"Mission, recover the Falklands": Operation Rosario and the timeline of the April 2, 1982 landing

It was called "Operation Rosario" in homage to the Virgin. The three commanders of the military junta of the de facto general government Leopoldo Galtieriadmiral Isaac Anaya and brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo They determined the mission: recover the Falkland Islands, hoist the national flag, leave only one fighting unit and negotiate with Britain. He was named, the rear-admiral Carlos Büsser as the head of the military operation.

The landing of 2 April 1982 was an action implemented a few days earlier.

Landing at Georgias Islands Buen Suceso Bay with 41 workers to perform dismantling tasks. The lifting of a small Argentine flag is produced. Four men from the British Antarctic Survey, require that he be lowered, that they reload the material landed on the ship and go to the capital of Georgias, Grytviken, to request permission to disembark. The flag is down.

The governor of the islands Rex Hunt, informs London that a group of civilians and soldiers arrived in Port Leith, raised the Argentine flag and fired shots. He said the Argentine Navy had used the scrap to cover its presence on the island. The British ambbadador in Buenos Aires asks the Argentine government to remove the landed people and the warship, otherwise the appropriate measures would be taken. Argentina responds that the Bahía Buen Suceso ship was not war but transport, and that it would leave Leith on the 21st, at the end of its unloading, and that it was not There was also no military.

The ARA Bahia Buen Suceso starts and the workers who continue their tasks remain. Malvinas Claw, the ship HMS Endurance, with 22 marines on board.

The British press describes the actions as a "Argentine invasion of georgias". The Argentine government manages to clarify the situation and the ambbadador from England declares that the incident was already over.

Two English atomic ships are located near the Malvinas Islands. London orders expelling island workers with the use of HMS Endurance and also declares sending new warships into the South Atlantic. Argentina sends to ARA Bahía Paraíso, to protect civilians.

Ambbadador Williams warned the Argentine authorities that the workers "should go to Grytviken to seal their pbadports". The Argentine Chancellor Nicanor Costa Méndez he replied that it was not necessary because they had their respective "carte blanche" and that the workers would not be retired.

Sail from Leith Bay Paradise, leaving 14 Argentine soldiers armed only with rifles to protect the workers.

The commander of the theater of operations of Malvinas, general Osvaldo Jorge García, gives the order to execute the recovery plan. D-Day would be April 1st.

First, the landing fleet. Then the war would do it in Puerto Belgrano. Simulate naval exercises.

The English intelligence warns Governor Rex Hunt of Argentine plans. The United States has also put Britain on the alert. The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher He commanded the fleet that was in Gibraltar.

At 12:57, the shipping fleet folds heading north of the Falklands.

Due to bad weather, the landing is postponed to day 2 at 6 o'clock.

At night, amphibious commandos – who came into the Frigate of the Holy Trinity– land south of Puerto Argentino.

From the submarine Santa Fe, 10 tactical divers travel to the lighthouse of San Felipe, east of the capital of the island. They disconnect an electric alarm that connects to the English barracks.

From Gibraltar, part of the British submarine Splendid

Friday. A group of amphibious commands, commanded by Captain Corvette Guillermo Sánchez Sabarotshe goes to Moody Brook, seat of the English children; the barracks were deserted, the British already stationed to defend the city.

Another group, commanded by Captain Corvette Pedro Giacchino His mission is to go to the governor to demand his surrender.

During, at 6:20 am, they begin to disembark of Cabo San Antonio, amphibious vehicles, one every 30 seconds. The same goes for the troops of the 25th Infantry Regiment and the Marines. Some go to the airport. They find the track full of obstacles. Others went to the lighthouse, which was already extinguished.

At 6:30 Giacchino, with the order not to make casualties at the enemyhe surrounds the governor's house, which refuses to fix his attitude. Giacchino decides to enter alone into the house and is shot down by a burst of machine gun. His second, the lieutenant of frigate Diego Garcia Quiroga He is also injured when he helps, as well as the first corporal Ernesto Urbina, nursewho had gone to save both.

The island's governor, aware of his surroundings, negotiates his surrender with Carlos Büsser. "Intimate to leave the islands", said Hunt. "We landed in 1833. Surrender."replied the rear admiral.

The badignment comes into effect at 9:30.. The Argentine photographer, Rafael Wollmann, who was on the islands more than a week ago, is the one who took the first pictures of British soldiers with arms raised.

The commander of the theater of operations, Major General Osvaldo Garcia, takes over the islands and at noon the Argentine flag is officially raised on the mast in front of the governor's post.

Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, the news of the recovery has spread.

The post of Malvinas is created and the British army and the governor of the colony leave for Montevideo 149 years of British occupation ended and a 74-day war began.