Operation Paraquet was the code name for the
British military operation to recapture the island of
South Georgia from Argentine military control in April 1982 at the start of the
Falklands War.
The operation, a subsidiary of the main
Operation Corporate
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland I ...
—recapture of the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...
from
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
—was successful, leading to the island being restored to British control on 25 April 1982.
Officially named "Operation Paraquet", an alternative spelling of
parakeet
A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers.
Etymology and naming
The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...
, it was known among British troops as "
Paraquat", after the industrial weedkiller.
Background
Prompted by the British
war cabinet
A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...
who needed a demonstration of political resolve, the operation was ordered by Admiral
John Fieldhouse at
Northwood Headquarters
Northwood Headquarters is a military headquarters facility of the British Armed Forces in Eastbury, Hertfordshire, England, adjacent to the London suburb of Northwood. It is home to the following military command and control functions:
#Headqu ...
and planned by staff at
3 Commando Brigade
3 Commando Brigade (3 Cdo Bde), previously called the 3rd Special Service Brigade, is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces. It is composed of the Royal Marine Commandos, alongside commando qualified sailors, soldiers and airmen from ...
. 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 ...
of the Royal Marines was told to provide a Commando
company group for a secret mission. Originally selecting
45 Commando
45 Commando Royal Marines (pronounced "four-five commando") is a battalion sized unit of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of the ...
who had recently completed
jungle warfare
Jungle warfare is a term used to cover the special techniques needed for military units to survive and fight in jungle terrain.
It has been the topic of extensive study by military strategists, and was an important part of the planning for bo ...
training, the final selection was
42 Commando
42 Commando (42 Cdo) (pronounced as Four-Two Commando) is a subordinate unit within the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade. Based at Bickleigh Barracks near Plymouth, personnel regularly deploy outside the United Kingdom on operations or training. ...
who had recently been on a winter deployment to Norway. The second-in-command of 42 Commando, Major Guy Sheridan, an experienced mountaineer, was selected to be Landing Force Commander. M Company of 42 Commando, commanded by Captain Chris Nunn, was augmented by specialists from the Reconnaissance Troop, the Support Company, signals and medics; a total of 132 men.
Sheridan requested the support of the Royal Marine
Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre, but was instead given 19 (Mountain) Troop from D Squadron
Special Air Service (SAS) from
Ascension Island. In the event, the whole of D Squadron comprising not only the Mountain Troop, but also 16 (Mobility) Troop, 18 (Air) Troop and 17 (Boat) Troop along with the Squadron HQ all joined the force at Ascension. Finally, 2 Troop,
Special Boat Squadron (2 SBS) and, as requested by Sheridan, two Naval Gunfire Forward Observation Parties (NGFOs) also joined the task group.
The already crowded accommodations in available ships became difficult with the inclusion of additional troops. The task group sailed from Ascension on 11 April, pausing to redistribute the SAS troops between ships on 13 April. The final disposition was that M Company were on the tanker , 2 SBS, and the Mountain and Boat Troops SAS on the frigate, , with the rest of D Squadron on . Finally, 6 SBS were embarked in the submarine . This group, known as CTG 317.9 or Task Force South Georgia, was commanded by Captain
Brian Young of ''Antrim''.
The task group met with on 14 April and on the following day, received written orders (dropped by an RAF
Nimrod
Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...
aircraft) for the operation from Admiral Fieldhouse dated 12 April and giving a landing date of 21 April.
Reconnaissance phase
![SG17 Fortuna Glacier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/SG17_Fortuna_Glacier.jpg)
''Conqueror'' was first on the scene, arriving off South Georgia on 18 April and carrying out a survey of key areas of the coast. She then withdrew to the northwest of the island to guard against any potential threats from the Argentine navy.
For the British, the first order of business was to carry out reconnaissance of Argentinian positions, whose forces and dispositions were unknown, though there was no evidence to suggest they had been reinforced since the initial occupation of the island on 3 April. The plan called for insertion of 3 SBS patrols at
Hound Bay, who would then travel by land and Gemini inflatable boat across
Cumberland East Bay and set up an
OP at Brown Mountain overlooking Grytviken. The SAS plan was more ambitious, and called for a helicopter insertion of Mountain Troop, D squadron, on
Fortuna Glacier, 8 miles west of
Stromness. From there the unit would travel across the glacier, and reconnoitre
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
,
Husvik, Stromness and East Fortuna bay. The SAS chose Fortuna glacier as a point of entry as it was sufficiently far from expected enemy positions so as to preclude detection, and the Argentines would not expect an attack from that direction. This choice was opposed by officers who had knowledge of local conditions, such as Captain
Nick Barker
Nicholas Paul Barker is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist who formed a rock, power pop band, Nick Barker & the Reptiles, in March 1988. Their cover version of Cockney Rebel's "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" reached the top  ...
of ''Endurance'' and members of the
British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who felt that the difficulties of travelling on the glacier were being underestimated. However, Major
Cedric Delves,
officer commanding
The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...
D squadron, overruled their objections, and as the SAS had strong political backing within the British government, the plan was eventually put into action.
On 20 April, an
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Victor based on Ascension carried out a radar reconnaissance of 150,000 square miles of South Atlantic, including South Georgia, remaining in flight for 14 hours and 45 minutes. On the same day the Task Force arrived at its destination, and ''Endurance'' moved into
Saint Andrews Bay to make contact with isolated BAS field parties.
On the next day, the 15 men of Mountain troop, led by Captain
Gavin Hamilton, were airlifted onto Fortuna glacier by two
Wessex helicopters. They were immediately confronted with extreme conditions including 100
mph winds and freezing temperatures. Deep
crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...
s slowed the advance, and when the men attempted to set up camp and wait out the storm, their tents were swept away by the wind. Finally, after 15 hours on the glacier, Captain Hamilton requested evacuation, with the message "Unable to move. Environmental casualties imminent." Three Wessex helicopters were dispatched from the Task Force: two Wessex Mk5s from ''Tidespring'' and one Mk3 from ''Antrim''. After one failed attempt, they managed to locate and embark the stranded SAS men, but in
whiteout conditions, one pilot became disorientated and his aircraft crashed. The passengers were loaded onto the two remaining helicopters, but soon afterwards one of these hit a ridge and crashed, though once again without any serious casualties. The last Wessex, ''Antrim''′s Mk3, after having offloaded its troops on board the destroyer returned to the glacier and after two failed attempts managed to retrieve the downed SAS and aircrew, though their equipment had to be abandoned. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Ian Stanley, managed to nurse his overloaded aircraft back to ''Antrim'' and make an
emergency landing
An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...
on her flight deck, for which he was later awarded the
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...
.
Meanwhile, the SBS insertion fared little better. On 22 April, four men of 2 SBS were landed from ''Endurance'' by
Wasp helicopter at Hound Bay, where the local BAS team informed them that no Argentines were in the area. On the next day, an attempt to insert reinforcements by helicopter was foiled by strong winds, and ''Endurance'' had to approach within 800 yards of the coast in order to land the remaining SBS in Gemini inflatable boats. After having spent a night at
Dartmouth Point, the troop moved on foot through
Sörling Valley to the foot of
Nordenskjöld Glacier. Here a Wasp helicopter airlifted in two Geminis, but one was found to have been damaged during transport. The remaining boat was used to ferry half of the unit across Cumberland Bay East, but the crossing was thwarted by strong headwinds and accumulating
drift ice
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "faste ...
from the nearby glacier. With the weather deteriorating, the mission was called off, but the SBS had to wait another day to be evacuated.
On 22 April, Young's Task Force was joined by the tanker
RFA ''Brambleleaf'', which had travelled past the
Cape of Good Hope and originally arrived in the TEZ on 19 April, meeting HMS Endurance, before leaving again to wait to rendezvous with the other ships in the Task Force. The tanker had suffered heavy damage in a severe storm, and it was decided to transfer as much fuel as possible onto ''Tidespring'', under cover of ''Plymouth'', before she could begin her journey back to the UK for repairs. The long process began on the same day, but was momentarily interrupted when the three ships were spotted by an Argentine
C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...
flying a
maritime reconnaissance {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008
Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities.
Maritime patrol refers to ac ...
mission.The RAS ended prematurely due to the suspected presence of Argentine submarine
''Santa Fe'' in the area.
![Tommy 7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Tommy_7.jpg)
Despite earlier setbacks, Young remained committed to completing his intelligence-gathering mission, and on the night of 22/23 April ''Antrim'' entered
Stromness Bay
Stromness Bay is a bay wide, entered between Cape Saunders and Busen Point on the north coast of South Georgia.
Stromness Bay, like Leith Harbour takes its name from a location in Scotland, Stromness, on the Orkney Mainland. This is partiall ...
in order to insert another SAS force. This time, Boat Troop, D squadron, led by Captain Tim Burls, were to be inserted in five Gemini boats. The attempt almost ended in disaster when two boats' engines refused to start and they were swept out to sea by an unexpected gale. One boat was rescued the following morning by ''Antrim''s Wessex, while the other managed to restart their engine and reach the shore on the
Busen Peninsula. After towing another boat to shore,
Tommy Turtle went back to search for the others.
[Major Tommy Turtle, SAS soldier who took part in crucial operations during the Falklands War – obituary]
''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', 4 March 2021, accessed 6 March 2021 The three remaining Geminis reached their intended objective on
Grass Island, where an
observation post
An observation post (commonly abbreviated OP), temporary or fixed, is a position from which soldiers can watch enemy movements, to warn of approaching soldiers (such as in trench warfare), or to direct fire. In strict military terminology, an ...
was set up, after the men of 17 Troop had scaled a cliff in freezing conditions. They reported no Argentine activity in the Stromness area and signalled an SOS to
HMS ''Endurance'', which the next day was able to airlift them out by her
Westland Wasp
The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the earlier piston-e ...
. After this operation, 17 Troop took to calling itself "The South Georgia Boating Club".
[
]
Attack on ''Santa Fe''
On 23 April, the British learned through radio intercepts that an Argentinian submarine was approaching South Georgia. This was the GUPPY II–converted Balao class , the former USS ''Catfish'', part of Argentina's submarine fleet of four boats. On 9 April ''Santa Fe'', commanded by Corvette Captain
Corvette captain is a rank in many navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a corvette (small warship). The equivalent rank in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and United States is lieutenant commander. The Royal Canadian Navy uses ...
Horacio Bicain, left Mar del Plata with eleven technicians to restore utility services on New Georgia and nine marines with Bantam anti-tank missiles to reinforce the original invading force, which was armed only with rifles and machine guns.[ The mission was launched by Vice-Admiral Juan Lombardo, following a request for reinforcements by Captain Trombetta shortly after the Argentine ]invasion of South Georgia
The invasion of South Georgia, also known as the Battle of Grytviken or Operation Georgias, took place on 3 April 1982, when Argentine Navy forces seized control of the east coast of South Georgia after overpowering a small group of Royal Marin ...
.
This contradicted the military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
's orders to not reinforce South Georgia, but when Admiral Jorge Anaya
Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya (27 September 1926 – 9 January 2008) was a Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires. He participated in the right-wing military dictatorship known as t ...
, Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Navy, learned of the mission, he refused to disavow his subordinates and authorised it. Storm conditions prevented use of the snorkel, which placed unexpected demands on the batteries and required remaining surfaced during part of the approach. Her sensors were unreliable, and the charge capacity of her aged batteries was much reduced from their original design. While undertaking her transport mission, ''Santa Fes orders were to remain undetected, not to attack any ships and to break contact with any ship which might detect her.
The arrival of the submarine posed a significant threat to the British Task Force, and Young was ordered to disperse his ships, except ''Endurance'', outside the South Georgia total exclusion zone. The frigate , commanded by Captain John Coward, was diverted to South Georgia with her two Lynx helicopters to replace the aircraft lost on Fortuna Glacier, but she was not due to arrive until the morning of 25 April. ''Conqueror'' was assigned a new patrol area 70 miles to the west of South Georgia, however, a failure in her communications mast meant that she did not receive the order until 24 April, by which time ''Santa Fe'' was already approaching the island.
The Argentinian submarine successfully landed her reinforcements at Grytviken
Grytviken ( ) is a settlement on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the b ...
, under moonless cloud cover in the pre-dawn hours of 25 April, and was underway by 0500.[ ''Antrim''′s aircrew, which included Lieutenant Chris Parry, anticipated that ''Santa Fe'' would unload her troops under the cover of darkness and would withdraw at first light through ]Cumberland Bay
Cumberland Bay is a bay, wide at its entrance between Larsen Point and Barff Point, which separates into two extensive arms, Cumberland West Bay and Cumberland East Bay, which recede inland along the northern coast of South Georgia. It ...
without submerging, due to the threat of icebergs. They suggested re-fitting their Wessex with radar, which had been removed to transport the SAS, and intercept ''Santa Fe'' as she left the bay. Captain Young thus brought his three warships some 25 miles north-east of Cumberland bay and prepared his helicopter force for anti-submarine action. He now had at his disposal, besides ''Antrim'' Wessex, three Wasps (one aboard ''Plymouth'' and two on ''Endurance'') and two Lynxes (aboard ''Brilliant''). At 0855, the submarine was located by ''Antrims Wessex using radar and engaged with depth charges. One charge bounced off the boat's deck but the other exploded alongside, rupturing the port ballast tank and piercing an external fuel tank. Now unable to dive, Bicain was forced to reverse course towards Grytviken.
The Wessex was then joined by a Lynx which launched a Mark 46 torpedo, but the weapon was configured to home on submerged submarines and passed harmlessly underneath its target. Wasps then joined the attack firing AS-12 missiles. As ''Endurance'' was much closer to the action, her Wasps were able to rearm and attack several times, while ''Plymouths Wasp was able to carry out only one attack. As the submarine approached Grytviken, Argentine positions at King Edward Point
King Edward Point (also known as KEP) is a permanent British Antarctic Survey research station on South Georgia island and is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is situated in Cumberl ...
opened fire with rifles and anti-tank rockets, and during the last Wasp attack, the crew attempted to defend themselves with small arms and at least one machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
, but with no effect. The last missile fired caused the most damage, destroying the periscope standards and nearby pumps and injuring a sailor who was manning a machine gun. By 1100, the crippled ''Santa Fe'' was once again moored at Grytviken pier, where she was abandoned by her crew.
Execution
With ''Santa Fe'' disabled, Major Sheridan judged that the Argentines would be demoralised and that an attack should be made immediately. However, his main force, M company, was still onboard ''Tidespring'', 200 miles away. A scratch force was put together with various forces on board ''Antrim''. These included M company's command element and mortar troop, 2 SAS troops and the 2 SBS command and signal elements, for a total of 79 men.
There followed a helicopter assault by an improvised group of Special Forces and Royal Marines, with two Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
vessels (''Antrim'' and ) conducting a naval bombardment demonstration on the low hills opposite Grytviken. The garrison at Grytviken and the crew of the disabled ''Santa Fe'' surrendered to M Company, 42 Commando
42 Commando (42 Cdo) (pronounced as Four-Two Commando) is a subordinate unit within the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade. Based at Bickleigh Barracks near Plymouth, personnel regularly deploy outside the United Kingdom on operations or training. ...
, Royal Marines, after 15 minutes at 17.15 GMT
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...
, although the garrison at Leith Harbour
Leith Harbour (), also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest ...
, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Astiz
Alfredo Ignacio Astiz (born 8 November 1951) is an Argentine former military commander, intelligence officer, and naval commando who served in the Argentine Navy during the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla during the Proceso de Reorg ...
, surrendered the following day.
An Argentine prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
, Navy Petty Officer Felix Artuso, a crewman of ''Santa Fe'', was mistakenly shot dead on 26 April after a British marine thought he was sabotaging the submarine. He is buried at Grytviken Cemetery.Félix Artuso's grave
A message that was widely publicised in the UK was made by the Task Group Commander, Captain Brian Young, after the surrender at Grytviken:
:Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God save the Queen.["Remarks on the recapture of South Georgia"](_blank)
, Margaret Thatcher Foundation
After Secretary of State for Defence John Nott
Sir John William Frederic Nott (born 1 February 1932) is a former British Conservative Party politician. He was a senior politician of the late 1970s and early 1980s, playing a prominent role as Secretary of State for Defence during the 1982 in ...
read this statement to journalists in Downing Street
Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk f ...
, prime minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
told the crowd to " rejoice".
Wildlife film-maker Cindy Buxton
Lucinda Catherine "Cindy" Buxton FRGS (born 21 August 1950)Debretts1769.comBuxton of Alsa, Barony of retrieved 9 June 2022 is a British wildlife film-maker, photographer and author.
Background and education
The third of the six children of Lor ...
and her assistant Annie Price, who had been filming in an isolated part of the island before the invasion, were evacuated by a helicopter from on 30 April.
Footnotes
References
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External links
Naval-History.Net - "Battle Atlas of the Falklands War 1982" by Gordon Smith
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paraquet, Operation
1982 in the Falkland Islands Dependencies
April 1982 events in South America
Battles of the Falklands War
Conflicts in 1982
Falklands War in South Georgia