Themes

Conflict and Change

• Introduction

• In Focus: 1900

• In Focus: World War One

• In Focus: Interwar

• In Focus: World War Two

• In Focus: Post War Conflict

• In Focus: Cold War Climate

• In Focus: Falklands and Beyond

  • Surface Fleet

  • Submarines

  • Royal Marines

  • Fleet Air Arm

• Special Exhibition: Falklands 25

Learning

• How To: Understand Propaganda

• Propaganda Image Galleries

• Education Project: Sea With Your Own Eyes

The Falklands War

Article highlights

• War in the South Atlantic

• The Amphibious Task Force

• San Carlos landings

• Beginning the land campaign

• Battling for the high grounds

• The Battle of Two Sisters

• Towards Port Stanley

Battling for the high grounds

On the night 11 June 42 and 45 Commando Royal Marines and 3 Para executed the final stages of Brigadier Thompson’s grand plan for the recapture of the Falkland Islands.

He had devised a three-pronged attack. 42 Commando had already taken Mount Kent, providing the British Forces with a distinct advantage.

79 Battery of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery with one of their 105mm Howitzer guns on Mount Kent, Falklands War 1982. (RMM)

They would move on to seize Mount Harriet whilst 45 Commando defeated Argentine troops based atop of the Two Sisters mountain range. Thomson tasked 3 Para with taking Mount Longdon.

For a detailed account of the Battle of Mount Harriet and the work of 42 Commando during the Falklands War, please follow the link to the Naval Life of 42’s Commander during the Falklands War, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Vaux.