Assault on Mount Kent, Falkland Islands

The Assault on Mount Kent was a series of engagements during the Falklands War, primarily between British and Argentine special forces.

Battle of Mount Kent
Part of Falklands War
Date 29 May–11 June 1982 Location Mount Kent, East Falkland, Falkland Islands 51.673°S 58.113°W / -51.673; -58.113 Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Argentina
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Col. Mike Rose Maj. Cedric Delves Cap. Gavin Hamilton Cap. Peter Babbington	Cap. Eduardo Villarruel Cap. Tomás Fernández Cap. Andrés Ferrero
Units involved
Special Air Service 3 Commando Brigade 42 Commando 29th Commando Regiment Blues and Royals Royal Navy Royal Air Force	601 Commando Company 602 Commando Company 601st Helicopter Battalion Special Operations Group 601st National Gendarmerie Squadron 6th Infantry Regiment
Strength
1 destroyer HMS Glamorgan 1 Scorpion light tank 4 helicopters 1 Chinook 3 Sea king	6 helicopters 1 Puma, 4 Hueys 2 Chinooks
Casualties and losses
5 killed (4 from friendly fire) 11 wounded 3 Royal Marines,[1] 4 Gurkhas, and 4 SAS 1 Harrier shot down	9 killed 18 wounded 5 captured 1 Puma helicopter shot down
Location within Falkland Islands

Mount Kent and the surrounding hills is an area of high ground on East Falkland, five miles West of the capital Stanley. At 1,093 ft (333 m) [2] it dominated the British axis of advance from San Carlos to Stanley and its proximity to the capital, made it of strategic interest to both British and Argentinian Forces.

Background

In late May 1982 Special Air Service patrols from G Squadron found that a number of high peaks overlooking the Argentine defences around Port Stanley were largely undefended, after the Argentine heliborne reserve 'Combat Team Solari' (B Company, 12th Infantry Regiment) had been dispatched to support the fighting at Goose Green and the 4th Infantry Regiment had received orders to abandon Mount Challenger and take up positions on Mounts Two Sisters and Harriet.

An initial reconnaissance by Major Cedric Delves' 'D' Squadron was deployed by helicopter on 25 May, with the remaining of the squadron arriving on 27 May in time to counter the arrival of an Argentine Special Forces unit under the command of Captain Eduardo Villarruel, second-in-command of 602 Commando Company. [3] His commander, Major Aldo Rico, had instructed Argentine patrol leaders to move into positions around Mount Kent, secure the area and await reinforcement by Major Jose Ricardo Spadaro's 601st National Gendarmerie Special Forces Squadron, and Major Oscar Ramon Jaimet's heliborne trained.[4] B Company, 6th Infantry Regiment who had also undergone night-combat training the previous year.[5]

SAS patrols from Air and Boat Troop squadrons and Major Delves' tactical headquarters (THQ) fought a number of actions with the Argentine Special Forces before the Argentines were forced to withdraw. The SAS's Air Troop patrol was at first driven but managed to hold onto the summit of Mount Kent until Royal Marine reinforcements arrived.

Battle

The first engagement occurred during the night of the 29–30 May 1982 when the 3rd Assault Section of 602 Commando Company, led by Captain Andrés Ferrero, ran into Air Troop from D Squadron, 22nd SAS, on the slopes of Mount Kent, sustaining one casualty (First-Sergeant Raimundo Viltes), abandoning much of its equipment to the anger of Major Aldo Rico, their Commanding Officer.[6] The SAS sustained two wounded during the contact.[7]

That night, HMS Glamorgan (D19) shelled the 40-man Argentine Air Force Special Operations Group (GOE) at Stanley Airfield guarding the Skyguard fire-control radars, killing Lieutenant Luis Castagnari and wounding four others who were preparing to take part in the occupation of Smoko Mount in support of Argentine Army commandos.[8] The Argentine survivors thought the missile was a Shrike anti-radar missile, but it was a Seaslug missile launched in the surface to surface role.

The next day, Captain Tomás Fernández's 12-man, Assault Section attempted to seize Bluff Cove Peak. The radio operator, First Sergeant Vicente Alfredo Flores,[9] sent out the following radio message from the slopes of Bluff Cove Peak at about 5 PM on 30 May: "We are in trouble" and then forty minutes later: "There are English all around us... you had better hurry up".

First Lieutenant Rubén Eduardo Márquez and Sergeant Oscar Humberto Blas were both killed and showed great personal courage in the firefight and were posthumously awarded the Argentine Nation to the Valour in Combat Medal. The Argentine Commandos under Captain Fernandez confronted a camp occupied by 15 SAS troopers, with the SAS reporting two wounded (Corporals Ewen Pearcy and Don Masters) repelling Fernandez's patrol.[10][11]

On Mount Simon, Captain Jose Arnobio Verseci's 1st Assault Section, listening to Captain Fernandez's patrol attempt to escape British encirclement, decided to abandon the feature and attempt to link up with the 601st Combat Engineer forces guarding Fitzroy.[12]

That following day, another SAS ambush took place when Lieutenant-Commander Dante Camiletti's Marine Special Forces patrol (minus Camilletti and corporal Juan Carrasco who had been captured at Verde Mountain and Teal Inlet respectively) were returning from reconnoitring San Carlos and were ambushed by Captain Gavin Hamilton's Mountain Troop on the lower slopes of Estancia Mountain. Sergeants Jesús Pereyra and Ramón López were seriously wounded and captured along with corporals Pablo Alvarado and Pedro Verón who were unwounded. During the reconnaissance of San Carlos, a British gunner, (George Joblin) was shot and wounded by friendly fire.[13]

On the night of 30 May, Captain Peter Babbington's K Company of 42 Commando, Royal Marines and a supporting field artillery battery boarded three Sea King helicopters and the surviving RAF Chinook (Bravo November) and moved forward from San Carlos. At about the same time, the 2nd Assault Section under Captain Fernandez, having hidden all day, emerged from their hides intending to withdraw from the area but came under prompt and heavy fire from Mountain Troop.[14] The Marines took cover and after the firefight had died down Major Cedric Delves of D Squadron, 22 SAS appeared and assured them that all was well. There were no Argentine casualties, although one member, Sergeant Alfredo Flores with the Thompson Manpack Radio, was captured after knocking himself out in a fall.[15] One British Intelligence Corps NCO on loan to the SAS is reported wounded in this action.[16] The SAS claim to have come under mortar bombardment while evacuating their wounded, and the Royal Marines from 7 'Sphinx' Battery of the 29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery report the loss of one gunner (Van Rooyen), who suffered a broken arm while taking cover among the rocks during the bombardment.[17]

Flight-Lieutenant Andy Lawless, the co-pilot of the sole surviving RAF Chinook, took part in the mission to deliver artillery guns and ammunition to the SAS and describes the crash of the helicopter;

We had three 105-mm guns inside and ammunition pallets under-slung. Then the fog of war intervened, we could not find anywhere to land and spent time manoeuvring as we had to put them exactly where the gunners wanted because they could not roll the guns across the terrain. Once we dropped off the guns we went straight back to San Carlos to bring in more guns and ammo. Then we hit the water at 100 knots. The bow wave came over the cockpit window as we settled and the engines partially flamed out. As the helicopter settled the bow wave reduced and the engine wound up as we came out of the water like a cork out of a bottle.[18]

The action in the Mount Kent area continued on the morning of 31 May, the recently arrived Royal Marines spotted Major Mario Castagneto's 601 Commando Company advancing on jeeps and motorbikes to rescue the stranded patrols of 602 Commando Company. Castagneto's men were forced to withdraw after coming under mortar fire injuring Castagneto and Drill Sergeant Juan Salazar.

There were aircraft losses on both sides from operations carried out by British and Argentine Special Forces. On 30 May, Royal Air Force Harriers were active over Mount Kent. One of them, responding to a call for help from D Squadron SAS, was badly damaged by small arms fire while attacking Mount Kent's eastern lower slopes. Sub-Lieutenant Llambías-Pravaz's platoon was later credited with the destruction of Harrier XZ963 flown by Squadron Leader Jerry Pook[19]with another claim going to 35 mm Oerlikons of the 601st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Roberto Enrique Ferre.[20][21] The Harrier crashed into the South Atlantic 30 miles from the carrier HMS Hermes, Squadron Leader Pook ejected and was rescued.

At about 11.00 am on the same day, an Aerospatiale SA-330 Puma helicopter was shot down by a shoulder-launched Stinger surface-to-air missile (SAM) fired by the SAS. Six National Gendarmerie Special Forces were killed and eight wounded.[22]

The only British death in the SAS operations to counter Argentine commando patrols in the Mount Kent area, occurred when a SAS patrol fired on an SBS patrol near Teal Inlet who had strayed into an area patrolled by the SAS in the early hours of 2 June. SBS Sergeant Ian ‘Kiwi’ Nicholas Hunt was killed.[23][24]

The Special Air Service won praise for defending Mount Kent and the surrounding peaks, the citation for the Distinguished Service Order won by Major Delves:

Following the successful establishment of the beachhead in San Carlos Water, Major Delves took his squadron 40 miles behind enemy lines and established a position overlooking the main enemy stronghold in Port Stanley where at least 7000 troops were known to be based. By a series of swift operations, skilful concealment and lightning attacks against patrols sent out to find him, he was able to secure a firm hold on the area after ten days for the conventional forces to be brought in.[25]

After sustaining significant losses in the form of four wounded (Carl Rhodes, Richard Palmer, Don Masters and Ewen Pearcy) in 16 and 17 Troops, the exhausted men in 'Air' and 'Boat' Troops were withdrawn from the frontline for much-needed rest and replaced by 23 Troop, G Squadron SAS.[26] 18 and 19 Troops, in the meantime, commenced operations against the Argentine garrisons at Fox Bay and Port Howard in West Falkland.

Brigadier Julian Thompson would later defend his decision to send SAS patrols to reconnoitre Mount Kent ahead of 42 Commando:

It was fortunate that I had ignored the views expressed by Northwood [British Military Headquarters in England] that reconnaissance of Mount Kent before insertion of 42 Commando was superfluous. Had D Squadron not been there, the Argentine Special Forces would have caught the Commando before de-planing and, in the darkness and confusion on a strange landing zone, inflicted heavy casualties on men and helicopters.[27]

A Scorpion tank from the Blues & Royals helped clear Mount Kent from the remaining Argentine special forces and engaged 4th Regiment troops digging in on the lower slopes, opposite Murrell River.

3 PARA reached Estancia House on 1 June, and shortly thereafter D Company patrols came across blood stains and field dressings indicating that the wounded First Sergeant Raimundo Viltes under the care of First Lieutenant Horacio Lauría had received first aid there along with the Argentine Marine special forces wounded and National Gendarmerie commandos injured, before they were evacuated. In their march to Estancia House, a British paratrooper in D Company was seriously wounded by a negligent discharge.[28]

With 23 Troop thinly spread in the forward British lines, the 3rd Assault Section from 602 Commando Company was able to return to the area on the night of 3–4 June, reaching the summit of Mount Challenger after a difficult approach. Upon returning to Port Stanley, Major Aldo Rico along with First Lieutenant Jorge Manuel Vizoso Posse, (second-in-command of Ferrero's patrol) tried to convince Brigadier-General Oscar Jofre to helicopter forward a rifle company in order to attack the recently arrived British artillery batteries the commandos claimed to have located using their night binoculars, but an irritated Jofre told them to go and leave the decision making process up to 10th Brigade Headquarters.[29]

The 4th Regiment also carried out patrolling, and on the night of 6–7 June, Corporal Nicolás Albornoz with eight conscripts crossed Murrell River and reached the area of Estancia Mountain where they spotted a number of British vehicles, but the patrol came under mortar fire and had to withdraw.[30]

On 9 June, the two Argentine Air Force Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters in the Falklands returned to the Argentine mainland. The plan was to collect Major Armando Valiente's 75-strong 603 Commando Company[31] together with petroleum shaped charges which had been seized from a French company operating in southern Argentina and insert this force behind Mounts Kent and Challenger in order to attack British artillery.[32][33]

Aftermath

With the loss of the high ground, Argentine Air Force Canberra bombers carried out several bombing runs against British troops in the area. In the first raid on June 1, six Canberras attacked British troop positions in the Mount Kent area. after Captains Ferrero and Villarruel were given a map of the area and told to pinpoint the British positions.

On 8 June, a British helicopter inserted a 3-man special forces team to establish an observation post on Mount Kent but were discovered and long-range Argentine artillery fire wounded one man, forcing the remainder to vacate their hide and retreat with their wounded man to the rear positions of the 29th (Commando) Royal Artillery Regiment.[34]

During the night of 9–10 June, a fighting patrol fired on several members of a mortar platoon from 45 Commando on the lower slopes of Mount Kent, killing four and wounding three Royal Marines. According to Captain Ian Gardiner, from 45 Commando Battalion's X-Ray Company, the fighting patrol spotted the mortar section approaching from the direction of the enemy positions in the valley between Mount Longdon and Two Sisters Mountain and opened fire believing them to be an Argentine patrol. [35]

Early on 10 June, a Gurkha company moved forward from Bluff Cove to a position near Mount Kent[36] to establish a patrol base but the Forward Observation Officer on Mount Harriet, Captain Tomás Fox spotted the company and directed 155mm artillery fire against it, wounding three Gurkhas.

On 11 June, the Royal Marine and Parachute battalions of 3 Commando Brigade attacked and captured Mounts Longdon, Harriet, Goat Ridge and Two Sisters Mountain, ending any Argentine Special Forces plans in winning back control of the Mount Kent area.

References

1. Marines shot comrades in Falklands conflict, The Glasgow Herald, 2 December 1986
2. Mount Kent - Falkland Islands at Peakery.com
3. "Two Argentine Chinooks landed near Mount Kent and the forty commandos divided into three teams and advanced. The point man of a SAS patrol didn't notice the Argentines who crawled around to flank of the British patrol for an L-shaped ambush and opened fire at 20 Meters range. The SAS man was hit and the other three dived for cover, returning fire but were overwhelmed by automatic fire and grenades which injured another, who was carried away as the SAS withdrew." Arostegui, Martin, Twilight Warriors: Inside the World's Special Forces, Like A Thief In The Night (chapter), St. Martin's Press, 1997
4. "He was an Army commando who had fought against the People's Revolutionary Army in Tucuman province during the 'Dirty War'. Thoroughly professional and a dedicated soldier, he expected high standards and exercised rigid but fair discipline. It was to Jaimet that Brigadier-General Jofre turned when he wanted a heliborne company." Van der Bijl, Aldea, 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, p. 161, Leo Cooper, 2003
5. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1362425-un-heroe-todos-los-heroes Un héroe, todos los héroes lanacion.com, 03/04/2011
6. "Ferrero's men advanced up the steep slopes, the thought of bumping into a British patrol or walking into an ambush keeping them alert. After about 500 metres Ferrero went forward with two men to investigate a noise. They covered 50 metres when they came under machine-gun and mortar fire. First-Sergeant Raimundo Viltes was wounded when a bullet shattered his heel." Van Der Bijl, Aldea, 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, p. 63
7. "Two SAS men had been flown in with gunshot wounds that were quite obviously more than 24 hours old. We knew better than to ask them about the circumstances of their injuries, and instead simply operated on them.
8. Héroes caídos en Malvinas
9. Comandos en acción: El Ejército en Malvinas, Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, p. 258, Emecé Editores, 01/01/1986
10. "Two more men were wounded, but the SAS remained in control of its main positions by the morning of 30 May." Twilight Warriors: Inside the World's Special Forces. Martin C. Arostegui. p. 205. St. Martin's Press, 15/01/1997
11. "At about 11 am, May 30th, Captain Fernandez and his 2nd Assault Section, emerged from their hide intending to occupy Bluff Cove Peak. With Sergeant Humberto Bias, First-Lieutenants Daniel Oneto and Ruben Marquez scouting ahead, the section was engaged by 22 SAS' THQ and a firefight developed. Marquez threw grenades but was killed as he was wearing gloves and unable to operate his rifle. Sergeant Blas was also killed." Van Der Bijl, Aldea, 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, p. 63, Leo Cooper, 2003
12. Nine battles to Stanley, Nicholas Van der Bijl, p. 149, Leo Cooper, 30/09/1999
13. George Joblin was hit in the shoulder and wounded with small arms fire from one of our own weapons. Commando Gunner Regroup
14. 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands 1982, Nicholas Van der Bijl, David Aldea p. 65, Leo Cooper, 2003
15. "Fernandez broke contact and in the scramble down the hill Sergeant Alfredo Flores, the section radio operator, fell and was knocked out. When he came to his senses he was the prisoner of a SAS patrol and was later interrogated at 'Hotel Galtieri' in the farmyard at San Carlos along with the commandos captured at Top Malo House." Van Der Bijl, Aldea, 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, p. 65
16. "Among prisoners captured by the Commando Brigade were five 602 Commando Company at Top Malo House and an Argentine Special forces Group sergeant knocked unconscious during a clash with the SAS on Mount Kent. During this engagement, a member of the Intelligence Corps badged as Special Air Service was wounded." Sharing the Secret: The History of the Intelligence Corps 1940-2010, Nick Van Der Bijl, p. 293, Pen and Sword, 2003
17. The National Archives
18. 16 Air Assault Brigade: The History of Britain's Rapid Reaction Force, Tim Ripley, pp. 45-46, Casemate Publishers, 2008
19. La Guerra de las Malvinas, p.352, Editorial Oriente, 1987
20. Rodríguez Mottino, p. 158
21. "During another action, an enemy aircraft fell victim to the 601 Air Defence's 35mm batteries. The plane came down in the water and the pilot, Squadron Leader Pook was rescued shortly after." Moro, p. 272, English edition
22. "Argentine Puma Shot Down By American "Stinger" Missile". En.mercopress.com. 12 April 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
23. Ian Hunt (SBS) at Commando Veterans.org
24. Snowy Falklands’ remembrance for special Forces’ thinking mans warrior’
25. Falklands Aftermath, p. 44, Marshall Cavendish, 1984
26. "That left only 16 and 17 Troops for Stanley, both depleted by casualties sustained on Mount Kent. Unhesitatingly, G Squadron stepped forward, their 23 Troop making up our numbers." Across an Angry Sea: The SAS in the Falklands War, Cedric Delves, p. ?, Oxford University Press, 2019
27. Julian Thompson, No Picnic, p. 93, Cassell & Co, 2001.
28. The patient complained about the tubes in his chest, but the drains carried away blood leaking from the bullet's track. He was another survivor, and very much against the odds. Doctor for Friend and Foe: Britain's Frontline Medic in the Fight for the Falklands, Rick Jolly, p. 89, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012
29. Arribaron al Challenger a eso de las diez de la noche. Desde allí se divisaba el monte Kent cuando salía la luna llena, oculta de a ratos por nubes. Había bastante luz como para observar con anteojos de largavista, o recurriendo a los visores nocturnos: era bien perceptible el vuelo incesante de helicópteros ... que transportaban artillería durante toda la noche ... Antes del amanecer la patrulla regresó, moviéndose de igual modo que al llegar. Desde Monte Harriet, en donde el mayor Rico lo aguardaba, el teniente primero Vizoso Posse transmitió por radio su información. Al arribar a la capital, ambos fueron al puesto de mando de la Brigada X en Stanley House para entrevistar al general Jofre. Vizoso estaba mojado y cubierto de barro: "Nunca olvidaré", contó, "la cara de asco con que me miró". Entró a explicar la situación al frente de Monte Challenger: — Aquí no hay nada, mi general; los helicópteros van para allá. Y le dio a entender que convenía atacar a los cañones ingleses por ese flanco desubierto, por su falta de defensa contra la infantería argentina, que no estaba lejos, aunque fuese con una sola compañía. El comadante de la Brigada lo interrumpió ásperamente: —¡Teniente primero: no haga apreciaciones! Comandos en Acción: El Ejército en Malvinas, Isidoro J. Ruiz Moreno, p. 316, Emecé Editores, 1986
30. Volveremos!, Jorge R. Farinella, p. 125, Editorial Rosario, 1984
31. "The last two serviceable Chinooks, belonging to the Air Force, also withdrew to the mainland on 9 June. An Argentine 'commando officer' told me that he was on this flight and that the intention was to collect a newly formed commando company together with 10,000 rounds of hollow-charge explosives which had been requisitioned from a French petroleum company in Argentina with the intention of returning to the Falklands and operating in the British rear." Argentine Fight for the Falklands, Martin Middlebrook, p. 217, Pen & Sword, 2003
32. "Planning for this had begun on 4 June and planning directives for the action were approved on 9 June (Operational Plan No. SZE-21) and agreed by the High Command on 11 June. It was co-ordinated with Lombardo through Captain Cufre, who travelled to the Islands on 10 June and back to Comodoro Rivadavia the next day to report that it was ready to be implemented." Signals of War: The Falklands Conflict of 1982, Lawrence Freedman, Virginia Gamba-Stonehouse, p. 394, Princeton University Press, 2014
33. "Marine Corps Major Raul Cufre, of the Tactical Divers, had devised Plan SZE-21 to install 601 and 602 Commando Companies, the 601 Border Guard Special Forces Squadron and a 1st General San Martin Cavalry Regiment squadron behind British lines to link up with the 4th Airborne Brigade." Victory in the Falklands, Nick Van Der Bijl, p. 178, Pen & Sword, 2007
34. During a lull in firing Alan (Taff) Williams was doing some work on one of our trenches when he heard a noise, on popping his head up over the top of the trench he was confronted by three guys two of them carrying another. When they saw a disembodied head appear and challenge them they dropped everything and shouted: "For f*#ks sakes don't shoot!" Taff in his usual casual manner said "what's up boys?" to which three very relived men approached and told him they had been dropped off by chopper on a recce on mount Kent, as soon as the chopper left they came under artillery fire and one was quite badly hit so they withdrew sharpish. Luckily they stumbled onto us quite quickly, Taff showed them the way to the CP so they injured guy could receive attention & be casevaced out. Commando Gunner Regroup
35. Marines shot comrades in Falklands conflict
36. The Official History of the Falklands Campaign, Lawrence Freedman, p. 525, Routledge, 2004