The last stage of the Falklands War was the

surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

of the Argentine Governor at

Port Stanley Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a popula ...

Surrender

At 2100 hours on 14 June 1982, the commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, General

Mario Menéndez is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

, surrendered to Major General

Jeremy Moore Major General Sir John Jeremy Moore, (5 July 1928 – 15 September 2007) was a British senior Royal Marine officer who served as the commander of the British land forces during the Falklands War in 1982. Moore received the surrender of the ...

. The surrender was contrary to the Argentine Army code stating that a surrender should not happen unless more than 50% of the men were casualties and 75% of the ammunition was spent. The terms of the surrender document were slightly changed after negotiation by General Menéndez. The phrase

unconditional surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most ofte ...

was changed for the term

. The Argentines were granted: * The Argentines units will retain their flags. * The units will remain under control of their respective officers * The surrender ceremony will be private (not public) * The Argentine officers will retain their sidearms. * The final point about the returning of the 11,313 prisoners of war in their own ships was not accepted and 4,167 of them were

repatriated Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

to Argentina on the ocean liner ''Canberra'' alone. The

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

had incorrectly stated that the liner had been crippled during the Battle of San Carlos.

Surrender document

Present at the signing of the letter of surrender were: * Captain Melbourne Hussey, Argentine Navy ''Translator'' * General de Brigada Mario Menéndez

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...

* ''Vicecomodoro'' Carlos Bloomer-Reeve,

Argentine Air Force "Argentine Wings" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 August (anniversary) 1 May (Baptism of fire during the Falklands War) , equipment = 139 aircraft , equipment_label = , battles = * Operation Independence * Operation Soberanía * Falkl ...

* Vicecommodore Eugenio J Miari, Argentine Air Force, Senior Argentine legal advisor * Captain Rod Bell, Royal Marines ''Translator'' * Lieutenant-Colonel Geoff Field, Royal Engineers * Colonel

Brian Pennicott Major-General Brian Thomas Pennicott, CVO (born 15 February 1938) is a former senior British Army officer who served as Defence Services Secretary from 1991 to 1994. Military career Educated at Portsmouth Northern Grammar School and the Roya ...

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

* Major General

, Royal Marines * Colonel Mike Rose, Special Air Service * Colonel Tom Seccombe, Royal Marines * Staff Sergeant Glenn Harwood

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

The letter of surrender read:

Captured Argentine equipment

Quantities are approximates: * 100

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

MB 1112/13/14 trucks * 20 Unimogs * 50 Mercedes-Benz G-Class 4x4s * 12 Panhard AML 90mm vehicles * 1 SAM Roland launcher * 7 SAM Tigercats launchers * 1 Improvised

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

launcher * 3

CITER 155mm L33 Gun The 155mm L33 Argentine Model gun (Argentine Army denomination: ''Cañón 155 mm. L 33 Modelo Argentino'') is an Argentine artillery field gun in service with the Argentine Army. Development Developed in late 1970s by CITEFA as ''obus 155& ...

s * >10 Oto Melara 105mm cannons * >15 Oerlikon twins 35 mm and 15 Rheinmetall twin 20 mm air defence cannons and 20 Hispano Suiza 30 mm single barrel guns. * 1

AN/TPS-43 The AN/TPS-43 is a transportable air search 3D radar produced in the United States originally by Westinghouse Defense and Electronic Division, which was later purchased by Northrop-Grumman. It is used primarily for early warning and tactical co ...

3D mobile air search radar * 1

AN/TPS-44 The AN/TPS-44 is a transportable 2-dimensional air search radar produced in the United States originally by Cardion Electronics. Description The AN/TPS-44 is a ground-based, non-fixed (i.e.: transportable) search radar.The US Military descript ...

mobile air search radar * >5 Skyguard FC radars plus (1 damaged in missile strike), 1

Super Fledermaus The Super Fledermaus (literally Super Bat), known in Swiss service as the Feuerleitgerät 63, Flt Gt 63 (fire control radar unit 63), is a pulse-radar fire control system, 111 of these systems were in service with the Swiss Air Force from 1965 t ...

FC radar and several

RASIT RASIT (''RAdar de Surveillance des InTervalles'') is a ground-surveillance pulse Doppler radar developed by Thomson-CSF (now Thales), and fielded by several militaries. The original version of RASIT had a range of 20 kilometers and allowed a skille ...

fire control radars * Blowpipe Manpads * SAM-7 Manpads (bought in late May from Gaddafi's Libya) * 14 flyable helicopters (2

Agusta A109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...

, 2 Bell 212, 8

UH-1H The Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter, first introduced in 1959, is the first production member of the prolific Huey family of helicopters, and was itself developed in over twenty variants, which are listed below. XH-40 and YH-40 The firs ...

, 1 Chinook and 1 Puma) * >10

FMA IA 58 Pucará The FMA IA 58 Pucará ( qu, Fortress) is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft manufactured by the Fábrica Militar de Aviones. It is a low-wing twin-turboprop all-metal monoplane with retractable landing gear, capa ...

* 1

Aermacchi MB-339 The Aermacchi MB-339 is a military jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Italian aviation company Aermacchi. The MB-339 was developed during the 1970s in response to an Italian Air Force requirement that sought a re ...

Argentine Coast Guard The Argentine Naval Prefecture ( es, Prefectura Naval Argentina or PNA) is a service of Argentina's Security Ministry charged with protecting the country's rivers and maritime territory. It therefore fulfills the functions of other countries' coa ...

patrol boat GC82 ''Islas Malvinas'' - renamed HMS ''Tiger Bay'' * >11,000 personal weapons * >4 million 7.62 munition rounds (10,500 from Goose Green) * >11,000 105mm ammunition rounds Some of the equipment was rendered useless by Argentine personnel before the surrender. The Argentine Rattenbach commission ( es, Informe Rattenbach) was assembled after the war to investigate the causes of defeat. It recommended serious penalties for some of the officers in charge, but its influence on the later trial was practically nil.

Aftermath

On 20 June, the British retook the

South Sandwich Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

and declared hostilities to be over after removing Argentina's

Southern Thule Southern Thule is a collection of the three southernmost islands in the South Sandwich Islands: Bellingshausen, Cook, and Thule (Morrell). The island group is barren, windswept, bitterly cold, and uninhabited. It has an extensive exclusive ...

garrison at the

Corbeta Uruguay base Corbeta Uruguay base was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on Thule Island, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. It was vacated and mostly demolished in 1982 following Britain's victory against Argentina in ...

. Corbeta Uruguay was established in 1976, but the Argentine base was only contested through diplomatic channels by the UK until 1982. The war lasted 74 days, with 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian

Falklanders Falkland Islanders, also called FalklandersChater, Tony. ''The Falklands''. St. Albans: The Penna Press, 1996. p. 137. and nicknamed Kelpers, are the people of the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. Identity The Islande ...

killed. The British Government decreed that all

classified information Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

would be available to the public in the year 2082. However, following the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

, a great deal of formerly classified material is now available. The surrender document is on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.Extract from the Surrender document - IWM
Retrieved 2004-03-24 As noted in the museum, the time of surrender was backdated three hours in order that both

Zulu time Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about one second of mean solar time (such as UT1) at 0° longitude (at the IERS Reference Meridian as the currently use ...

(UTC) and the local time were recorded as 14 June even though technically it was already 15 June in London, in order to prevent possible confusion by Argentine troops who might have mistakenly thought that they were permitted to keep fighting until the next day, 15 June 1982. Relations between the UK and Argentina were not restored until 1989 and only under the umbrella formula which states that the islands sovereignty dispute will remain aside. 14 June has been a public holiday in the Falkland Islands since 1984, officially called as "

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...

References

Bibliography

* Guerra Bajo la Cruz del Sur, Eduardo Jose Costa {{DEFAULTSORT:Argentine Surrender In The Falklands War Falklands War British Army in the Falklands War Surrenders June 1982 events in South America