What's Different in the Falklands

[Jeff Conner]

The Argentines drafted a plan to parachute the 4th Airborne Brigade into the area between Stanley and the main British landing at San Carlos Water. This unit would be reinforced by portions of the two regiments on West Falkland. The intent was to break the British lines of communication. However, it soon became apparent that the British held control of the air over the islands during daylight hours and the parachute landing was not likely to be successful. In addition, there was no realistic way to move the troops from West Falkland across Falkland Sound. The Argentines had a hard time supplying these troops much less moving them and their equipment. They lost two coastal freighters and multiple helicopters trying to keep their men supplied. In the end, the Argentines sent hunting parties out into the hills and lived on mutton for most of the last month of the war.

My rational for creating a hypothetical campaign was to allow the Argentine player to command some of the best troops in his army. Since any man who will jump out of a perfectly good airplane has already proven his courage, the paratroopers are rated as mostly B troops with a few As. The Argentine Special Forces are more evenly split between As and Bs with a leader for every team. Both forces are equipped with the higher reliability FAL rifle. Man for man, they are almost a match for the British troops they will face. The scenarios were fun to design as I was not held to any kind of historical standards.

You may notice that the main characters in both campaigns are named after special forces officers who lost their lives in the Falklands. The Argentine campaign is in honor of Lt. Commander Giachino. He was a Marine Commando in charge of the "snatch" team assigned to Government House during Operation Rosario. He was mortally wounded as he tried to breach the house. As he was holding a live grenade, the British troops inside made no effort to try and provide him with first aid. Their fire kept any Argentine support from reaching him and he eventually died of his wounds. The British campaign is dedicated to Captain John Hamilton, a member of the SAS. He was on West Falkland directing naval gunfire on Argentine positions and conducting additional reconnaissance. A daylight patrol of Argentine Commandos located his hide and a short firefight ensued. Hamilton was shot and killed as he tried to cover the retreat of his partner. Hamilton had led the recon team on Fortuna Glacier (South Georgia Island) that almost came to grief as well as participating in the Pebble Island Raid.

Jeff Conner