May 28th-29th 1982
Falkland islands
Historical background
On the 2nd of April 1982, the Argentine invasion of the Falkland islands, codenamed Operation Rosario, began. The few dozen men strong and under equipped British garrison at Port Stanley put up stiff resistance but was soon overrun by Argentine APCs and surrendered to the invading forces.
The ensuing crisis sent a shockwave throughout the British public and sparked a major political crisis in the UK government, with prime minister Margaret Thatcher facing intense pressure to respond decisively. In a bold move, the now established war cabinet dispatched a formidable naval task force to retake the islands and restore British sovereignty.
The task force, consisting of 43 warships, including 2 aircraft carriers, and over 84 auxiliary and merchant vessels sailed for Falkland islands throughout late April. Hostilities truly broke out on the 1st of May 1982, when the aerial bombardment campaign of the occupied islands began, followed by the controversial sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano.
However, it was much later, on the 21st May, that the main invasion began with the establishment of a beachhead within the San Carlos bay. It was not without losses, however, as multiple ships were stricken by Argentine aircraft. With morale low and with the public demanding results, it was decided by the war cabinet to capture the town of Goose Green along with its airfield. Having landed on the island a few days earlier, the 2nd Parachute Battalion (2 Para) is tasked with the job…
Goose Green
Having marched through 13 miles of treacherous terrain, you reach the vicinity of Goose Green by May 27th. The attack is scheduled for the night of 28/29th and intel suggests you will be fighting a mix of standard and conscript soldiers, most of whom were rushed to the theater and so didn’t have much time for training. What they did have time for, however, was digging trenches. Recon from past bombardments of the airfield suggests that they have set up their main defense along the Darwin hill, spread into what we can assume are two defensive lines. The hill itself is littered with large rock formations, perfect for hidden MG nests, bunkers and thus very dangerous for us to assault…
Running up to the hill is mainly open terrain with just a little bit of cover. So that’s the reason we need to assault it at night. We have no doubts we won’t encounter some scouting elements before we hit the main line, so remain vigilant on your approach as well - and we really don’t want any stray squad coming up on our backs during all the chaos that is to ensue.
Once you break the 1st line, you should immediately move on to the 2nd one. After that’s dealt with, we will essentially be holding the only relevant high ground in the area, completely overlooking the airfield. Speaking of, we are aware of some AA guns present there, as well as some Pucara light attack aircraft. Destroy both if need be. After capturing the airfield, your objective is to encircle and liberate the town of Goose Green. At that point, the enemy’s morale might be broken and perhaps there may not be a need for much more bloodshed.
Friendly Assets
- You will have a mortar team with handheld mortar(s)
- If that is not enough, heavier artillery guns may be provided/called in
- If there are enough players, you may be given an AW159 multi-role helicopter (mainly for reinserting)
- A Milan AT launcher team will be available for dealing with vehicles at long range
Enemy assets
- Fortifications (Trenches, Bunkers, MG nests)
- Only a few armored vehicles (AML-90, AAVP-7A1)
- Small amount of logistical/transport vehicles
- Light attack planes (Pucaras)
- Artillery
- Minefields?
TIPS/EXTRA NOTES
- Try to move swiftly while getting towards the 1st defensive line, you should still deal with contacts but if you take too long, you might lose the cover of darkness
- This is 1982, you will not have any NVGs, instead your mortar team will provide you with flares/signals if need be
- There will be a bunch of trench fighting/clearing, make sure to grab enough grenades and get ready for some brutal hand-to-hand combat
- The undertrained, demoralized and under-equipped conscripts may be prone to surrendering, so have some cable ties ready within your squad
- Each squad should bring 1 mine detector (secondary weapon slot) in case you happen to run into a minefield ;)
Preset
with these additional mods:
