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Episode 6 –  The Argentinians invade the Falklands on 2nd April 1982

Episode 6 – The Argentinians invade the Falklands on 2nd April 1982

FromThe Falklands War


Episode 6 – The Argentinians invade the Falklands on 2nd April 1982

FromThe Falklands War

ratings:
Length:
21 minutes
Released:
Apr 10, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

The Argentinians have just landed commandos and attacked the Marine Barracks at Moody Brook, but missed their target as the 40 specialist brit soldiers have been on the move for more than a day already. As your heard last episode, the British finally managed to get a warning to their Falklands Governor, Rex Hunt, a few hours before the Argentinian fleet anchored off Port Stanley. Argentinian Rear-Admiral Büsser had been studying the problems of landing at the Falklands since January 1982 and the commandos had carried out the first obvious mission – to strike at the Marine Barracks “by surprise and without bloodshed” he told author Martin Middlebrook.Büsser’s original plan was to land the Amphibious Commando Company during the night on a beach two miles south of Stanley, then to march overland and seize the barracks along with other key points in the town. The main landing force would then come ashore at dawn with an army platoon sent ahead to capture Government House and the governor, while the marines completed the sweep of Stanley. A small plane would fly from the mainland once the island was secure, and its occupants would prepare the airport for the arrival of a much larger army contingent which would replace the landing force and form the first garrison. Two more platoons were to be transported by helicopter from the Almirante Irizar to occupy Goose Green and Darwin area. However, he hit a snag. Firstly, there was no surprise, his own state radio had told everyone the night before that by dawn the Falklands would “be ours”. So the beach was going to be defended and the airport runway likely blocked. Worse, the Puma helicopter that was supposed to be used on board the Almirante Irizar  had broken loose in its hangar during the raging storm you heard about last episode and was damaged.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Released:
Apr 10, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (21)

This podcast series will endeavour to cover the story from both the British and Argentinian points of view.It was an odd war, fought with the same weapons, NATO weapons. But bullets don’t recognize nationalities, neither do torpedoes and missiles and both sides were going to brutalise each other with western arms. That was only one of many unusual facts about this short sharp war that has left the veterans on both side wondering what it was all for. As we watch Russia invade Ukraine claiming ownership, this is surely a moment to reflect on the Falklands where 255 British military personnel died, along with 649 Argentinians and 3 Falkland Island civilians.  In comparison and after 5 days of fighting in the Ukraine, Russia has admitted to at least 500 deaths and thousands of casualties. As I put together this show the numbers in Europe were startling – a million refugees have fled the Ukraine and the war is going to lead to millions more.  GK Chesterton wrote once that “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”  For the Argentinian’s there was a lot of military historical water under the bridge and that bridge was built on the Malvinas. We must investigate these because they all add up to a crescendo that became a war. For the British it was the same motivation. The 200 islands in the Falkland Group lie 480 miles north east of Cape Horn straddling the line of 52 degrees latitude and comprising around 4 700 square miles of land. The theme music "Devastation and Revenge" is composed by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.For more details head off to www.abwardpocast.com and select Falklands War from the main menu. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.