Battle of Wireless Ridge The Battle of Wireless Ridge was an engagement of the Falklands War which took place on the night of 13 June and 14 June 1982 , between British and Argentine forces during the advance towards the Argentine - occupied capital of the Falkland Islands , Port Stanley . Wireless Ridge was one of seven strategic hills within five miles of Stanley at that had to be taken in order for the Island ' s capital to be approached . The attack was successful , the entire Argentine force on the Islands surrendered later that day . The British force consisted of 2nd Battalion , The Parachute Regiment ( 2 Para ) , a troop of the Blues & Royals , with two FV101 Scorpion and two FV107 Scimitar light tanks , as well as artillery support from two batteries of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery and naval gunfire support provided by ' s 4 . 5 - in gun . The Argentine force consisted of the 7th Infantry Regiment and detachments from other units . The first Argentine unit to arrive in the sector was that commanded by José Rodolfo Banetta that took up residence inside the Moody Brook Barracks , Background . After heavy losses during the Battle of Goose Green , including their commander , Lieutenant Colonel ' H ' Jones , command of 2 Para passed to Lieutenant - Colonel David Chaundler , who was in England at the time of the battle . Chaundler flew to Ascension Island on a Vickers VC10 and then to the Falklands on a C - 130 Hercules that was dropping supplies by parachute . Chaundler jumped into the sea , where he was picked up by helicopter and eventually delivered to for a briefing with Admiral Woodward and then to Major General Jeremy Moore ' s headquarters . Four days after Goose Green , Chaundler joined 2 Para . After debriefing the battalion ' s officers about Goose Green and the events following , he vowed that the unit would never again go into action without fire support . From Fitzroy , 2 Para were moved by helicopter to Bluff Cove Peak where they were held in reserve . The first line of hills : Two Sisters , Mount Longdon and Mount Harriet , were taken . Three other hills were then slated to be captured : Mount Tumbledown by the Scots Guards , Mount William by the Ghurkhas and Wireless Ridge by 2 Para . The final phase of 3 Commando Brigade ' s campaign , the battle for Stanley , would follow the capture of these hills . On the morning of 13 June , it became clear that the attacks on Tumbledown had been successful . So 2 Para marched around the back of Mount Longdon to take up their positions for the assault on Wireless Ridge . As the action was expected to be concluded quickly , they took only their weapons and as much ammunition as possible , leaving most other gear behind in the camp . On Bluff Cove Peak , the Battalion ' s mortars and heavy machine guns were attacked by Argentine A - 4 Skyhawk s , which delayed their planned move forward , although they suffered no casualties . Initial assault . In the closing hours of the 13 June , D Company ( Coy ) began the attack sequence , advancing upon ' Rough Diamond ' hill north - west of Mount Longdon . It had been hit by an intense barrage from British guns , from land and sea . In the preceding 12 to 14 hours , British artillery had fired 6 , 000 rounds with their 105 mm pieces , and as they began their push , they were further backed by naval fire and the 76 and 30 mm guns mounted on the light tanks . The approximately eighty casualties sustained by 2 Para two weeks earlier at the Battle of Goose Green ( including the loss of their commanding officer ) , had induced them not to take any unnecessary chances the second time around . When D Coy reached the hill , they found that the Argentine " compañía " C of the 7th Infantry Regiment had withdrawn due to the heavy bombardment . As Major Philip Neame ' s D Coy started to consolidate their position , the Argentine 7th Regiment launched a series of heavy recoilless rifle , rocket and mortar attacks on Mount Longdon , causing casualties to the 3rd Battalion , The Parachute Regiment ( 3 Para ) . With this massive fire support , A and B Coys were convinced the enemy on the ' Apple Pie ' feature had been defeated , and began to advance confidently , but they met fierce resistance when they left their trenches . They came under heavy machine - gun fire ; massive retaliation was initiated by the British machine - gunners and the guns of the Blues and Royals light tanks . One Mount Longdon survivor from 3 Para recalled the British attack which was initially repulsed by the Argentines : " They tried going over the top first , but the incoming fire was too heavy so they went back behind the peat and waited for more artillery to soften them up . " The Argentine defenders there eventually withdrew in the face of such withering fire and A and B Coys took their objective . By this stage of the battle , there were not many experienced Argentine officers left . The Forward Artillery Observation Officer ( Major Guillermo Nani ) , the Operations Officer ( Captain Carlos Ferreyra ) and the " compañía " A and C commanders ( Captains Jorge Calvo and Hugo García ) and at least three senior platoon commanders ( First Lieutenants Antonio Estrada , Jorge Guidobono and Ramon Galíndez - Matienzo ) , were wounded . C Coy then moved down from their northern start line to advance to a position east of Wireless Ridge where they found a platoon position to be unoccupied . By about 4 . 30am , Lieutenant - Colonel Gimenez knew that the 7th Infantry Regiment had been decisively defeated ; " Communications are lost , my whole regiment is finished " , but other attached units continued to fight . Final assault . D Coy then began the final assault from the western end of Wireless Ridge , under the cover of heavy fire from ' s 4 . 5 inch gun , tanks , twelve 105 mm artillery pieces , several mortars and anti - tank rocket s . Earlier Argentine GHQ had sent the dismounted 10th Panhard AML squadron to make a reconnaissance foray into the western rocks of Wireless Ridge . Captain Rodrigo Soloaga was particularly effective in persuading his men to engage the British light tanks , Milan Platoon and the Machinegun Platoon on ' Apple Pie ' while the 7th Regiment ' s HQ sorted themselves out . In two hours the cavalry unit suffered five dead and about fifty wounded . The British tankmen were so sickened by the slaughter that they held their fire as the casualties who could walk stumbled back to Moody Brook and stretcher - bearers tried to find the seriously wounded . Major Neame ' s D Coy took the first half of the objective relatively easily but upon advancing to the second half , came under fierce attack from Major Guillermo Berazay ' s " compañía " A of the 3rd Regiment which had tried to move forward to Mount Longdon during the fighting two nights earlier but had only reached Moody Brook valley . With Lieutenant José Dobroevic ' s 81mm Mortar Platoon providing fire support , the company , in the form of the platoons of Sub - Lieutenant Javier Aristegui and 2nd Lieutenant Víctor Rodriguez - Pérez advanced to contact . Private Patricio Pérez , who had just left school , recalled the unnerving experience of 66 mm rockets coming straight at them like undulating fireballs . He believed he shot a British Paratrooper , possibly 12 Platoon ' s commander , and became enraged when he heard that his friend , Private Horacio Benítez from his platoon , had been shot . The platoon of 2nd Lieutenant Rodriguez - Pérez in fact closed with the British 12 Platoon , under the command of Lieutenant Jonathan Page ( following the death of Lieutenant Barry at Goose Green ) . The fight surged back and forth . Lieutenant Page managed to hold the line , but only just . Major - General John Dutton Frost of the British Army describes the resulting attack on 12 Platoon : " For two very long hours the company remained under pressure . Small - arms fire mingled with all types of HE [ high explosive rifle - grenades ] fell in and around 12 Platoon ' s position as the men crouched in the abandoned enemy sangar s [ a type of fortification ] and in shell holes . " Major Neame ' s officers and NCOs rallied the men to capture the final part of their objective and in the face of heavy fire , the Argentines having run out of ammunition , broke and retreated under the covering fire from the supporting machinegun fire , controlled by Lieutenant Horacio Alejandro Mones - Ruiz of Berazay ' s " compañía " . Private Michael Savage and other survivors from " compañía " C were the first 7th Regiment troops to reach the relative safety of Port Stanley , only to be greeted with shock and disdain , he recalls , by immaculately dressed staff officers : " They had been sleeping in houses , in warm beds . They had shiny shoes , pristine ironed uniforms and waxed moustaches . They even had heating in their cars . I was so furious with them . " The battle was not over yet . One of the Argentine Army staff officers , the 10th Brigade Operations Officer , Lieutenant - Colonel Eugenio Dalton , during the pre - dawn darkness of 14 June , was seen driving around in a jeep marshalling tired , panicky and dazed soldiers from various units into a company and led them into Stanley ' s western sector under heavy fire . Some 200 Wireless Ridge survivors had been rallied by Dalton to form , under heavy gunfire , a last - ditch defensive line in front of the now silenced guns of the 4th Airborne Artillery Group near the racecourse . Near the church in Stanley , intent on helping Berazay , Major Carrizo - Salvadores , Second - in - command of the 7th Regiment , helped by the chaplain Father José Fernández , mustered about 50 Wireless Ridge survivors and led them on a bayonet charge , with the soldiers chanting their famous ' Malvinas March ' , but were stopped by heavy artillery and machine - gun fire . The Paras were momentarily alarmed and watched surprised , with one British officer describing it as " quite a sporting effort , but one without a sporting chance " . 2 Para had suffered three dead and eleven wounded . The Argentines suffered approximately twenty - five dead and about 125 wounded , ( mainly by airburst rounds rather than direct shots ) and about fifty were taken prisoner . In the final stages of the battle , Brigadier - General Jofre had been offered the use of Skyhawks to bomb Wireless Ridge with napalm but desisted in the belief that the British response would be immeasurable . For the bravery shown at Wireless Ridge , 2 Para was awarded three Military Cross es , one Military Medal and one Distinguished Conduct Medal . 29 Commando was awarded one Military Cross .