With the capture of Mount Tumbledown, Wireless Ridge and Sapper Hill the Falkland Islands conflict was effectively over and at 2100 hours on the 14th June 1982 the commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, General Mario Menendez, surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore.
The surrender was contrary to the Argentine Army code stating that a surrender should not happen unless more than 50% of the men were casualties and that 75% of the ammunition was spent.
At the request of General Menendez the phrase ‘unconditional surrender’ was replaced by the term ‘surrender’. The Argentines were granted:
The Argentine units will retain their flags.
The units will remain under the control of their respective officers.
The surrender ceremony will be private (not public).
The Argentine officers will retain their side arms.
The final point about the returning of the 11,313 prisoners of war in their own ships was not accepted and 4,167 of them were repatriated to Argentina on the ocean liner Canberra alone (the Junta had claimed incorrectly that the liner had been crippled in San Carlos Water).
A massive amount of Argentine weapons and equipment were captured.
The Conflict lasted 74 days with the sad cost of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers and three civilians killed.
General Leopoldo Galtieri who instigated the invasion of the Falkland Islands was removed from office three days after the surrender and lived in obscurity. In July 2002 he was arrested to face trial for the kidnapping of children and the disappearance of 18 leftist sympathizers in the late 70’s. He died in 2003 before facing justice.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesIs that a fact?
Jun 15th, 2022 - 03:35 am +3It could well be that you are the one that is foolishly believing.
Britain didn't choose a war, Britain didn't start that war, Britain didn't need a war, Argentina did. That is the fact.
No one misses this but you.
You are the only one who thinks Alexander Betts was a noble individual, after he left a wife and three children for his Argentine girlfriend.
So that is a foolish belief of yours also.
Trimonde. No 1,You live in that indoctrinated world of yours. You refuse to accept that first , Argentina has never owned these islands, that is a myth instilled upon people like you through indoctrination.
Jun 15th, 2022 - 10:10 am +3No 2, Argentina illegally tried to place a military garrison here and was asked to leave in 1833.
No 3, your succesive corrupt leaders have used the Falklands as a diversion of their long running internal problems.
No 4, Your Country as you call it , a land stolen from another people attacked without provocation an innocent people in 1982.
No 5, you were again asked through the United Nations to withdraw, but your greed would not let you.
No 6, you caused a military retaliation by a democracy that had to remove you from the islands by force.
No 7, Your actions by first invading us then by refusing to leave when requested caused the nearly one thousand unnecessary deaths of people.
No 8, It is a fact on record that Argentina was prepared to loose half their military occupiers and expend seventy five percent of their munitions while fighting that war. So clearly had every intention of causing a blood shed.
Today forty years on the islanders still get the harassment from your dictators, but this time that is all it is. Propaganda, because now we have a military deterrent that does not allow Argentina to wage war over these islands.
So continue to whinge and fabricate these mythical lies, but remember the world is now better educated about your stolen country.
It is shameful that you place the Falklands claim, which is all that it is, over the well being of the Argentine population and economy.
Fifty percent of your people now live in poverty at a time they should be enjoying democracy that was given back to them when your military dictators were removed from office in 1982.
You have learned absolutely nothing. All you know is the lie implanted within you all. So very sad.
Today is both a day of celebrating and a day of remembering the needless loss of life on both sides.
Jun 14th, 2022 - 02:16 pm +2A stupid unnecessary war .
Thousands more still suffering today as a result of wounding and PTSD .
So while we celebrate forty years of progress we remember those who came to our rescue, who gave their lives so that we the people of the Falkland Islands can live the lives of our choosing.
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