Skirmish at Many Branch Point

Skirmish at Many Branch Point
Part of Falklands War
Date10 June 1982
LocationNorth of Port Howard, West Falkland
Belligerents
Argentina Argentina United Kingdom United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
First Lieutenant José Martiniano Duarte Captain Gavin John Hamilton †
Strength
4 commandos of the 601 Company 4 SAS personnel
Casualties and losses
none 1 killed
1 captured
Location within Falkland Islands

On 10 June 1982, during the Falklands War, Many Branch Point, a ridge near Port Howard, in West Falkland, was the site of a minor skirmish between Argentine and British forces. The engagement ended with the death of the SAS patrol commander, Captain Gavin John Hamilton. This action was the only land engagement of British and Argentine forces on West Falkland during the Falklands War.

Background

While the 35 mm radar-guided and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns in Port Stanley and Goose Green forced Sea Harrier and Harrier GR.3 to carry out air strikes from high altitude,[1] the Argentine garrisons at West Falkland were equipped only with 12.7 mm machine guns, which left them exposed to strafing and low-level bombing from the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. In a reinforcement of the garrison on West Falkland the Argentine Command dispatched a special forces company, the 601, to the headquarters of its 5th Regiment of Infantry sited at Port Howard, the commandos bringing with them as a part of their fire-power the British-made shoulder-fired Blowpipe missile system.[2] After a 24-hours trip from Port Stanley, the company reached its destination.[3] A few days later, with the British landing at San Carlos bay ongoing, 601 found its mark when it shot down a GR3 Harrier on a recce mission, the pilot (Flt. Lt. Jeffrey Glover) ejecting and being taken prisoner.[4]

The Argentine garrison on West Falkland had by this time became virtually isolated due the developing strategic situation, and 601 Commando Company was issued with an order to collect information about British activity on the opposite coast of the Falkland Sound.

In the meantime, British Army SAS patrols had also been active around the Argentine advanced posts on West Falkland. On 5 June, a four-men patrol led by Capt. Hamilton moved into an observation position on a ridge overlooking Port Howard from the North at Many Branch Point with the intention of gathering intelligence on the town.[5]

The action

On the morning of 9 June, a routine reconnaissance patrol by 601 Commando Company led by First Lieutenant José Martiniano Duarte also moved on to Many Branch Point. (Previously, an Argentinian observation post had been deployed upon Mount Rosalie, but it had been compromised due to the British presence and the Commandos had withdraw without detection).[6] The Argentinian patrol was originally composed of 9 men but by the afternoon, with no enemy thought to be in the direct vicinity, five men returned into Port Howard while the other four remained up on the ridge. From this position, they were able to observe that a British airfield had been built near San Carlos.[7]

British sources state that Captain Hamilton was 'heavily outnumbered' in the engagement that followed, but this would appear to be contradicted by the small numbers of Argentinians given as being in the vicinity in the Moreno account.[8]

On the following day, whilst in position, Duarte thought he could hear voices somewhere around a nearby rock formation, and summoning his patrol together moved towards the entrance of a cluster of cave-shaped rocks, suspecting that either a British Army presence was hidden in situ there, or possibly it might be a shelter for some Falklander shepherds. As the Argentine patrol approached the rocks a man with a dark skin complexion and a large moustache (Cpl. Charlie Fonseca, Royal Signals attached to the Special Air Service) wearing a camouflage uniform and a green balaclava suddenly walked out from them. Initially they hesitated as the balaclava resembled the ones issued to the Argentinian forces, and Duarte shouted a challenge: "Argentinos o Ingleses?" (Argentine or English?), to which the man stopped dead staring at them as if stunned and failed to respond. After a short silence, Lieutenant Duarte yelled in English: "Hands up, hands up!".[9] In response to this Fonseca suddenly dropped to the ground and opened fire at Duarte, which struck the stones in front of him, and a general small-arms fire-fight commenced between the 4 Argentinians and the 2 man British Army forward observation post that they had discovered. During the engagement an Argentine Sergeant threw two grenades at the British, and received in reply a British 40 mm grenade, which exploded a few yards to the rear, and Hamilton was hit in the arm by a bullet. Under the weight of fire from Duarte's patrol the Special Air Service post attempted to abandon its position and retire down the reverse of the ridge, with Captain Hamilton ordering Fonseca to fall-back as a first move whilst he covered him with fire, but as it was underway Hamilton was struck and killed by automatic fire, and Fonseca surrendered shortly afterwards and was taken prisoner of war.[10] (Cpl. Fonseca was of Goan origin).[11] Although Hamilton wore no rank or insignia (as is SAS practise), he was identified by his dog tag. Also found in situ in the captured observation post was a radio, an M16 and an AR-15 rifle, a beacon, maps and a communications code.[12] Another two men who were a part of Hamilton's patrol, but weren't in the attacked post at the time, withdrew from the area and were later rescued by friendly forces.[13]

Aftermath

The night after the engagement saw inaccurate shelling by Royal Navy frigates of Port Howard,[14] leading to speculation amongst Argentinians that the purpose of Hamilton's post had been to act as a Naval Gunfire Support Forward Observer (NGSFO).

A subsequent autopsy revealed that Hamilton had been killed by a 7.62 mm shot in the back. Another bullet had struck his arm. He was buried at Port Howard, another military interment there during the war was an Argentinian conscript who died of starvation, in a mark of the supply situation the Argentine garrison on West Falkland had faced.[15]

Hamilton's grave today can be seen from Many Branch Point ridge at Port Howard.[16]

When the Argentinian Commander of Port Howard was interrogated after surrender, he asked that 'the SAS Captain' be decorated for his actions as he was 'the most courageous man I have ever seen'.[17] Hamilton was posthumously awarded the Military Cross.[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Woodward, page 36
  2. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, page 141 and page 146
  3. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, pp. 144-145
  4. ↑ British aircraft losses, 21 May entry
  5. ↑ Strawson, page 239
  6. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, pp 338-339
  7. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, page 304
  8. ↑ London Gazette, 8 October 1982
  9. ↑ En ese instante salió un hombre de entre las piedras: era un mulato con grandes bigotazos, con un pasamontañas verde de la Marina Argentina en su cabeza, vistiendo uniforme camuflado. Todavía dudando, el oficial se asomó y le gritó: -Argentinos o Ingleses? Sorprendido, el hombre se le quedó mirando. Y Duarte volvió a gritarle: -Hands up, hands up! (Manos arriba). En tal momento el individuo pegó un salto al costado y abrió fuego sobre los Comandos. Una ráfaga de 5,56 rebotó en la piedra delante de Duarte y le llenó los ojos de polvo. (At that moment a man came out of the rocks: he was a mulatto with a large moustache, and an Argentine Navy's green helmet on his head, wearing camouflage fatigues. Still hesitating, the officer came and shouted at him:-Argentine or English? Stunned, the man just kept watching. And Duarte again screaming: "Hands up, hands up! At that point the individual hit the deck and opened fire on the Commandos. A burst of 5.56 ricocheted of the rock in front of Duarte and filled his eyes with dust.) Ruiz Moreno, page 341
  10. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, page 342
  11. ↑ Bicheno, Hugh (2006) Razor's Edge: The Unofficial History of the Falklands War. London. Weidenfield & Nicholson. ISBN 978-0-7538-2186-2
  12. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, pp 340-343
  13. ↑ British Small Wars
  14. ↑ Apenas había concluído esta tarea cuando se escuchó una explosión, que en un primer momento fue atribuída al estallido de una mina. Pero al rato se percibieron claramente tres cañonazos navales y todos buscaron cubiertas: los observadores ubicados en Monte María, atrás y arriba de Howard, indicaron posteriormente que se trataba de tres fragatas desde la distancia habitual de diez a doce kilómetros. El bombardeo duró hasta las tres de la mañana y fue muy impreciso: le faltaba observación. El teniente primero Fernández supuso que el primer disparo, aislado, fue un llamado al observador, al no recibir su comunicación: y los posteriores se limitaron a dirigirlos hacia las posiciones previamente marcadas -la ubicación de la Compañía B, sobre un cerro-, pero sin causar efectos. (They had barely completed this task when an explosion was heard, which initially was attributed to the blast of a mine. But realising it was naval gunfire from 3 vessels and they sought cover: the observers located in Mount Mary, and in Port Howard, later indicated that it was three frigates bombarding from the usual distance of ten to twelve miles. The bombardment lasted until three o'clock and, missing observation, it was very inaccurate. Lt. Fernandez first assumed that the first isolated shot was a call to the observer, to start wireless contact and the later rounds were aimed to positions previously marked as the location of Company B, on a hill, but to no avail.) Ruiz Moreno, pp. 345-346
  15. ↑ Ruiz Moreno, 346
  16. ↑ Wheeler, Tony: The Falklands & South Georgia Island. Lonely Planet, 2004., page 115. ISBN 1-74059-643-9
  17. ↑ SAS Heroes by Pete Scholey. Osprey Publishing. p.260
  18. ↑ London Gazette citation

References

Coordinates: 51°31′45.30″S 59°24′53.09″W / 51.5292500°S 59.4147472°W / -51.5292500; -59.4147472

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