Occupation of the Falkland Islands
Islas Malvinas Falkland Islands | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April – June 1982 | |||||||||
| Anthem: Himno Nacional Argentino | |||||||||
.svg) Location of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). | |||||||||
 Location of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. | |||||||||
| Status | Military occupation by Argentina | ||||||||
| Capital | Puerto Argentino (Stanley) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Spanish (official) English (de facto) | ||||||||
| Government | Military dictatorship | ||||||||
| President of Argentina | |||||||||
• 1982 | Leopoldo Galtieri | ||||||||
| Military Commander | |||||||||
• 2 April 1982 | Oswaldo Jorge Garcia | ||||||||
• 3 April – 14 June 1982 | Mario Menéndez | ||||||||
| Historical era | Falklands War | ||||||||
| 2 April 1982 | |||||||||
| 14 June 1982 | |||||||||
• Official dissolution | 15 May 1985 | ||||||||
| Currency | Peso (ARL) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Falkland Islands South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | ||||||||
| History of the Falkland Islands |
|---|
 |
| Colonial time |
| Continuous settlement |
| Other |
The occupation of the Falkland Islands and of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Template:Lang-es "Military Administration of the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands") was the short-lived Argentine administration of a group of British islands in the South Atlantic whose sovereignty has long been disputed by Argentina. Until their invasion on 2 April 1982 by the Argentine military junta, they had been governed by the United Kingdom since it re-established control over them in 1833.
The invasion and subsequent occupation signalled the start of the Falklands War, which resulted in the islands' returning to British control on 14 June 1982.
Background
The Falkland Islands (Template:Lang-es) had been under British administration since January 1833, when the United Kingdom re-established sovereignty over the islands which, at that time, housed an Argentine settlement. Argentina has claimed the Falklands as part of its territory ever since.
The UK first claimed South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in 1843, and incorporated them as Falkland Islands Dependencies in 1908. The Argentine Fishing Company had an operation on South Georgia in the early 20th century, and Argentina had claimed sovereignty over South Georgia since 1927 and the South Sandwich Islands since 1938.[1] In November 1976, Argentina landed and occupied the uninhabited island of Southern Thule in the South Sandwich group, which had been in a British possession since the 18th century.[2]
Establishment
In the early hours of 2 April 1982, in the wake of violent anti-government riots in Buenos Aires, the military junta, which ruled Argentina, launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands. Faced with overwhelming Argentine force, Rex Hunt (British Governor of the Islands) surrendered to Admiral Carlos Büsser (the Argentine amphibious force commander) at 9.15am. The next day, Argentina sent troops to capture and occupy South Georgia and the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands.
Argentina had claimed the islands were part of the then federal territory of Tierra del Fuego and South Atlantic islands. On 3 April 1982, the junta issued a decree which separated the islands from the jurisdiction of Tierra del Fuego and named Brigadier General Mario Menéndez as the 'Military Governor of the Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands'.[3]
74 days of occupation
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On the first day of the occupation, Governor Hunt and officials from the Foreign Office were removed from the islands by the Argentine forces and sent to Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentine troops took over control of the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Studio when Patrick Watts was live on air.[4]
Argentina used Spanish while on the islands, including the use of Puerto Argentino, the Argentine name for Port Stanley. Vehicles were told to drive on the right, with painted arrows on the road indicating the direction of traffic. Street signs and traffic signs were changed accordingly, including the use of the metric system. The Argentinian captain, Barry Melbourne Hussey, who was chosen for a position in the administration due to his knowledge and experience of English, asserted safety as a major concern, during discussions with the Falkland Islanders: "Which would you prefer, that our eighteen-year-old conscripts, with their big lorries, should try to drive on the left, or that you, with your little vehicles, change to the right?".[5] However, outside Stanley, most roads were single track anyway and some islanders refused to observe the new rule and continued to drive on the left.[6] Other acts of civil disobedience included Reg Silvey (lighthouse keeper and ham radio enthusiast) broadcasting clandestine radio messages throughout the occupation.
According to Port Stanley resident John Pole Evans, Argentine Air Force Pucaras conducted napalm bombings on 21 April as part of the mock battles in Stanley Common that coincided with General Cristino Nicolaides's[7]visit as commander of the Argentine Army's 1st Corps: "We knew what sort of damage they could do, because during April whilst we were still in our homes, they'd bombed the Tussock Island in the harbour with napalm and it burned for a couple of days. This was like a warning of what they were capable of—that they could destroy the settlement if they wanted to. For them it was probably just some sort of target practice."[8]
During the 74-day occupation, 114 inhabitants of Goose Green, considered to be potential troublemakers, were imprisoned and 14 residents of Stanley were sent to Fox Bay East and placed under house arrest.[citation needed] Lieutenant-Colonel Ítalo Piaggi, the Commanding Officer of the Argentine 12th Infantry Regiment, said that the lockdown in Goose Green was to protect the locals from "the rage of the air force men, who had lost so many colleagues."[9] The Argentine military evacuated 52 schoolchildren from Stanley and turned the playground of the school into a compound for drilling troops.[10] The Argentine peso replaced the Falkland Islands pound and stamps were overfranked with an Islas Malvinas postcode.[10]
The Argentine military police arrived on the islands with detailed files on many islanders. One of their first actions was to arrest and deport noted critics of links to Argentina including David Colville,[10] as well as Bill Luxton and his family.[11] Such deportations proved internationally embarrassing as Bill Luxton gave numerous interviews on his deportation and subsequently detainees faced internal exile at Fox Bay.[11]
Major Patricio Dowling, an Argentine of Irish origin, became the chief of police. He frequently overstepped his authority, ignoring instructions to treat the islanders with respect, and quickly became known throughout the islands for his tendency to resort to violence. Dowling imposed a regime of arbitrary house searches, arrests and questioning. His actions came to the attention of Comodoro Carlos Bloomer-Reeve who recommended to Brigadier-General Menéndez that he be removed and he was subsequently sent back to the mainland in disgrace.[11]
Comodoro Carlos Bloomer-Reeve, chief of the Secretariat of the new government,[12] in conjunction with Major Barry Hussey were instrumental in protecting the Falkland Islanders and avoiding conflict with the Argentine military. Bloomer-Reeve had previously lived on the islands between 1975 and 1976, when he ran the LADE operation in Stanley and had great affection for the islanders. Despite their political differences, the humanity and moral courage of both men earned them the enduring respect and even friendship of many islanders.[11]
Doctor Alison Bleaney, with her husband, Michael, was kept busy in Stanley hospital, with little rest. She was involved in arranging the Argentine surrender on 14 June and discovered that her baby was of great help in getting past the sentries guarding Government House. "I found that I could negotiate with angry Argie soldiers much more effectively when breastfeeding Emma! I always took her with me in a sling on my front when I wished to speak with senior officials, as the sentries' guns would be lowered when they spotted her"[13]
There was no widespread abuse of the population. After the war it was found that even the islanders' personal food supplies and stocks of alcohol were untouched, and Brigadier-General Menéndez, the Argentine governor of the Islands, had made it clear from the start that he would not engage in any combat in Stanley itself.[14] However, in the last day of battle, Private Santiago Carrizo of the 3rd Regiment described how a platoon commander ordered them to take up positions in the houses and "if a Kelper resists, shoot him", though the entire company did nothing of the kind.[15]
There was also no wholesale confiscation of private property during the occupation, but had the islanders refused to sell, the goods in question would have been taken anyway, as is normal in military situations.[5] However, Argentine officers did expropriate civilian property at Goose Green following the detention of the civilian population, although they severely punished any conscripts that did the same.[11]
Fall
On 22 April, the British task force arrived in Falklands waters; three days later British troops recaptured South Georgia.[16] Following over a month of fierce naval and air battles, the British landed on 21 May, and a land campaign followed until Governor Mario Menéndez surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore on 14 June in Stanley.[17]
Local fireman Lewis Clifton describes how the infrastructures of Port Stanley broke under the strain of accomodating and processing thousands of cold, weary, hungry British soldiers and Argentine prisoners of war: "The place just couldn’t take it. There was only sporadic electricity and water and the sanitation system collapsed. The streets were ankle-deep in human waste. The stench was awful, really awful, and we were all suffering from what we called Galtieri’s revenge. He lost the war but left us ill." [18]
On the night of 16 June, with not enough British guarding Argentinian POWs, a riot broke out which ended with the disgruntled Argentinians setting fire to the Globe Store. However a company from 2 PARA rushed to the area and order was restored.[19]
On 20 June, British forces landed on the South Sandwich Islands and Southern Thule where 10 unarmed Argentines handed over their station.[20] 649 Argentines, 255 Britons and 3 Falkland Islanders died during the war.
Dissolution
The Argentine Administration officially continued to exist until 15 May 1985 when it was dissolved by President Raúl Alfonsín. Since then, Argentina has claimed the islands are part of Tierra del Fuego (then an Argentine National Territory) which became a fully-fledged province of Argentina in 1990.[21]
See also
References
- ^ "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands". World Statesmen. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Dispute over Argentinian Scientific Base on Southern Thule Island - Further Negotiations over Falkland Islands". Keesing's Record of World Events. July 1978. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Comunicado De La Junta Militar N°10". Military junta of Argentina (in Spanish). malvinasonline.com. 3 April 1982. Archived from the original on April 8, 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ Falkland Islands Radio Station invaded by Argentine soldiers on YouTube
- ^ a b Middlebrook, p.44
- ^ Tobar, Hector (1 April 2002). "'82 Falklands Conflict Left a Legacy of Tragedy, Hope". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Cabe acotar que justo antes de la visita de los Comandantes fue a la isla el general Nicolaides y pasó la noche allí. Fue a visitar la Brigada de Infantería Mecanizada X perteneciente al Cuerpo de Ejército a su mando, y conversó con el general Jofre y conmigo. Visitó las unidades en sus emplazamientos, conversó con los jefes, etcétera." "Malvinas: Testimonio de Su Gobernador, Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Carlos M. Túrolo", Page 100, Editorial Sudamericana, 1983
- ^ Hugh McManners, Forgotten Voices of the Falklands: The Real Story of the Falklands War, Random House, 2008
- ^ Making Their Dispositions Accordingly: Civilian Experiences of the 1982 Falklands War
- ^ a b c David Colville (2000). "Invasion and Occupation - The Story of a Stanley Resident". falklands.info. Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Bound, Graham. Falkland Islanders at war. Pen and Sword Books Limited. ISBN 1-84415-429-7.
- ^ Freedman, Lawrence (2005). Official History of the Falklands Campaign. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-415-41911-6.
- ^ Falklands Poignant Personal Memories
- ^ Middlebrook, p.43
- ^ Hastings, Max; Jenkins, Simon. The Battle For The Falklands. p. 307.
- ^ "Marines land in South Georgia". BBC News. 25 April 1982. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Ceasefire agreed in Falklands". BBC News. 14 June 1982. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ The Falklands invasion, by those who were there
- ^ "On the night of 16 June , with too few servicemen to guard too many prisoners, a riot broke out which ended in the prisoners setting fire to the Globe Store where, ironically, all their clothing, cigarettes and other goodies were stored. However a company group from 2 PARA were soon deployed to the area and order was restored." The British Army in the Falklands, John W. Stanier, H.M. Stationery Office, 1983
- ^ "Britain invades another island". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 June 1982. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Argentina again claims Falklands". Sun Journal. 27 April 1990. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
Bibliography
- Middlebrook, Martin. The Argentine Fight For The Falklands. ISBN 0-85052-978-6.