The occupation of the Falkland Islands, which had also included South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands( "Military Administration of the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands") was the short-lived Argentine occupation of a group of British islands in the South Atlantic whose sovereignty is disputed by Argentina.
Until their invasion on 2 April 1982 by the Argentine military junta, they had been governed by the United Kingdom since it re-established control over them in 1833. The invasion and subsequent occupation signalled the start of the Falklands War, which resulted in the islands' returning to British control on 14 June 1982.
Background
The Falkland Islands () had been under British administration since January 1833, when the United Kingdom re-established sovereignty over the islands which, at that time, housed an Argentine settlement. Argentina has claimed the Falklands as part of its territory ever since.
The UK first claimed South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in 1843, and incorporated them as Falkland Islands Dependencies in 1908. The Argentine Fishing Company had an operation on South Georgia in the early 20th century, and Argentina had claimed sovereignty over South Georgia since 1927 and the South Sandwich Islands since 1938. In November 1976, Argentina landed and occupied the uninhabited island of Southern Thule in the South Sandwich group, which had been in a British possession since the 18th century.
Establishment
In the early hours of 2 April 1982, in the wake of violent anti-government riots in Buenos Aires, the military junta, which ruled Argentina, launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands. Faced with overwhelming Argentine force, Rex Hunt (British Governor of the Islands) surrendered to Admiral Carlos Büsser (the Argentine amphibious force commander) at 9:15 am. The next day, Argentina sent troops to capture and occupy South Georgia and the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands.
Argentina had claimed the islands were part of the then federal territory of Tierra del Fuego and South Atlantic islands. On 3 April 1982, the junta issued a decree which separated the islands from the jurisdiction of Tierra del Fuego and named Brigadier General Mario Menéndez as the 'Military Governor of the Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands'.
Administration Office of the Military Governor: Brigadier General Mario Benjamín Menéndez- Governor / Chief of the Military Administration (2 April 1982 - 14 June 1982) Chiefs and Senior Officials under the Governor: Brigadier Ernesto Crespo — Air Force representative; commander of Argentine Air Component Rear Admiral Jorge Allara — Navy representative General Osvaldo García — Army representative Colonel Ignacio Guillermo Canevaro — Chief of Staff, Malvinas Garrison Colonel Juan Ramón Mabragaña — Secretary-General of the Military Administration Colonel Carlos Alberto Quevedo — Chief of Intelligence Colonel Omar Edgardo Parada — Director of Civil Affairs Colonel Antonio Soria — Chief of Logistics Commodore Luis María Zerbino — Air Force liaison officer
74 days of occupation
On the first day of the occupation, Governor Hunt and officials from the Foreign Office were removed from the islands by the Argentine forces and sent to Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentine troops took over control of the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Studio when Patrick Watts was live on air. Rodney Hutchings, a former school-teacher from Britain that had only recently settled in Teal Inlet with his wife and son, recalls the sudden influx of Stanley residents seeking refuge in the settlement:
Argentina used Spanish while on the islands, including the use of Puerto Argentino, the Argentine name for Port Stanley. Vehicles were told to drive on the right, with painted arrows on the road indicating the direction of traffic. Street signs and traffic signs were changed accordingly, including the use of the metric system. The Argentinian captain Barry Melbourne Hussey, who was chosen for a position in the administration due to his knowledge and experience of English, asserted safety as a major concern, during discussions with the Falkland Islanders: "Which would you prefer, that our eighteen-year-old conscripts, with their big lorries, should try to drive on the left, or that you, with your little vehicles, change to the right?".Middlebrook, p.44
Outside of Stanley, most roads were single track anyway and some islanders refused to observe the new rule and continued to drive on the left. Other acts of civil disobedience included Reg Silvey (lighthouse keeper and ham radio enthusiast) broadcasting clandestine radio messages throughout the occupation.
The restrictions imposed by the military government became steadily worse – identification papers, curfews, compulsory blackouts, confiscation of radios and cameras, requisitioning of Land-Rover 4x4 vehicles and soldiers breaking into abandoned houses to steal furniture to use as firewood. Throughout the occupation, Phil Middleton and Steve Whitley would visit the abandoned houses to make sure they were not being vandalized but would also use these inspections as a cover to photograph Argentine positions.
According to Port Stanley resident John Pole Evans, Argentine Air Force Pucarás conducted napalm bombings on 21 April near Stanley as a show of force that coincided with General Cristino Nicolaides's"Cabe acotar que justo antes de la visita de los Comandantes fue a la isla el general Nicolaides y pasó la noche allí. Fue a visitar la Brigada de Infantería Mecanizada X perteneciente al Cuerpo de Ejército a su mando, y conversó con el general Jofre y conmigo. Visitó las unidades en sus emplazamientos, conversó con los jefes, etcétera." "Malvinas: Testimonio de Su Gobernador, Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Carlos M. Túrolo", Page 100, Editorial Sudamericana, 1983 visit as commander of the Argentine Army's 1st Corps that included the 10th Infantry dug around the Falklands capital: "We knew what sort of damage they could do, because during April whilst we were still in our homes, they'd bombed the Tussac Island in the harbour with napalm and it burned for a couple of days. This was like a warning of what they were capable of—that they could destroy the settlement if they wanted to. For them it was probably just some sort of target practice."Hugh McManners, Forgotten Voices of the Falklands: The Real Story of the Falklands War, Random House, 2008"This afternoon the Pucaras again bombed the Tussac Islands in Port William. Savage flames cover the ground while a huge pall of dense smoke rises hundreds of feet into the air. God knows what all this is doing to the wildlife out there. It is being said, though it is difficult to find evidence to support it, that the Argentine dead still being recovered from the invasion, and the deaths from exposure, are being put on the islands so that no trace remains of their losses, which during the invasion period were far heavier than admitted." 74 Days: An Islander's Diary of the Falklands Occupation, John Smith, p. 83, Century, 1984
Residents considered critical of the Argentines were expelled from the islands. This included Bill Luxton whose family had been resident in the Falklands since the 1840s and the editor of the Falkland Islands Times David Colville. This proved embarrassing in the international press and so 14 residents of Stanley considered to be potential troublemakers were imprisoned and were sent to Fox Bay East and placed under house arrest.
On 1 May, a Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber from Ascension Island attacked the airbase at Port Stanley before dawn. Royal Navy Sea Harriers attacked Port Stanley and Goose Green airbases at dawn. The bombing led to the Argentines authorities and local civilians organising civil defence in the Falklands capital and several robust houses were designated Defensa Aerea Pasiva (Air Raid Shelters)."The bombing led to the Argentines and local representatives organising civil defence in Stanley and several robust houses were designated Defensa Aerea Pasiva (Passive Air Defence) shelters".The Unseen Falklands War, Nick Van Der Bijl, p. ?, Amberley Publishing Limited, 2022
During the occupation, 114 inhabitants of Goose Green were imprisoned in the social hall until released by the British following the Battle of Goose Green. Lieutenant-Colonel Ítalo Piaggi, the Commanding Officer of the Argentine 12th Infantry Regiment, claimed that the lockdown in Goose Green was to protect the locals from attack by enraged Argentine Air Force personnel following the 1 May Sea Harrier strike.Experiences of the 1982 Falkands War
According to local farm manager Eric Goss:
According to Brook Hardcastle, the general manager of the Falkland Island Company (FIC) based at Goose Green:
On 4 May the British destroyer HMS Sheffield was hit by air-launched Exocet missile south-east of Falklands and a Sea Harrier was shot down over Goose Green. Eric Goss remembers the shocking news that day and having to intervene to save a local from potential harm:
On 6 May, Major Alberto Frontera (second-in-command 12th Regiment) in the presence of the civil affairs officer Captain Arnaldo Sanchez and the Regimental Medical Officer, Senior Lieutenant Juan Carlos Adjigogovich, visited the social hall to ensure the confined senior citizens, Mr and Mrs Anderson and Mr and Mrs Fynleyson, were managing under the circumstances.El Mayor Frontera, el Capitán Sanchez y el Teniente Primero Médico Adjigogovic ejecutan una revista personalizada de los ancianos de la población kelper. Se comprueba que la familia Anderson (el esposo 82 años, la mujer 78) y la familia Fynleyson (79 y 78 años) se encuentran en perfectas condiciones psicofísicas. Ganso Verde, Italo Angel Piaggi, p. 54, Sudamericana/Planeta, 1986
The Regimental Medical Officer and an air force medical officer, First Lieutenant Fernando Miranda-Abós regularly visited the social hall with Adjigogovich reporting, "We set up the clinic in one of the local houses. We tried to have a good relationship with them but they looked at us with suspicion. There was a daily medical review and every time they needed a doctor they were attended. I don't know how they managed before we arrived, because they called us quite often, practically every day, for whatever reason."Armamos la enfermeria en una de las casas del pueblo. Nosotros tratabamos de tener buen trato con ellos pero nos miraban con desconfianza. Se hacía revista médica díaria y cada vez que necesitaban médico se los atendía. No sé cómo harían antes de que llegáramos nosotros, porque nos llamaban bastante seguido, prácticamente todos los días, por cualquier motivó. Partes de Guerra, Graciela Speranza, Fernando Cittadini, p. 42, Editorial Norma, 1997 The medical officer in the book Partes de GuerraGraciela Speranza, Fernando Cittadini, p. 42, Editorial Norma, 1997 also describes how the infrastructure of Goose Green broke under the strain of accommodating nearly 1,000 soldiers and local civilians and the British air attacks and naval bombardments that followed.