Anyone Know ?

M

Monarch13

Guest
Was wondering idf anyone would know the direction Col. H. Jones took on his attack on the Argie trench at Goose Green in 82. I have a pic taken from the trench that fired on him, and you can see the memorial dedicated to him, but which way did he come? Anyone know?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/709913/1562920067/
 
Welcome to the forums !

Unfortunately I cant help you with your query but I am sure somebody here would be able to assist you or at least point you in the right direction.

You could also post something about yourself e.g. how you found us, whats your interests etc.
 
Wait till "wiki" Bootie wake's up :) He will know.

Greeting and welcome
 


Wikipedia:
"...At this juncture of the battle, 2nd Para's advance had become stuck. A Company was in the gorse line at the bottom of Darwin Hill, and against the entrenched Argentines who were looking down the hill at them. As daylight was now all over the battlefield, Jones led an unsuccessful charge up a small gully resulting in the death of the adjutant, Captain Wood, A company's second-in-command Captain Dent, and Corporal Hardman. Shortly thereafter Jones was seen to run West along the base of Darwin Ridge to a small re-entrant, followed by his bodyguard. He checked his Sterling SMG then ran up the hill toward an Argentine trench. He was seen to be hit once, then fell, then got up and was hit again from the side. He fell metres short of the trench, had been hit in the back and the groin, and died within minutes. Jones was later to receive the Victoria Cross for his efforts...."
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Hi Monarch..
I found this note in a local newspaper. - Obviously it is in spanish. - You just have to translate it. -
Maybe works for you. -

Clarin newpaper, april 6, 2007:
La historia del soldado argentino que mató al jefe de paracaidistas inglés
Ocurrió en Pradera del Ganso, cuando tropas inglesas recuperaron Puerto Darwin. Allí el teniente coronel Jones cayó ametrallado por un soldado. En el combate murieron 47 argentinos y 17 ingleses.

Las guerras pueden durar meses o años, pero es un segundo el que decide el destino de los soldados. El combate de Pradera del Ganso o Goose Green, a las puertas del Puerto Darwin, es recordado como uno de los cruciales y más violentos. También porque allí cayó el militar inglés de mayor rango, el teniente coronel Herbert Jones, jefe de los paracaidistas británicos y toda una leyenda de la guerra.

Esa batalla, entre la noche del 28 de mayo y la madrugada siguiente, comprobó la supremacía británica, pero también la testarudez de los soldados argentinos. Quizá fue el exceso de confianza lo que acabó con el oficial Jones, uno de los 15 combatientes ingleses enterrados en Malvinas.

Los argentinos llevaban semanas aguardando la llegada de las tropas inglesas a la colina de Darwin, en Goose Green, uno de los puntos estratégicos de la Isla Soledad. Y los ingleses llevaban días planeando el ataque, aunque tuvieron que apurarlo 24 horas porque la BBC se enteró y lo difundió por la televisión. Así lo reveló el año pasado el investigador Lawrence Freedman, en la versión oficial inglesa del conflicto.

La primera línea de la defensa argentina era ocupada por el Regimiento de Infantería 12, en su mayoría soldados sin preparación y con pocas armas —"pero valientes", destaca Freedman—, que aguardaban dentro de las trinchera. Previendo un ataque, la noche anterior se había enviado a un grupo de apoyo de Córdoba, al mando del teniente Roberto Estévez, quien no viviría para contarlo. Sí lo haría Oscar Ledesma, un soldado de 19 años que había sido elegido para manejar una de las tres ametralladoras del pelotón.

El ataque inglés fue brutal. Un escuadrón de 300 hombres tomó la playa por la noche y rápidamente avanzó tierra adentro, mientras una tremenda artillería sacudía desde un buque inglés la resistencia argentina, en ese momento de no más de 200 soldados. Las bombas arremetieron con sus esquirlas e incendiaron pastizales. Los argentinos resistieron por horas, pero dos de la tres ametralladoras argentinas quedaron fuera de uso en pocas horas y sobre las seis de la mañana los pozos empezaron a llenarse de cadáveres.

Fue entonces cuando los atacantes sintieron que era el momento de saltar la línea. Tomaron los primeros pozos y tomaron los primeros prisioneros. Pero el oficial Jones estaba "ansioso", "exultante" y "apurado", según las definiciones de Freedman. E hizo algo que probablemente no debía, lo que los ingleses llamaron un rapto de "devastador coraje". Se puso al frente de un pelotón de 15 hombres y encaró decidido contra una trinchera argentina. No vio que a unos 20 metros de distancia, detrás de una lomita que lo hacía invisible, un soldado cordobés sostenía la última ametralladora. Y Ledesma disparó. Vio venir al inglés y disparó una ráfaga, sin saber que era el jefe de los atacantes. El hombre dio una vuelta en al aire y quedó boca arriba. Todavía vivo, Jones acercó una mano a su cintura buscando una granada. Pero otra ráfaga lo sacudió. Eran las 6.30 de la mañana.

Los disparos de Ledesma fueron de los últimos que se escucharon en Goose Green. Minutos después las tropas argentinas se rendían y se convertían en los primeros prisioneros de la guerra. En la batalla habían muerto 47 soldados argentinos y 17 ingleses. A los prisioneros le siguieron días de encierro en un galpón de Darwin y semanas en un barco inglés y, consumada la rendición, el abandono en Montevideo. La batalla había sido la antesala del final. Fue, según los ingleses, "el muro moral" de Malvinas y su camino hacia Puerto Argentino.

Historiadores británicos sugirieron por años que Jones había sido matado a traición luego de la rendición argentina. Pero la versión oficial de Freedman lo desmiente. Como también el relato que hicieron los sobrevivientes a Oscar Téves, autor del libro "La pradera del Ganso", donde se reconstruye la batalla. Veinticinco años después, un monolito recuerda el lugar exacto donde cayó el oficial inglés y la línea de tiro del soldadito cordobés. Muy lejos de los Galtieri y los Thatcher, eran hombres solos.

aaef.jpg

H. Jones memorial in Falklands
 
t happened at Goose Green, where British troops recovered Port Darwin. Lt. Col. Jones there gunned down by a soldier. In the battle killed 47 British and 17 Argentine.

Wars can last for months or years, but is a second to decide the fate of the soldiers. The battle of Goose Green Goose Green or at the gates of the Port Darwin, is remembered as one of the crucial and most violent. Also because there fell the most senior British military, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones, head of the British paratroopers and a legend of the war.

That battle, between the night of May 28 and the next night, proved British supremacy, but the stubbornness of the Argentine soldiers. Perhaps it was overconfidence which ended with the officer Jones, one of 15 British soldiers buried in the Falklands.

The Argentines took weeks awaiting the arrival of British troops on the hill of Darwin, Goose Green, one of the strategic points of East Falkland. And the English took days planning the attack, but had to rush 24 hours because the BBC learned and disseminated by television. This was revealed last year the researcher Lawrence Freedman, in official English version of the conflict.

The first line of defense was occupied by Argentina Infantry Regiment 12, mostly soldiers unprepared and with few weapons - "but brave," said Freedman, who waited in the trench. Anticipating an attack the night before had been sent to a support group of Cordova, commanded by Lt. Roberto Estevez, who would not live to tell about it. Yes you would Oscar Ledesma, a 19-year-old had been chosen to handle one of the three machine guns firing.

The English attack was brutal. A squadron of 300 men took the beach at night and quickly moved inland, while a tremendous artillery shook from an English ship resistance in Argentina, at the time of no more than 200 soldiers. The bombs blasted with shrapnel and burned pastures. The Argentines resisted for hours, but two of the three machine guns were out of use in Argentina in a few hours and about six o'clock the wells began to fill with corpses.

That's when the attackers felt it was time to jump the line. They took the first wells and took the first prisoners. But the officer Jones was "anxious", "elated" and "hurry", as defined by Freedman. I did something that probably should not, what the English called a fit of "devastating courage." It took over a platoon of 15 men and faced a trench decided against Argentina. He did not see about 20 feet away, behind a mound that made him invisible, a soldier held the last machine gun Cordoba. And Ledesma fired. English saw it coming and fired a burst, not knowing who was the head of the attackers. The man walked around in the air and fell on his back. I still live, Jones approached a hand to his waist looking for a grenade. But another blast shook him. It was 6.30 am.

The firing of Ledesma were the last to be heard at Goose Green. Minutes later the Argentine troops surrendered and became the first prisoners of war. In the battle 47 soldiers were killed and 17 Argentineans English. The prisoners followed days of confinement in a warehouse on Darwin and weeks in an English ship, and consummated the surrender, abandonment in Montevideo. The battle was the prelude to the final. It was, as the English, "the moral wall" of the Falklands and the road to Stanley.

British historians suggested for years that Jones had been treacherously killed after the surrender of Argentina. But the official version of Freedman denies. As also the story that made Oscar survivors Teves, author of "The Goose Prairie," which reconstructs the battle. Twenty years later, a monolith remember the exact spot where fell the English officer and soldier firing line of Cordoba. Far away from the Galtieri and Thatcher, were single men.
 
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