Best Argentine Falklands Strategy

POD has to occur after April 2nd 1982 (so Argentina has bungled into this as OTL and there is no chance to pre buy military equipment)

I was thinking something along the lines of:
1) Be careful with airforce / naval attrition. Keep the argentine navy in port and the air force on base until the British actually land somewhere, then commit everything.

2) Keep a force only half the size as OTL, keeping the best quality forces you have.

3) Only bother defending Port Stanley and Stanley airfield only.
 
The junta executes the ringleaders of the stupid conspiracy, why did that small group of low level navel officers attack the UK ? General apologies (without admitting guilt or that the islands are anything but Argentinian !).

:p but seriously this is the best they can do.

JSB
 

SunDeep

Banned
POD has to occur after April 2nd 1982 (so Argentina has bungled into this as OTL and there is no chance to pre buy military equipment)

I was thinking something along the lines of:
1) Be careful with airforce / naval attrition. Keep the argentine navy in port and the air force on base until the British actually land somewhere, then commit everything.

2) Keep a force only half the size as OTL, keeping the best quality forces you have.

3) Only bother defending Port Stanley and Stanley airfield only.

How about 1) Flood the Islas Malvinas with Argentinian immigrants (impromptu penal colony?), and force all of the Falklanders off the islands ASAP, by force if necessary (massacring them would work better, but suggesting that they do so would be in poor taste). Argentina still loses the war, but the demographic shift is profound enough to be irreversible, leading to a majority population which favors either independence or integration with Argentina. Eventually, outbreaks of seccessionist violence force the British to hold a referendum a couple of decades down the line, and the Islas Malvinas vote to break away from the UK (either as an independent nation, essentially a puppet state of Argentina, or ceding their authority to the Argentians and being annexed by them shortly afterward).
 
I think if Argentina settles people post invasion like that and Britain recovers the islands soon after as per OTL, Britain would just deport the lot as they would be illegal migrants.
 
POD has to occur after April 2nd 1982 (so Argentina has bungled into this as OTL and there is no chance to pre buy military equipment)

I was thinking something along the lines of:
1) Be careful with airforce / naval attrition. Keep the argentine navy in port and the air force on base until the British actually land somewhere, then commit everything.

2) Keep a force only half the size as OTL, keeping the best quality forces you have.

3) Only bother defending Port Stanley and Stanley airfield only.

Strip weapons from ported warships to create coastal defenses in the Falklands. Deploy some submarines in close to the islands to create a layered defence between coastal guns/missiles and submarines.
 
How about 1) Flood the Islas Malvinas with Argentinian immigrants (impromptu penal colony?), and force all of the Falklanders off the islands ASAP, by force if necessary (massacring them would work better, but suggesting that they do so would be in poor taste). Argentina still loses the war, but the demographic shift is profound enough to be irreversible, leading to a majority population which favors either independence or integration with Argentina. Eventually, outbreaks of seccessionist violence force the British to hold a referendum a couple of decades down the line, and the Islas Malvinas vote to break away from the UK (either as an independent nation, essentially a puppet state of Argentina, or ceding their authority to the Argentians and being annexed by them shortly afterward).
I think in this situation - effectively genocide - there would be an international outcry, with Britain bombing the Argentine mainland via Chile within days.
 
Stop invading, encourage immigration, Mexico style.

That's a little bit offensive. You could equally call it 'Texas style'. Or to avoid racial stereotyping, 'population movement'.

I think if Argentina settles people post invasion like that and Britain recovers the islands soon after as per OTL, Britain would just deport the lot as they would be illegal migrants.

Not if they came over legally. There is no reason a few thousand Argentinians couldn't follow the legal procedures to become legal residents of the UK and live on the Falklands.

They could do it right now if they wanted. Yes it would take a lot of work and careful moving to avoid the UK crying foul, but if a large number of rich individuals relocate to the Falklands through the legal channels there isn't a damn thing the UK could do about it.

They don't because, like so much in life, those that CAN do something WON'T do something because it will come out of their own pocket. There aren't that many who complain about the Falklands who would be willing to put their hard cash into getting back, especially if they consider it rightfully theirs without having to pay for it.
 
That's a little bit offensive. You could equally call it 'Texas style'. Or to avoid racial stereotyping, 'population movement'.



Not if they came over legally. There is no reason a few thousand Argentinians couldn't follow the legal procedures to become legal residents of the UK and live on the Falklands.

They could do it right now if they wanted. Yes it would take a lot of work and careful moving to avoid the UK crying foul, but if a large number of rich individuals relocate to the Falklands through the legal channels there isn't a damn thing the UK could do about it.

They don't because, like so much in life, those that CAN do something WON'T do something because it will come out of their own pocket. There aren't that many who complain about the Falklands who would be willing to put their hard cash into getting back, especially if they consider it rightfully theirs without having to pay for it.

British citizens do not have automatic right of settlement in the Falklands. I don't really know how the Falklands makes decisions on residency applications but I suspect they might pick up on a lot of people born in Argentina applying either via the UK or from any other countries.
 
Strip weapons from ported warships to create coastal defenses in the Falklands. Deploy some submarines in close to the islands to create a layered defence between coastal guns/missiles and submarines.

Thata a good idea. The surface warships were pretty worthless with British subs around.

I wonder if the Argentinians could just beach the cruiser General Belgrano at Stanley (i.e. like Canopus in 1914).

Its a decent aramament for local defence:

15 × 6"/47 cal (152 mm)
8 × 5"/25 cal (127 mm) AA
40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns

2 British Sea Cat missile AA systems (added 1968)
 
I think with a pod on 2nd you cant do anything but lose the war cheaply and then accept that you cant get the island. (and that the junta is finished)

Moving population after the 2nd is a no go all you might to is get the British really angry.
(anybody who suggests massacring people from a nuclear armed member of the SC P5 is in for some serious trouble) and you cant just smuggle people into a nearly uninhabited island a long way from south America.

JSB
 

LordKalvert

Banned
The major problem for the Argentines is that they attack prematurely but given a departure date of after the invasion their kind of fucked. They actually fight a very professional war given their resources.

The Air Force would have done better to concentrate more on the supply ships than the warships and better fuses on their bombs.

Give them six months and they should be able to easily win the war
 
Historically the Argentine people have shown little relative interest in colder climates. At least as of 1982 50% of their population lived within 30 miles of Buenos Aires. Said population being 50% Hispanic and 40% Italian. Now I don't know if that means they prefer warmer climates or not, but if you can't get them to significantly settle in Southern Argentina it seems to me that settling in the Falklands is a remote prospect. So too if the Kelpers are mistreated or worse that would be a strong deterrent against any Argentine wanting to move to the Falklands, as they would be the ones to face the music when the RN turns the area into a war zone.
 
How about if the argentines focus on attacking the British Aircraft Carriers. They only had 2 small AC's and the loss of one would have seriously hampered the retaking of the island.

So perhaps in the Argentine Navy and Air Force launched a concentrated attack with the goal of sinking at least 1 of the 2 carriers and succeed they could force the British to the negotiation table.
 
How about if the argentines focus on attacking the British Aircraft Carriers. They only had 2 small AC's and the loss of one would have seriously hampered the retaking of the island.

So perhaps in the Argentine Navy and Air Force launched a concentrated attack with the goal of sinking at least 1 of the 2 carriers and succeed they could force the British to the negotiation table.

Of course they were the biggest target, but the Argentines lacked the satellite coverage or AWACS to find them and live to tell about it.

According to the Argentines, one of their West German made submarines DID make an attack run on the Invincible, only to have their torpedoes turn around and almost sink their boat! The Germans stated that since the subs and their torps were 10 years old without German technical experts keeping them in sound working order, they couldn't vouch for their workability.
 
The Air Force would have done better to concentrate more on the supply ships than the warships and better fuses on their bombs.
IIRC the fuses themselves weren't the problem. The issue was that, in order to avoid British SAM, they flew below the minimum prescribed safe altitude for conventional bombing. The only way to deal with this would've been hotwiring the fuses and hoping the blast doesn't throw too much shrapnel back at the plane. The Argentinian Airforce, however, was not sufficiently desperate/bloodfrenzied to attempt such semi-kamikaze tactics.
 
Thata a good idea. The surface warships were pretty worthless with British subs around.

I wonder if the Argentinians could just beach the cruiser General Belgrano at Stanley (i.e. like Canopus in 1914).

Its a decent aramament for local defence:

15 × 6"/47 cal (152 mm)
8 × 5"/25 cal (127 mm) AA
40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns

2 British Sea Cat missile AA systems (added 1968)

Not just the guns. The Type 42's and Drummond Class Corvettes appear to have had Exocet missiles - yank them off the ships and set them up on trucks. These classes also had torpedoes - yank them off and set them up either as shore batteries or aboard PT boat type craft.

The Type 42's (or Corvettes) might have been put in Port Stanley harbor for AAW defence.
 
The major problem for the Argentines is that.....
Give them six months and they should be able to easily win the war

That they cant win, only make the UK do more until it eventually wins, once the sides are fighting then the UK cant back down without gaining something (minimum = Falkland's) or it risks somebody else trying it gain in 6 months somewhere else.

So the UK has to fight on till it wins (and it will its much richer and has a large defence industry and eventually Nato + Nukes).

JSB
 
How about 1) Flood the Islas Malvinas with Argentinian immigrants (impromptu penal colony?), and force all of the Falklanders off the islands ASAP, by force if necessary (massacring them would work better, but suggesting that they do so would be in poor taste). Argentina still loses the war, but the demographic shift is profound enough to be irreversible, leading to a majority population which favors either independence or integration with Argentina. Eventually, outbreaks of seccessionist violence force the British to hold a referendum a couple of decades down the line, and the Islas Malvinas vote to break away from the UK (either as an independent nation, essentially a puppet state of Argentina, or ceding their authority to the Argentians and being annexed by them shortly afterward).

Please note that the last nation that massacred British civilians in such numbers had their Major towns and all of their cities burned to ground in retaliation.

Also while a certain cross section of the Argentine Military were capable of some horrific acts agaisnt their own people most of them and quite frankly most if not all of the rest of the Argentine Military would not commit Genecide agaisnt the Kelpers (there where and are major links between the Argentine Elite and the UK as well).

And as soon as the islands were retaken the non indigs would be ejected along with the POWs.
 
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