Battle of Mount Tumbledown
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The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement of the Falklands War which took place on the 13th/14th June 1982, and was part of a series of battles that took place during the advance towards Port Stanley. The British force consisted of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards with mortar detachments from 42 Commando, Royal Marines and the 1/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles with support from a troop of the Blues & Royals equipped with two Scorpions and two Scimitars. Naval gunfire-support was provided by HMS Active's 4.5-in gun. The Argentinian force consisted of the 5th Marine Infantry Battalion
On the morning of the 13th June, the Scots Guards are moved by helicopter from their position at Bluff Cove to an assembly area near Goat Ridge which was west of Mount Tumbledown. The plan for the attack on Tumbledown was for a diversionary attack to be made south of Mount Tumbledown by a small number of Scots Guards assisted by the four light tanks of the Blues & Royals, with the main attack being a three-phase silent advance from the west of Mount Tumbledown. The first phase would consist of G Company taking the western end of the mountain, second phase would have Left Flank Company then passing through them to capture the center of the summit, with the third phase having Right Flank Company pass through Left Flank Company to secure the eastern end of Tumbledown.
At 8:30pm on the 13th June, the diversionary attack began. The 2nd Scots Guards Battalion's Reconnaissance Platoon, commanded by Major Richard Bethell, a former SAS officer and supported by the four light tanks of the Blues & Royals attacked an Argentinian Marine Company position on the lower slopes of Mount William. They reached their objective silently, upon encountering the enemy, a heavy fire-fight ensued, lasting two hours and resulting in the deaths of two Scots Guardsmen and four wounded before the Argentinian Marine positions fell silent. Major Bethell was discussing with one of his medical orderlies how the wounded were to be carried back, when a scene beyond the imagination of Hollywood took place.
An appallingly wounded Argentinian Marine conscript dragged himself over the parapet of his trench and tossed a grenade at Bethell's feet. Bethell shot him before the grenade exploded, riddling his legs with shrapnel and wounding the medical orderly in the lung.
Upon knowing they could be counter-attacked at any time, the British platoon withdrew from the position and inadvertently entered a minefield which resulted in two men being wounded covering the withdrawal and a further four as a direct result of the minefield. The explosions prompted the 5th Marine Battalion's Operation Officer to order the 81mm Mortar Platoon on Mount William attached to the Marine O Company to open fire on the minefield and likely withdrawal route of anyone attacking the O Company position. The barrage lasted about forty minutes and more British casualties would have been suffered had not the soft peat absorbed the impact of the mortar bombs.
G Company left its start-line at 9:00pm on the nearly two mile advance towards its objective. They reached their objective undetected and found the western end of the mountain to be unoccupied. Left Flank Company then passed through G Company at 10:30pm to attack the next part of Tumbledown. The two main platoons the began advancing eastwards up the mountain's slope. Lieutenant Alasdair Mitchell's 15 Platoon on the right were coming under heavy fire, and Lieutenant Anthony Fraser's 13 Platoon on the left were coming under equally, if not worse, fire from the Argentinians, two of its men being killed and two being wounded.
Meanwhile, about 400 yards ahead of them, a company of Marines lay entrenched. The employment of the Carl Gustav missiles, as well as the 66mm anti-tank rockets, did not prove as effective for the British as they had at Goose Green. The 5th Marines were well dug in, and succeeded at holding up the 2nd Scots Guards Battalion's advance. However, at 2:30am, under the cover of very heavy fire, Left Flank Company launched a bayonet charge that, in bitter and bloody fighting, finally dislodged the Argentinian defenders who had refused to yield.
Left Flank Company bit deep into the Argentinian defences. Marine Private Jorge Sanchez in the book Cronica Documental De Las Malvinas (Editorial Redaccion, 1982), recalled:
The fighting was sporadic, but at times fierce, as we tried to maintain our position. By this time we had ten or twelve dead including one officer. I hadn't fired directly at a British soldier, as they had been to hard to get a clear shot at. I can remember lying there with all this firing going over my head. They were everywhere. The platoon commander then called Private Ramon Rotela manning the 60 millimetre mortar and Rotela fired it straight up into the air so that the bombs landed on ourselves. At this point I had been up and in actual combat for over six hours. It was snowing and we were tired. Some of the guys had surrendered, but I didn't want to do this. I had only twenty rounds left and I decided to continue the fight from Mount William. I popped up, fired a rifle grenade in the direction of 8 to 10 British soldiers to keep their heads down, and then ran for the 2nd Platoon. I can remember saying some type of prayer hoping the British wouldnt shoot me in the back.
Private Sanchez was a very lucky man to not have been shot by men of his own battalion in the snowy dawn when the Marine officer commanding the 2nd Platoon of N Company on the saddle between Tumbledown and Mount William, instructed his men not to open fire as the young soldier, clad in a baggy uniform and camoulfaged steel helmet, was clearly a member of the Argentinian Marine Corps falling back from the night fighting.
After a seven-hour fight just a handful of men reached the top of Tumbledown, Left Flank Company's objective, the rest were either performing other duties further down the mountain or had been killed or badly wounded.
At 6:00am, Right Flank Company passed through Left Flank Company toward the eastern end of Tumbledown, the final objective. Major Kiszely briefed Major Price that an Argentinian platoon, including a machine gun, were about 250 yards to the east and all efforts to dislodge them with Carl Gustavs and 66mm rockets had failed. Second Lieutenant Mathewson's 2 and Lieutenant Lawrence's 3 Platoon of Right Flank Company advanced carefully. In the saddle between the centre and eastern summits 2 and 3 Platoons clashed with Major Oscar Jaimet's B Company of the 6th Infantry Regiment with Second Lieutenant Augusto La Madrid's platoon taking the brunt of Right Flank Company's advance.
Lance-Corporal Grahm Rennie of 3 Platoon in the book 5th Infantry Brigade In The Falklands (Pen & Sword Books, 2003) later described the attack:
Our assault was initiated by a Guardsman killing a sniper, which was followed by a volley of 66mm anti-tanks rounds. We ran forward in extended line, machine-gunnners and riflemen firing from the hip to keep the enemy heads down, enabling us to cover the open ground in the shortest possible time. Halway across the open ground 2 Platoon went to ground to give covering fire support, enabling us to gain a foothold on the enemy position. From then on we fought from crag to crag, rock to rock, taking out pockets of enemy and lone riflemen, all of who resisted fiercely.
By dawn, the approach of more British companies, to secure Mount William, was detected. They were the Gurkhas. The men of N Company of the 5th Marine Infantry Battalion on Tumbledown were thus facing off with two battalions. In the gray dawn, the Marine Forward Observation Officer on Tumbledown, Second Lieutenant Marcelo De Marco, spotted the 650-strong Gurkha battalion and radioed battalion headquarters for airburst and mortar fire. Fortunately the soft peat cushioned the explosions. Nevertheless eight Gurkhas were wounded, two of them seriously.
With La Madrid's platoon severely mauled, Jaimet had appointed Second Lieutenant Aldo Franco's platoon to cover the Argentinian withdrawal from Tumbledown Mountain. Franco had already successfully covered the Argentinian withdrawal from Two Sisters on 12 June but had lost three killed battling Yankee Company of 45 Commando. On at least three occasions a conscript from Franco's platoon opened fire at a 656 Squadron Scout helicopter flying out the British wounded. In the gloom of a snowy dawn locating him was difficult and, although he was constantly moving between shots, the Scots Guards were able to pin him down most of the time with small-arms and 66mm rockets. Captain Campbell-Lamerton, who commanded the Anti-Tank Platoon and spoke Spanish, tried to persuade the Army conscript to desist, but failed. Eventually Lance-Corporal Gary Tyler, of Left Flank Company, landed a 66mm rocket on the dazed Argentinian soldier's position, which mortally wounded the 6th Regiment conscript.
By 10:00am local time their objective was secured and the Scots Guards were now in control of Tumbledown. At 2:30pm the Argentinian marine battalion marched into Port Stanley in parade order, carrying their weapons. They felt far from defeated. They had taken on the bulk of the British 5th Infantry Brigade (2nd Scots Guards Battalion, 1st Welsh Guards Battalion and a 40 Royal Marine Commando helicopter-borne company). The 5th Marines suffered 16 killed and 64 wounded while inflicting very heavy casualties by today's standards - over sixty killed and wounded - on the British 5th Infantry Brigade.