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The Defense of South Georgia
By Slab
In light of recent events in the Northern Arabian Gulf, I thought it might be appropriate to call your attention to another occasion where a hostile Navy decided to "bow up" on the Royal Marines, 25 years ago today. Things went a bit differently for the Argies, however.
Near the Falkland Islands was another island, known as South Georgia, that was uninhabited except for a team of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, stationed at Grytviken. However, the Argentines had decided to make a point on South Georgia. Their point would not be as well-taken as the one made by a small detachment of Royal Marines guarding the BAS station on the island.
As tensions mounted in the Falklands, a detachment of Royal Marines, under Lieutenant Mills and Sergeant Major Leach, were sent by Naval Party 8901 to observe Argentine activities in the vicinity of South Georgia. On the 19th of March, a group of 41 Argentine workmen landed on South Georgia, ostensibly to recover scrap metal from abandoned whaling stations. Concealed among the workers were members of the Argentine Buzos Tacticos, or Tactical Divers Group. After landing, the Argentine commandos changed into uniform and hoisted an Argentine flag over a building on the island.
On the 23rd, Lt "Fairly Famous" Mills and his detachment of 22 Marines arrived aboard the H.M.S. Endurance. They landed on the 31st, and after receiving word of the invasion of the Falklands, Mills and his men set about fortifying a small plateau overlooking the bay near Grytviken.
On the 3rd of April, the Argentines finally decided to press the issue. After landing an initial party of Argentine Marines by helicopter, an Argentine Puma helicopter lifted off with another 15 Marines to reinforce those already ashore. The Puma came too close to the British defensive positions, and a hail of fire from the Royal Marines killed or wounded a number of the Argentines aboard and damaged the helicopter so severely that it crashed across the bay. The initial party of Argentines advanced on the British positions until they were pinned down by withering GPMG fire.
Caught offguard by the staunch resistance, the Argentines brought the frigate Guerrico into the bay to suppress the Royal Marines' positions. However, the Guerrico could not depress her 100mm gun far enough to engage the British positions, and she closed to within range of the Royal Marines' small arms and anti-tank weapons. Lt Mills waited until the frigate was almost 500 meters away before directing his Marines' fire on to the hapless ship. Rounds poured into the ship, and Marine David Combes fired a single round from a Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle that impacted the Guerrico below her waterline. More hits from British 66mm Light Antitank Weapons (LAWs) disabled the 100mm gun mount's traversing mechanism, and SgtMaj Leach used his sniper rifle to engage the ship's bridge. The Guerrico was forced to withdraw from the bay, heavily damaged by her engagement with a small troop of bootnecks.
While Lt Mills and his Marines were busy perforating the Guerrico, the Argies were able to reinforce their forces ashore, and the Argentine Marines began to advance on the British position. The Guerrico, now out of harm's way, fired a salvo that bracketed the Royal Marines' position. At this point, Lt Mills realized his position was untenable, and he surrendered to the Argentines. The Argentines, for their part, were astonished to see just how few the defenders had been, and the Royal Marines were reportedly treated with great respect as a result.
Lt Keith Mills and his Marines made history on that day, marking possibly the only time in history that a small force of infantrymen has successfully taken on a warship, and not only survived, but inflicted heavy losses. All of this at the cost of one Royal Marine wounded. For their part in the defense, Lt Mills was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and SgtMaj Leach was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. Marine Combes was mentioned in Dispatches for his amazing shot with his "Carly". They would return to the H.M.S. Endurance off of Grytviken less than two months later, and had the distinct pleasure of guarding their former captors while enroute.
Most of the info in this entry was taken from this article on Britain's Small Wars. Explore the site a bit, they have a plethora of information on the Falklands and other small wars throughout Britain's history.
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Comments
just read it again....goddamn this was a sweet post.
Meh, figured with all of the attention we will be paying to the 25th anniversary of the war, a category of its own would be fitting. I am planning a post about "The Yomp" for early May, and perhaps some about the Battles of Mt Harriet, Two Sisters, Tumbledown, Longdon, and Wireless Ridge. Many of them were classic infantry attacks against fortified positions, and there was no shortage of courage on the part of the British or the Argies.
Of course, most of my best laid plans tend to go up in smoke. We'll see what ANGLICO's wildly unpredictable training schedule has in store.
I just discovered last night that we had DVRed the 20th Century Battfields episode on the Falklands war from back in December. Perhaps the Military Channel will re-run it in the coming weeks. The show had lots of great footage from the war.
Hmmmm.... what do you think those guys are thinking when they see 15 Royal Marines taken captive by Iranians without firing a single shot in their own defense, then appearing on Iranian TV apologizing for their errors and government - without any signs of coercion?
The times they are a changin....
Only 7 Marines, actually. The rest were sailors. I'm not about to point the finger at those guys when I wasn't in the boat with them. They didn't have a Carl Gustav or LAWs with them, either. As far as their statement goes, I think anyone with a modicum of SERE training can tell you that the instructors no longer teach resistance to the bitter end. Again, tough to criticize those guys when all we have is speculation about what they are going through.
As I recall the story from my reading of different accounts of the Falklands War, when Lt. Mills called London for orders, he was told variously:
That he should resist.
But not endanger human life.
Perhaps he could hold out for half an hour?
After this last inanity, Lt Mills is reported to have said to his sergeant "Fuck half an hour. I'm going to make their eyes water."
And he did.
Any info on his subsequent career with the Royal Marines?
I just discovered last night that we had DVRed the 20th Century Battfields episode on the Falklands war from back in December. Perhaps the Military Channel will re-run it in the coming weeks. The show had lots of great footage from the war.
just read it again....goddamn this was a sweet post.
Heh, we have a Falklands category now? I guess this will be a yearly occurance.
Thanks for the informations they are too helpful for this subject..
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now that was a money post.
Heh, we have a Falklands category now? I guess this will be a yearly occurance.
Fine with me, I'm all about historical accounts of anglosphere military smackdown.