‘I could have died of old age holding this place’
Pour one out for Royal Marine Maj. Gen. Andrew Francis Whitehead, DSO, who well-earned the latter at the head of 45 RM Commando during the Falklands.
While the other seven battalion-sized units of the British 3 Commando and 5 Guards brigades that went ashore in East Falkland during Operation Corporate to liberate the colony in 1982 got to largely leapfrog across the island via the task force’s sole CH-47 Chinook and its Sir-class landing craft from San Carlos Water to Port Stanley during the 25-day land campaign, 45 Commando did it the old-fashioned way.
They walked.
Or, more appropriately, yomped.
A column of 45 Royal Marine Commandos yomp towards Port Stanley. Royal Marine Peter Robinson, carrying the Union Jack flag on his backpack as identification, brings up the rear. This photograph, taken in black and white and color, became one of the iconic images of the Falklands Conflict. IWM FKD 2028
Moving 56 miles in three days from their beach landing at San Carlos harbor to engage the Argentines, carrying everything they had on their backs, 45 Commando did it in style, grinning and bearing the load.
“They faced bleak conditions – horrendous boggy terrain, wind, rain, sleet, low temperatures – not to mention a series of battles on hills outside the islands’ capital, Stanley, before reaching their objective,” notes the RN.
Then, the 600 Marines, backed up by the 4.5-inch guns of the County destroyer HMS Glamorgan and a battery of 105s, bested elements of two Argentine infantry regiments in the overnight Battle of Two Sisters on 11-12 June.
When the dawn came, 45 Commando owned the crest, a position so incredibly fortified that Lt.Col Whitehead told war correspondent Max Hastings, “With 50 Royals, I could have died of old age holding this place.”
Often lost amid the remembrance of the fight for Mount Tumbledown by the Scots Guards, Mount Longdon by 3 Para, and Goose Green by 2 Para, Two Sisters was no cakewalk, with the Brits decimated, suffering 22 killed and 47 wounded, against 128 Argentine casualties and 54 captured.
Contact started at 480 yards and got closer. All done without night vision, fighting up the face of an elevated position in the dark.
45 Commando atop Two Sisters engaging an Argentine bunker at close quarters
The next morning, Whitehead wrote on the back of a cigarette packet:
“Men have died, been wounded, lost their friends.
Young boys have grown up.
Our confidence has blossomed.
Our pride has swelled justifiably.
We have fought and won three victories: over the enemy, the appalling terrain and weather – and our own logistical inadequacies.
What sustained me was the pride of commanding and belonging to an elite organization.
45 Commando, made up of young men mainly under 21, were outstanding.
They were tough, brave and skillful.
Anyone who asks what is wrong with the youth of today should come and look at us.”
MG Whitehead was 86.
Per Mare, Per Terram