The Battle of Goose Green (28–29 May 1982) was an engagement between British and Argentine forces during the Falklands War . Goose Green and its neighbouring settlement Darwin on East Falkland in the Falkland Islands lie on Choiseul Sound on the east side of the islands central isthmus. They are about 13 miles (21 km) south of the site where the major British amphibious landings took place in San Carlos Water (Operation Sutton) on the night of 21/22 May 1982. The bulk of the Argentine forces were in positions around Port Stanley about 50 miles (80 km) to the east of San Carlos. The positions at Goose Green and Darwin were well defended by a force of combined units totalling about 1,200 men (At the start of the battle, the number was thought by the British to be less than half this), equipped with artillery, mortars, 35 mm cannon and machine guns. However, the force was fairly static and judged to present little threat to the nearby beachhead. Consequently, it had no strategic military value for the British in their campaign to recapture the islands, so early plans for land operations had called for Goose Green to be isolated and bypassed. Things changed in the days following the landings on 21 May. While the bridgehead was being consolidated, no offensive ground operations of any size were feasible and yet Argentine air attacks caused significant loss of and damage to British ships in the sea area around the landing grounds. This led to a feeling among senior commanders and politicians in the UK that the momentum of the campaign was being lost.[6] As a result, British Joint Headquarters in the UK came under increasing pressure from the British government for an early ground offensive of propaganda value.[7] And so, on 25 May, Brigadier Julian Thompson, ground forces commander, commanding 3 Commando Brigade, was ordered to mount an attack on Argentine positions around Goose Green and Darwin.[6]
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 06:20:11 +0000
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