Falklands War: The Forgotten Battle

This is a place that I love -

the Falklands.

A group of islands sitting deep in the South Atlantic.

I love the rugged beauty, the wildlife and the tranquillity.

But every time I return, I think back

to what happened here 40 years ago.

Since 1833,

these islands have been designated a British Overseas Territory.

That means their defence and foreign policy

have been run from Westminster,

even though the UK is more than 8,000 miles away in that direction.

Argentina, though, is just 400 miles over there,

and they've long disputed that rule,

claiming that the islands are theirs.

In 1982, they decided to do something about it.

On April the 2nd, Argentine forces invaded the Falklands

and claimed them as their own.

'The Argentines are now in control

'of the whole Falkland Island complex,'

but it's a victory bought at a price.

A British task force of over 100 ships travelled south

to take back the territory.

And after a series of brutal battles,

they did just that...

and returned home to a hero's welcome.

That's the story everyone knows.

But it isn't the story we'll be telling tonight.

Over the years, I've read so many accounts of the battles,

the heroism, the tragedy here.

But there's one battle from that time that's hardly remembered.

No-one ever talks about it, I had certainly never heard of it,

and it involved a really small garrison of Royal Marines

that were already here.

And this battle actually happened the day that Argentina invaded.

This is Naval Party 8901,

a small group of Royal Marines who became the first, last

and only line of defence against a 3,000-strong invasion force.

It was a suicide mission. That's what it was.

We were all going to die.

EXPLOSION, GUNFIRE

Their heroic stand in the face of impossible odds

has been all but forgotten,

even though the press coverage of the time has not.

We'd been labelled, if you wanna call it that, as cowards.

40 years on, I'm here to tell the true story of what happened

to the men of the forgotten first battle of the Falklands conflict.

The truth definitely needs to be told,

and it deserves to be told.

The story needs to be put right and the truth needs to come out.

This is the Falklands capital, Stanley,

and the affinity it has with the UK is obvious everywhere you look.

The culture, the food, the people,

it's almost like a little bit of Britain

has been moved 8,000 miles south to the South Atlantic.

It's more British than Britain itself.

They even use the pound.

The islanders may be fiercely patriotic, but for decades,

their Argentine neighbours have questioned Britain's sovereignty

and laid a claim to the land.

The result is that Britain's had a military presence here

since the 1960s.

Today, it's pretty impressive.

There's more than 1,000 military personnel, Typhoon aircraft.

But back in the early '80s, it was token at best.

Back then, the garrison was just a collection

of old buildings and Nissen huts,

and the small detachment of Royal Marines based there

were known as Naval Party 8901.

You would have drivers, chefs, armourers, vehicle mechanics.

You would have every trade that you would need to be self-sufficient.

On the 29th March 1982,

a replacement group had just arrived to begin a 12-month tour of duty,

and had no real worries.

The Argentinians were just sabre-rattling

and it would never, ever come to anything.

I didn't think going to the Falklands

presented any threat or danger whatsoever.

We knew that there was a potential threat from Argentina.

I don't think any of us actually expected it.

Even as the new commanding officer was greeted on arrival,

no real cause for concern had been raised by those back in the UK.

The briefings I'd been to had been very low-key.

The British Government did not think the Argentinians would escalate.

And I had left totally confident that they knew far more

about it than I did and I'd go down there

and enjoy our year, er, in the wilderness.

The fact that none of the men were expecting real trouble

was probably just as well

because they certainly weren't equipped to deal with it.

A general-purpose machine gun like this was about the best they had.

Just standard infantry kit, basically.

Old stuff, mainly.

RAPID GUNFIRE

What we had at the time was adequate for training

and for mounting a very, very light resistance.

Had we known that the islands were gonna be invaded,

heavier weapons should have been deployed down there.

Repeated requests to London for upgraded equipment

for Naval Party 8901 fell on deaf ears.

The government of the day had other things on its mind.

Well, we were completely preoccupied with the Cold War.

South America and the Falklands never crossed our minds.

We were in a very dangerous world,

the Soviets were getting stronger and stronger

and my concern, as Defence Secretary,

was 100% the Soviets.

I think I knew where the Falkland Islands were,

but only just.

It wasn't on the list.

In previous years, the fact that Naval Party 8901 was small in number

and lightly armed probably wouldn't have mattered,

but in 1982,

with the Argentine political situation as it was,

it would have huge implications.

So, Argentina is a bit of a basket case in the late '70s, early '80s.

It's been run since 1976 by a military dictatorship

called the Junta,

and the Junta is run in 1982 by the head of the army,

who's a man called General Galtieri.

And the Argentine dictatorship are not by any means kind of cuddly,

anti-Western freedom fighters.

They are a very bloodthirsty, near-fascistic military regime.

Their regime feels very, very fragile.

There are growing protests on the streets,

the economy is in a mess,

and they are looking for something that will turn it around

in the eyes of the Argentine public.

For Galtieri, capturing the Falklands

would be the perfect way to unite his nation

and a task which must've looked pretty straightforward.

If the Junta in Buenos Aires saw us being little interested

in the Falklands, er, I'm not surprised, because we weren't.

Back in Stanley, and a world away from the chaos

and plotting in the Argentine capital,

the man who lived here,

the Queen's representative,

had still been given no official warning that trouble was brewing.

This is Government House,

the official residence of the Governor of the Falklands.

Back then, in 1982, it was the home of Rex Hunt.

As their commander-in-chief, Hunt was to play a pivotal role

in the fate of the Marines on the island.

But for now, the sedate life of a diplomat went on.

It's very formal.

Still using peat in the fire.

There's real kind of tradition here.

You can imagine Rex Hunt hosting big formal dinners.

This is as British as you can get.

It's peaceful and calm.

But this building would soon become the centre of the war zone.

On March the 31st,

the new members of Naval Party 8901 attended a welcome reception.

No-one there had any idea

how much the political situation had worsened.

Britain had been caught unawares,

and last-ditch diplomatic efforts to dissuade Argentina

from invading had failed.

The next day, a telegram was received

from the Foreign Secretary in London,

with news that must've come like a bolt from the blue.

Well, it was a shock to the system.

"At first light tomorrow,

"there will be an Argentinian invasion force off Cape Pembroke.

"It is highly likely that they will invade.

"You are to take the appropriate dispositions."

There was no "good luck".

I mean, that's a bombshell, isn't it?

You can almost see Cape Pembroke through the window here.

And this changed everything.

This meant that 8901 went from peacetime deployment

to fighting for their lives.

All I could think of was,

all these young men are going to die

and there's nothing, nothing that I can do about it.

At around 2:30pm on the 1st April 1982,

a telegram was received at Government House

in the Falklands' capital, Stanley.

It was from the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, in London,

and was giving less than 24 hours' warning

that the British Overseas Territory was about to be invaded

by hostile Argentine forces.

The small group of lightly-armed Royal Marines stationed there,

known as Naval Party 8901,

were invited to make their "dispositions accordingly".

It must've been confusing,

but, above all, the weight of responsibility.

They had the islanders' lives at stake,

and they had the expectations of a nation.

Great Britain expected them to make their dispositions accordingly.

What a ridiculous term.

The extraordinary thing is, it's kind of left up

to the Marines what they do.

Do they fight it out?

Do they lay on a buffet for the invaders?

I mean, what's the plan? So, there's no real sense of

them being given strict orders from London right now about how to react.

They have to make their own decision.

They knew why they were there.

They were there to defend the Falkland Islands,

and where they placed themselves, uh, was their decision.