Battle of Two Sisters

The Battle of Two Sisters was an engagement of the Falklands War during the British advance towards the capital Port Stanley that took place on the 11th/12th June 1982.

The British force consisted of 45 Commando, Royal Marines with support from a battery of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery. 2 Para was in reserve. Naval gunfire-support was provided by HMS Glamorgan's 2 x 4.5-in guns. The Argentinian force consisted of the 4th Infantry Regiment. Command of Two Sisters was entrusted to Captain Carlos Lopez Patterson, the 4th Regiment's Operation Officer, with the bulk of the defenders drawn from C Company.

The plan was for X Company, the lead assault company, to attack the subsidiary peak of the mountain from the west, where they would then use the position to set up a fire-base while Y and Z companies would attack the main objective from the north-west. The operation began in the closing hours of the 11th June with X Company attacking about 10 minutes after they had arrived at their start point. They quickly reached the lower ridge of the subsidiary peak but at 11.30 pm, came under heavy-fire from Argentinian machine guns from 2nd Lt. Marcelo Llambias-Pravaz's 3rd Platoon and mortars from Lieutenant Luis Martella's 81-mm Mortar Platoon. With fixed bayonets and supported by the mortar platoon, they taunted the Royal Marines with Guarani war cries and beat off several efforts to close with them. Upon the use of the LAW 80 anti-tank rocket launcher on the Argentinian positions Lieutenant Chris Caroe's 2 Troop of X Company broke through the Argentinian positions, only to be forced off by Argentine artillery fire. However, they groped their way back and took their objective at about 2.45 am. With the telephone lines to the command post in shreds, Llambias-Pravaz led his men to join M Company 5th Marine Infantry Battalion on Sapper Hill. Captain Ian Gardiner in the book Above All, Courage (Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2002) was quick to praise the fighting abilities and spirit of the defending Argentine rifle platoon: "A hard cadre of some twenty men had stayed behind and fought, and they were brave men. Those who stayed and fought had something. I for one would not wish to face my Marines in battle."

At the same time as X Company's attack, Z Company attacked its objective from the north-west. Z Company advanced the 400 yards to their objective without being detected until they spotted the Argentinian defenders at their objective at which a fire-fight ensued at about 1.00 am. It was a fierce fire-fight that lasted for about an hour until Z Company, with Y Company by its side, charged up the northern peak of Two Sisters shouting its "Zulu!" war-cry and taking the objective at about 2.00 am. Y Company then advanced to attack the final objective capturing all of its objective all the way to the eastern end of Two Sisters. The Argentines must have put up a good fight because British records show that on several occasions the British company was stopped by a 6th Infantry Regiment private, Oscar Poltronieri by name, who held up the Royal Marines with accurate shooting with his rifle and a machine-gun and his platoon caused the proposed exploitation to Tumbledown Mountain by 45 Commando to be aborted. Private Poltronieri of the rifle platoon of Second Lieutenant Aldo Franco was awarded the Heroic Valour Cross, the highest Argentine decoration for bravery. (Source Martin Middlebrook, The Fight For The Malvinas, Leo Cooper Paperbacks, 2003)

Three Royal Marines and one from 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers were killed taking Two Sisters, but to these must be added the four Royal Marines which were killed on the night of 9/10 June. HMS Glamorgan was hit and damaged by a land based Exocet whilst supporting 45 Commando. Thirteen British sailors died. HMS Avenger, Yarmouth and Glamorgan were on the gunline on the night of 11/12th June, Glamorgan supporting Captain Ian Gardiner's X-Ray Company in their attack on Two Sisters. Due to the stubborn Argentine defence, Captain Mike Barrow, in Glamorgan had kept his ship on the line longer than anticipated, and on leaving at about 3.30 am, came just within range of the Exocet launcher.

Over ten Argentines died with fifty-four taken prisoner. There had been particularly good cooperation with 8 Battery of 29 Commando Regiment; approximately 1,500 rounds had been fired into the Argentinian positions on Two Sisters.

References

• Template:Book reference
• Template:Book reference
• 45 COMMANDO'S approach to and Battle for TWO SISTERS (http://www.naval-history.net/F55twosisters.htm)

See Also

• Falklands War
• British Military History