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Battles of Mount Harriet and Two Sisters Mountain (view source)
Revision as of 22:44, January 18, 2019
, 22:44, January 18, 2019→Two Sisters
Naturally the Army needed a scapegoat and Major Ricardo Cordon was court-martialed and sacked. Bad luck played at least a malignant part as the loss of his reserve platoon and communications in the 4th Regiment's 'C' Company.
Naturally the Army needed a scapegoat and Major Ricardo Cordon was court-martialed and sacked. Bad luck played at least a malignant part as the loss of his reserve platoon and communications in the 4th Regiment's 'C' Company.
The Royal Marines now chose to demonstrate that gung-ho as they could be, they also had a human side. When the remnants of 1st Platoon, 'A' Company, 4th Regiment were withdrawn, their wounded platoon commander was overlooked in the dark and taken by the Royal Marines. When it became apparent that the Argentine Artillery was about to bombard Two Sisters, the Royal Marines moved the wounded officer to a place of safety where he could be shielded from the incoming fire.
British war correspondent Robert Fox recalls that:{{cquote|A second lieutenant with a smashed lower leg said he couldn't walk. I hoisted him so that he could put his arm on my shoulder. He was about 6 foot 4 inches tall and felt almost one and a half times my weight. I asked him how badly he was hurt. 'Agua, agua', (water, water) was all he could whimper in reply. We laid him on the ground and managed to get a helicopter to take him away.<ref>Eyewitness Falklands, Robert Fox, pp. 255-256</ref>}}
The reserve platoon under Second Lieutenant Juan Nazer had been heavily mortared and had given up ground almost immediately. Nazer's platoon had failed to prepare a firm platoon defence line facing Murrell River, possibly as a result of exhaustion following their long debilitating period on Beagle Ridge.
Sergeant-Major George Meachin of ''Yankee'' Company, later praised the fighting spirit of the Argentinian defenders:{{cquote|We came under lots of effective fire from 0.50 calibre machine guns …At the same time, mortars were coming down all over us, but the main threat was from those machine-gunners who could see us in the open because of the moonlight. There were three machine-guns and we brought down constant and effective salvoes of our own artillery fire on to them directly, 15 rounds at a time. There would be a pause, and they’d come back at us again. So we had to do it a second time, all over their positions. There’d be a pause, then ‘boom, boom, boom,’ they’d come back at us again. Conscripts don’t do this, babies don’t do this, men who are badly led and of low morale don’t do this. They were good steadfast troops. I rate them.<ref>The FN FAL Battle Rifle, Bob Cashner, Page 57, Bloomsbury Publishing 2013</ref>}}
Sergeant-Major George Meachin of ''Yankee'' Company, later praised the fighting spirit of the Argentinian defenders:{{cquote|We came under lots of effective fire from 0.50 calibre machine guns …At the same time, mortars were coming down all over us, but the main threat was from those machine-gunners who could see us in the open because of the moonlight. There were three machine-guns and we brought down constant and effective salvoes of our own artillery fire on to them directly, 15 rounds at a time. There would be a pause, and they’d come back at us again. So we had to do it a second time, all over their positions. There’d be a pause, then ‘boom, boom, boom,’ they’d come back at us again. Conscripts don’t do this, babies don’t do this, men who are badly led and of low morale don’t do this. They were good steadfast troops. I rate them.<ref>The FN FAL Battle Rifle, Bob Cashner, Page 57, Bloomsbury Publishing 2013</ref>}}