AHC: Defend the Falklands

[Riain]

IOTL the Argentine planners for Operation Rosario were told to capture the Falkland Islands but not to defend them. Your challenge is alongside planning to capture them planning be undertaken to defend them. The parameters are:

1. Planning begins on December 15 1981 for an operation to occur in about January 1983, the 150th anniversary of British sovereignty over the islands.
2. Planning remains Top Secret in it's early stages; eg 3 Navy, 1 Army, 1 FAA senior officers (the Foreign Minister did not know in Jan 82) consistent with #1
3. The Scrap Metal Merchant incident must occur on schedule March 19 1982 and trigger Operation Rosario on March 25 to occur April 1 1982
4. Only materiel available in Argentina can be used, or procured consistent with #1, #2, & #3
5. The British respond as per OTL timetable and close to OTL strength and forces

I only have a few disparate ideas on this, I'll be interested to see what comes up.

 

[overoceans]

@Riain

Prior to reading your post, I did not know about the Scrap Metal Merchant Incident. That's some crazy-assed shit.

Thanks!

 

[Spencersj345.346]

My brilliant plan is simple. Sell my services to the British. Arrange for the air launched exocets to go boom along with the only two refueling tankers Argentina has. Steal as much of the public purse as possible. Flee the country. Enjoy a nice retirement in the Bahamas or on the Mediterranean Coast of France. Profit

 

[kham_coc]

The solution is to do nothing.
Why?
Because the falklands were rapidly moving towards unviability as a 'state' before the invasion the islands population was something like 1500 people, and it was dropping.
All the argentinians had to do was wait.
For the defense, buy more exocets before the war and use them better.

 

[Alanith]

Wait. A few more months down the line, and the British will oh so helpfully divest themselves of much of what they need to successfully take the islands back, and will have no choice but to gratefully accept the status quo. Well either that or they'll come to the Americans begging for help, in which case literally nothing I can do will stop a CVBG,

 

[Sanderford]

The problem with those who say "just wait" like it's that simple is it may not be possible. Argentina was having domestic issues, and Galtieri's popularity was very low and going into the basement. If you or I were in charge of Rosario we may not have the luxury of time.

If given such a luxury, or some more advance notice of the Junta's intentions, I would say have the Air Force train and equip for maritime strike operations. Sir John may find life harder if faced by an enemy air force which is both armed with the tools needed to sink his ships, and trained in their proper use.

I would further instruct the Navy to put full effort into bringing all submarines into operational readiness. I know at least one was beyond saving, and so all resources being used in her operations would be redirected to the others.

I would have some of the Army's reserve units cyclically mobilized for refresher training and security purposes, to prepare a corps of decently prepared soldiers to hold the lines in Argentina proper while some of the more professional leading edge units are tasked for the invasion task force.

This is just me talking out of my layman ass at 6 AM after not sleeping all night.

 

[Crowbar Six]

Wait. A few more months down the line, and the British will oh so helpfully divest themselves of much of what they need to successfully take the islands back, and will have no choice but to gratefully accept the status quo. Well either that or they'll come to the Americans begging for help, in which case literally nothing I can do will stop a CVBG,

Actually, more likely the UK borrows a LHA from the US to put it's Harriers on.

The Navy would freak about the Airforce training for anti-ship as it could easily be them getting ready to stab them in the back. The Junta was a very low trust group of individuals.

 

[MKD]

Sink one or both of the RN aircraft carriers by whatever means as quickly as possible. I would throw away my carrier and its air wing and my battleship to do that. The rest is noise

 

[RamscoopRaider]

Buy an old tramp freighter and have it play Lloyds Looper in the South Atlantic until the war starts, then it goes to Ascension and lays a bunch of obsolete sea mines until it gets caught, or runs out, at which point it either surrenders or steams away. Until minesweepers arrive Ascension cannot be used as a base for the Task force, so you buy enough time for winter to start and diplomatic efforts to bear fruit. You also provide a subtle reminder to the British that if you can do this to Ascension, you may be able to do this elsewhere, after all tramp freighters and obsolete sea mines are very cheap, yes?

Doing the same to Portsmouth and Gibraltar is a possibility, but is more likely to escalate the situation

 

[tomo pauk]

The thread starter's idea is probably that Argentinian attack unfolds in any case, on a historical timetable.

The plan must include an urgent shipping of mechanization, so the extension of the Port Stanley airport is undertaken ASAP. This is where the best part of anti-shipping strikes must start from, and it will be far easier for C-130s to land with supplies. The airport will be a no.1 priority for the British to attack, so defend it well with AA missiles and guns. Don't forget the dispersal 'chambers' around the airport, having the wooden decoys would've been nice to have.
Don't bother with Pucarras at Falklands, send the A-4s and Super Etandards there, with jet trainers as a reserve. Install the Exocets on trucks, ship them to Falklands to greet any British ship that comes in vicinity. All pilots flying the A-4s and S. Etandards need to be trained for air combat, so their 1st instict when hearing 'Harriers, Harriers' on the radio is not to disperse, but to gang up against the said Harriers.
Navy needs to be used as a fist, not as fingers. In other words, don't litter the south Atlantic with ships, but form a single fleet and clash with the RN when opportunity arises.
Army - send the seasoned units in the Falklands, not the recruits. More artillery will be needed, both for indirect and direct fire.

 

[tomo pauk]

Actually, let's not discount the Pucraras yet. One was modified in 1982 to test-fire the Mk 13 torpedo of ww2 vintage, but too late to take part in the war. (link) Have them this time be modified in a timely manner, and used in concert with bomb-toting jets, would've made life... interesting aboard the RN ships. Pucaras can be also used from grass strips.
Now that we're at the bombs - test them, modify what is faulty, and train the crews in using them. No need to put the pilots and aircraft in the line, just to discover the bombs don't work.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Use rockets instead of bombs

Much more likely to inflict damage to a modern warship and a mission killed warship is as good as a sunk one as far as the British task force is concerned

Also easier to hit with

Might also benefit from some more KC130s - they only had 2 which limited strikes to 4 and possible 8 aircraft - which only just overstretched the Harrier CAP (usually 2 SHARS with 2 Sidewinders each) - 16 planes at the same time would have totally overwhelmed it.

Artillery - actually bring some!

They had OTO-Melara MOD 56 105mm pack howitzers (10 KM range) as well as some 155mm howitzers (4 I believe with up to a 20 km range) but the British bought 24 odd 105mm L118s (M119s in the US Armed forces with a 20 km range) light guns which significantly outranged them and manned as they were by the Royal Artillery significantly out classed them as well.

So Bring in more of the 155s

Not sure what the answer is to the RNs 4.5" NGS - they had a much superior range of over 25 kms

Maybe an earlier use of MM38 Exocet taken from unserviceable ships - launched from trailers as a 'shore battery'

Use the better regiments (battalions) in the Army and the Marines - OTL they kept a number of Mountain warfare trained and better equipped Regiments on the mainland in case of Chilean adventurism - and many of the Regiments used in the Falklands hailed from the parts of Argentina with 'milder climates' - with many of the troops not even having backpacks but Kitbags and woefully lacking in suitable equipment FFS - this was a mistake on their part.

The biggest problem is the mental attitude to the campaign by the Argentine leadership

The Argentine leadership believed that they were pulling a 'Goa' and that the British (who had not fought in a war since WW2 and were led by a weak woman*) and international community would not contest the invasion.

The issue was that Britain had fought plenty of wars and the weak woman was Thatcher and unlike Portugal (who was politically isolated when India invaded Goa) Britian had lots and lots of friends.

*I shit you not - they (and being Military men you would have thought that they would know better) said this to Alexander Haig's face as he was trying to reach a peaceful conclusion - it was pretty much after that that Reagans Government fully backed the British concluding that those Bozos in Buenos Aires were crazier than a shit house rat!

I think a better strategy for Argentina - would have been to have invaded, changed all the road names, taken lots of photos and once it became clear that the British were serious about retaking the place, laconically shrug and agree to pull out at the 11th hour 'having tweaked the lions tale' and thumbed their noses at the USA as well as shitting in every house (don't look at me like that apparently its an act of defiance thing down there - and happened OTL after they surrendered and on the ships that took the POWs back to Argentina).

This I am reliably informed this would have gone down a storm and would have been seen as a victory in its own rights by the people of Argentina and might very well have given the Junta those extra years they were looking for.

 

[Hammerbolt]

Plant a couple dozen Mirage IIIC on the island, along with the Super Etendards set to carry Exocets ; run CAPs all day. The harriers would be quickly overwhelmed, and there would be the serious possibility of scoring hits on the carriers. And, with Mirages parked on the island, running CAPs, Vulcan might very well be curtailed.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Plant a couple dozen Mirage IIIC on the island, along with the Super Etendards set to carry Exocets ; run CAPs all day. The harriers would be quickly overwhelmed, and there would be the serious possibility of scoring hits on the carriers. And, with Mirages parked on the island, running CAPs, Vulcan might very well be curtailed.

I believe that the runway was too short to operate fast jets reliably and safely.

And I think they only had 17 Mirage IIIC of the 8th Air Brigade in total and this aircraft represented their primary Air Defence fighter (alongside the 30 or so Daggers) so had to be retained to also defend against Chilean adventurism and once Vulcans show the ability to reach the Falklands this also means they can reach most of Argentina!

 

[Hammerbolt]

I believe that the runway was too short to operate fast jets reliably and safely.

And I think they only had 17 Mirage IIIC of the 8th Air Brigade in total and this aircraft represented their primary Air Defence fighter (alongside the 30 or so Daggers) so had to be retained to also defend against Chilean adventurism and once Vulcans show the ability to reach the Falklands this also means they can reach most of Argentina!

Yes, they'd have to rapidly expand the runway, by flying in the engineers and materials required to do the work. The ground troops allready there would provide any unskilled heavy labour required. As for the Mirage, with them there the Vulcans would not be able to safely operate. As for Chile... well, from afar a Dagger and a IIIC are virtually identical, so some running caps along the Chilean border could run a bluff.

The whole thing would be expensive and risky to the point of insanity, but then again, so is the whole invasion...

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Yes, they'd have to rapidly expand the runway, by flying in the engineers and materials required to do the work. The ground troops allready there would provide any unskilled heavy labour required. As for the Mirage, with them there the Vulcans would not be able to safely operate. As for Chile... well, from afar a Dagger and a IIIC are virtually identical, so some running caps along the Chilean border could run a bluff.

The whole thing would be expensive and risky to the point of insanity, but then again, so is the whole invasion...

Was the Mirage IIIC (actually they were later Mirage IIIEA variants) capable of night fighting?

Not sure how effective the Cyrano II radar was?

And could the Runway be extended to the suitable length before the 30th April and a squadron stood up before the first Blackbuck and Harrier attacks?

 

[Hammerbolt]

Was the Mirage IIIC (actually they were later Mirage IIIEA variants) capable of night fighting?

Not sure how effective the Cyrano II radar was?

And could the Runway be extended to the suitable length before the 30th April and a squadron stood up before the first Blackbuck and Harrier attacks?

The Mirage was developed to intercept soviet bombers over Europe, so I'd say it's chances were good, at least good enough to force the RAF to fall back. As for the runway... any civil engineers around that can give an estimate?... assume you have severall hundred conscrips to do grunt work?...

 

[Deleted member 2186]

Accept Soviet support, it is claimed that the Soviets had offered to sink a British vessel and let the Argentine's take credit for it. Galtieri who had been going to great lengths to gain the United States favor, rejected this offering because he was not ready to begin World War Three.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Accept Soviet support, it is claimed that the Soviets had offered to sink a British vessel and let the Argentine's take credit for it. Galtieri who had been going to great lengths to gain the United States favor, rejected this offering because he was not ready to begin World War Three.

I have never seen this claim before - the Argentines had been 'fighting communists' for some time in South and central America so were no friends of the Russians

And I have seen reports from the Russians expressing surprise that the British were able to even send the task force let alone win

The Area of Operations was beyond the range of their LR MPAs (Bears from Cuba and West Africa)

As far as I am aware the only Russian contribution to the conflict was intercepted Russian Spy Satellite photos showing the location of Argentine fleet units passed on to the British.

 

[Deleted member 2186]

I have never seen this claim before - the Argentines had been 'fighting communists' for some time in South and central America so were no friends of the Russians

And I have seen reports from the Russians expressing surprise that the British were able to even send the task force let alone win

The Area of Operations was beyond the range of their LR MPAs (Bears from Cuba and West Africa)

As far as I am aware the only Russian contribution to the conflict was intercepted Russian Spy Satellite photos showing the location of Argentine fleet units passed on to the British.

I got it from : Did the Soviet Union help Argentina during the South Atlantic Conflict in 1982? so do not know how real it is as during my reach for a Falklands in real time project i also found no evidence to this claim except something the Argentinian Rear-Admiral Eduardo Girling said on April 4th 1982 to the German military attaché, the Falkland Islands would be defended with all available means and forces, including Soviet assistance which would be accepted for this purpose.