Battle of Mount Harriet - Prelude

Prelude

On the night of 8–9 June, action on the outer defence zone flared when Lieutenant Mark Townsend's 1 Troop (K Company, 42 CDO) probed Mount Harriet, killing two Argentines (Corporal Hipolito Gonzalez and Private Martiniano Gomez).At the same time, two platoon-size fighting patrols from 45 Commando attempted the same on Two Sisters Mountain, but the Argentine Rasit ground surveillance radar on Mount Longdon was able to detect the 45 Commando platoons, and artillery fire dispersed the force.

Over a period of a week, the 4th Regiment defended the Harriet-Two Sisters sector from five Royal Marine platoon-size attacks. Every time the Royal Marine Commandos got into the forward platoon positions, the officers, NCOs and conscripts, in general, counterattacked with rifles and cleared them out.

On the morning of 11 June, the orders for the attack were given to 42 CDO by Vaux; K Company was ordered to attack the eastern end of the mountain, while L Company would attack the southern side an hour later, where it—if the mountain was secured—would then move north of Mount Harriet to Goat Ridge. J Company would launch a diversionary attack (code named Vesuvius) on the western end of Mount Harriet.

In the closing hours of 11 June, K and L Companies moved from their assembly area on Mount Challenger (which lay to the west of Mount Harriet) and made their way south, around their objective, across the minefield, to their respective start lines. As they moved around the feature in the dark, J company launched their very loud diversionary "attack" from the west.