling the landing ship Cabo San Antonio to put ashore with a force of 20lb t7 amphibious troop carriers at the same time the Argentine destroyer Santa Seema Trinidad landed a force of 84 Argentine commandos at a point several miles south of Stanley with the intent to push into moody Berg barracks and ambush the British garrison on the island the Argentine men quickly surrounded the barracks with tear gas leaving one exit for the men they assumed were inside and with orders not to cause casualties effort could be avoided through gas grenades and to the building itself realizing shortly afterwards that it was empty the British had been expecting them while the northern force moved on Stanley and the southern force captured the barracks 16 troops under the command of Pedro giacchino moved from the landing site towards government house in Stanley not knowing since they had no radios that the force of Royal Marines they would meet their outnumbered them by more than two to one at 6:30 a.m. giacchino attacked government house splitting his men into two groups with pain providing fire support from outside of including Giacchino himself moved into the rear of the building Royal Marines were able to fend off the interior assault and during 3 Argentine men including G Chino himself who threatened to use his hand grenade if any British troops approached his position preventing them giving medical aid to the downed commander Joe Chino was the only man to die and the capture of the Falklands as the battle around Government House was ending another was starting as the assault force from the Cabo San Antonio was engaged by Royal Marines as they moved on Stanley from within the houses the Marines fired at the column of vehicles with machine guns and anti-tank rockets causing damage to one of the LV T's the vehicles scattered into defensive positions along the sides of the road but maintained their orders not to cause casualties F it wasn't absolutely necessary and return shots were ordered to hit the roofs of the houses the Marines meanwhile had brought down one of the vehicles with unguided shoulder-mounted rocket but with the large force moving steadily on their possessions they were forced to retreat through the town towards government house with the L V T's in tow at 9:30 a.m. less than 12 hours after actions began governor hunt ordered a surrender and the Falklands were captured the British people both Islanders but especially the soldiers were terrified having heard of how the hunter had treated their own people and the so called dirty war and the propaganda that had been going on in Argentina they wondered if they were going to be brutalized as prisoners surprisingly though the Argentine troops were reportedly very respectful shaking the Marines hands and praising their defense of the island and their military professionalism despite the odds being stacked heavily against them the Marines were however according to the Argentinians just following orders while they believed they were there to rescue their Malvinas the sentiment was shared back home with the people many of whom had taken part in protests only weeks before celebrating the victory and well into the night not realising that it would be short-lived Galtieri have thought that if he could capture the Falklands as well as South Georgia the United Kingdom wouldn't bother sending forces to engage in a prolonged conflict to retake them but he had seriously underestimated the Iron Lady the British prime minister at the time Margaret Thatcher was a controversial leader and does Galtieri knew he could bolster his popularity among his own people f he captured the islands that jean knew that she could do the same by retaking them against the wishes of the UN and President Reagan who had supported the Argentine dictatorships rise to power in the first place Thatcher assembled a task force of 65 Royal Navy and auxilary fleet ships including two aircraft carriers hommies and invincible along with 62 requisitioned merchant ships and ocean liners the fleet set sail between the 4th and 9th of April from Southampton on an 8,000 mile journey to the Falklands while they were hating Sabbath diplomatic relations were ongoing with the UN and Reagan still believing that this conflict could be saw today without military intervention and Thatcher hoping that the looming threat of an m-by-n Task Force would scare Argentina into leaving the islands with a defiant many aboard the fleet didn't believe that there would be award either but rather that they would merely be a show of force while diplomacy would end the conflict before it started negotiations however all failed the US had said that Britain's retaking of the Falklands was an impossibility and despite many downplaying the threat that a nation like Argentina could possibly pose against the UK this was going to be no walk in the park supplying the fleet across 8,000 miles was going to be a logistical nightmare for one and the air power of the British could send would be heavily outnumbered the Argentine Navy consisted primarily of American Allen M Sumner class destroyers and the type 42 destroyer which Britain herself was also sending alongside to diesel-electric submarines and more threatening Li a single Colossus class aircraft carrier veinticinco de Maio sold to them by the British in 1969 naval forces also consisted of a general belgrano light cruiser plus a number of Corvettes and other ship types Argentina also had plenty of threatening jet fighters such as Mirage threes Israeli daggers and super often Dodds alongside pucara and sky Hawk strike aircraft Canberra bombers hercules transports and a plentiful fleet of helicopters the first british operations in the theater were the recapture of South Georgia island beginning with RFA tide Spring landing troops on the island by helicopter on April 21st due to poor weather for the landings had to be held off and to wessex helicopters would crash on fortuna glacier on the 23rd tide spring was threatened by the Argentine submarine Santa Fe and was withdrawn to the safety of deeper waters on the 25th however Santa Fe was spotted on the surface and engaged by British helicopters launched from destroyer HMS Antrim and frigates brilliant and Plymouth which damaged it with depth charges and anti-ship missiles the submarine was subsequently abandoned by its crew and South Georgia island would be captured by a 76 man landing force and later that day without resistance from the Argentine garrison with South Georgia back in British hands it was no time for the splinter force to rejoin the main fleet and focus its attention on the Falklands themselves the first thing that would have to happen was that the airbase at Stanley needed to be put out of action preventing Argentina using it as an air superiority platform for this Britain turned to their ageing V bomber aircraft to perform a daring read on me first with two Vulcan B twos carrying 21 1000 pound bombs each and no less than 11 vector k2 aerial refueling tankers allowing the Bombers to make the 8,000 mile return trip from Britain's forward base on Ascension Island while the bombing raids codenamed black buck have been dismissed as psychological warfare and propaganda the volkens dead managed to disable the runway which forced Argentina to withdraw many of its fast jets from the islands as the only two remaining air bases did not consist of paved runways in my opinion the importance of these missions is vastly understated as without offsetting Argentina's aerial superiority over the British fleet the war may have been unwinnable the next step in retaking the Falklands was to remove the Argentine Navy as a factor and so the Churchill class nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror was called upon to hunt down the Navy's pride the General Belgrano a world war 2 era Brooklyn class light cruiser built by the u.s. Conqueror sank the Belgrano with two torpedo heads on the 2nd of May sighted the Falkland Islands causing the greatest single loss of life of the war as 323 Argentine crew died in the incident now Margaret Thatcher had declared a naval exclusion zone around the Falklands and oli April in which any Argentine ship could be sunk but the sinking of the Belgrano actually occurred outside it making the incident somewhat controversial although the ship's captain hector bonds Oded confirmed that Belgrano had been sailing back enter contested waters regardless of the controversy surrounding the sinking it did have a hugely important effect knocking the Argentine Navy completely out of the war all ships including the Argentine aircraft carrier which Britain had aimed to sink at the same time but failed to locate returned to their mainland ports and would not venture out for the remainder of the war while these two decisive victories massively leveled the odds within 48 hours of each other the air war was escalating 36 Argentine Jets including Skyhawk strike aircraft and mirage 3 and dagger fighters clashed against the Fleet Air Arm sea Harriers above the task force with the Mirage 3 suffering numerous losses due to outdated flight systems and inferior air-to-air missiles Part II of air strikes were launched against possessions around Stanley including the captured moody Brook barracks and Goose Green airfield to the south where Harry has dropped cluster bombs to destroy Argentina's ia 58 pucara turboprop strike aircraft a single sea harrier was shot down by 35 millimeter anti-aircraft fire killing its pilot meanwhile the Argentine Air Force conducted near suicidal reads on British ships desperate to disree the task force from making a landing the most dangerous aircraft of the British fleet however it was the super art and art a highly advanced naval Strike Fighter 14 of which had been sold by France to Argentina along with five am39 exocet air-launched anti-ship missiles and the Argentine forces were not going to waste them having withdrawn their sole aircraft carrier from the area and no longer having access to a paved runway with which to operate fast jets on the Falklands themselves the logistics of performing strikes against the British ships became substantially more difficult for the Argentine aircraft with loitering climb extremely limited given the aircraft's fuel reserves strike missions would have to be carefully planned to allow for the quickest execution possible and stacking arraign to dogfight was not an option slightly before 8 a.m. on May 4th an Argentine patrol aircraft discovered three British destroyers well forward of the main fleet acting as a radar and missile they get for the carrier escort group quickly to see part on the odds of the second naval air fighter attack squadron took off from Rio Grande airbase equipped with excess air missiles refueling MedFlight vehice c-130 hercules and moving in at low altitude to engage the british ships the aircraft climbed to 3,000 feet to pick up the ships on their radar and launch their missiles one of which missed but the second impacted destroyer hms sheffield igniting oil stores and an explosion which killed 20 men the launch aircraft remained completely undetected and returned safely to rio grande while lengths helicopters from the destroyer group returned to hms hermes to confirm that sheffield had been hit the ship was quickly abandoned but remained a flute for almost a week after the incident before sinking just outside the Naval exclusion zone on May 10 hms sheffield was the first royal navy ship destroyed in combat since the Second World War and the effect on the British both among the task force and back home was profound henceforth the Falklands conflict began being referred to officially as an all-out war with two of Argentina's five exits used up and the British fearing the worst possible scenario that the remaining three would be used against the carrier's they came up with an idea to send a covert team to Rio Grande to destroy the remaining missiles in what would be known as Operation Mikado the SAS troops would land on the enemy runway assault the base and destroy the missiles and they'd either fly or if their c-130 transport was destroyed hijack vehicles and drive to Punta Arenas in Chile firstly as part of Operation plum Duff a seeking helicopter would take off from HMS invincible and drop a small recon team near Rio Grande before flying on to Chile where its crew would destroy it the recon team though were forced to flee our leave and thus operation Mikado was cancelled the Argentine naval air force would get one more chance to use their deadly missiles the next actions of the war would be the SAS raid on pebble island on may 14 the island has a small grass airstrip which had been operating picaros alongside with approximately a hundred and fifty Argentine ground troops to Westland Sea King helicopters from HMS Hermes would land 45 SAS troops the base on the cover of darkness supported by candy class destroyer HMS Glamorgan at the time 22 frigate HMS broadsword the troops were equipped with l1 a 166 millimeter rocket launchers and explosive charges which they planted beneath the enemy aircraft having avoided detection thus far the order was given to blue the charges and at the same moment Glamorgan opened fire on the buildings and defensive positions preventing the Argentine troops from engaging the Marines as they destroyed the valuable aircraft with their rocket launchers the troops would then retreat back to the Sea Kings and back aboard HMS hommies later that night suffering zero casualties the mission had been a perfect success a week later the British task force made their landing at Port San Carlos and the war would change drastically San Carlos was almost a hundred kilometers west of Stanley where the Argentine's expected the British landings to take place and stay at Britain would use the waterway that ran between the islands Falklands Sound as an access route turning the Falklands and to a land war the plan had been to keep the supply ships primarily offshore supplying units as needed directly however without the guarantee of air superiority and the threat of another X ascent hanging overhead this plan had to be scrapped all logistics would have to be brought ashore on the cover of darkness and then transported across the island by helicopter alongside the men as they progress toward Stanley the fleet moving east out of range of air attack during the night of the 21st and 22nd of May in 1982 year 4,000 men along with supplies and weapons were landed at San Carlos and Ajax Bay initially the landings were met with no opposition allowing the men to establish a beachhead but before long waves of Argentine aircraft including Canberra jet bombers alongside sky Hawks and mirages came in to engage the landing force the frigate HMS ardent was destroyed by bombs dropped from an a4 Skyhawk that morning which was later shot down by an M 9 Sidewinder launched from a Sea Harrier hereõs also managed to damage several aircraft with gunfire including a pucara fluent by Maj Carlos Tomba he ejected and was captured by British forces compared to the relatively large force of a hundred and eighty Argentine air craft Britain had with them only 21 sea Harriers and 10 RAF Harrier gr 3 s and so a large priority of the landing force was the deployment of rapier surface-to-air missile defense systems which downed many of the attacking Jets including several Canberra bombers the San Carlos water would be nicknamed bomb Ali and the landings designated operation Sutton would claim seven British helicopters and a single Harrier which was shot down by a shoulder-mounted blowpipe missile all up two frigates including the ardent and HMS antelope and one type 42 destroyer HMS Coventry were sunk between the 22nd and 25th of May and an additional eight ships were damaged both Royal Navy frigates and destroyers and auxilary fleet landing ships the auxilary fleets round table class amphibious landing ships were the last to put ashore with CVR T's such as the FB 101 Scorpion and FB 101 scimitar among other land vehicles and supplies some 50 British troops lost their lives in the landings while 22 Argentine aircraft were shot down in addition to the 11 grain troops killed another disaster struck on May 25th when the super autumn Dodds made a reappearance having been gunning for the Royal Navy's carriers the pair of Superettan guards actually found the requisition merchant ship Atlantic conveyor the ship held a huge amount of supply stores arms and ammunition and the task forces for ch-47 chinook helicopters all but one of which were destroyed when Atlantic conveyor was hit by 2x ascent missiles by the end of May all the men and supplies were ashore and the land war would begin as the British force moved southward to the settlements of Darwin and Goose green the Argentinians had had the time to consolidate their possessions on the island with thousands of troops and so it was vital for the British forces to isolate areas and neutralize their flanks as they moved on the capital during the night of May 28th 690 British troops of the second parachute regiment launched their attack on an Argentine stronghold a thousand strong at Goose green and an extremely hard-fought battle the resulted in the death of commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel H Jones troops on the ground destroyed the Argentine AAA guns allowing three sea Harriers to move in and provide close air support despite having farm or men the Argentine's were outmatched by the better trained better organized and better armed British force and this would be a train that would continue and following battles over the course of the next few days British troops moved on several locations surrounding Stanley including Mount Kent and bluff Cove at Kent Harrier air support caused havoc for the Argentine ground forces on the eastern slopes while British commando units moved around to engage the occupied troops also bringing down Argentine puma helicopters with shoulder-mounted Stinger surface-to-air missiles meanwhile RFA Sir Galahad was bringing troops into bluff Cove but was held up by bad weather leaving her open to air attack and broad daylight by waves of Argentine a-4 skyhawks which raked the ship and one of her landing craft as they attempted to put them into Shore three of the Argentine aircraft were lost with the frigate HMS Plymouth launching sea dart missiles as Israeli daggers dropped bombs on the ship in total 56 British men were killed by June 11th the British forces had fought their way to the mountains overlooking Stanley moving on Mount Harriet and meant London supported by destroyer HMS Glamorgan and the frigates Yarmouth and Avenger which provided offshore bombardment of the Argentine defensive possessions the terrain made movements difficult and the troops relied heavily on helicopter support four helicopters would be lost on the 11th and 12th of June but the Argentine forces on the mountains would be defeated on the 13th the British assaulted made tumbledown and what would be the final battle of the war Stanley was now in sight and there's one last push would shatter the last Argentine vigil securing victory for the British forces the one remaining Chinook helicopter was used to transport members of the Scots and Welsh Guards battalion enter possessions surrounding the mountain while pipe 21 frigate HMS active provided suppressive fire against Argentine mission gun and sniper positions British troops even close to hand-to-hand combat distances in certain cases and completely overwhelmed the right flank of the Argentine forces the left however struggled under a barrage of Argentine artillery fire from SAP or hell and several Scout Ella copters were damaged by small arms fire and surface-to-air missiles attempting to evacuate wounded the British troops advanced in with one group providing suppressive fire while the other moved up all the while Harrier airstrikes bombarded the artillery positions all within sight of the capital Gorgon having strayed too close to the shows was hit by an improvised xs8 missile taken off of one of the Argentine ships and launched from a truck and a second of these improvised missiles will be shot down by point defense weapons about HMS Avenger by 9:00 a.m. on the 14th of June the British forces had reached the outskirts of Stanley Greenwich ships were offshore prepared to open fire and CVR teas were moving in along the routes Argentine conscripts were commanded to take up positions in the houses of Stanley and if any island our water attempt to resist to shoot them the Argentine's however refused to do so with the air support at this point completely grounded their artillery decimated and their ammunition and supplies running low General Mario Menendez ordered the surrender of the Argentine forces the British men moved through the town without opposition among the British citizens whom they had liberated the Falklands was 1 M Breton the troops were welcomed home as heroes and the popularity of Thatcher's government increased dramatically having successfully overseen the defence and recapture of British sovereign territory from a foreign enemy an Argentine the war had a noticeable political effect as well as galti Aires leadership was superseded by a democratic government only a year later preventing a potential aggression between Argentina and neighboring Chile in the following years the war remains one of the largest air and naval combat operations between modern forces since the Second World War and solidified the Harrier as one of the greatest jets of the day memorials in Stanley Harbor and in Darwin commemorate those who lost their lives in the fighting although the dispute over ownership at the island is as we said earlier far from over gaudí Aires moves on the Falklands however achieved an exactly contradictory result hardening British resolved to support the population of the Falklands if such actions hadn't been taken at all gradual depopulation would have seen the islands become no longer viable and settlement of their handover to Argentina far more likely to be accepted by the British government as it stands the British population on the Falkland Islands is now more prosperous than ever although they still have trouble minefields a reminder that this war may not truly be over the war claimed 253 British lives along with sex ships 24 helicopters and 10 Harriers and three civilian Falkland Islanders were killed and the intense fighting which lasted a total of 74 days the Argentine losses numbered 650 men and several dozen helicopters either destroyed or surrendered to the British forces over 70 Argentine aircraft were destroyed and many other vehicles were turned over to the British as part of the surrender Breton gained the upper hand early on in the war knocking out Argentina's only paved runway on the island forcing fighters to fly in all the way from back in Rio Grande and allowing a heavily outnumbered aerial force to defend the fleet as well as removing the entire Navy as a factor with just two torpedoes and these two decisive victories in my opinion were the most important operations of the war without a giant operable airfield on the Falklands Argentina could not adequately respond to the British hereos allowing them to fulfil close air support rules almost unimpeded an Argentine close air support was almost non-existent after so many of the picaros were destroyed Britain cut off Argentina's arms and legs so to speak and from there the result was certainly still hard-fought but quite inevitable while Britain obviously remained one of the world's great powers and were definitely capable of defeating Argentina and a traditional war fighting a conflict so far from home for a relatively unimportant and remote region could certainly have been lost and that it would have become on economic to continue if the UK could not achieve victory quickly and decisively honestly it surprises me that the Argentine Navy gave up so easily quote-unquote although once again while the Navy could certainly have given the British task force and bloody nose and potentially prevented them from ever winning the war at all had they continued to fight after the sinking of the Belgrano it would certainly have been extremely taxing on the economy of Argentina itself and the Falklands simply puts weren't worth the risk this was a war fought just as much on a logistical front as it was on the battlefield itself and here Britain won out with careful tactics and strategies superior armament and organization and better trained men anyway lads that is gonna be it for this video I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it's been a lot of work this one so if you did enjoy it would be hugely appreciated if you'd leave a like and subscribe to the channel help us reach our goal of 50,000 subscribers if you did enjoy this style of video then I will definitely consider making some more and future looking at wars and operations themselves and if there's anything specific you'd like to see and don't hesitate to leave it in the comments below please also let me know your thoughts on this topic and this video and come fall on my social media or support the channel on patreon at the link in the video description thank you lads for watching have a lovely good day and always remember keep your bagpipes in one hand whiskey in the other keep your kilt on and I'll catch you next time I say a we thank you to these lads for supporting me on patreon mo bias remover Roscoe metallic green charge presents captain Pippa the bright Wanda seagull knots PFT 6-1 Latvian walk guess legged arson and dark record you know it's a bro wanna join them contract I teach you at the link in the description below [Music] you

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Keywords: falklands war, the falklands war, falkland war, falkland islands, falklands 1982, the falklands war 1982, the falklands war documentary, the falklands war footage, the falklands war exaplained, the falklands war oversimplified, oversimplified the falklands war, falkland war documentary, harrier jump jet, sea harrier, av8b harrier, av-8b harrier, falklands war news coverage, falklands air war, falklands war harrier, falklands war summary, falklands islands, islas malvinas

Id: IlyjLpi9TnA

Length: 31min 44sec (1904 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 24 2020