British pincer closing on Port Stanley garrison

Press, 31 May 1982, Page 1

British pincer closing on Port Stanley garrison

NZPA-Reuter London British troops trying to retake the Falkland Islands were reported yesterday to be pushing on two fronts towards the main Argentine garrison at Port Stanley, after taking 900 Argentine prisoners.

British newspapers said paratroops were thrusting east from Darwin and Goose Green, where 900 Argentine defenders surrendered after, fighting in which a. British battalion commander, Lieu-tenant-Colonel Herbert Jones, was killed. Royal Marines commandos were completing a pincer movement towards Port Stanley by advancing farther north, on the other side of a long hill ridge, the newspapers reported. The Ministry of Defence maintained silence on the geographic progress of the British forces who landed and formed a beachhead at Port San Carlos on May 21, seven weeks after Argentine troops seized the Falklands.

In Buenos Aires, the Argentine High Command said yesterday that it had lost radio contact with its forces defending a narrow.isthmus in the centre of East Falkland (Soledad) Island against the thrust of British troops. In a communique issued shortly before midnight, the command said 800 Argentine troops had resisted an attack by 2500 helicopter-borne men backed by artillery for, almost 24 hours before communications were cut yesterday.

Several British newspapers reported that in addition to the two ground thrusts, 3500 infantrymen who had sailed in the converted luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2. had transferred to assault ships and were ready to land at an unknown spot or spots on the islands. Darwin and Goose Green lie almost together, about 25km south of the beachhead and still about 80 rugged kilometres from Port Stanley, where there are believed to be at least 7000 Argentine soldiers.

The Royal Marines reported advancing north of the hill belt, known as the Wickham Heights, also had about 80km to cover from the Port San Carlos beachhead to Port Stanley. Several British newspapers yesterday quoted unconfirmed reports that the Royal Marines had taken the settlements of Douglas and Teal Inlet.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence announced that the second battalion of the Parachute Regiment had taken prisoner 900 Argentinians who surrendered at Goose Green.

The Ministry announced the capture of Darwin and Goose Green on Saturday without specifying when it had taken place. Britain said yesterday that it had received a warning from the Argentine Government that the British liner Uganda and other ships being used as floating hospitals off the Falklands, would be considered hostile by Argentina if not withdrawn from the area of fighting. A Ministry statement denied Argentine accusations that the Uganda was involved in military activities and indicated that Britain would not move the liner out. “The British Government reserves the right to use hospital ships when and where appropriate in order to provide assistance to the wounded, British or Argentine,” it said. The British Government has imposed a virtual news blackout on ground fighting over the last few days, apparently to prevent the leak of security information. No up-to-date reports by radio, television, or newspaper correspondents — all of which are transmitted through Navy communications and censored by the Ministry of Defence — have appeared for the last few days. A report by a Reuter correspondent, Leslie Dowd, on military action at the British beachhead, written last Monday, was cleared by the Ministry only yesterday. The Argentine communique said the British attack was repelled by the Argentine garrison but British troops launched a second assault in the early afternoon.

“The Argentine troops, despite being inferior in numbers, fire-power, and mobility, resisted the attack but at noon yesterday, radio contact with them was lost,” the High Command said. Further stories, p. 8

The independent news agency, Noticias Argentinas, earlier quoted military sources as saying the army garrison had fired all its ammunition before giving up its positions. It quoted the sources as saying the High Command had chosen not to deploy more troops in order to maintain the bulk of its forces round the Falklands capital of Port Stanley, about 80km to the east. The move has allowed the

British to cut East Falkland in half, gain control of the archipelago’s second main airstrip at Goose Green and has given access to one of the best rugged dirt roads to Port Stanley. President Leopoldo Galtieri told troops on Armv Day that military- forces from other Latin American nations might be ranged alongside Argentina in the battle. He was quoted- by the official .Telam news agency as saying that if necessary, “those from other latitudes” would join the fight in defence of common ideals.