The guns of East Falkland
INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR TOM MARTIN (RETD.)
Crucial Royal Artillery role in the 1982 war
This British veteran reveals how the Royal Artillery played a vital but often forgotten role during the 1982 conflict
The Falklands War is known for the varied British units that fought to recapture the South Atlantic islands. RAF aircraft clashed with Argentine jets, Royal Navy ships bore the brunt of enemy air attacks, while infantrymen ‘yomped’ across the rugged landscape to engage Argentine defenders. However, there is one aspect of the campaign that has received little attention – the artillery.
Five batteries of the Royal Artillery fought in the Falklands and Major General Julian Thompson (commander of 3 Commando Brigade) has since noted, “Without the gunners we would not have won – however bravely and skilfully the other soldiers fought. Only devastatingly accurate and powerful fire missions enabled the infantry to overcome well-sited Argentine soldiers among rocks and crags on the formidable objectives.”
One of these artillerymen was Second Lieutenant Tom Martin of 29 (Corunna) Field Battery, RA. Martin and his colleagues had sailed south with 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 Para) and would support them throughout the land campaign. Nevertheless, 29 Battery would ultimately provide heavy fire cover for any unit that requested it and their guns participated in the majority of the engagements during the campaign.
A “shock” deployment
Martin joined the British Army in 1979 and was commissioned into the artillery the following year. Becoming a gunnery officer was not his original plan, “I came from a family of veterinary surgeons that spanned 100 years. I was the fourth generation and was expecting to go into veterinary science but I performed abysmally in my school exams and didn’t make the grade. I then looked for something that gave me a professional status but without a professional qualification. I hit upon an idea of being a pilot and pursued that with the intention of joining the Army Air Corps.”
At that time the AAC did not directly recruit officers so after completing his training at Sandhurst, Martin entered the artillery because it provided the most number of pilots for the
Air Corps. Upon completing his training Martin joined 29 (Corunna) Field Battery, 4th Field Regiment as a second lieutenant.
After a spell serving in Northern Ireland, 29 Battery had returned to their base at Aldershot when news broke of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, “It was a shock and for the vast majority of people nobody even knew where the Falklands were. Back in the day there was no internet and what you saw was on the news, radio or in the papers. We were very much glued to TV screens when it happened.”
Martin recalls that although the British response was swift, he didn’t think he would be deployed, “Margaret Thatcher was saying that she wouldn’t have any of this on her watch and immediately dispatched a task force. This was 3 Commando Brigade commanded by Brigadier Julian Thompson, which included the three batteries of 29 Commando Regiment,
RA. When they all sailed south, that was it. The rest of us were told that this was a completely commando affair and we wouldn’t get involved.”
29 Battery was even granted leave for Easter before it was hurriedly called back, “Within 24 hours we got recalled to barracks by the codeword ‘Pegasus’, which was a surprise. In the time that the brigade had sailed, the military planners had realised that there still wasn’t enough infantry. They decided to dispatch 2 Para under Colonel H. Jones, who wasn’t going without his guns. Our battery commander Tony Rice said, ‘Where 2 Para goes, we go,’ so we went with them and sailed on 26 April. This was some weeks after the initial task force had deployed.”
The voyage south
29 Battery spent 25 days sailing the 8,000 miles down the Atlantic Ocean to the Falklands. While its six L118 light guns were transported on MV Europic, the gunners sailed on MV Norland, a North Sea passenger ferry. Martin recalls that the ship had to be specially converted for conflict, “It wasn’t decked out to be a troopship. They converted it by welding flight decks on the stern and near the funnel. It was also crewed by merchant seamen who looked after us. We were their ‘charges’ and they felt honour-bound to deliver us in the best possible conditions.”
Martin suffered from seasickness and remembers the voyage as a trial, “It was absolutely awful and I was the world’s worst sailor. I was getting my sea legs by the end of it but if they had said, ‘Go and invade anywhere,’ we would have done. I personally would have gone anywhere – I just had to get off.”
While suffering the rigours of life at sea, Martin and his colleagues were largely cut off from the outside world and assumed that the developing crisis would be resolved, “The impression was that it was all going to be
sorted out diplomatically. Nobody thought that we would actually be having any form of real physical conflict because the stakes were so high. As we sailed south we were in an information vacuum.
“All you could rely on was the ship’s tannoy telling you what had happened on the daily news bulletin at mealtimes.”
The seriousness of their predicament was confirmed on 2 May when HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano, “That news broke to us the following morning at breakfast. You were on a ship with 900 paratroopers and other assorted people so it was an aggressive bunch at the best of times. The noise was absolutely deafening when the news broke on the tannoy.”
Despite the initial cheering, the mood darkened when the Argentine casualties were announced, “You could sense that the person making the broadcast was expecting a response because he then said, ‘For the loss of c.240 lives’. The place went absolutely silent, you could have heard a pin drop. As it was, the final toll was 323 lives that were lost.”
Further shocking news soon followed when HMS Sheffield was sunk by an Exocet missile and 22 members of the SAS were killed in a helicopter crash, “We knew then that there was no going back and the mood on the ship was very sombre and quiet. Back in the UK, The Sun had their banner headline of ‘GOTCHA!’ when the Belgrano went down and it was all very jingoistic. There was none of that on the task force and certainly not on the Norland, we had no time for that. It was very serious.”
San Carlos Water
The Norland finally arrived at the Falklands and 29 Battery landed at San Carlos Water during the amphibious landings on 21 May. Located on the west coast of East Falkland, the battle for San Carlos was the fight to establish a successful British beachhead on the territory’s largest and most populated island. As crucial artillery support, 29 Battery was one of the first units to land, “The plan was clearly an amphibious landing and it was something that we hadn’t done for real since Korea. We sailed in the dark and I got ashore by helicopter. I was going to be one of the first ones to fly in at first light to help set up the gun positions. These had to be secured and set up ready for the guns to come ashore.”
Martin’s first impressions of the Falklands were of a bleak landscape, “It was a bit of a
“YOU WERE ON A SHIP WITH 900 PARATROOPERS AND OTHER ASSORTED PEOPLE SO IT WAS AN AGGRESSIVE BUNCH AT THE BEST OF TIMES. THE NOISE WAS ABSOLUTELY DEAFENING WHEN THE NEWS BROKE ON THE TANNOY”
shock because we didn’t know what to expect and didn’t have any pictures per se. When dawn broke you could have been off the northwest coast of Scotland. It was grey, dark and you didn’t think of vibrant colours.”
Once Martin was ashore, 29 Battery’s gun position was established on the extreme southern edge of San Carlos Water at a deserted farm called Head of the Bay House. The house was painted white with a red roof and was used as a landmark by Argentine pilots to guide them on attacking raids, “It stood out like a sore thumb. Most of the air attacks came in right over the top of our gun position because the Argentine pilots were directed to the task force at anchorage via our little farmstead. We were their line-up point for all their attacks and we saw a huge amount of Argentine jets fly over us. We had a go at them of course and that was our first taste of seeing the enemy.”
29 Battery fired at the jets with small arms, which was Martin’s first experience of combat, “You stood there and opened up at the jets as they came through with their machine guns.
You were shooting at the plane, rather than the person who was flying it, and it was more of a case to just shoot the plane down. You felt disconnected in that regard but in that moment of anger and aggression it was a bit of a release to know that you can do it.”
Firing the first shot
On 23 May, Martin gave the command to fire the first land artillery shot of the war, “We were the ones who were furthest south and were effectively the closest to the Argentine garrison
down at Darwin and Goose Green. One of our observers was up on the Sussex Mountains looking over these settlements and he saw what he thought was an Argentinean patrol travelling in a vehicle. He called for fire.”
Martin was prepared for the fire mission,
“As far as gunners are concerned we’re always on call 24/7 at the drop of a hat. The call for fire comes in the chilling tones of ‘Fire Mission Battery’. That’s the cue for all gun batteries on the regimental net who are listening in to then respond. The first battery that calls ‘Ready’ gets the mission and that was me. I was in the CP (Command Post) on duty at the time and it was a moment and a half!”
The observer gave Martin a target and fire orders, which then had to be interpreted,
“This was in terms of getting the ammunition prepared, making sure the guns had the right charge, getting the right fuses and computing the firing data for the individual guns in terms of bearing and elevation. I then told the gunners to load and prepare to fire on my command. I would wait on the observer’s instruction, ‘Do it now’ and I’d be the one on the end of a handset to say ‘Fire!’ At that point the guns went ‘Bang!’.”
Martin was very much aware of the importance of this event, “Artillery was used during the Aden Emergency in a limited capacity but the RA hadn’t fired in anger in any major conflict since Malaya in 1960. Here we were, some 20 years later, and you felt that the world was watching you. You had to make sure all the sums were right and it was career-limiting stuff back home if you got it wrong. It was pretty intense and we fired at extreme range. Of the four gun batteries that were initially down in the Falklands, 29 (Corunna) Field Battery fired the first rounds in anger.”
During that night Martin was with the battery’s senior lieutenant Bill Moore when
HMS Antelope was attacked in the bay, “I was off-shift talking to Bill when we saw this almighty flash. Then there was this incredible bang as the ship exploded. The whole of San Carlos Water lit up with this explosion and it was one of those ‘OMG’ moments. When dawn broke the following day you looked across and could see the ship was on fire and still smoking. Eventually, it broke its back and sank, which was really sobering.”
Martin reflects that his initial combat experiences in San Carlos Water were reminiscent of earlier conflicts, “War was very different back then to what it is now. Compared to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Argentines had jets, artillery and infantry etc. It was like a throwback to WWII. Watching jets go in, ships being attacked and blown up while airplanes were being shot down in front of you was quite a surreal experience.”
Dustbin cuisine
At Head of the Bay House, 29 Battery began to suffer from depleting food rations, “We went ashore with a few days rations. The idea was that after two days you said ‘Can we have some more please?’ over the radio and then it would be delivered. When you were down to your last 24 hours rations another lot would come in. However, because of the loss of helicopters on SS Atlantic Conveyor, rotary support was limited. There was a tremendous effort getting stores and equipment off the ships and we were very much down the food chain. You’d send requests and they’d say ‘Yes, we’ll do that’ but nothing came.”
After two days without rations, the battery resorted to desperate measures, “The one thing we weren’t short of on the Falklands was sheep and the decision was made to shoot one. One of our cooks was a butcher by trade and he butchered this sheep. A private from the Catering Corps was then given a galvanised dustbin and told to clean it. He cleaned it up absolutely spotless.”
With a bin acting as an improvised stove and a few root vegetables discovered growing on the farmstead, the gunners contributed random ingredients, “A hole was dug with a large fire pit because there was plenty of peat from the store at the house. We got a fire going with girders over the top and put the stew on. The cooks went around with a bin bag and asked everybody for anything they had squirrelled away in their pockets. This was anything from a packet of soup to stock cubes, biscuits and dried peas.”
The result was surprisingly tasty, “All these things made this all-in stew and it was wonderful. The mutton was perfect and the chef actually got to do some cooking with potatoes, carrots etc. We had it by the pint in a mess tin and it fed the entire gun position. If you ever saw a dustbin full of stew you wouldn’t believe it!”
Bluff Cove
On 3 June, 29 Battery was moved forward to the small settlement and sea inlet of Bluff Cove. Martin recalls that logistics were one of the biggest headaches for the British during the campaign, “There were no roads and everything had to be shifted by air. They were in short supply because the Atlantic Conveyor went down so all except one of the Chinooks were lost. There was therefore a great weight put on the rotary assets to deliver anything and everything to do with the task force.”
Transporting a battery was particularly difficult, “We required 42 helicopter lifts at a minimum. That would transport the six guns, 90-odd personnel, command post, stores and a limited amount of ammunition forward. This could not cover the sustained amount of firing so you would then have to also bring in thousands of rounds by air. That was a huge logistical effort placed on the rotary fleet but the helicopters played an absolute blinder.”
Such was the artillery’s importance that the guns became a military priority, “The Paras and commandos had to exchange places and walk. They ended up yomping across the Falklands to fight their battles because there was no
“THE RA HADN’T FIRED IN ANGER IN ANY MAJOR CONFLICT SINCE MALAYA IN 1960. HERE WE WERE, SOME 20 YEARS LATER, AND YOU FELT THAT THE WORLD WAS WATCHING YOU”
air support. Guns, ammunition and food were moved forward and casualties would go back.”
Once the battery landed at Bluff Cove, Martin discovered that they had effectively landed in No-man’s-land, “When we got out of the Chinook we were running around doing the technical bits and establishing where we were. A soldier from 2 Para came across and said, ‘You alright? You do realise that’s my trench over there? There’s nothing between that trench and Stanley apart from you.’ We were in full view of the enemy, which was rather disturbing. We were technically the furthest forward of our own troops apart from the SAS and SBS. That became another ‘OMG’ moment but we were able to move the gun position.”
29 Battery were moved to a safer position a short distance away from Bluff Cove at the southern edge of Fitz Cove. A few days after they arrived, Argentine jets attacked British ships in what became known as the ‘Bluff Cove Air Attacks’, “The misconception is that the attacks actually happened at Bluff Cove but it actually happened at Fitzroy. We’d had a couple of bad days of really heavy weather and were soaked through. After a shift I heard something on the wind that sounded like a jet noise and immediately shouted across to the command post. The first wave of Argentine jets flew over shortly afterwards and we started to engage them. They realised they were under fire but pressed home their attack. The second wave came in and the Scots Guards then opened up as well with this wall of lead. It was all tracers so you could see where the bullets were flying.” Despite the ground troops’ best efforts, the Argentine jets proceeded to bomb the heavily manned vessels RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram, “The jets flew over our gun positions but they weren’t interested in us, they were interested in the ships. Nobody managed to get a tracer lead on the jets, which was unfortunate. They pressed home their attack and the aircraft bombed Galahad and Tristram. I didn’t see the bombing but you could see the smoke and hear the jets fly around.”
Both ships were badly damaged and the British suffered casualties of 56 killed and
150 wounded during the attacks, “Two of our number were at Bluff Cove when it happened and were down on the beach helping to pull people ashore and tend to the wounded. When they came back they were very, very quiet.”
Wether Ground
29 Battery was subsequently moved six kilometres further forward towards Stanley to their last combat gun position at Wether Ground. This would prove to be the most intense period for the gunners as they came under increasing Argentine artillery fire, “We were situated behind this little ridge, which kept us covered from view. However, it doesn’t take the brains of a rocket scientist to work out that if 50-odd helicopters are bringing guns on a little flight from Bluff Cove, dropping something off and then going back empty then there is something going on there.”
The battery was then subjected to Argentine artillery airbursts, “It was pretty scary. They had a 155mm field howitzer, which could fire a 90-pound shell that was three times the size of ours. They could fire that over 24 kilometres but we couldn’t reach them because we only had a 17-kilometre range. The Argentine 155 harassed us for about three days before it was taken out by an airstrike.”
Martin and the other gunners had no choice but to stand their ground, “The bottom line is that when there is call for fire you’re there manning the guns. You stand there and return what fire support is required regardless of what’s coming down on you. It’s the training that gets you through.”
29 Battery was fortunate that the Argentine fire was not accurate, “We were just so lucky that the shells were landing all around us or over the top of us. Believe me, they were very close! Shrapnel was hitting us but by the time it got to us it was effectively spent. However, it still would have ruined your day if you’d been hit by it as one of our number was.”
As a gunner, Martin found it ironic that he was under fire, “We were doing what artillerymen have had to do over hundreds of years but it was quite something to come under artillery fire yourself. You’re dishing it out and we had thousands of rounds going off but to have it coming back to you as well was a surreal experience. It wasn’t pleasant.”
Despite the intense shelling, Martin knew the British would win, “We knew that the Argentinean
“THERE WAS ONE OF US TO THREE OF THEM BUT IT WAS QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. WE WERE WORLDS APART IN TERMS OF PROFESSIONALISM AND AGGRESSION”
resolve was crumbling just by the nature of how they were rolled up in various battles. There were determined bands of Argentine soldiers but by and large they were conscripts who were poorly trained and – we felt – poorly led. There was one of us to three of them but it was quality over quantity. We were worlds apart in terms of professionalism and aggression.”
Victory
29 Battery had been involved in supporting almost every land engagement including the battles of Mount Kent, Two Sisters, Mount Longdon and Mount Tumbledown. By the time Stanley was recaptured on 14 June the battery was still at Wether Ground and Martin recalls feeling hesitant in the wake of victory, “There was huge relief that we’d won but you couldn’t rest on your laurels. Although the Argentines were surrendering there was nothing to say that was what their government wanted. It was a military junta and it didn’t look good to fail so there was no cast-iron guarantee that it had all stopped.”
The gunners were also suffering from the effects of the elements while they returned to Bluff Cove and remained in the field, “We had been out in the open all the time and the weather was just brutal. It was cold, wet and windy and if you were damp there was wind chill. Not having enough to eat made you hungry and fatigued. You were not out of action even when the fire missions were going down. It had a debilitating effect and only through training and finding a routine that worked did you fight your way through it to survive.”
The battery was billeted in outbuildings at Bluff Cove where they slept in a garage and sheep-shearing shed. On one occasion, Martin was driven through Stanley where he saw many Argentine prisoners, “They were dejected and crestfallen but I had no sympathy for them.
As a soldier you are a tool used by politicians to go and prosecute the political will, so as a collective they were the enemy.
“However, it wasn’t their choice to be there and as individuals you could feel some sympathy because they were so poorly led, fed and looked after.”
Martin also had a low opinion of the
Argentine fighting ability, “Argentina doesn’t have, to my mind, an extensive history of warfare. We have a fighting capability and centuries’ worth of tradition doing it whereas the Argentine forces didn’t.
“They had some very good soldiers in terms of professionals and they caused a lot of grief but they were few and far between. Compared to a British commando or parachute battalion it was chalk and cheese.”
However, Martin did respect the Argentine pilots, “Their skill and bravery was never in question. To see what they did day after day in San Carlos eventually meant that the area was called ‘Bomb Alley’. They must have known they were losing people but they kept coming back. There was no question about their fighting capability, they were very determined.”
The Argentine military threat ultimately never materialised after the recapture of Stanley and 29 Battery finally returned home on 11 July 1982. Although their role has been relatively unsung, Martin is no doubt of the importance of the Royal Artillery during the war, “The artillery played a vital role. Julian Thompson always speaks of its tremendous worth and knew that without the gunners we probably wouldn’t have won, it’s that stark. They were a major
“AS A SOLDIER YOU ARE A TOOL USED BY POLITICIANS TO GO AND PROSECUTE THE POLITICAL WILL, SO AS A COLLECTIVE THEY WERE THE ENEMY”
ingredient and there’s an old adage that says, ‘Infantry wins battles, but artillery wins wars’.”
“Was it worth it?”
After returning to the UK, Martin went on to achieve his ambition of becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army Air Corps and retired from the British Army with the rank of major.
He still works for the emergency services as a helicopter pilot and has been flying professionally for 35 years. Nevertheless, he did not return to the Falklands until 2017.
Martin was visiting to commemorate the
35th anniversary of the conflict with his former battery colleagues and he observed a transformed society, “Back then there were about 1,800 people scattered across the islands and they were in decline because of an ageing population and people leaving. Now it’s ‘Boom Town’. The last census they had in
2016 listed 3,000 people living there. The islanders are also incredibly grateful about the sacrifices that were made.”
For the veterans, revisiting their old battlegrounds was, “quite a cathartic experience. It meant we were able to return and pay our respects to those who had been left behind. Was it tough? Yes. There were a few hard moments when we visited certain places but overall everyone came away with a positive experience.”
The Falklands War was, and remains, perceived by many as a controversial conflict but Martin is convinced that it had to be fought, “It was necessary. The Falklands were incredibly British even though it was a sleepy backwater. It was 8,000 miles away but it had the same needs for protection as the Isle of Wight. There’s no difference, it’s something we’re responsible for and Argentina’s junta saw it as an easy get out from the political mire they were in. When you speak to the islanders they could be from a UK county, they sound so British. Was it worth it? Yes. There was no way we could turn our backs on them.”