British Victory on Mt. Longdon Tips the Scales -- None too soon for the Falkland Islanders

Dear Fellow Earthlings, On the 12th of June 1982 it was obvious that the Argentines were about to surrender. But their forces were still killing British soldiers -- and yet another English ship was put out of commission by a land based Exocet missile. HMS Glamorgan, a destroyer, was badly damaged by the missile, fired at it from a distance of 30 kilometers. The number of crewmen killed was 13, and the ship was badly damaged. But the crew quickly moved to damage control mode and were able to save the ship. The battle

scarred Glamorgan now qualified as the largest down-but-not-out survivor of the Falklands War. In these last hours of the Falklands War the land battles on the mountains just west of Port Stanley were ebbing -- but with flare ups still occurring. A case in point was the major flare up that took place on Mount Longdon. 3 Para fighters on that peak ran into a determined, tough battalion from the Argentine 7th Regiment. Brave men on both sides were now killing each other in close contact combat. This horrific battle, that had begun the night before, resulted in a British victory -- but a costly one. The British lost 23 men killed and 47 wounded. The Argentine lost 31 men killed and 120 wounded. The British took 50 Argentine fighters prisoner.

Similar scenarios, but with fewer casualties, were taking place on all of the critical hills/mountains

to the west of Port Stanley. But the results were all the same. The British had eked out victories --

and the Argentines were now in full retreat, making their way to Port Stanley where, it seems, most if not all of of them wanted their officers to surrender to the British so that the Argentine forces could all return to Argentina. The people of Port Stanley were now right in the middle of the fighting. No longer was it bearable. They were beginning to crack mentally.

Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.