British ground forces in the Falklands War
This is a list of the ground forces from the United Kingdom that took part in the Falklands War. For a list of ground forces from Argentina, see Argentine ground forces in the Falklands War
Land Forces
The land forces employed by the United Kingdom during the Falklands War amounted to a divisional sized formation, named as Land Forces Falkland Islands, consisting of two brigades:
- 3 Commando Brigade - formed primarily by the Royal Marines, 3 Commando Brigade was the primary British rapid reaction force, tasked with reinforcing the NATO northern flank in Norway in the event of war with the Soviet Union in Europe. 3 Commando Brigade was the formation with most experience of amphibious operations. In its NATO role, 3 Commando Brigade was reinforced by the Dutch Korps Mariniers. However, the situation required reinforcement by British units, with the result that 2nd & 3rd Battalions of the Parachute Regiment were reassigned from 5 Infantry Brigade.
- 5 Infantry Brigade was the UK's main "out of area" reaction formation, tasked with operations outside the European theatre. At the time, it would normally be formed using two battalions of the Parachute Regiment, together with the UK based Gurkha battalion. However, since both 2 PARA and 3 PARA were used to reinforce 3 Commando Brigade for the initial landings in the Falklands, 5 Brigade was reinforced with two battalions of foot guards then on public duties in London. These were chosen as they were immediately available, as they were neither on internal security duties in Northern Ireland nor attached to BAOR.
Land Forces HQ
Commander: Brigadier Julian Thompson
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- B Squadron, Blues and Royals
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- 4 x FV101 Scorpion CVR(T) (Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked))
- 4 x FV107 Scimitar CVR(T) (Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked))
- 1 x FV106 Samson CVR(T) (Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked))
- T Battery 12 Air Defence Regiment
- Air Defence Troop
- Raiding Squadron, Royal Marines (Captain Chris Baxter)
- Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre, Royal Marines (Captain Rod Boswell)
- 2, 3 and 6 Sections Special Boat Squadron (SBS), Royal Marines, (Major Jonathan Thomson) (†1)
- D and G Squadrons 22nd SAS Regiment (Lt Col Michael Rose) (†19)
- 3 x Tactical air control parties
- Air maintenance group
- Rear link detachment 30 Signal Regiment (†3)
- Elements of 17 Port Regiment Royal Corps of Transport.
- 3 x Mexeflote detachments.
- 5 x Landing ship logistics detachments.
- 3 x Surgical support teams
- Postal courier communications unit detachment of 1 PC regiment
- Detachment 47 Air despatch squadron RCT.
- 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers (Major Roddy MacDonald). (†3)
- Detachment 49 EOD squadron 33 engineer regiment (†1)
- Y Troop detachment communications.
- Commando forces Band (stretcher-bearers)
Commander:Brigadier Anthony Wilson
Infantry weapons
References
- ^ Britain's Small Wars [1]
- ^ a b c "Guns of the Falklands War" [2]
- The Battle For The Falklands, Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, 1983, Michael Joseph Ltd., ISBN 0-330-35284-9
- The Official History of the Falklands Campaign, Sir Lawrence Freedman, 2005, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5207-5
External links
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