Word: garrisons
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...London, where Thatcher's government faces inquiries into why Argentina's invasion of the Falklands came as such a surprise. The Prime Minister was embarrassed by the publication of a letter she had written to a Tory loyalist on Feb. 3, claiming that the Royal Marine garrison stationed in the Falklands prior to Argentina's invasion-a total of 42 men-was a "sufficient deterrent against any possible aggression." Thatcher's explanation was that "I don't think any of us quite expected we would get a sudden invasion without an enormous increase in tension...
Despite a weak and wavering economy, the British are feeling feisty and bold from the success of their Falklands ad venture. In a survey conducted by the Economist, 71% of the those polled would support tax increases to keep a garrison indefinitely in the Falklands. The government is ready to station as many as 3,000 troops on the islands at a cost estimated at $37 million per month. British defense planners are now mulling over the upgrading of the country's naval forces, which had been badly depleted by prior-year retrenchments. To mount its assault, Britain...
...after Argentina seized the desolate South Atlantic islands, the 9,000 British troops encamped on the hills above Port Stanley launched an all-out assault on the 7,500 Argentines dug in around the capital. The intention was, as an official in London put it, to hit the Argentine garrison "with...
Warships had begun shelling Argentine positions prior to the attack, while Harrier jets bombed the garrison in, as the British Defense Ministry put it, a final "softening-up operation." Interrupting the broadcast of a Mass being celebrated by Pope John Paul II (see following story), Argentine, television broadcast a communique that accused the British of "indiscriminately" bombing Port Stanley. It said that two civilian residents of the island capital had been killed and four others wounded...
...Buenos Aires, the military junta led by President Leopoldo Galtieri defiantly portrayed Argentina as the ultimate win ner of the conflict despite the precarious position of the embattled garrison at Port Stanley. Declared Galtieri: "We will fight for weeks, months or years, but we will never give up sovereignty over the is lands." He seemed to be warning that even if his soldiers were eventually driven off the Falklands, he would wage a long-term war of attrition against the British...