S.A.S. plans went wrong, says book

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 11

S.A.S. plans went wrong, says book

NZPA London A 114-man Argentine force on Pebble Island in the Falklands was twice saved from attacks by commandos of Britain’s Special Air Service aimed at “annihilating” them during last year’s war, according to a book published this week. On May 14, 1982, the book claims, a 30-man S.A.S. force landed at night on Pebble Island, where the Argentines had a key air and radar base, and destroyed 11 warplanes. But the author, Tony Geraghty, a former paratrooper and defence correspondent of “The Sunday Times” of London, said in an updated edition of his S.A.S. history, “Who Dares Wins,” that the plan actually went wrong — it had been to wipe out the Argentine garrison as well. A second troop of commandos was supposed to have been airlifted from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier Hermes, flagship of the British task force that recaptured the Falklands, but the plan failed because the Hermes was unable to launch its helicopters for

the garrison attack. “For reasons that are not clear, naval planners miscalculated the time it would take to bring the carrier within helicopter range of the target,” he said. “This in turn meant a late dash into the target area, sailing at high speed into a high wind, which... meant that the helicopters could not be made ready,” according to Mr Geraghty. He said that British military planners later devised another raid on the Pebble Island garrison, scheduled for June 15. But the Argentine force in the Falklands surrendered on June 14. Defence Ministry officials declined all comment on Mr Geraghty’s account. But his book, based on information gathered from contacts in the S.A.S., throws new light on operations carried out by the crack unit and the special boat section of the Royal Marines. These included infiltration by small teams behind Argentine lines, and living rough in the winter for weeks before the main British force landed on May 21.