Battle of Two Sisters
The Battle of Two Sisters was an engagement of the Falklands War during the British advance towards the capital Port Stanley that took place on the 11th/12th June 1982.
The British force consisted of 45 Commando, Royal Marines with support from a battery of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery. 2 Para was in reserve. Naval gunfire-support was provided by HMS Glamorgan's 2 x 4.5-in guns. The Argentinian force consisted of the 4th Infantry Regiment. Command of Two Sisters was entrusted to Captain Carlos Lopez Patterson, the 4th Regiment's Operation Officer, with the bulk of the defenders drawn from C Company.
The plan was for X Company, the lead assault company, to attack the subsidiary peak of the mountain from the west, where they would then use the position to set up a fire-base while Y and Z companies would attack the main objective from the north-west. The operation began in the closing hours of the 11th June with X Company attacking about 10 minutes after they had arrived at their start point. They quickly reached the lower ridge of the subsidiary peak but at 11.30 pm, came under heavy-fire from Argentinian machine guns from 2nd Lt. Marcelo Llambias-Pravaz's 3rd Platoon and mortars from Lieutenant Luis Martella's 81-mm Mortar Platoon. With fixed bayonets and supported by the mortar platoon, they taunted the Royal Marines with Guarani war cries and beat off several efforts to close with them. Upon the use of the LAW anti-tank rocket launcher on the Argentinian positions Lieutenant Chris Caroe's 2 Troop of X Company broke through the Argentinian positions, only to be forced off by Argentine artillery fire. However, they groped their way back and took their objective with fortunately no losses at about 2.45 am. With the telephone lines to the command post in shreds, Llambias-Pravaz led his men to join M Company 5th Marine Infantry Battalion on Sapper Hill. Captain Ian Gardiner in the book Above All, Courage (Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2002) was quick to praise the fighting abilities and spirit of the defending Argentine rifle platoon: "A hard cadre of some twenty men had stayed behind and fought, and they were brave men. Those who stayed and fought had something. I for one would not wish to face my Marines in battle."
At the same time as X Company's attack, Z Company also attacked it's objective from the north-west. Z Company advanced the 400 yards to their objective without being detected until they spotted the Argentinian defenders at their objective at which a fire-fight ensued. It was a fierce fire-fight that lasted for about an hour until Z Company, with Y Company by it's side, charged an Argentine strongpoint shouting it's "Zulu!" war-cry and taking the objective. Y Company then advanced to attack the final objective capturing all of its objective all the way to the eastern end of Two Sisters. Second Lieutenant Aldo Franco with his 3rd Platoon of B Company 6th Regiment, commanded the rearguard, one of whose conscripts, Private Oscar Poltronieri, was overrun several times but each time made his way back to his platoon. Three Royal Marines and one from 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers were killed taking Two Sisters, but to these must be added the four Royal Marines which were killed on the night of 9/10 June. Over ten Argentines died with fifty-four taken prisoner. There had been particularly good cooperation with 8 Battery of 29 Commando Regiment; approximately 1,500 rounds had been fired.