Battle of Mount Harriet - Background

Background

The British force consisted of 42 Commando (42 CDO), Royal Marines under the command of Lt. Col. Nick Vaux's Royal Marines (he later became a general) with artillery support from a battery of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery. The 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards (1WG) and two companies from 40 CDO were in reserve. HMS Yarmouth provided naval-gunfire support for the British forces. The Argentine defenders consisted of Lieutenant Colonel Diego Soria's 4th Infantry Regiment (RI 4).

On the night of 30 May, K Company of 42 CDO moved forward of San Carlos to secure the commanding heights of Mount Kent—at 1,504 feet, the tallest of the peaks surrounding Stanley—where the D Squadron SAS Troops had already established a strong presence. However, when they arrived at their landing zone, some 3 kilometres (2 miles) behind the ridge of the mountain, the Marines were surprised to see the flashes and lines of tracer ammunition lighting up the night.

After a fierce fight at close quarters, the Argentine patrol (Captain Tomas Fernandez' 2nd Assault Section, 602 Commando Company) melted away from the boulders and snow-soaked scrub and grass. By the end of May, Major Cedric Delves' D Squadron had gained Mount Kent, and Tactical HQ commenced patrolling Bluff Cove Peak, which they took with the loss of two wounded.

The attack was preceded by many days of observation and nights of patrolling. Some night-fighting patrols were part of a deception plan to convince the Argentinians that the attack would come from a westerly direction. Other, more covert, patrols were to find a route through a minefield around the south of Mount Harriet. Sniping and naval artillery were used to harass the defenders and deny them sleep.

On 3 June, Lieutenant Chris Marwood's Reconnaissance Troop of 42 CDO, accompanying the 3 Commando Brigade Forward Air Control team commanded by Flight Lieutenant Dennis Marshall-Hasdell, encountered an RI 4 fighting patrol (Second Lieutenant Lautaro Jiménez Corvalán 3rd Platoon of B Company from Mount Harriet).The Recce Troop opened fire and two conscripts (Privates Celso Paez and Roberto Ledesma) were instantly killed, and an NCO (Corporal Nicolas Odorcic) went down, wounded by a head shot by one of the Marine snipers as he took cover among the rocks.

This action drew attention to their exposed forward position, and Argentine reinforcements in the form of Second Lieutenant Marcelo Llambías Pravaz's 3rd Platoon from Two Sisters joined the action with a general counterattack.The Primary Forward Air Controller, commando-trained Flight Lieutenant Dennis Marshal-Hasdell, remembers:

We were separated from our heavy bergens with the radios and all our gear. The patrol was spread over quite a large area, with lots of shouting, noise and firing going on. The Marines abandoned all their equipment, and although no one told us, it became clear that we were to withdraw. With no information, and the likelihood of having to fight our way out, Dave Greedus and I decided to abandon our equipment, destroying as much as we could. The two radio sets (HF and UHF) were tough enough, but the HAZE unit of the laser target marker was designed to withstand the weight of a tank!

The Laser Target Designator retrieved in the contact showed that the Royal Marines were seeking to destroy the Argentine bunkers on Mount Harriet with 1,000-pound Pave Way Laser Guided Bombs. The next day, 10 (Defence) Troop re-occupied the Mount Wall observation post against no opposition.