As made clear in Ken Privratsky's excellent book, the efforts of the logisticians in the Falklands were extraordinary. It is therefore not surprising that military schools are showing renewed interest in the Falklands War.
Acknowledgements
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Maps
Prelude to War
It is not difficult to understand why Argentine anger increased during the second half of the twentieth century. The Governor of the Falklands, who resided in the capital of Stanley on East Falkland, was responsible for affairs there.
Mobilization and Deployment
Something had to be done to add ships to the Royal Navy's inventory. In peacetime, the use of the full military supply system is a rarity, not only in the United Kingdom but elsewhere.
Initial Planning and Preparation at Sea
This entailed the pure naval responsibility for command and control of the ships designated for an amphibious operation. He also awaited the arrival of LPD Intrepid, the sister ship of Fearless, in the South Atlantic so that the Task Force could exercise effective command and control.
Support Operations at Ascension Island
People back in the UK had been working on modifications to the C-130 at this time to increase its ability to 'keep up' with the Task Force. As a result, re-stow began without the benefit of the only LCUs in the Task Force at the time.
Final Preparation for the Amphibious Assault
Day and the Struggle to Build up Logistics
Ships carrying supplies from the Commando Logistic Regiment and Brigade arrived at the anchorage off San Carlos on schedule at daybreak. The LPD Intrepid was located in the northern part of the anchorage near Port San Carlos and Green Beach. Under the established plan, much of the Commando Logistic Regiment was to remain afloat in the LSLs.
Officials back in the UK were not the only ones to become anxious for 3 Commando Brigade to move out of the San Carlos area. After attacks in the San Carlos anchorage, the British expected more to happen. The crew worked throughout the day to prepare for unloading in the San Carlos anchorage that night.
What began as a brilliant operation in the early morning darkness of the D-Day landings turned into a nightmare.
The Breakout and Fight for Goose Green
Cooks were cleaning up after serving a meal to several hundred men from the Commando Logistic Regiment and 45 Commando in the mess hall set up in a section of the cold storage facility. Memories of the destruction that afternoon would remain etched forever in the minds of those present. His regiment differed from other logistics units elsewhere in the world because of the rigor of its combat skills training.
Companies in the battalion found they had few litters to get casualties to places where they could be treated. Major Keeble confirmed, after his soldiers had interrogated some prisoners that evening, that the Argentines had held over a hundred civilians captive in the Goose Green community center since the beginning of the month. The brigade's logistical position had deteriorated significantly in the last 48 hours as a result of the attack on the BMA and 2 Paras fighting.
Logisticians had been working nonstop on the beachhead in the meantime, receiving and sorting supplies to move on.
More Forces and Challenges
Soldiers from the Brigade would take part in a two-week exercise called Welsh Falcon at Sennybridge Training Area in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. No one at Northwood or the MoD explained how 5 Brigade would be staffed once it was in the Falkland Islands. Making sense of the whole load, getting the initial shipments of supplies to units and training soldiers would be a challenge in the coming days.
The brigade now knew for the first time that it would have a role in the ground war. Marines, still in the San Carlos settlement, had been suffocating the area for over a week now. One of the first decisions Baxter made upon arrival was to have the oil specialists of 91 Ordnance take over the hectic fuel supply operations in the San Carlos area.
In the words of Lieutenant Colonel Hellberg, "The addition of the 5th Infantry Brigade simply made the traffic jam spread twice as thin and supplies took twice as long."24 What he and other logisticians needed now was time to units and supplies to where they were needed. .
Problems at Fitzroy
The gathering did not get off to a camaraderie-encouraging start when paratroopers saw Wilson arrive at their post wearing a red beret, the cherished symbol of the Parachute Regiment, instead of his own light infantry beret, as well as wellington boots. 3 The boots were indeed sensible footwear for the Falklands, but no one else had them, and the paratroopers' feet were still wet from their landing on D-Day. When Moore's staff first learned of the hasty move of 2 Para to Fitzroy on June 2, they were outraged. They thought that 5 Brigade's first priority on arrival in the Falklands should have been to establish command and control over its units, particularly as the brigade was short of communications equipment.9 The three battalions that sailed south with Wilson and Moore had, was just then in the process of landing and settling.
Logisticians at divisional level had debated whether to move most of the original BMA in Ajax to Fitzroy for the final match. The arrival of the Scots Guards came as something of a surprise to 2 Para, who by then had pushed forward to the Bluff Cove area. They arrived with half the Welsh Guards at 0800 when Fearless was well on its way back to San Carlos with the other half of the battalion.
However, before this could be done, engineers had to open the back door of the LSL.
The Battle for Mountains Surrounding Stanley
After the Surrender
After a lull in the evening's wintry showers, special forces brought Moore to Stanley to accept surrender on the second floor of the Secretariat Building, which had served as Argentine headquarters during the war. With no communications throughout the island or to all settlements, Moore asked Commodore Clapp to better understand the situation and needs in the settlements. The British renamed the airfield RAF Stanley, perhaps a signal that the Royal Air Force would from then on play an important role in the future protection of the Falklands.
Fourteen of the dead were reburied with full honors in the War Graves Commission cemetery in San Carlos, including two paratroopers, Lieutenant Colonel H. The next of kin of the deceased were all given the choice: to have their loved ones buried in the cemetery. Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in the Falkland Islands, or to have their remains repatriated to the UK. The British Task Force had succeeded in restoring order and basic services to the Falklands.
We train for all phases of war, but not for the aftermath of a war - the men are excited and excited and the last thing they want is to clean up.
A Reflection on the British Experience
And yet, before the Falklands War, few people in the Royal Navy had a full understanding of the range of challenges underlying such operations. It has been proposed by some that the two aircraft carriers, HMS Hermes and Invincible, formed the center of gravity of the Task Force. Although soldiers in the field often struggled with a lack of food and supplies, a steady flow of supplies from the mainland to Stanley continued until the end of the war.
In the end, it was the movement of supplies and equipment that determined the pace of the ground war. Fuel in particular plagued logistics after the landings due to the large amount of daily needs. Lack of fuel handlers and the large daily requirements for jerry cans were part of the problem.
Helicopters remained essential to logistics operations during the war due to the rough, trackless terrain of East Falkland.
Notes
- Prelude to War
- Mobilization and Deployment
- Initial Planning and Preparation at Sea
- Support Operations at Ascension Island
Luitenant-kolonel Ivar Hellberg, 'An Experience with the Commando Logistic Regiment', The Royal Corps of Transport Review, Maart 1983, p. Air Marshal Sir John Curtiss, 'Operation Corporate: The RAF in the Falklands Campaign', Air Clues, Desember 1982, p. Operation Corporate: Afloat with the Task Force’, The Royal Navy Supply & Transport Service Journal, 46, Januarie 1983, pp.
Grevatte-Ball, 'Operation Corporate by HQ 3 Transport Group (Line of Communication)', The Royal Corps of Transport Review, Maart 1983, p. Tustin, 'The Logistics of the Falklands War - Part II', The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, Oktober 1984, p. Rene De La Pedraja, 'The Argentine Air Force Versus Britain in the Falkland Islands, 1982' in Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat, eds.
Rick Jolly, 'The Red and Green Life Support Machine', The Globe and Laurel, November/Desember 1982, p.
Bibliography
Operation Corporate by HQ 3 Transport Group (Line of Communication)', The Royal Corps of Transport Review, Maart 1983, pp. J., 'An Experience with the Commando Logistics Regiment', The Royal Corps of Transport Review, Maart 1983, pp. Lindsay-Browne, M., 'Voorsiening van die taakmag: NAAFI in die Falkland', The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, Oktober 1982, pp.
J., 'The Logistics of the Falklands War – Part I', The Army Quarterly and Defense Journal, July 1984, p. J., 'The Logistics of the Falklands War - Part II', The Army Quarterly and Defense Journal, October 1984, p. UKLF aspects of mounting Operation Falkland Island (Operation Corporate)', Royal Transport Corps Review, March 1983, p.
J., 'The Role of the Defense Operational Movements Staff in Operation Corporate', The Royal Corps of Transport Review, marts 1983, s.
Index
Royal Navy, see also Amphibious Task Force/Group, Carrier Battle Group, Commodore Michael Clapp, Rear Admiral Sandy, Woodward, and Special Ships.
