Goose Green, 28-29 May 1982

The battle, stage by stage

1. 28 May 1982, about 02:00-03:35

   Night approach from Camilla Creek House

   With most heavy-lift helicopters lost when Atlantic Conveyor was sunk, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment marched from the Sussex Mountains to a holding area at Camilla Creek House on 26-27 May; three 105 mm guns of 8 Battery, 29 Commando Regiment, were flown in by Sea King that night. C (Patrol) Company and Royal Engineers cleared the routes and marked the start lines, with A Company east and B Company west of Burntside Pond, D Company in reserve and Support Company's MILAN and machine guns across Camilla Creek. The frigate HMS Arrow, firing from Grantham Sound, was to support the attack with her 4.5-inch gun; accounts differ on how much she fired (a turret fault reportedly delayed her), and she withdrew before dawn for fear of air attack. The attack began at about 03:35, roughly half an hour late. Ahead lay Task Force Mercedes under Lt Col Italo Piaggi: the 12th Infantry Regiment less one company, C Company of the 25th Regiment, a platoon of the 8th Regiment, guns and anti-aircraft troops, and Air Force personnel at the Condor airstrip. Argentine army figures give 643 men in the task force and 202 Air Force personnel on 27 May. Prior raids, patrols and a BBC broadcast had, by several accounts, warned the garrison that an attack was coming.

2. 28 May, 03:35 to first light

   Burntside House and the advance down the isthmus

   A Company attacked Burntside House, where an Argentine platoon was expected; it found only four civilians, who were unhurt, and pushed on to Coronation Point, finding the positions there empty. On the right, B Company fought slowly through two Argentine platoon positions on Burntside Hill and the ground beyond in the dark, a task that took nearly three hours by Crosland's account; Argentine accounts describe Sub-Lt Malacalza's platoon delaying the British and withdrawing through a minefield toward Darwin Ridge. D Company, following in the middle, was halted by a machine-gun post on Coronation Ridge, which was taken at the cost of three paratroopers' lives; Lance Corporal Gary Bingley, who charged the post with Private Barry Grayling, was among them and was awarded a posthumous Military Medal. By first light, both flank attacks were still well short of the main Argentine line.

3. 28 May, about 07:30-13:15

   Darwin Hill and the gorse gully

   Moving round the inlet toward Darwin, A Company came under fire from Argentine trenches on Darwin Hill and went to ground in a gorse-filled gully at its foot. Lt Roberto Estevez's reserve platoon of the 25th Regiment came up from the school to reinforce the line and directed artillery fire until he was killed; two soldiers who took over the radio were also killed. For hours the company could not move. Lt Col H. Jones came forward with his tactical headquarters; after an attempt up the hill in which Capt David Wood, Capt Chris Dent and Cpl David Hardman were killed, Jones led a charge against a trench on the ridge and was mortally wounded a few feet from it. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross; Argentine and British accounts disagree over who fired the shots. A Scout helicopter sent to evacuate him was shot down by Pucara aircraft near Camilla Creek House, killing its pilot, Lt Richard Nunn RM. Maj Chris Keeble took command. Using machine guns and anti-tank rockets, A Company worked forward, and the position surrendered at about 13:15; Cpl Osvaldo Olmos is described in accounts as raising a white T-shirt to end the resistance. ParaData's A Company account gives 18 Argentine dead and 39 wounded on the hill.

4. 28 May, late morning to about 13:45

   Boca House

   On the western side, B Company had been stopped in the open by fire from Boca Hill and the ruined Boca House on the shore, where a platoon of the 8th Regiment under Aliaga held the position with heavy machine guns. Keeble pulled B Company back slightly and sent D Company wide on the right along the beach below the bank, while Support Company's MILAN teams engaged the bunkers. Under this fire from the front and the flank, the Boca position surrendered at about 13:45 by the timings in most accounts. By early afternoon the battalion held the ridge across the isthmus from Boca House to Darwin Hill, but was short of ammunition and had lost its commanding officer, a company second-in-command and the adjutant.

5. 28 May, afternoon

   The airfield and the schoolhouse

   C and D Companies pushed south toward the airfield and the schoolhouse north of Goose Green over open, sloping ground. C Company was badly hit by 35 mm anti-aircraft guns firing in a ground role from Goose Green; its commander was among the wounded. Air Force anti-aircraft crews were driven from the airfield. Near the schoolhouse, Lt Jim Barry of D Company's 12 Platoon went forward when Argentine soldiers appeared to be offering to surrender; firing broke out and Barry and two of his men were killed. The sources describe this differently: British accounts speak of a white flag and of being fired on, while Argentine accounts, including that of Sub-Lt Gomez Centurion, describe a confused meeting in which each side thought the other was surrendering, made worse by fire from Darwin Hill. The schoolhouse was destroyed by fire. In the late afternoon, Navy MB-339A jets and Pucaras attacked the British near the school; one MB-339A was shot down by a Royal Marines Blowpipe and a Pucara by small-arms fire, its pilot captured. Three RAF Harriers struck the anti-aircraft guns at Goose Green. B Company swung wide to the west of the airfield toward the south.

6. Last light 28 May to dawn 29 May

   Encirclement of Goose Green

   By nightfall the remaining Argentine troops, perhaps a thousand including Air Force personnel, were concentrated in Goose Green settlement, where 114 islanders had been held in the community hall for about a month. B Company lay on the high ground to the south; Argentine helicopters landed Combat Team Solari (B Company of the 12th Regiment) south of the settlement at last light, but it was too late to change the outcome. J Company of 42 Commando and more guns and mortars were flown in for the British. Rather than resume the assault on a settlement full of civilians, Keeble sent two Air Force prisoners into Goose Green with terms, and contact was also made with Piaggi through the settlement manager. The terms required a surrender by the next morning, failing which the attack would resume.

7. 29 May 1982, morning

   Surrender at Goose Green

   On 29 May, Argentine Army Day, the garrison paraded on the airfield. Vice Commodore (Wing Commander) Wilson Pedrozo, the senior officer, addressed the Air Force personnel; the troops laid down their arms, Piaggi reportedly burned the regimental flag, and the islanders were freed. The official history gives 961 prisoners, noting that the count may have been less precise than the number suggests; other accounts give over 1,000. About 45 to 55 Argentine soldiers were killed (57 by one Argentine count), and 2 Para lost 15 killed, with a Royal Marine pilot and a Royal Engineer also killed (17 in all; some accounts give 18). The first major land battle of the war, it gave Britain an important early victory, and the prisoners were marched to the sheep-shearing sheds before being shipped away.