Falklands ‘death watch’ begins

Press, 18 May 1982, Page 1

Falklands ‘death watch’ begins

NZPA Buenos Aires The “death watch” has begun in the Falklands, according to military experts in Buenos Aires. They say the fact that British frigates no longer concentrate gunfire solely on Port Stanley shows that Britain plans an invasion. “The communiques on the shelling report no damage for the sound reason that a good part of the firing is directed at the beaches to blow up mines and make it easier to land,” said one expert. Diplomats believe that the recall to London of Britain's Ambassador to the United Nations (Sir Anthony Parsons) and the Ambassador to Washington (Sir Nicholas Henderson) is a delaying tactic to slow down negotiations, obtain an extension of the European Economic Community’s embargo on Argentina, and win time for the arrival of British reinforcements in the South Atlantic. Belief that a wide-ranging British attack on the Falklands is imminent is strengthened by the arrival in the area of the liner Canberra, although the reported 2500 men she carries are regarded as too small a force to retake the islands. In the view of the Argentine military, at least 30,000 British soldiers would be needed to overcome the

10,000 Argentinian troops on the islands. After the statement by the head of State (LieutenantGeneral Leopoldo Galtieri) at the week-end that Argentina was ready to lose up to 40,000 men and fight for six months or six years, the speech that Vice-Admiral Jorge Anaya will make today to mark Navy Day is widely awaited. Admiral Anaya is the most taciturn of the three com-manders-in-chief, but when he speaks “he says a lot in a few words,” to quote a Government official. As United Nations peace talks approached the make-or-break stage yesterday, British aircraft attacked two Argentinian supply ships in the central channel of the Falkland Islands. Correspondents with the naval task force said that sea Harriers from the flagship H.M.S. Hermes strafed and damaged the two ships in Falkland Sound, forcing the crew of one to take to life rafts. A Harrier was hit in the tail by ground fire but . returned safely, the correspondent said. News of the latest move to tighten the blockade and isolate Argentinian garrisons on East Falkland and West Falkland broke after the British Defence Secretary (Mr John Nott) warned that the conflict could reach a climax within days.

“Time is not on the side of negotiations,” he said in a radio‘interview. “It will be necessary in my judgment, within the course of the next week, for them to come to a head one way or another.”’ In yesterday’s fighting, the Harriers first attacked a supply ship in Fox Bay, West Falkland, reported Martin Cleaver, of the British Press Association. Cleaver said that the pilots did not bomb the unnamed ship because it was near a settlement, but strafed it with 30mm cannon shells. It was during this attack that a Harrier was hit. Later two Harriers bombed and strafed another vessel with cannon fire at Port King Bay, a small inlet on East Falkland, about 33km across the sound from Fox Bay. Its crew was forced to abandon ship. Argentinian authorities yesterday were still trying to make radio contact with the freighter Isla de los Estados, which has been running supplies to the islands. It is thought she might have been the vessel that a British frigate is reported to have blown up last week and that her crew of 16 merchant seaman will have to be added to the list of 370 Argentinians officially reported killed since the Falklands conflict began. Diplomatic moves, page 8