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Walking the ground of a battlefield gives you so much better perspective. Christmas 1985 I was in the Falklands and we rode motorcycles to Top Malo House, some 40km West of Stanley. It was the scene of an epic firefight between Royal Marines & the defending Argentinians
The Mountain & Artic Warfare Cadre are a little known group of specialist Royal Marines who train all aspects of mountaineering, recce, route finding, rock climbing, skiing and survival in extreme cold weather. Their Mountain Leaders are carefully selected on a par with SF
The M&AWC were being used by 3 Cdo Bde as forward observation posts in front of the main advance. They reported enemy movements & troop dispositions on the mountains & approaches to Stanley. One such OP spotted Argentinian SF being dropped off by helicopters at Top Malo House.
They numbered around 17 men & worryingly had Blowpipe handheld anti-aircraft missiles. It was decided that Capt Rod Boswell would lead an attack on the House to remove the threat. He gathered together all of his M&AWC, some 18 men with enough kit and ammo to fight for a week.
This was meant to be a night flight & dawn attack (31st May 1985). Unfortunately 846 Naval Air Sqn were late. Eventually their overloaded Sea King, flying low, deposited them in daylight some 1000m from the House. They dumped their packs and moved forward ready for the assault.
As planned they split into 2 groups. A seven man fire support team commanded by Lt Murray & the twelve man assault team commanded by Capt Boswell. The Argentinians were not very professional, firstly for using the House, secondly for not posting sentries on likely routes in.
Both sides were evenly matched, in terms of both numbers & equipment. The Argentinians had the automatic 7.62mm FN FAL (similar to the Brit SLR). The British were armed with the 5.56mm AR15 (M16A1), M72 66mm LAW disposable rockets and 7.62mm L42A1 snipers rifle.
The Argentinians in the House (1st Assault Section 602 Commando Company) had heard the British Sea King & were alerted to the attack. As the Fire Support team opened up, Lt Espinosa in a top window returned fire and was shot before the House was hit with LAW rockets catching fire
The Assault team moved forward firing and advancing on the House. The Argentinians came out wearing their webbing & firing their weapons. Sgt Esbert providing covering fire until he was shot dead, they then retreated to a nearby stream bed. The Brits had also received casualties
Sgt Doyle, Sgt Stone and Cpl Groves Royal Marines were all shot and wounded. The Argentine commander Capt Verces assessed the situation. While he had some cover in the stream & smoke from the burning house he had 5 dead, 7 injured and was low on ammunition. He had to surrender
By this time all the buildings had been cleared with the exception of the outhouse. Capt Boswell shouted down to the nearest Marine, Cpl McGreggor to clear it thinking he would open the door. The Cpl had no intention of opening the door so emptied his magazine into the toilet....
Upon which the methane gas ignited and the toilet literally blew up 
Which they all thought was a fitting end to the operation 
The attack was a success. All of the dead, wounded and captured were lifted by helicopter back to San Carlos and the Marines marched on to Teal Inlet
Which they all thought was a fitting end to the operation The attack was a success. All of the dead, wounded and captured were lifted by helicopter back to San Carlos and the Marines marched on to Teal Inlet
The following day 2 nearby Argentine Air Force Observation Posts who had seen what happened at Top Malo House surrendered to the British.The M&AWC were impressed with the courage shown by their adversaries. Lt Espinosa & Sgt Esbert were awarded posthumous Argentine Combat Cross
On the ground we were able to find the landing spot, trace the routes of the Fire Support and Assault teams, as well as the stream bed the Argentines had retreated to. There were numerous spent cases. That's me on the left next to the replacement building.
A 5 minute video covers the key points;
It would be great if the @WeHaveWaysPod @almurray and @James1940 could explore the Falklands in more detail in future podcasts
It would be great if the @WeHaveWaysPod @almurray and @James1940 could explore the Falklands in more detail in future podcasts
