Approach to
Darwin - Late on Wednesday 26th as some 500 men of 2 Para moved south towards Darwin, there was much uncertainty about
Argentine strength in the area. However by the time of
the surrender, and after allowance is made for the nearly
50 killed (not the originally reported 250), there were
over 1,000 POW's including the 12th Inf Regt and a Coy
from the 25th. With their approaches mined, the infantry
were in well-prepared defensive positions, especially
between Boca House and Darwin half way down the isthmus,
and for support could call on 105mm artillery, AA guns
later in the ground defence role, and attack aircraft
from Stanley.
By
early Thursday
morning (27th), 2 Para had marched the eight miles from
Sussex Mountains and reached the holding position at Camilla Creek
House where most lay
up all day. Two patrols from C Coy probed forward towards either side of the
isthmus to plot some of the enemy defences, but later
pulled back under fire. And then early
that
afternoon, two Harrier
GR.3's attacked Argentine positions with CBU's, and in a
subsequent strafing run, one of them was hit probably by
35mm Oerlikon fire and crashed to the west of Goose Green [b27]. Sqdn Ldr Iveson ejected and hid
up before being rescued three days later.
That night, the three 105's of 8 Bty RA and their ammo were flown to Camilla Creek House by No.846 Sea Kings, and
"Arrow" headed into Grantham Sound, opening
fire from there under the control of a naval gunfire
observer. A later turret fault was repaired and she
remained on station supporting the Paras advance towards
Darwin, when with the threat of air attack at dawn, had
to return to San Carlos Water. Meanwhile that same evening, 2 Para moved off the two miles to
the start line with C (Patrol) Coy leading the way. With D Coy at first in reserve, A and B Coy's waited on either side of Burntside Pond, the
mortars to their rear, and the fire support company with
its Milans initially across Camilla Creek from the
forward Argentine positions. Early on Friday the 28th, the men of 2 Para prepared
for a night attack against largely unknown forces across
the open ground of the Goose Green area, five miles long
and over a mile wide.
The Battle for
Darwin and Goose Green, Friday 28th
May - At 3.30 am,
A Coy moved off on the left and attacked Burntside House believed to be occupied by an
Argentine platoon, but found no-one there other than four
unhurt civilians. At 4.10 am, B Coy started forward from the other side of
Burntside Pond down the right flank with D Coy following them long the middle.
With artillery support on both sides, B and D Coy's were
soon in confused action against a series of enemy
trenches, and as they slowly made progress, A Coy moved past unoccupied positions at Coronation Point. Leaving one platoon of A Coy to
provide covering fire from the north side of Darwin, the
remainder started to circle round the inlet to take the
settlement. As dawn
broke, the attacks on both flanks bogged down as B Coy came up against the strongpoint of
Boca
House and A Coy found that a small rise, later
known as Darwin Hill, was the key to the Argentine defences.
Not until midday did
2 Para break through. As A Coy was hit and went to ground, Lt Col
Jones and his Tac HQ came up, and another attempt to push
forward was made which led to two officers and an NCO
being killed. Col Jones moved off virtually on his own,
and was soon shot and dying in an action which led to the
award of a Victoria Cross. Maj Keeble was called up from the rear,
and leaving A Coy to
slowly wrest Darwin Hill and pulling B Coy slightly back from Boca House, ordered D Coy to move round them on the far right
along the edge of the sea. Now in daylight, the battle continued with the
Argentines helicoptering in their first reinforcements
and flying more support missions. The first attack by
Falkland's based aircraft took place earlier when a Grupo
3 Pucara was hit, probably by a Blowpipe SAM, but limped
back to Stanley. The next
sortie by two more Pucaras caught two Royal Marine Scouts
on their way in to casevac Lt Col Jones. Capt Niblett
managed to evade them, but Lt Nunn was killed by cannon
fire and went down near Camilla Creek House [b28]. One of the
Pucaras was later found to have crashed into high ground
returning to Stanley [a58].
By midday, A Coy had taken and held Darwin Hill, and B
and D Coy's had finally silenced Boca House. Still under fire,
D
and C Coy's headed towards the airfield and Goose Green while B Coy circled east to cut off the settlement.
During the attack towards the schoolhouse, three men of D
Coy were killed in an incident involving a white flag. Now into the late afternoon, aircraft from both sides came on
the scene, starting with two MB.339's of CANA 1 Esc and
two Pucaras of Grupo 3 which hit the school area. One of
the Navy jets was brought down by a Royal Marine Blowpipe [a59], and minutes later one of the
Pucaras dropped napalm and the other shot down by small
arms fire [a60].
Then three Harrier GR.3's brought much needed relief by
hitting the AA guns at Goose Green with CBU's and
rockets.
With evening approaching and the Argentines
squeezed in towards Goose Green, more reinforcements
arrived to the south by helicopter, while to the north, J Coy 42 Cdo was flown in reinforce 2 Para but
too late to join in the fighting. Two Argentine POW's
were sent in to start negotiations which lasted most of
the night, and next morning, Group Capt Pedroza surrendered all his
forces to Maj Keeble. British losses were fifteen men
from 2 Para, a Royal Engineer and the Marine pilot, and
30 to 40 Paras wounded. Many of the 1,000 Argentine POW's
including the FAA men sailed on "Norland" to
Montevideo in early June.
