Battle of Mount Harriet

The Battle of Mount Harriet was an engagement of the Falklands War which took place on the night of 11/12th June 1982 between British and Argentinian forces. It was one of three battles in a brigade-sized operation on the same night.

The British force consisted of 42 Commando, Royal Marines under the command of Lt Col Nick Vaux Royal Marines with artillery support from a battery of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery. The 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards and two companies from 40 Commando, Royal Marines were in reserve. HMS Yarmouth provided naval-gunfire support for the British forces. The Argentinian defenders consisted of the 4th Infantry Regiment.

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. On 3 June Lieutenant Chris Mawhood's Reconnaissance Troop of 42 Commando encountered resistance and, during a pitched patrol battle, lost one of 3 Commando Brigade's laser target designators. Two Argentinian conscripts were killed and an Argentinian NCO wounded during this skirmish which went in the 4th Infantry Regiment's favour.

On the morning of the 11th June the orders for the attack were given to 42 Commando by Vaux; K Company were 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 (codenamed Vesuvius) on the western end of Mount Harriet.

In the closing hours of the 11th 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.

Captain Peter Babbington's K Company crossed their start-line first and proceeded up the mountain undetected. They remained undetected until they approached Second Lieutenant Mario Juarez's 120mm Mortar Platoon postions and decided to engage them. A ferocious fire-fight ensued as K Company advanced up the mountain. They were assisted in the advance by HMS Yarmouth, artillery and mortars. During the engagement Corporal Watts was killed. The British company captured most of the Argentinian heavy mortar positions relatively quickly then reported stiffening resistance from a well-trained platoon of Argentinian conscripts until Corporal Steve Newlands, working with Corporals Mick Eccles and 'Sharkey' Ward, silenced the platoon position but Newlands was badly wounded in the process.

L Company crossed their start line shortly after K Company and were almost immediately engaged by effective machine gun fire from Second Lieutenant Pablo Oliva's platoon defending the southern slopes. These weapons would not be silenced until being hit by several MILAN anti-tank missiles and six 105mm artillery guns from Mount Challenger. There was, in fact, a comparison to be made with certain aspects of the delaying action against the Argentine Amtracs on 2 April 1982, and British veterans are full of praise for the Argentine platoon given the amount of artillery and Milan missiles at their disposal.

It was an arduous advance for L Company and it would take six hours for L Company to advance 600 metres and capture their objective. Before first light Lieutenant Jerry Burnell's 5 Troop of L Company proceeded to an outcrop of rocks to the north of their position. As they advanced the Royal Marine platoon came under heavy fire from Second Lieutenant Lautaro Jimenez-Corvalan's platoon and were forced to withdraw. L Company requested artillery fire onto the Argentinian platoon position, then 4 Troop moved forward and found that the Argentinians had withdrawn. Further fighting went on throughout the morning of 12th June and a young Argentinian conscript, Private Orlando Aylan, in a position just below the eastern summit, held up the Royal Marines with accurate shooting until killed by a Carl Gustav rocket fired at short range.

The battle was a textbook example of good planning and use of deception and surprise, and a further step towards their main objective of Port Stanley. British casualties were two killed and twenty-six wounded. Some British reporters were thus misled into depicting the Argentinians as hapless teenage conscripts who caved in after the first shots were fired, but Royal Marine Warrant Officer 2 John Cartledge who served with K Company during the battle corrected them, saying the Argentinians were good soldiers who had fought properly:

"They used the tactics which they had been taught along the way very well, they were quite prepared for an attack. They put up a strong fight from start to finish." ([1] (http://www.mercopress.com/detalle.asp?NUM=1210&Palabra=mount%20harriet))

Lieutenant-Colonel Diego Soria, commanding the 4th Infantry Regiment lost ten killed and about fifty wounded and three hundred men were taken prisoner in the night fighting.

Reference

42 COMMANDO'S approach to and Battle for MOUNT HARRIET (http://www.naval-history.net/F56harriet.htm)