Falklands war: All you need to know about this war

The Falkland Islands war, a brief undeclared war between ARG and the UK over the power of some islands. So, these islands are the FLK ISLs, SG, and the South Sandwich Islands. FLK ISL is popular as Islas Malvinas in ARG. The fight lasted 74 days and claimed the lives of approximately 900 people.

The islands are Brit overseas territory in the South Atlantic, 8,000 miles from the UK. ARG has claimed power over the islands since 1833. The majority of FLK islanders were of Brit heritage and rejected ARG’s claim. ARG’s President Leopoldo Galtieri intended to seize control of the islands by force in 1982. In this article, we are talking about this war. So, keep reading to know more about it.

Falklands war 1982

Argentine invasion

ARG started Operation rosario on the FLK ISLs on April 2, 1982. The attack and take-over by force, greeted with an at great rate move. The Governor of the FLK ISLs, Sir Rex Hunt put into order an outline argument. Sir Hunt gave in to Major Mike Norman of the Royal marines. The military station had among its parts 68 marines and eleven ships. FIDF had limited firearms. The Assault began with a second in authority military chief able to move from water to land specially trained for surprise attacks army men Group landing and attacking the not-live-in Moody small river army buildings. They did it before moving on to Government House in Stanley.

The governor declared a firing-stop and gave up when the 2nd Marine army, on foot of men ready to fight. They, ready to fight with Assault, able to move from water to land vehicles, and got to the desired place. The governor, his family, and the military army, transported to ARG in the morning before being returned to the UK.

British response

The Brit, already taken action before the April 2 invasion. In reaction to the events in SG, Ministers agreed on March 29 to deploy the (RFA) from the MED, as well as the nuclear-powered fleet submarine HMS Spartan from Gibraltar, with HMS Splendid dispatched south from Scotland the next day. 75 Lord Carrington wanted to deploy a third submarine. But the decision, postponed owing to worries about the impact on operational commitments. On the same day, the submarine HMS Superb left Gibraltar, and the press presumed she headed south.

British response 1st april

The next day, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher chaired a crisis conference. Then, Admiral Sir Henry Leach told them that “Britain could and should send a task force if the islands invaded”. On April 1, Leach directed a Royal Navy force conducting training in the MED to prepare to sail south. Following the invasion on April 2, an emergency cabinet meeting approved the formation of a task force to reclaim the islands. The next day, the House of Commons held an emergency session to support this.

ARG people sources reported the invasion in the UK. A Ministry of Defense agent in London had a brief telex chat with Governor Hunt’s telex operator. He verified that the ARG peoples had taken possession of the island. Later that day, a BBC journalist communicated via amateur radio with an islander at Goose Green. She verified the arrival of a big ARG people fleet and that ARG people soldiers had taken control of the island.

The Brit military activities in the FLK ISLs War, codenamed Operation Corporate. Then, the task force commander was Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse. The operation ran from April 1 through June 20, 1982. The cover of Newsweek magazine on April 19, 1982, displaying HMS Hermes, the Brit Task Force’s flagship. The headline is reminiscent of the 1980 Star Wars sequel.

The Brit Government established a War Cabinet on April 6 to offer day-to-day political control of the fight. This was the crucial crisis management instrument for the Brit.

The War Cabinet convened at least once a day until it disbanded on August 12th.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 502

Eduardo Roca, ARG’s UN ambassador, began seeking to rally support against a Brit military buildup. Buildup meant to counter previous UN resolutions asking for both nations to resolve the FLK ISLs issue via dialogue on March 31, 1982. 134 On the night before the invasion, April 2, a banquet, hosted at Roca’s official house. This was for the US ambassador to the UN, and many officials from the US Departments of State and Defense. This made Brit officials suspicious of Kirkpatrick. He had previously advocated greater ties with South American dictatorships.

Falklands war Council

Parsons needed nine positive votes from the Council’s 15 members (not a simple majority). Also, he needed no blocking votes from the other four permanent members. The meeting began at 11:00 a.m. on April 3, New York time (4:00 pm in London). A vote of 10 to 1 with four abstentions approved Resolution 502 of the United Nations Security Council. Notably, both the Soviet Union and China abstained. According to the resolution, the UN Security Council was:

Deeply worried by news of an invasion by ARG people armed forces on April 2, 1982;
determining that there is a breach of the peace in the FLK ISLs region (Islas Malvinas),
Demands that all ARG people forces leave the FLK ISLs immediately (Islas Malvinas)
Calls for the governments of ARG and the UK to seek a diplomatic solution to their disputes and to fully respect the goals and values of the United Nations Charter.
This was an important victory for the UK, providing them a diplomatic advantage.

This was an important victory for the UK, providing them a diplomatic advantage. The draft resolution Parsons produced avoided any reference to the power issue (which may have harmed the UK). Instead focusing on ARG’s violation of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force to resolve disputes. The resolution simply asked for the withdrawal of ARG people soldiers, allowing Britain to recover the islands militarily if ARG did not depart by using its right to self-defense, as permitted by the UN Charter.

Argentine occupation

The ARG people Army force designated for the occupation was the 25th Infantry Regiment. This, a regiment of 1,000 conscripts carefully picked to represent ARG’s many regions. It flew into Stanley Airport as soon as the runway cleared. When it became evident that the Brit were sending an amphibious task force, reservists were recalled in large numbers, and two brigades of eight infantry regiments and their supporting forces were despatched to the islands. By the beginning of May, ARG’s whole garrison totaled around 13,000 men. Because the conscripts born in 1963 had only been called up, the recall of the previous year’s intake augmented them.

Shuttle diplomacy

On April 8, the US Secretary of State arrived in London on a shuttle diplomacy mission from the President. He came to mediate a peace agreement based on an interim authority seizing control of the islands pending discussions. Haig traveled to Buenos Aires after learning from Thatcher that the task force would not be withdrawn. Unless the Argentinians evacuated their soldiers. He met with the Junta and the foreign minister there. Haig met with coolness and informed that ARG people power must be a prerequisite for any discussions. When he returned to London on April 11, he found the Brit government in no mood to compromise. Haig traveled back to Washington before returning to Buenos Aires for a final marathon round of negotiations.

These made little headway, but just as Haig and his team were about to leave. They assured that Galtieri would meet them at the airport VIP lounge to offer a major concession. But this, canceled at the last minute. On April 30, the Reagan administration proclaimed their public support for the UK.

Challenges

In addition to the immense distance – the FLK ISLs are approximately 8,000 miles (almost 13,000 km) from the UK. The Army faced constraints on what forces could be sent.

In 1982, 55,000 regular Army personnel, stationed in Germany with the Army of the Rhine, battled the Warsaw Pact threat. At the period, Germany controlled the Army’s strategic thinking, equipment, and supply and reinforcement systems.

The mainstream thought held that any conflict would be fought on the plains of Northern Europe against the Soviet Bloc. Armor would play a significant role in this. Any infantry actions would be done in tandem with heavily armored and mechanized formations. The FLK ISLs battle proved to be extremely dangerous. There were further garrisons at Berlin, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, Belize, Brunei, and Cyprus. There were also around 11,000 troops stationed in Northern Ireland.

Reinforcements

The Task Force’s overall commander, decided on April 11 that an additional Army brigade should be made available. Also, it dispatched south as quickly as feasible. The UK did have a mobile infantry force, the 1 Infantry Brigade. But it was devoted to Nato and could not be removed.

The only available force was the 5th Infantry Brigade. Gurkhas and Paras made it. However, this had been reduced in order to improve 3 Commando Brigade. The 2nd Scots Guards and 1st Welsh Guards, added to the 1st Battalion 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles.

The brigade set off on May 12 onboard the RMS ‘Queen Elizabeth 2’ cruise ship. This had been commandeered for the occasion. When the second brigade arrived in theater, Major General Jeremy Moore, RM, would take command of the ground campaign.

Falklands war air attacks

The loss of HMS Ardent (F170) on 21 May after being struck by nine bombs, and HMS Antelope (F170) on 24 May after attempts to detonate unexploded bombs failed, illustrated the limits of Brit ships’ anti-aircraft defences in the landing zone. On May 25, while out at sea with the carrier battle group, an air-launched Exocet hitted the MV Atlantic Conveyor. Then, they lost three of four Chinook and five Wessex helicopters, as well as their repair equipment and facilities. Also, they lost runway-building equipment and tents. From a practical standpoint, this was a devastating blow. Enemy murdered Twelve members of her crew.

HMS Coventry, a sister ship of HMS Sheffield, was also lost on May 25 after being instructed to operate as a decoy to attract ARG people aircraft away from other ships in San Carlos Bay. The HMS Argonaut and HMS Brilliant suffered minor damage. Many Brit ships, however, avoided being sunk due to constraints placed by circumstances on ARG people pilots. To escape the maximum concentration of Brit air defences, ARG people pilots dropped bombs at extremely low altitudes, resulting in bomb fuzes that did not have enough time to arm before impact. Because of the slow delivery of the delayed bombs (some of which the Brit had sold to the ARG peoples years before), many did not detonate because there was insufficient time in the air.

The pilots would have been aware of this. The high concentration required to dodge surface-to-air missiles, anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), and Brit Sea Harriers. So, many of them failed to rise to the requisite release point. The ARG people’s military rectified the problem by installing makeshift retarding devices. These devices allowed the pilots to carry out low-level bombing strikes on June 8.

Falklands war ships sunk

On 30 April, the Brit government imposed a 200 nautical mile TEZ to replace the previous Maritime Exclusion Zone. Planes and ships from any country were subject to attack if they were helping the ARG people takeover. Admiral Woodward’s carrier battle group of twelve warships and three supply ships reached the TEZ on 1 May, just before the first Black Buck raid. Admiral Anaya had organized all of his available vessels into three task groups in advance.

A third group approached from the south, commanded by the ARG people light cruiser ARA General Belgrano. Despite her age, her powerful guns and strong armor made her a real danger. Two new Type 42 guided-missile destroyers armed with Exocet missiles escorted her.

Sinking of ARA

The Brit nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror (one of three patrolling the TEZ) spotted the Belgrano party on 1 May and tracked it until the next day, when it was around 12 hours distant from the Task Force and just outside the Total Exclusion Zone. Admiral Woodward was aware of the ARG people carrier group arriving from the opposite direction. So, he ordered the cruiser to strike in order to avoid being caught in a pincer maneuver. He was ignorant. So, the Veinticinco de Mayo had failed to gather enough breeze to launch her planes. The War Cabinet in London gave the order to kill the cruiser. Two torpedoes hitted the General at 4 p.m. local time on 2 May, sinking an hour later.

The catastrophe killed 368 members of General Belgrano’s crew. Despite freezing waters and harsh weather, more than 700 men, finally rescued from the open ocean, after spending up to 30 hours on packed life rafts. The loss of General Belgrano prompted harsh condemnation from Latin American governments as well as war opponents in Britain; support for the Brit cause waned among certain European allies, but crucially, the US remained sympathetic.

Sinking of HMS

The Brit lost the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield to fire on 4 May, two days after the loss of General Belgrano, as a result of an Exocet missile hit by the ARG people 2nd Naval Air Fighter/Attack Squadron.

Sheffield, along with two other Type 42s, had been ordered forward to offer a long-range radar and medium-high altitude missile picket far from the Brit carriers. Enemy hitted her in the middle of the ship, killing 20 crew members and seriously wounding 24 more. Several hours later, the ship, abandoned, charred and distorted by flames. She kept floating for four days for inspections and in the expectation of attracting ARG people submarines.

The decision, subsequently made to tow her to Ascension. But she sank east of the FLK ISLs on 10 May while being towed by HMS Yarmouth.

Admiral Sandy Woodward describes the episode in full in Chapter One of his book One Hundred Days. Woodward was a former Sheffield commanding officer. The loss of Sheffield, the first Royal Navy ship destroyed in combat since World War II. It had a tremendous impact on the War Cabinet and the Brit people as a whole, emphasizing the reality that the battle was now a shooting war.

Falklands war timeline

ARG attacked and conquered the FLK ISLs on April 2, followed by an invasion of SG the next day. The Brit government sent a naval task force to combat the ARG people Navy and Air Force before launching an amphibious assault on the islands on April 5. The struggle lasted 74 days and ended with an ARG people surrender on June 14, handing back power of the islands to the Brit. During the conflict, 649 ARG military soldiers, 255 Brit military personnel, and three FLK ISLers were killed.

The war was a significant chapter in the long-running dispute over the power of the territories. ARG claimed (and continues to claim) that the islands are ARG people territory, and the ARG people government justified its military intervention as reclaiming its own territory. The Brit government viewed the action as an invasion of a land that had been a Crown colony since 1841. The FLK ISLers, who have lived on the islands since the early nineteenth century, are mostly descendants of Brit pioneers and fiercely support Brit power. Although neither state declared war, both governments labeled the islands a war zone.

Falklands war gurkhas

Despite the fact that the 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles Regiment was part of the Brit task force sent to repel an ARG people invasion of the FLK ISLs. Their role in the conflict has been largely overlooked in media accounts.

Falklands war 40th anniversary

The Falklands War was an unofficial ten-year conflict between ARG and the UK. It was centered on two Brit dependent islands in the South Atlantic. The FLK ISLs, which gave rise to the war’s name, and its territorial dependencies, SG and the South Sandwich Islands.

To commemorate the conflict’s 40th anniversary, both the BBC and Channel 4 have devoted programmes to the war. The impact it continues to have on veterans and people today. The FLK ISLs battle remains one of the largest air-naval operations since World War II’s end to this day.

Some frequently asked questions

Did the UK win the Falklands War?

The Brit began their last drive in a series of brief but violent skirmishes, eventually forcing the ARG peoples to surrender. The ARG people garrison surrendered on June 14, 1982. The conflict killed 650 ARG peoples and 253 Brit, but it did not end the dispute: ARG still claims the FLK ISLs.

How did the UK win the Falklands War?

SG Island, retaken on April 25, and Brit forces arrived on East Falkland on May 21 following numerous intense naval skirmishes around the FLK ISLs. The huge ARG people force at Stanley surrendered on June 14, thus concluding the battle after several weeks of combat.

Why did the Falklands War happen?

The continuous tension between the two nations over the islands heightened on March 19. It happened when a group of ARG people scrap metal merchants flew the ARG people flag at SG Island, marking the start of the war.

How many British soldiers died in the Falklands?

On April 2, 1982, ARG launched an invasion of the Brit-held FLK ISLs in the deep south Atlantic. During the 74-day struggle, 255 Brit military men, three islanders, and 649 ARG people troops were killed.

Why did NATO not help in the Falklands?

NATO did not intervene in the Falkland War between the UK and ARG. Because Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that collective self-defense is only applicable to attacks on member state territory north of the Tropic of Cancer.

Why do ARG want the Falklands?

The Brit Empire fell after World War II, and several colonies obtained independence. ARG regarded this as a chance to press its case for power over the FLK ISLs at the United Nations. They expressed their claim for the first time since joining the UN in 1945.

Who helped ARG in the Falklands War?

Brazil covertly assisted ARG in supplying weapons during the Falkland War. Brazil remained officially neutral throughout the 1982 conflict. It began 20 years ago this month with the occupation of the islands by ARG people soldiers.

How strong is the UK military?

As of 1 April 2021, the Brit Armed Forces comprised 153,290 UK Regulars and Gurkhas, 37,420 Volunteer Reserves, and 8,170 “Other Personnel”. This brings the total number of “UK Service Personnel” to 198,880.

Why is the FLK ISLs so important?

The Islands, primarily utilized as a haven for whalers and other vessels in the cold seas of the South Atlantic Ocean. Until the Brit arrived, and the Islands became a vital outpost in the expanding Brit Empire. Then, I believe, came 180 years of Brit control till today.

How many British ships sunk during the Falklands War?

The loss of the HMS Sheffield, the first Brit vessel lost in 37 years, killed twenty sailors. During the FLK ISLs War, it was the first of four Royal Navy ships to be sunk. The frigates Ardent and Antelope, as well as the destroyer Coventry, were also there.

How many Argentine aircraft lost in the Falklands War?

Neither side prepared for a winter battle in the deep south Atlantic. The brief warfare was both impromptu and lethal. 891 soldiers killed, 132 planes destroyed, and 11 ships sunk in under two months of fighting.

Who caused the Falklands war?

The islands are the Brit overseas territory in the South Atlantic, 8,000 miles from the UK. ARG has claimed power over the islands since 1833. The majority of FLK islanders were of Brit heritage and rejected ARG’s claim. ARG’s President Leopoldo Galtieri intended to seize control of the islands by force in 1982.