The 601st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group (GAA 601 or Grupo de Artillería Antiaérea 601), historically known as GADA 601 (Grupo de Artillería de Defensa Aérea 601) is the main anti-aircraft artillery unit of the Argentine Army (EA). Its headquarters are just north of Mar del Plata. The unit's name was changed to GAA 601 Teniente General Pablo Ricchieri in 1999. The group played a key role during the 1982 Falklands War. The GAA 601 compound is the main air defence training center in Argentina.
Origins
The origin of the anti-aircraft artillery of the Argentine Army dates back to 1939, when the Grupo de Artillería Antiaérea was established in Campo de Mayo, the main headquarters of the army, along with the Centro de Instrucción Antiaéreo, a training unit.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the resort town of Mar del Plata were seeking the settling of an army base there. In 1940, a local independent commission, under the auspices of Juan Fava and Rufino Inda, both of them former socialist Mayors of the city, made a formal request to the Ministry of War. Incidentally, the socialists ruled Mar del Plata during the two major combat deployments in the unit's history (1962 and 1982), although the country was under a military dictatorship in both occasions.Mayors of Mar del Plata By the end of 1944, the two anti-aircraft groups were merged and effectively transferred to Mar del Plata, under the name of Escuela Antiaérea ("Antiaircraft Artillery School").
Weapons
The first AAA weapons deployed were 76.2 mm Skoda guns and 20 mm cannons.Reguera & others, p. 416
Several years later, between 1949 and 1962, the army purchased Bofors 40 mm guns and 90 mm guns. During 1951, the first long-range radar, a Westinghouse, was imported from the USA.Potash, p. 234 The group changed its name from Training Center of Air Defense (CIADA) to Artillery Group of Air Defense 601 (GADA 601) in 1964. Its first commander was Lieutenant Colonel Esteban Rodriguez. The GADA was composed of batteries, each one divided into three sections. The section, led by a 2nd Lieutenant, usually comprised two artillery pieces. In 1968, a new sub-unit, Battery "C", was established, incorporating new material like the 40 mm L 70 Bofors-Contraves radar-guided system.
The first missile Battery was equipped with Tigercat triple launchers in 1970.
In 1980, after a border crisis with Chile, the army acquired the 35 mm Oerlikon-Contraves radar-guided system. Furthermore, a new unit had been added to the GADA in 1976, the AADA 602, to deal first with the Tigercats and some years later with Roland-2 missiles.
After losing half of the 35 mm systems and one of the four Rolands in the war of 1982, the group was reinforced with 40 mm Bofors and 30 mm Hispano-Suiza guns.
Operational history Political unrest (1955–1978)
From the second term in office of Juan Perón to the dictatorships of the 1970s, there were several periods of political unrest and violence involving the military. Argentina witnessed the overthrowing of constitutional governments followed by sporadic clashes between rival factions of the armed forces and the surge of leftist militant organizations. The GADA took part in a number of these incidents:
1955: Revolución Libertadora. During the last days of Peronism in power, following a huge purge on its ranks, the Army became the only force inside the military with a majority of officers supporting Perón.Potash, pp. 214, 221 This was also the case of the GADA. There was a first ill-fated attempt against the government, led mainly by the Navy, on 16 June, when rebel aircraft launched a series of air strikes around Plaza de Mayo, killing nearly 350 people.Potash, p. 259 In Mar del Plata, the group kept a close watch on the naval base, taking positions on the hills surrounding the port.La Capital newspaper, 17 June 1955 Eventually, the uprising succeeded on 16 September. This time, the attitude of the GADA officers was hesitant. During the morning of the 19, the cruiser (the former USS Boise) and five destroyers shelled the group's barracks, already abandoned by the troops. A long-range radar tower and other equipment was destroyed. The commander changed sides shortly after this action.Potash, p. 278Ruiz Moreno, pp. 288-289 1962: After the fall of President Arturo Frondizi and his replacement by a puppet civilian government under the supervision of the armed forces, the military remained divided over the issue of the banning of some political parties. While there was a wide consensus on the proscription of leftist ideologists, things became not so clear regarding Peronism. The hard-line group was dubbed colorados ("the purples"), and the "legalist" - against an indiscriminate ban - azules ("the blues").Potash, pp. 501-504In September 1962, the army's commander in chief and the Ministry of Defence were controlled by the colorados. An internal uprising started inside the army on September 18, when the azules, led by General Onganía defied the central authority. President José María Guido remained neutral. On 20 September, the units involved marched to the capital. One of these was a 30 Sherman tanks strong column departed from their base at Magdalena, south east of La Plata. The Commander-in-Chief set up a roadblock near Florencio Varela, a city in the midway between Buenos Aires and La Plata.Excerpts from Yo fuí testigo magazine, 1986 A GADA's detachment, under the command of Major Merbilháa, was called to duty to reinforce the position with their Bofors 40 mm guns.Castello, antonio emilio (1986). La democracia inestable, 1962-1966: 1a pt. El calvario de un presidente. BPR Publishers, p. 125. The half-hearted engagement began at mid-morning when a reconnaissance plane was scared off by anti-aircraft fire.Azules y Colorados: Diferencias Internas, Enfrentamientos Públicos Anuario del Instituto Argentino de Historia, 2004, nº 4, pp. 217-233 The post was eventually overpassed by the armoured column, but according to Colonel Federico de la Fuente, the group commander, the 40 mm guns disabled between 4 and 5 Shermans.La Capital newspaper, 21 September 1962 Historian Félix Luna, instead, suggests the loss of only two tanks.Luna, Félix (1988). 500 años de Historia Argentina: La Inestabilidad constitucional. Editorial Abril, p. 44 and 47 During a previous action, a patrol of scouts had been captured by members of the GADA.United Press International, 20 September 1962 After a full day of clashes, the crisis ended with the dismissal Commander in Chief and the Minister of Defence when the armoured forces reached Buenos Aires. Onganía claimed victory for the azules and their "constitutional" point of view. However, he would take the presidential seat from president Arturo Illia by a coup d'état in 1966.Excerpts from Yo fuí testigo magazine, 1986
1970–1978: The Dirty War. Amid leftist violence and social unrest, the military engaged in indiscriminate repression along this period. The first significant GADA activity was the deployment, in 1975, of a full battery of light anti-aircraft guns in Tucumán province, which by the time was the scenario of a rough counterinsurgency campaign against the ERP. The guns were intended to deal with the alleged presence of a helicopter Hiller 1100 stolen by the guerrillas from a Government-owned company.Burzaco, p. 99 The conflict struck home on 11 February 1976, when a splinter organisation of the ERP ambushed and killed GADA's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Rafael Raúl Reyes, in Mar del Plata's downtown.Díaz Bessone, p. 343 A few weeks later, the military overthrew the government of Isabel Perón. The coup gave them the full control of the country and established a military dictatorship. The group, along with special intelligence officers, mounted operations not only against militants, but also against those ideologically affiliated to them. These illegal arrests were carried out with the collaboration of the Air Force, which built a clandestine detention facility near the city's airport, dubbed La Cueva (The Cave). Most of these detainees became missing or desaparecidos.CONADEP report One of the intelligence officers involving in these activities, Captain Fernando Cativa Tolosa, was killed in a shoot-out with militants on 8 October 1976. In 2008, former GADA commander Colonel Pedro Barda was indicted over human right abuses and eventually sentenced to life in prison.ADUM website Barda died in Buenos Aires in August 2011.Murió el represor Pedro Barda La Capital, 20 August 2011 A psychologist, Marta García de Candeloro, later testified against Barda and described how she and her husband, attorney Jorge Candeloro, were arrested at their house in the province of Neuquén and transferred to the anti-aircraft unit where her husband along with five other attorneys from Mar del Plata were detained and last seen alive on 6 July 1977, in what later became known as "The Night of the Neckties" (La noche de las corbatas)".Truth and Partial Justice in Argentina, Juan E. Méndez, p. 31, Human Rights Watch, 1987
Crisis with Chile (1978)
A dispute over the islands of the Beagle Channel prompted a conflict with Chile in 1978. On 12 December, the bulk of the GADA was deployed in northern Patagonia. The Grupo de Artillería de Defensa Aérea Mixto 602, in charge of the Tigercat missiles were moved by railway to the town of Río Colorado, close to the river of the same name, in Río Negro province. Meanwhile, the remainder of the force continued the trip further west, to the city of Zapala, in Neuquen province. The troops then marched to the buildup area near Plaza Huincul. The group established three outposts along the rivers Colorado and Limay in order to provide AAA defence to key bridges. After a diplomatic breakthrough achieved by the Vatican envoy, Cardinal Antonio Samoré, the GADA came back to Mar del Plata on 30 January 1979.
Falklands War (1982) Just before the start of the crisis that would lead to the Falklands War, the army group was reinforced when an Argentine Air Force detachment, the Grupo 1 de Artillería Antiaérea (1st Group of Antiaircraft Artillery) was transferred from Tandil to Mar del Plata in October 1981. The Air Force group was reinforced with personnel from Río Gallegos. Both forces would operate together during the conflict in the defence of Stanley airport, renamed BAM Malvinas by the Argentine Air Force and Goose Green airstrip, designated BAM Cóndor (Cóndor Military Air Base).
GADA 601 was mobilised to Comodoro Rivadavia, along the Patagonian coast, on 12 April. The equipment was loaded at the naval base of Mar del Plata on board the cargo ship Córdoba, bound for Puerto Deseado. As the ship was damaged whilst at anchor, the artillery, missiles systems and vehicles were airlifted to Comodoro Rivadavia. A battery comprising a Roland-2 missile unit, a Skyguard radar and two 35 mm Oerlikon twin cannons was left behind to provide air defence for the mainland air bases of Puerto San Julián and Río Gallegos. The remainder of the troops and their materiel finally crossed to the Islands by air between 12 April and 24 April.Rodríguez Mottino, p. 56