British Ground Forces in The Falklands War - Land Forces

Land Forces

The land forces employed by the United Kingdom during the Falklands War amounted to a divisional sized formation, named as Land Forces Falkland Islands, consisting of two brigades:

• 3 Commando Brigade - formed primarily by the Royal Marines, 3 Commando Brigade was the primary British rapid reaction force, tasked with reinforcing the NATO northern flank in Norway in the event of war with the Soviet Union in Europe. 3 Commando Brigade was the formation with most experience of amphibious operations. In its NATO role, 3 Commando Brigade was reinforced by the Dutch Korps Mariniers. However, the situation required reinforcement by British units, with the result that 2nd & 3rd Battalions of the Parachute Regiment were reassigned from 5 Infantry Brigade.

• 5 Infantry Brigade - the UK's main "out of area" reaction formation, tasked with operations outside the European theatre. At the time, it would normally be formed using two battalions of the Parachute Regiment, together with the UK based Gurkha battalion. However, since both 2 PARA and 3 PARA were used to reinforce 3 Commando Brigade for the initial landings in the Falklands, 5 Brigade was reinforced with two battalions of foot guards then on public duties in London. These were chosen as they were immediately available, as they were neither on internal security duties in Northern Ireland nor attached to BAOR.