the argentine commandos on mount kent.doc

8/13/2019 The Argentine Commandos on Mount Kent.doc

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The Argentine Commandos on Mount Kent

byDavid Aldea

The Argentine Army mounted only one counter-offensive in the Falklands, along the chain of mountainswest of Murrell River, capturing briefly Estancia Mountain !y the end of May "#$%, Ma&or 'edric(elves) )() *+uadron, %%nd *pecial Air *ervice Regiment, had established an outpost on Mount entMount ent gave the !ritish a much-pried view of .ort *tanley and Argentinian troop movements

/n Argentinian Army (ay, %# May, Mount ent became the focus of an Argentine *pecial Forcesoffensive, called /peration )Autoimpuesta) The Argentinians aimed at establishing a forward defenceline in the ent ridge line The Mount ent area was rugged, with uneven ridges and cut by valleyswhich would help conceal both defenders and attackers

The 01-man 02"st 3ational 4endarmerie *pecial Forces *+uadron was given the &ob of taking Mountent, the highest point, known as 5little 'erro Aconcagua5 The idea was that Ma&or /scar 6aimet)s )!)'ompany, 0th Regiment was to follow the 4endarmerie 'ommandos and reinforce the ground theytook !luff 'ove .eak was allotted to 02% 'ommando 'ompany Mount ent and !luff 'ove .eak werecrucial features in the planned forward defence line /nce those points were taken, 02" 'ommando

'ompany would take Estancia Mountain and the forty 'ommandos of the *pecial /perations 4roup,who had trained to mark out .aratroop drop ones and guiding attack aircraft, would march to *mokoMount

*hortly after "722 local time on *aturday %# May "#$% the Army 4reen !erets and 3ational4endarmerie 'ommandos were loaded into 8nimog lorries for the short drive to *tanley *occer Field*oon the *occer Field was swarming with *pecial Forces 9n all "72, mostly Army 'ommandos waitingto be taken to the Mount ent one

The thankless task of defending Mount ent against this overwhelming force was Ma&or 'edric (elves)9t was necessary to hold Mount ent for !rigadier 6ulian Thompson, who commanded : 'ommando!rigade in the Falklands 9t was the wish of !rigadier Thompson to fly-in 'aptain .eter !abbington)s ))

'ompany of ;% 'ommando !attalion on to Mount ent on the night of %#-:2 May

Ma&or (elves had &ust about :2 men from Air Troop, !oat Troop and Mountain Troop Their task wouldbe to delay the Argentine *pecial Forces for as long as possible before withdrawing to Estancia


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The cold *outh Atlantic wind drowned out the throbbing engines of the two remaining Argentine'hinooks landing on low ground near Mount ent under the cover of darkness The forty well-camouflaged commandos who emerged divided up into three teams and crept slowly towards the baseof the mountain, stopping, listening, observing the green and black images in the 3ight Cision 4ogglesto pick out any heat sources The pointman of an *A* patrol moving along the lower slope failed tonotice the half-doen Argentines who had spotted his smudgy silhouette *lithering through waist-high,soaking wet peat, half the commandos crawled around the flank of the !ritish patrol for an =-shapedambush @hen they were within twenty yards of the patrol they opened fire The *A* man was

immediately struck down by 70% millimetre rounds hitting his stomach and chest, coughing up blood ashe fell The three others spaced out some distance behind him and dived for cover, returning fire in alldirections as they became enveloped by a barrage of automatic arms fire and grenades which in&uredanother *A* man with shrapnel


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3ot surprisingly, some insertions were badly scatteredB 'aptain Eduardo Cillarruel)s head+uartersgroup was so thoroughly lost that they did not re&oin the 02%nd until the net day @e had landed 122metres off course - northeast of Mount ent The night had fallen like ice into a glass, sharp and cold@ith First =ieutenant Francisco Mucked, an eperienced mountaineer, leading, we moved higher up themountain 9t was awful terrain, with rocky outcrops all over the place 9t was etremely difficult going for,while the sides of the mountain were not sheer, they were very steep and made up of boulders /nething all of us had in common was that we were in reasonable shape

The average age in the 02%nd was between %$ and :: /therwise my combat patrol couldn)t haveundertaken the si grueling patrol missions that lay ahead The thought of bumping into a !ritish patrol,or even worse, walking into an ambush, was uppermost in my mind This was the =ion)s den @e)dgone 122 metres when, 9 signaled a stop )9 can hear water, ) 9 said 9 got edgy 9 turned to =auria whocaught up with me when 9 stopped and he asked, )@hy not let Mucked and me go on a reconnaissance,to see what)s around) 9 thought for a moment, then said, )/kay, but that 9 along with Mucked would begoing, with /viedo) The rest were to stay behind some boulders and wait for us to signal with the torch/ur communications were to be with a torch that could be seen at night only if you wore specialglasses There was a code For eample, one flash would mean )(anger, stop)D two meant )/kay, comeforward)D and the meaning of three flashes or more was, )4et the hell away as fast as you can) !efore 9knew it we were moving again, at the same agoniing pace @hen we had gone about 12 metres allhell broke out The rest of the patrol under =auria, came under accurate machine-gun and mortar fire

/nly one man was wounded though - First *ergeant Raimundo Maimiliano Ciltes


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little earlier and been able to consolidate on the hilltop, all would have probably been very different >Tolearn more about this action see 'onflict MalvinasB 9nforme /ficial del E&ercitoArgentino, Columes 9 G 99,"#$: and "#$;? @hen we got down on the plain it was no better 9t was still dark The night was almostcontinuousD and it was bitterly cold, probably- "% degrees 9 was daed and shocked, with no humour,nothing to say @e both continued moving cautiously to Mount Estancia thinking we were heading to.uerto Argentino 9t was now raining and we were wet and freeing

9n spite of the intense discomfort, Mucked and 9 managed to rest in this dip in the ground carved by the

sheeps and 9 studied my map Typical of some of the senior officers in the 02%nd, Ma+ueda had falseteeth *ee Twilight @arriorsB 9nside The @orld)s *pecial Forces, p %21, !loomsbury,"##1?5 There was nothing for it but to s+ueee as many as possible into caves near the top of !luff'ove .eak,5 admits 'aptain Tomas Fernande That same morning, before dawn, as 'aptain EduardoCillarruel led his head+uarters group back to Argentine lines, he ran into a heavily armed !ritish patrolon the foggy slopes of Mount ent heading to Estancia


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great deal ofre straint and patience to eplain that it was the normal practice toring the bell of a churchon sundays, not only in .ort *tanley, but all over the world Maybe the Argetines thought that it wassome kind of signal to a possible resistance movement in the town >6ohn *mith, 7; (aysB An 9slander)s(iary of the Falklands /ccupation, p "#2?

The story of the tragic operational accident that destroyed the 02"st 3ational 4endarmerie *pecialForces *+uadron)s :rd 'ombat *ection under 'aptain 6orge *an Emeterio, and canceled themovement of EFE02"43, )4rupo de /peraciones Especiales) and 02" 'ommando 'ompany is well

known 'aptain Andres Ferrero on Estancia Mountain watched in horror as two Royal Air ForceJK#0: and JK7$#? made a pass over the .uma, firing as they went The .uma crashed in theground trying to avoid the cannon fire and started a fire in which si 4endarmerie 'ommandos diedBFirst =ieutenant Ricardo *anche, *econd =ieutenant 4uillermo 3asif, 'orporals Marciano Ceron,Cictor4uerrero, 'arlos .ereyra and =ance-'orporal 6uan Treppo Those 4endarmerie 'ommandoswho could &umped out, some of them braving the fire and eploding ammunition to rescue eightin&uredcolleagues *ergeant >EFE02"43? Cictor Miguel .epe sat in the snow and wept 9t was the endof the mission and the end of his dream to force the !ritish to sue for peace 6ohn *mith againB

=ots of air activity 6ust before "" there were huge eplosions towards Mount ent, possibly a bit to thenorth of it There was a great deal of smoke which hung about for a long time *hortly afterwards sawtwo 6ohn *mith, op cit, p "#"?

The Argentinians however eacted rapid revenge and Royal Air Force


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There were 'anberras loaded with one-thousand pound bombs on the alert ramp in .atagonia waitingfor Malvinas 6oint 'ommand to give out the orders to attack !ut 9 didn)t agree There were elpersthere

'aptain .eter !abbington)s )) 'ompany, ;% Royal Marine 'ommando !attalion, after much delay, washelicopter lifted to link with )() *+uadron, %%nd *pecial Air *ervice Regiment on Mount ent on thenight of :2-:" May The %nd Assault *ection of the 02%nd 'ommando 'ompany chose this moment toemerge from their hides and soon came under intense fire The relevant etract followsB

The *A* finally managed to surround the main commando group, consolidating into a position near thepeak, and ambushed them with one of those devastating, eplosive onslaughts of automatic fire and4.M4 fire for which the regiment is famous >Martin Arostegui, op cit, p %21?

/n sighting the %nd Assault *ection the *A* spread out and opened a sharp fire on the 'ommandosfrom the cover of boulders @ithin minutes the Argentinian patrol began to crumble as the 'ommandoscame under fire from an enemy they couldn)t even see 5@e would have fought5 said 'aptain TomasFernande, 5if we had seen anyone to fightwith 5/ne of the Argentine 'ommandos, *ergeant AlfredoFlores, was captured on !luff 'ove .eak and he stated later that he had been 5left behind by hiscommander5

Ma&or Mario 'astagneto, who commanded 02" 'ommando 'ompany was itching to get to grips withthe !ritish on the ent one Authorised to make a reconnaissance in force to the ent ridgeline, heturned this into an 5advance to contact5 The *pecial /perations 4roup was to have reached the entridge line in &eeps with Ma&or Mario 'astagneto on Monday :" May but, because Malvinas 6oint'ommand believed the !ritish aircraft carrier )9nvincible) had been sunk the day before, the forty AirForce 'ommandos under @ing 'ommander Alberto 'a&ihara, were redeployed to guard the T.*-;:long-range radar against an epected *pecial Air *ervice attack >*ee 9sidoro 6orge Rui-Moreno,'omandos en AccionBEl E&ercito HArgentinoI en Malvinas, p %#%, Emece, "#$0? 9t was 2#11 Falkland9slands time on Monday :" May when 02% 'ommando 'ompany on Estancia Mountain saw 02"'ommando 'ompany in a column of =and Rovers and awasaki motorbikes coming to the rescue butthe rescue bid failed when ;% Royal Marine 'ommando !attalion)s $" millimetre Mortar .latoon

dispersed Ma&or Mario 'astagneto)s *pecial Forces 'ompany The bike ridden by (rill *ergeant 6uan*alaar was thrown into the air by a near-miss and seconds later his bike recieved a direct hit The02"st 'ommando 'ompany was deluged with mortar rounds and Ma&or Mario 'astagneto received anasty wound when a piece of shrapnel cut through his belt buckle Faced with such opposition, theforce had no option but to withdraw to Two *isters Mountain =ieutenant-'olonel 3ick Cau on Mountent was later to recall in his memoirs >March to the *outh Atlantic, !uchan G Enright, "#$0? theground around Ma&or Mario 'astagneto and his men erupt in gouts of peat and rock splinters under thesustained impact of doens of mortarbombs At "2:2 'aptain Eduardo Cillarruel on Estancia Mountainmuttered 5we have to give in5 After conferring with 'aptain Ferrero, Cillarruel ordered the withdrawal ofthe 02%nd *pecial Forces 'ompany The :rd .arachute !attalion closing in from Estancia if casualties during the fight for Top Malo


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'arlos !ay The survivors of the 02%nd 'ommando 'ompany)s "st Assault *ection, under 'aptain6ose Arnobio Cercesi, were touched by the kindness, with which they were treated !rigadier-4eneral6ulian Thompson, the brilliant !ritish commander in the Falklands, after consolidating Mount ent onthe night of :" May, wasted no time in preparing to soften the .ort *tanley fortress with artillery andfighting patrols The perimeter defenses were manned almost eclusively by the "2th !rigade - :rd)4eneral Manuel !elgrano), 0th )4eneral 6uan Ciamonte) and 7th )'olonel .edro 'onde) 9nfantryRegiments The !ritish hoping for a +uick and easy success, sent aircraft to scatter surrender leafletsurging the defenders to hoist white flags (uring " 6une, !ritish helicopters inserted elements of ;%

'ommando !attalion and a Royal Air Force forward air controller on to @all Mountain to mark targetsfor laser guided bombs The attacks fortunately for many of the ;th )Monte 'aseros) Regiment werenever delivered The Royal Air Force 4R-:


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around a rocky outcrop on the northern slopes of Mount

the argentine commandos on mount kent.doc

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