5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands

David Aldea, Nicholas van der Bijl

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9781783462636
• eBook ISBN: 9781783379682
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

For many people it was 3 Commando Brigade, commanded by Major General Julian Thompson, and made up of Royal Marines and Para's that recaptured the Falklands. Yet 5th Infantry Brigade played a key and until now little acknowledged role in this extraordinary saga. Cobbled together in haste (having been stripped of its assets to bring 3 Commando Brigade up to strength), it comprised principally of two Guards battalions (2nd Scots and 1st Welsh) and the Gurkhas. Many felt it was inadequately trained when it sailed from Southampton on the QE 2 and this view was given substance by early disasters such as the tragedy at Bluff Cove. Yet by the end, its contribution, of which Tumbledown is the best known, could not be denied. Why then was its commander (Brigadier Tony Wilson) so conspicuously ignored when the medals and decorations were handed out?

1

5th Infantry Brigade

Politically embarrassed and militarily humiliated at being caught out by a country that, apparently, posed no major threat to its national sovereignty or reputation and was a friend in the South Atlantic region, Great Britain was quick to react to the audacity of the Argentinian invasion.

In a tense Cabinet meeting on Friday 2 April Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, her ministers and civil servants considered the pros and cons of recovering the Falklands Islands and its Dependencies. National morale was low and virtually everything weighed against recovery – the distance, no British bases in the region and the immediate unavailability of forces.

An airborne operation was out of the question, not only because of the great distance, lack of bases and uncertainty of the weather but also because during the late 1970s Great Britain had effectively dismantled its parachute capability. In spite of the heavy casualties suffered by German airborne forces in Crete in 1941, the British had developed a credible airborne capability through 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions. Post-war, these were whittled down to 16th Parachute Brigade and the Territorial Army 44th Parachute Brigade, both with combat and service support. Apart from a drop during the Suez crisis in 1956, the British had not jumped into combat since 1945. By 1977, the Labour Government decided that Great Britain had no further need of airborne forces and 16th Parachute Brigade, in Aldershot, was converted to a conventional role as 6th Field Force. During the early 1980s the Services underwent yet more reorganization, usually in pursuit of severe cost-cutting. Much of the focus centralized British strategy on Priority One, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and home defence, while maintaining a presence in overseas garrisons such as Hong Kong, Cyprus and Belize. A consequence of the defence reorganizations was that some brigades were renamed ‘field forces’, a term reminiscent of Queen Victoria’s armies. Retained in 6th Field Force as a small airborne capability was the Leading Parachute Battalion Group, which consisted of one of the three parachute battalions as the Leading Parachute Battalion, the conventional 29 (Corunna) Field Battery from 4th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, 9 Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers and a Field Surgical Team from 23rd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps.

The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, then joined the meeting and, when asked by Thatcher what could be done, he replied that a naval Task Force could be ready to leave within forty-eight hours and would include 3rd Commando Brigade. Next day the Prime Minister announced to the House of Commons, in a tense Saturday morning debate, that ‘A large task force will sail as soon as preparations are complete’. So was born Operation Corporate, the name given to the naval and military operation to recapture the Falkland Islands and its Dependencies. It was hoped that a positive show of naval and military strength by the British, as the aggrieved nation, would persuade Argentina to abandon the territories she had occupied. The previous year the Royal Navy had taken the brunt of the defence cuts and senior naval commanders were determined to show that the nation could not do without a strong maritime capability. By 9 April the Task Force order of battle was as follows

• Commander Task Force 317 (CTF 317) for the South Atlantic operation was Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse, who was Commander-in-Chief Fleet, with his headquarters at Northwood.
• Appointed as Deputy Land Forces Commander was Major-General Jeremy Moore MC*, who was then Major-General Commando Forces at Mount Wise in Plymouth. Great Britain’s response to the crisis was principally naval, and since Moore was virtually the only Royal Marine of sufficient rank available, the Commandant-General Royal Marines, Lieutenant-General Steuart Pringle, had extended his service. Moore, who was nearing the end of an illustrious career, was initially based at Northwood.
• Combined Task Unit (CTU 317.0) was commanded by Commodore Michael Clapp ADC, the in-post Commander Amphibious Warfare at Plymouth, as Commander Amphibious Task Force. An experienced officer with sea-going command and a navy pilot, he had seen active service in Korea, Aden and Borneo. His responsibility was the transportation of the troops and implementation of the landing plan. Initially he had a staff of seven but during the next weeks this grew to twenty. He had no Intelligence Officer and was therefore reliant upon Headquarters 3rd Commando Brigade for assessments.
• Combined Task Unit 317.1 was the Landing Group, which was commanded by Brigadier Julian Thompson OBE and consisted of his 3rd Commando Brigade reinforced by several units including the Spearpoint Battalion, which was 3rd Parachute Battalion, from 5th Infantry Brigade, and T (Shah Sujah’s Troop) Air Defence Battery from 12th Air Defence Regiment. The British Army always had a United Kingdom-based ‘fire brigade’ battalion on immediate notice to move to a crisis involving Great Britain; this is known as the Spearhead Battalion. Along with 40, 42 and 45 Commandos, the brigade now had four major manoeuvre battalions.
• Combined Task Group (CTG 317.8), the Carrier Battle Group, was commanded by Rear-Admiral John ‘Sandy’ Woodward. He commanded 1st Flotilla and had just finished exercising in the Mediterranean. The Carrier Battle Group centred on the aircraft-carriers HMS Hermes and Invincible, each with Sea Harrier and anti-submarine warfare Sea King helicopter squadrons. They were joined by a formidable array of destroyers and frigates; all supported by fleet tankers and replenishment ships. Woodward was entrusted to dominate the South Atlantic to ensure that Thompson’s brigade arrived at their destination in one piece and then keep the sea lines of communication open to the United Kingdom.

A Task Force organization issued on 2 April had Woodward in command of South Atlantic operations until superseded on 9 April. However, it has rather perpetuated the myth that Woodward was in overall command of operations in the South Atlantic, when, in fact, he commanded only the Carrier Battle Group. It does seem that, on occasion, Northwood was one of a number of organizations that ignored, or forgot, this.

The organization did cause some confusion. Under normal amphibious warfare principles Clapp would have been Commander Amphibious Task Force with 3rd Commando Brigade under his command, the latter until it landed. Technically, although both had their headquarters on the same ship, HMS Fearless, on the voyage south Thompson and Clapp should not have conferred without referring to Moore’s headquarters. But this was an impractical arrangement and, both men being of equivalent rank, they and their staffs disregarded the philosophy but were never really certain what was expected of them. Their fruitful relationship ensured that problems and difficulties were resolved amicably.

Immediately available to Commodore Clapp were the only amphibious warfare ships the Royal Navy had – the Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ships HMS Fearless and Intrepid. Also in support were six Royal Fleet Auxiliary Landing Ship Logistics (LSL). HMS Fearless became the headquarters for amphibious operations.

HMS Fearless and Intrepid were also often known as assault or command ships. Designed in the 1950s to accommodate an armoured regiment, they had a displacement of 12,000 tons and could comfortably accommodate a battalion of 400 troops, plus twelve tanks and about twenty-five light vehicles. Amphibious operations were directed from the Amphibious Operations Room, which was capable of handling a battalion command post, not a brigade headquarters, as was now anticipated for HMS Fearless. The flight deck could comfortably handle two support helicopters simultaneously. A Royal Marines Assault Squadron provided coxswains to handle the four LCUs and four LCVPs and man a beach assault group. Both ships were armed with two 40mm Bofors anti-aircaft guns, four Seacat surface-to-air missiles and whatever small arms could be assembled from the Embarked Force.

LCUs are Landing Craft Utility, also known as Landing Craft Marine. Weighing 100 tons, they are designed to carry two main battle tanks or about 150 fully equipped troops in short fair-weather voyages. Carried in the dry tank deck of their parent assault ship, they were skippered by a Royal Marine colour-sergeant or sergeant and a crew of seven, with the Royal Navy usually providing two engineers. The navigation fit is rudimentary and in 1982, there was no shelter for passengers. LCVP are 10-ton plywood Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel, which can carry either two Land Rovers or four tons of stores or thirty fully equipped troops. A Royal Marine corporal is usually the coxswain, supported by two marines. The assault ships each have four hoisted on davits. The landing craft on HMS Fearless were painted in grey and black camouflage and their radio callsigns were prefixed by Foxtrot, while those on HMS Intrepid were painted green and black and prefixed by Tango.

LSL is Landing Ship Logistic of the Sir Lancelot class. In 1982 there were six in service, all named after Knights of the Round Table and crewed by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. With a full displacement of 5,500 tons, these ships could carry sixteen tanks and over 500 troops, admittedly in Spartan conditions, and were designed to land vehicles and equipment straight on to beaches through a bow door. At the rear was a ramp for unloading on to jetties and other vessels. Landing ships could also carry two Army Mexeflote ferries flat against the sides of the ship. Two flight decks were available for support helicopters. All were lightly armed, most with two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. Sir Percivale and Sir Galahad both had one Bofors. The landing ships each had a Port Operating Detachment from 17 Port Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport, to man the Mexeflotes and associated handling equipment such as cranes. The Roll On/Roll Off ferries also each had a Port Operating Detachment to assist with loading and unloading of men and material.

A Mexeflote is a versatile three-part (bow, centre and stern) multipurpose pontoon specifically designed for salt-water port operations. They can be converted into rafts, as was done during the Falklands campaign, or joined together to form jetties, causeways and breakwaters and were transported by being fitted to the side of a logistic ship. Each Mexeflote has its own specialized diesel engine. During the campaign, men of 17 Port Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport, operated them.

This was the sum total of Great Britain’s amphibious capability – two assault ships, six landing ships and sixteen landing craft supported by helicopters but no amphibious tracked vehicles. The Royal Corps of Transport also had several landing craft of various sizes, but these were designed for port work. Argentina’s capability mirrored the US Marine Corps in organization, equipment and tactics, but was stronger than that of Great Britain.

The Task Force quickly converted from its Priority One NATO role to preparing to fight a conventional war 8,000 miles from British shores. No other country, in recent years, had undertaken such an expedition and many in the Task Force, and indeed in the country, had no idea where the Falklands Islands were. For some units conversion was a relatively simple matter, but the issue for smaller ones was finding men. The preparations reported in the media reinforced Britain’s military intent.

Critical to the venture was Intelligence, but, considering the threat that Argentina had posed to the Falklands for over a century, there was remarkably little information available. Earlier in the year Captain Will Townsend, an Operations planning officer in Headquarters 5th Infantry Brigade, had attended a high-level Intelligence briefing in which every threat was evaluated – from republican movements in Northern Ireland to Guatemala’s claim to Belize, to the Warsaw Pact threat to West Germany and so on. The only one missing was Argentina’s long claim to the Falkland Islands Dependencies, in spite of the fact that, only five years before, Argentina had sabre-rattled Prime Minister Callaghan’s Labour Government and was now occupying South Thule. One wonders if this omission was because the Falkland Islands was a Royal Marine responsibility and not an Army remit. In any event, Royal Marine interest in Intelligence was well down the priority list and it was not a specialist qualification.

In an early operational assessment of the crisis, Northwood calculated that another brigade would be needed to tackle the Argentinian forces. This would bring the ground forces up to weak divisional strength. If the Argentinians were ejected, then a force of brigade size would be needed to provide a strong garrison. But the Army was fully committed to NATO, had nearly 20,000 men in Northern Ireland and had several overseas garrisons. In the event of hostilities in Europe, Great Britain was a critical staging post and rear base for American and Canadian forces and consequently thirty per cent of the Army’s strength, including Reserve Forces and training establishments, was devoted to the home defence against the threat of Warsaw Pact Special Forces prior to and during hostilities. But two formations were available, both of which had just been reroled, 1st Infantry Brigade at Tidworth and 5th Infantry Brigade at Aldershot.

5th Infantry Brigade was commanded by Brigadier Matthew Wilson OBE MC and had its headquarters at Aldershot. When Wilson had arrived in mid-1980, it was known as 8th Field Force and was a mixed Regular/Territorial Army home defence formation with its headquarters at Tidworth. Its Regular Army elements included 1st Cheshires, 2nd Royal Irish Rangers, 2nd Parachute Battalion and 205 Signals Troop. It had the Leading Parachute Battalion Group role. Its Territorial Army complement included 2nd Wessex (V), 6th Light Infantry (V), 55th Signal Squadron (V), and an Ordnance Company. In January 1982 8th Field Force was renamed 5th Infantry Brigade but still with a home defence role. It became an all Regular formation and took over several 6th Field Force units including 3rd Parachute Battalion and 1st Battalion, 7th (Duke of Edinburgh’s Own) Gurkha Rifles (1/7th Gurkha Rifles), which was based at Church Crookham. After India won independence in 1947 four Gurkha regiments (2nd, 6th, 7th and 10th Gurkha Rifles) joined the British Army and, although serving mostly in the Far East, for several years one battalion was based in this small Hampshire town. Except for 29 (Corunna) Battery, the Brigade lacked artillery. The Reserve Forces units joined their regional District Headquarters, 2nd Wessex (V) and 6th Light Infantry (V) going to South-East District and South-West District respectively on home defence.

6th Field Force had been renamed 1st Infantry Brigade and was assigned as the United Kingdom Mobile Force with its own logistic support group. Brigade Headquarters moved from Aldershot to Tidworth. 1st Cheshires and 2nd Royal Irish Rangers were transferred from 8th Field Force and joined 1st Queen’s Own Highlanders, which was equipped and trained in winter warfare. Well-suited to contributing to the defence of NATO’s Northern and Southern Flanks, the Brigade had a secondary role reacting to ‘out-of-area’ contingencies, such as the crisis in the South Atlantic, but the Ministry of Defence felt it would be politically and militarily unwise if it was so deployed.

Born in October 1935 into a titled family and preferring to be known as Tony, Brigadier Wilson was commissioned into the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) in October 1956, the fourth generation of the family to serve in the Regiment. He had seen active service in some capacity in every rank he had held – Aden, Borneo, Cyprus and Northern Ireland. In 1968 the KOYLI was amalgamated into the Light Infantry. Promoted to major in 1970, in 1973 Wilson held a two-year Operations staff appointment in Headquarters Northern Ireland during a difficult time for the Army and was awarded the MBE. Returning to his Battalion, he was awarded the Military Cross as a company commander in Northern Ireland. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1975, he commanded 1st Light Infantry in Northern Ireland and Hong Kong. His MBE was later upgraded to OBE. Promoted to full Colonel, Wilson was appointed Colonel General Staff (Military Operations) at the Ministry of Defence. A colleague was Lieutenant-Colonel David Chaundler of the Parachute Regiment. On 30 June 1980, Wilson was promoted to Brigadier and appointed Commander 5th Infantry Brigade. He had imagination and soon gained a reputation for doing the unexpected, which certainly kept his staff on their toes.

According to one of his staff officers, Brigadier Wilson was perceptive and, realizing that Great Britain would, one day, be expected to provide troops in periods of international tension, he identified an out-of-area role for 8th Field Force, that of hostage rescue and disarming indigenous forces. In 1978 the United Kingdom had been unable to contribute parachute forces to the rescue of civilians held hostage in Kolwezi in Zaire; it was left up to the French Foreign Legion and Belgian para-commandos. Apart from the Special Air Service action at the Iranian Embassy, the last time that British Forces had rescued hostages was during the December 1962 Brunei Revolt when Captain Jeremy Moore MC led L Company, 42 Commando to rescue several at Limbang at the cost of five Royal Marines killed and several wounded. Moore was awarded a bar to his Military Cross. The naval officer who provided naval crews for the Limbang operation was Lieutenant-Commander Jeremy Black, who was now commanding HMS Invincible. During Operation Aghuila in 1980 1,100 British troops joined the Commonwealth Monitoring Force to supervise disarming indigenous forces during the ceasefire in Rhodesia.

In January Major Brendan Lambe, a Royal Artillery officer, arrived at Headquarters 5th Infantry Brigade as the Brigade Major, fresh from a two-year course at the Staff College at Camberley. A firebrand who had served with the Airborne and Commando Forces, he knew many Royal Marine officers, including Major-General Moore and Brigadier Thompson. Lambe was not best pleased with what he found. During a short command post exercise at RAF Abingdon, he found Brigade Headquarters operating from Land Rovers reversed into small 9-foot by 9-foot frame tents and two senior offices running a battle from the front of a Land Rover. When he asked why red lights were being used in preference to white lights, he was told this had been on the instructions of the 55th Signal Squadron (V) Regimental Sergeant Major. As far as Lambe was concerned, what happened in the Command Post was none of any Regimental Sergeant Major’s business and white light was used thereafter. On his return to Aldershot, Lambe ordered a large purpose-made frame tent for Brigade Headquarters

His first brigade exercise with troops, Exercise Green Lanyard, was in February at Thetford and was designed to practice the two parachute battalions and one Gurkha battalion in hostage rescue in a Middle Eastern setting, except that it rained almost the entire fortnight. It does seem that the first seeds of the distrust between Brigade Headquarters and some Parachute Regiment officers emerged when a debate developed on how parachute battalions should be used. There was also a lively discussion as to whether 2nd Parachute Battalion should carry out a drop. It did and without undue difficulty.

On the morning of 2 April, the day that Argentina invaded, after the redesignation parade at Borden for the transfer of 10 Field Workshops to 5th Infantry Brigade, Major Lambe heard from a colleague in the Special Air Service asking if it was likely that the brigade would be mobilized for deployment to the South Atlantic. So far the official response by 5th Infantry Brigade to the crisis was that, since 3rd Commando Brigade had joined the Task Force, there was no need to raise the ‘ready to move’ stakes. But Lambe wisely insisted that contingency plans should be dusted, just in case. The same day 3rd Parachute Battalion was warned for deployment with 3rd Commando Brigade. Brigadier Wilson despatched Captain Townsend to attend Commanding Officer’s Orders. He returned to Brigade Headquarters with the assessment that the battalion not only lacked sufficient machine guns and cameras but its Larkspur fit of tactical radios was not compatible with the Clansman range used by the Royal Marines. Arrangements were hurriedly made to equip the paras with Clansman.

Over the next weeks 5th Infantry Brigade carried on as normal until Major Lambe took a telephone call from the Ministry of Defence wanting to know what the square footage of the brigade was. No one had any idea, but Lambe, suspecting the rationale behind the question, told the caller, ‘Give us the ships and we’ll get on’. Captain Townsend was then asked by Lambe to calculate the staff tables for the Brigade in heavy, light, manpack and come-as-you-are roles. He estimates that from 2 April until 12 May, when he embarked on the Queen Elizabeth II, he drew up a dozen different staff tables while Lambe believes that he signed off at least thirty contingency staff requirements.

Shortly after the crisis broke out a high-level conference was held at Headquarters United Kingdom Land Forces at Wilton to identify additional forces for the war. Among the delegates was Major-General Sir Desm...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• I Will Go
• The Malvinas March
• Author’s Preface
• Maps
• 1 5th Infantry Brigade
• 2 Waiting for Tommy
• 3 Down South
• 4 San Carlos – 29 May to 5 June
• 5 A Bold Move – 2 to 7 June
• 6 The Move to Port Pleasant – 5 to 8 June
• 7 Port Pleasant – 8 June
• 8 5th Marine Infantry Battalion
• 9 3rd Commando Brigade – 10 to 13 June
• 10 The Battle of Mount Tumbledown – 12 to 14 June
• 11 The Battles for Mount William and Sapper Hill – 14 June
• Bibliography