| | Another fierce gunbattle took place on the lower slopes of Mount Simon on morning of May 31. Captain [[José Arnobio Vercesi]]'s 1st Assault Section from the 602nd Commando Company had been spotted taking refuge in an isolated sheep farm, Top Malo House, which had been bypassed by the 3rd British Commando Brigade. 19 Mountain & Artic Warfare special forces were helicoptered there and attacked the house. During a fierce 45-minute action the house was set on fire, with the British later paying tribute to the tough fight put up by the Argentinians, who suffered two killed and six wounded; there were only four unwounded prisoners. Two of the Argentinians, Lieutenant [[Ernesto Emilio Espinosa]] and Sergeant [[Mateo Domingo Sbert]], were posthumously awarded the Heroic Valour Cross, Argentina's highest decoration for bravery. The Argentinian commandos claimed two British were killed; their comrades, they said, could be seen crying over the dead bodies. But no British were killed; what the Argentinian survivors saw were the three badly British Marines wounded being tended.<ref>[http://www.laperlaaustral.com.ar/contenidos/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108:elcombatedetopmalohouse&catid=56:companiadecomandos602&Itemid=127 El combate de Top Malo House]</ref> | | Another fierce gunbattle took place on the lower slopes of Mount Simon on morning of May 31. Captain [[José Arnobio Vercesi]]'s 1st Assault Section from the 602nd Commando Company had been spotted taking refuge in an isolated sheep farm, Top Malo House, which had been bypassed by the 3rd British Commando Brigade. 19 Mountain & Artic Warfare special forces were helicoptered there and attacked the house. During a fierce 45-minute action the house was set on fire, with the British later paying tribute to the tough fight put up by the Argentinians, who suffered two killed and six wounded; there were only four unwounded prisoners. Two of the Argentinians, Lieutenant [[Ernesto Emilio Espinosa]] and Sergeant [[Mateo Domingo Sbert]], were posthumously awarded the Heroic Valour Cross, Argentina's highest decoration for bravery. The Argentinian commandos claimed two British were killed; their comrades, they said, could be seen crying over the dead bodies. But no British were killed; what the Argentinian survivors saw were the three badly British Marines wounded being tended.<ref>[http://www.laperlaaustral.com.ar/contenidos/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108:elcombatedetopmalohouse&catid=56:companiadecomandos602&Itemid=127 El combate de Top Malo House]</ref> |
| − | The only British death in the Mount Kent area was when an SAS patrol accidentally fired upon an SBS patrol in the early hours of 2 June and SBS Sergeant Nick Hunt was killed. Four Royal Marines (Sergeant Robert Leeming, Coporals Peter Fitton, Andrew Uren and Marine Keith Phillips) were also killed in the British patrol phase, reportedly due to friendly fire, but this action took place near Murrell River on the night of 9/10 June.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wPs9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=M0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4053,288159&dq= Marines shot comrades in Falklands conflict]</ref>The Argentinian Army's version of events is that Senior Lieutenant Jorge Manuel Vizoso-Posse, second-in-command of the 602nd Commando Company's 3rd Assault Section, shot dead in the back all four Royal Marines that night at point blank range<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170212091658/http://www.laperlaaustral.com.ar/contenidos/index.php?Itemid=127&catid=56:companiadecomandos602&id=105:lacompania602decomandos&option=com_content&view=article La Compañía 602 de Comandos]</ref>for which he would win the Heroic Valour Cross<ref>[http://diarioepoca.com/92321/Vizoso-Posse-superandoacute-la-guerra-gracias-a-su-fe-y-excepcional-valor/ Vizoso Posse, superó la guerra gracias a su fe y excepcional valor]</ref>, Argentina's highest military decoration. Senior Lieutenant Horacio Fernando Lauría and Sergeant Orlando Aguirre claimed to have destroyed a British machine-gun with rifle-grenades fired at ''a punto'' (horizontally) in this action with the British admitting one Royal Marine killed due to a fragmentary round.<ref>[http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1980-89.htm 1945-2008 - Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy Compiled by Don Kindel]</ref> | + | The only British death in the Mount Kent area was when an SAS patrol accidentally fired upon an SBS patrol in the early hours of 2 June and SBS Sergeant Nick Hunt was killed. |
| − | From their mountaintop observation posts British Commandos directed naval, artillery and mortar fire on the Argentinians below on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters Mountain. Major Rico's men, in the form of Captain Andres Ferrero's 3rd Assault Section, were able to dislodge Lieutenant Tony Hornby's 10 Troop on Mount Wall on the night of June 5/6. According to Captain Ferrero:{{cquote|At about 4 in the evening on the 5th, we moved up to First Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Arroyo's command post on Mount Harriet. Major Aldo Rico commanded the patrol. We were as glad to see Arroyo as he was to see us. Dirty, bearded and a little thinner, he gripped Rico in a bear hug. A gallant Commando, Arroyo volunteered to go with us to Mount Wall. Several conscripts came to see us. There was a lot of laughter, some of it nervous, perhaps adrenaline-driven. We had a chance to get a scrumptious and - let us be honest here - very fatty barbecue going and look at the enemy positions at Bluff Cove Rincon and tried to pinpoint the observation post on Mount Wall. A 4th Regiment patrol had been out in the area the night before. Distances were deceptive. In the thin air Mount Kent seemed close at hand. In nearly every other direction arose outcrops of limestone. Their slopes were not sheer; rather they spread themselves, rugged and inhospitable. It was a very humbling place. We watched 155mm fire falling on the British paratroopers at Bluff Cove Rincon. The weather was appalling, cold and wet with high wind. Few people are aware that we also had the ugly experience of being shelled by the 3rd Artillery Group at one point. It was human error. The plan was to take Mount Wall from the rear. Two artillery batteries were on call, because our route up the feature was very open - a perfect killing ground. By 4pm it was almost dark and the temperature had sunk. Moving past shell craters and remnants of cluster bombs to the base of Mount Wall, we lay up among boulders while First Lieutenant Lauria cleared a path through the minefields. Altogether it must have taken three hours to get there. It was a moonlit night and cold. I lay there frozen, not moving. Argentinian Artillery fire started coming down on Mount Wall at approximately 10.30pm. Crouching in silence we waited for the fire to end. Some shells fell only 150 metres from us. Then - sudden silence. It ceased and Major Rico screamed to us to go and we advanced uphill through the rocks. A fit commando, if anyone was going to get to the mountaintop first, it would be Lauria but as he swept round a boulder, he came across a straggler or so he thought. It was Major Rico. Who says ages slows you down? On the way up we passed the body of a 4th Regiment conscript. Captain Hugo Ranieri knelt down to examine the body and removed the rosary from the young soldier's neck before moving on. We found a laser target designator and several rucksacks. It was the first indication we'd had of how well they had been equipped. There was even a 42 Commando beret.<ref>5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, Nicholas van der Bijl, David Aldea, pp. 167-168, Leo Cooper, 2003</ref>}} | + | From their mountaintop observation post on Wall Mountain and The Saddle, British Royal Marine Commandos in the form of the platoons of Lieutenants Andy Smith and Tony Hornby, directed naval, artillery and mortar fire on the Argentinians below on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters Mountain. Major Rico's men, in the form of Captain Andres Ferrero's 3rd Assault Section, were able to dislodge Lieutenant Tony Hornby's 10 Troop on Mount Wall on the night of June 5/6. According to Captain Ferrero:{{cquote|At about 4 in the evening on the 5th, we moved up to First Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Arroyo's command post on Mount Harriet. Major Aldo Rico commanded the patrol. We were as glad to see Arroyo as he was to see us. Dirty, bearded and a little thinner, he gripped Rico in a bear hug. A gallant Commando, Arroyo volunteered to go with us to Mount Wall. Several conscripts came to see us. There was a lot of laughter, some of it nervous, perhaps adrenaline-driven. We had a chance to get a scrumptious and - let us be honest here - very fatty barbecue going and look at the enemy positions at Bluff Cove Rincon and tried to pinpoint the observation post on Mount Wall. A 4th Regiment patrol had been out in the area the night before. Distances were deceptive. In the thin air Mount Kent seemed close at hand. In nearly every other direction arose outcrops of limestone. Their slopes were not sheer; rather they spread themselves, rugged and inhospitable. It was a very humbling place. We watched 155mm fire falling on the British paratroopers at Bluff Cove Rincon. The weather was appalling, cold and wet with high wind. Few people are aware that we also had the ugly experience of being shelled by the 3rd Artillery Group at one point. It was human error. The plan was to take Mount Wall from the rear. Two artillery batteries were on call, because our route up the feature was very open - a perfect killing ground. By 4pm it was almost dark and the temperature had sunk. Moving past shell craters and remnants of cluster bombs to the base of Mount Wall, we lay up among boulders while First Lieutenant Lauria cleared a path through the minefields. Altogether it must have taken three hours to get there. It was a moonlit night and cold. I lay there frozen, not moving. Argentinian Artillery fire started coming down on Mount Wall at approximately 10.30pm. Crouching in silence we waited for the fire to end. Some shells fell only 150 metres from us. Then - sudden silence. It ceased and Major Rico screamed to us to go and we advanced uphill through the rocks. A fit commando, if anyone was going to get to the mountaintop first, it would be Lauria but as he swept round a boulder, he came across a straggler or so he thought. It was Major Rico. Who says ages slows you down? On the way up we passed the body of a 4th Regiment conscript. Captain Hugo Ranieri knelt down to examine the body and removed the rosary from the young soldier's neck before moving on. We found a laser target designator and several rucksacks. It was the first indication we'd had of how well they had been equipped. There was even a 42 Commando beret.<ref>5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, Nicholas van der Bijl, David Aldea, pp. 167-168, Leo Cooper, 2003</ref>}} |
| | + | During the night of June 8/9, a British platoon of riflemen in the form of 1 Troop (under Lieutenant Mark Townsend) from 42 COMMANDO'S 'Kilo' Company raided the defenders on Mount Harriet. During their withdrawal, Towsend and his Marines got within 400 meters of some forty Argentinian Army Commandos in ambush positions near Murrell River, but the Argentinians held their fire, fearing the bulk of the British raiders would make good their escape at the first sound of gunshot. According to Captain Hugo Roberto Ranieri, a specialist sniper armed with a Weatherby.300 Winchester Magnum:{{cquote|We went out practically every night. The missions were all conducted at night... One time we went out with a very strong patrol to set up an ambush in the last foothills... quite close to Kent. The first night we set up the ambush, we received a warning from part of the ambush that informed us that about twenty Brits were heading our way. The thing is, they got within something like four-hundred meters; We could only see them with our night-vision devices... There was much tension since we could see them out in the open but we couldn't engage them so as to not let them get away, because it could very well be that they would get closer and fall into the trap. But it was not to be.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080330233141/https://www.siicsalud.com/dato/dat031/03327012.htm Médico y capitán en las Islas Malvinas]</ref>}} |
| | + | Four Royal Marines (Sergeant Robert Leeming, Coporals Peter Fitton, Andrew Uren and Marine Keith Phillips) were also killed in the British patrol phase, reportedly due to friendly fire, but this action took place near Murrell River on the night of 9/10 June.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wPs9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=M0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4053,288159&dq= Marines shot comrades in Falklands conflict]</ref>The Argentinian Army's version of events is that Senior Lieutenant Jorge Manuel Vizoso-Posse, second-in-command of the 602nd Commando Company's 3rd Assault Section, shot dead in the back all four Royal Marines that night at point blank range<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170212091658/http://www.laperlaaustral.com.ar/contenidos/index.php?Itemid=127&catid=56:companiadecomandos602&id=105:lacompania602decomandos&option=com_content&view=article La Compañía 602 de Comandos]</ref>for which he would win the Heroic Valour Cross<ref>[http://diarioepoca.com/92321/Vizoso-Posse-superandoacute-la-guerra-gracias-a-su-fe-y-excepcional-valor/ Vizoso Posse, superó la guerra gracias a su fe y excepcional valor]</ref>, Argentina's highest military decoration. Senior Lieutenant Horacio Fernando Lauría and Sergeant Orlando Aguirre claimed to have destroyed a British machine-gun with rifle-grenades fired at ''a punto'' (horizontally) in this action with the British admitting one Royal Marine killed due to a fragmentary round.<ref>[http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1980-89.htm 1945-2008 - Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy Compiled by Don Kindel]</ref> |