Marcelo Llambías Pravaz

Marcelo Llambías Pravaz was born in 1961. He is a retired Major of the Argentinian Army and winner of the Gallantry In Combat Medal, Argentina's second highest military decoration, for his part in the land actions of the Falklands/Malvinas War. He entered the Argentinian Army Military Academy in January 1978, graduating as a Second Lieutenant of Promotion 113 (nicknamed"Islas Malvinas") on 7 April 1982.

Llambías Pravaz took part in the fighting as commander of a rifle platoon, flying in to Stanley Airport via Aerolíneas Argentinas as part of the 4th Infantry Regiment, sent to reinforce the Malvinas in late April 1982. As commander the 3rd Rifle Platoon of C Company (4th Regiment), he took up position on Mount Challenger along with his three rifle squads.

Mount Challenger

On 29 May 29, Lieutenant-Colonel Diego Alejandro Soria, commanding officer of the 4th Infantry Regiment, ordered Llambías Pravaz to cover with his platoon the retreat of the regiment to new positions on Two Sisters Mountain and Mount Harriet. The British had landed in San Carlos on 21 May and and soon there were several clashes with Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) spearheads battling the 602nd Commando Company attempting to take over the vacated positions of the 4th Regiment.

By 11:00 am on 30 May, several Royal Air Force (RAF) Harrier attack formations were reported active over Mount Kent, near Mount Challenger in support of the forward SAS patrols. Upon detecting them, Llambias Pravaz ordered his conscripts to open fire with rifles and machineguns, with the platoon commander personally manning a machinegun. He would later learn that his platoon hit a Harrier, forcing the pilot, Squadron-Leader Jerry Pook to abandon his GR-3 Harrier off Port Stanley/Puerto Argentino.

No-Man's-Land

During the patrol actions near the Murrell River, Llambias Pravaz fought two fierce actions against the Recce Platoon under Lieutenant Chris Fox of the 45th Commando Battalion, which had about fifty well-armed and artillery-backed troops. In the fighting of 3 June, which lasted until noon, the forward section of the 3rd Rifle Platoon of Second Lieutenant Lautaro Jiménez Corbalán on Mount Harriet forced back an entire platoon of Royal Marines under Lieutenant Chris Marwood from the 42nd Commando Battalion on Mount Wall, with the help of reinforcements from Llambias Pravaz's platoon.