V I C T O R Y
During the next two nights the softening up process was continued and YARMOUTH shelled Sapper Hill, Moody Brook and Mount Harriet. By now the troops ashore were in control of most of the high ground to the west of Port Stanley and were able to direct their fire on to Argentinian positions in and around the capital itself. There were just two phases left. The first was to take Wireless Ridge and the second was to take Sapper Hill. Then it was hoped that Port Stanley would fall for no positions would be safe and could be picked off at will. During the nights of the llth and 12th, ACTIVE, ARROW and EXETER shelled Port Stanley and Port Howard. The Harriers continued to bomb the capital during the day and on- the 12th GLAMORGAN, AVENGER and YARMOUTH joined in the blitz of Port Stanley. A lone Vulcan again failed in a bombing run and as the gunline ships were returning, GLAMORGAN was hit by a shore launched Exocet. This missile hit the hangar, killing 13 and injuring 17. The damage and casualties could have been much worse had the missile hit lower down the hull in the Sea Slug magazine, but fortunately the after Sea Cat aimer probably got his missile close enough to the Exocet to damage a fin and cause it to fly upwards at the last minute. This was, of course, no consolation to the people who died in the hangar and on the deck below, but an even greater tragedy had been averted.
The 13th saw the fighting drawing rapidly towards the 'last battle'. Harriers started to bomb Port Stanley and the Argentine troop emplacements using laser guided bombs. Their accuracy was such that one actually dropped down the barrel of a large gun with the obvious conclusion. Harriers also found time to attack a fast patrol boat and CARDIFF shot down yet another Mirage. The army continued to consolidate, and then launched its assault overnight assisted by a bombardment from AVENGER, AMBUSCADE and YARMOUTH. After some fierce fighting. Wireless Ridge was taken and the Argentines turned and fled back towards Port Stanley. Encouraged, our troops pushed on and a similar thing happened on Sapper Hill. The streets of the capital were becoming jammed with frightened Argentine troops. General Moore quickly saw the chance to force the enemy to surrender. General Menendez had little option. Had he carried on the fight thousands of his men would have been killed by a few shells placed in the Main Street. He had the good sense to realise this and on the 14th June he surrendered East and West Falkland to General Moore. The Task Force had achieved a remarkable success. It had re-taken a strongly defended island, at the end of an 8000 mile supply route without air superiority - something that military strategists believed was almost impossible.