8,000 miles South of the UK and 400 miles east of Argentina lie the Falklands Islands. The UK has held possession of the Falklands since 1833, and the islands are liberally populated with British subjects, some three thousand or so by 2006.
Starting with British Captain John Strong in 1690, various despots, regents, and tin pot administrators alternately claimed, occupied, or stole this desolate piece of dirt. At 4,700 square miles, the Falklands enjoyed a fair amount of space. However, its brutal Southern latitude made it an inhospitable sort of place. One of the first commercial endeavors back in the early 19th century actually involved the exploitation of feral cattle.
Now fast forward to 1982, and the nearby Argentines had their sights set on the windswept rocks of the Falkland Islands. The British had long since passed the apogee of their remarkable empire. Perhaps they wouldn’t notice if Argentina’s military junta government dispatched a few thousand troops to snatch up the Falklands. Sadly, Argentina’s Leopoldo Galtieri woefully underestimated the Iron Lady’s resolve. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was having none of that.
Buildup for War
With 8,000 miles of open ocean across which to stage a proper response, the Brits knew that air superiority during the upcoming amphibious counter-invasion was going to be critical. British Sea Harriers would bear the brunt of the air-to-air responsibilities. However, every Argentine airplane that could be neutralized was one less that the Harrier drivers would have to burn out of the sky.
On the Northern aspect of the western Falklands chain lies Pebble Island. This forsaken spit of dirt was home to some twenty-five English subjects and another 2,500 very English sheep. Since the Argentine invasion, the Pebble Island Aerodromo Auxiliar Calderon airfield also housed six FMA IA 58 Pucara twin-engine turboprop ground attack aircraft, four T-34 Turbo Mentor counterinsurgency attack planes, and a single Coast Guard Skyvan transport. Servicing, supporting, and defending these eleven aircraft were about 150 Argentine Marines and aviation personnel.
The Plan
22 Special Air Service Regiment was the foundation of the world’s modern Special Operations units. 22 SAS hearkens back to the Second World War and its first flamboyant commander, LTC Archibald David Stirling. Stirling’s mob of misfits tormented the Nazis from North Africa across Italy and occupied France. Subsequent generations of SAS men were shooting and scooting back when special operating wasn’t cool. In 1982 D Squadron 22 SAS Regiment stood ready to visit their own unique brand of chaos upon the Argentines.
The plan was audacious. After an eyes-on recce conducted by Boat Troop of D Squadron 22 SAS via Klepper canoe, it was determined that there were severe headwinds near the target area. This would ultimately limit the amount of time the commandos could spend on the objective. The operational objectives were therefore reduced from the destruction of the garrison to simply neutralization of the aviation assets.
The Mission
On the night of 14 May 1982, forty-five SAS D Squadron operators inserted via two Westland Sea King HC4 helicopters under cover of darkness. A single HC4 has the capacity to lift up to 28 combat-equipped troops. Members of the aforementioned Boat Troop provided approach navigation.
The SAS strike force landed six clicks from the airfield and unloaded some one hundred L16 81mm mortar bombs, demo charges, and a buttload of L1A1 66mm LAWs (Light Anti-tank Weapons). The SAS operators carried American-made M16 rifles along with a disproportionate number of M203 grenade launchers.
SAS operators are notorious for their simply breathtaking capacity to tab. Tab is short for Tactical Advance to Battle. This is British slang for a forced march across hostile terrain. The SAS assault force successfully infiltrated the airfield, avoiding the Argentine sentries on duty. They eventually set charges on seven of the Argentine aircraft without being detected.
On cue, the SAS operators blew the charges and opened up on the parked aircraft with small arms and LAW rockets. At the same time, naval gunfire from the British destroyer HMS Glamorgan joined in targeting the nearby fuel stores and ammo dump. The preponderance of their ordnance expended, the SAS raiders exfilled to the PZ (Pickup Zone) where they were extracted by the waiting Sea Kings to the HMS Hermes.
The Weapons
The standard British Army rifle at the time of the Falklands War was the L1A1 SLR (Self-Loading Rifle). This Anglicized FN FAL was used across Her Majesty’s armed forces. However, the SAS opted for the US M16 for its lightweight and high-capacity magazines. Today’s SAS operators wield Canadian-made versions of the M4 Carbine made by Diemaco.
The M16 has served in sundry guises for more than half a century in the US military and should be established dogma to anybody frequenting GunsAmerica. The M203 was the only component of the US Army’s long-running 1960’s-era Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) program to see adoption. Pronounced “Spew,” the SPIW had to have the coolest acronym in modern military history.
First adopted in 1969, the M203 fired the same 40x46mm grenade as did the standalone M79 break-open grenade launcher. The M203 mounted underneath a standard M16 and allowed the grenadier ready access to an automatic rifle in addition to the single-shot grenade launcher.
The 40mm grenades fired by these weapons operate on the High-Low Propulsion System first developed by the Germans during World War 2. The Germans referred to this concept as the “Hoch-und-Niederdruck System,” and it allows a relatively-heavy, low-velocity round to be safely fired via a handheld weapon.
The L1A1 LAW is a single-shot disposable 66mm unguided antitank weapon. Originally an American contrivance, the US designation was the M72. The solid rocket motor was developed in 1959 at Redstone Arsenal, and the M72 first saw service in 1963. The M72 replaced both the M31 HEAT (High Explosive Antitank) rifle grenade and the cumbersome M20A1 Super Bazooka.
The L1A1 LAW consists of a telescoping aluminum tube within an external fiberglass cylinder with pop-up front and rear sights. When collapsed and sealed the LAW is waterproof. A percussion cap firing mechanism ignites the rocket, and a mechanical setback safety built into the warhead does not arm the piezoelectric detonator until the rocket has accelerated out of the tube.
To fire the L1A1 LAW you pull the safety pin and remove the spring-loaded back cover. This allows the front cover to drop away as well, while the rear cover pivots down to serve as a shoulder brace. Grip the front and back of the weapon and extend it briskly. This movement releases the spring-loaded front and rear sights to deploy. Put the weapon on your shoulder, pull the striker handle forward to arm the mechanism, point the thing at something you dislike, and squeeze the trigger bar.
Firing the LAW is nothing like the movies. The entirety of the solid rocket motor is consumed prior to the rocket’s leaving the launch tube, and the open back of the tube makes the LAW essentially recoilless. The backblast, however, is subsequently ferocious.
Once the weapon is fired, six folding fins deploy to stabilize the rocket in flight. Muzzle velocity is 475 feet per second, and the thing makes a simply incredible racket.
Max effective range is 200 meters, and later versions of the standard HEAT warhead will burn through about 12 inches of rolled homogenous steel armor. The LAW rockets used in the Pebble Island raid weighed about 8 pounds and cost about $750 apiece. Though augmented in US service in 1987 by the Swedish AT-4, the LAW remains in use around the world today.
The Rest of the Story
As a result of intense shelling by the HMS Glamorgan the defending Argentines remained under cover for the most part throughout the raid. Presuming the attack to be the opening salvoes in a general invasion, the Argentine commander ordered the runway destroyed. The Argentines detonated prepositioned area denial charges underneath the runway and cratered it. Shrapnel from these charges injured one of the SAS operators. The Argentinian commander was subsequently killed by British small arms fire during the attack.
The original plan had the assault force redirecting their fire on the Argentinian garrison after ensuring the destruction of the attack aircraft. However, after exfilling the wounded man the ground force commander made the decision to return to the Hermes. This on-the-spot decision no doubt ultimately saved a great many lives.
The Pebble Island raid accounted for all eleven aircraft as well as the ammo and fuel dump and was considered a rousing success. Considering that destroying airfields full of Axis aircraft during WW2 was considered a bit of an SAS specialty, the Pebble Island raid seemed fitting.
Sadly, CPT Gavin John Hamilton, the ground force commander, was killed three weeks later while on a covert reconnaissance mission some forty miles behind Argentine lines. Colonel Juan Ramon Mabragana, the commander of the Argentine Commando unit that killed CPT Hamilton, later described him as “the most courageous man I have ever seen.”
Who Dares Wins.
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Phil showcasing the HK53
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Is that my Aunt J in the day!?! NSFW
“When the ships from America approached our shores with their priceless arms special trains were waiting in all the ports to receive their cargoes,” Churchill recalled. “The Home Guard in every county, in every town, in every village, sat up all through the night to receive them…. By the end of July we were an armed nation…. a lot of our men and some women had weapons in their hands.”
Above: Competitors equipped with 1917 Enfield rifles were successful at the 1918 National Matches, such as Marine Sgt. H.J. Hoffner, who used one to win the President’s Match that year.
Ben Comfort, who won the 1935 Wimbledon Cup using a custom-built Model 1917, U.S. military rifle, was not the first shooter to shoot an “American Enfield” at Camp Perry, not by a long shot. That first occurred in 1918.
The Small Arms Firing School (SAFS), in 1918, was different from the school as it operates today. In 1918, the SAFS trained personnel to act as rifle marksmanship instructors. The course lasted a month, with a new class beginning every two weeks. Most students were military officers learning how to run a marksmanship program and conduct range operations as well as learning how to shoot and how to teach the fundamentals of marksmanship. Classes numbered 500, more or less.
Over and above the regular schedule of classes, a special 10-day SAFS session was held at Camp Perry. This special class was attended by 54 16-person teams—representing 36 of the then-current 48 states and the District of Columbia; the Arkansas National Guard, the Army (2), Navy (2), Marines (2), and the Navy Rifle Range Service (10). In addition, 400 Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students attended, representing various U.S. colleges and universities. Instead of Springfields, most of the students in this special class drew Model 1917 U.S. Enfields and reported directly from graduation to the range, where they participated in the NRA National Championships, and the National Trophy Individual and Team Rifle matches. The ROTC students were divided into four groups and issued Model 1917 rifles, Model 1903 rifles fitted with one of two types of experimental sights, or standard issue Model 1903 rifles as a control. As an extra bonus, the ROTC students were entered in a special match—20 shots prone slow fire at 500 yards range—the first prize for which was a Winchester rifle. Cadet Edward Parkhouse, of Tulane University, won the Winchester with a score of 97 on the 100-point course. Parkhouse used a Model 1903 rifle fitted with a Warner experimental sight (a modification of the military rear sight that had dial-in changes for major range increments from 200 out to 600 yards plus a standard elevation drift slide for longer ranges).
Shooters’ reaction to the Model 1917 rifles began as “cool,” but warmed up as shooters began to learn the rifle. The chief objections were to the rifle’s “cock-on-closing” bolt and to the lack of a windage adjustment on the rifle’s rear sight. The former was a matter of familiarity. Since the adoption of the Krag-Jorgensen in 1892, American military rifle shooters had a rifle that cocked the firing mechanism as the bolt handle was lifted to unlock the action. British designers of the precursor to the Model 1917 rifle elected to use a mechanism that cocked as the bolt was pushed forward to chamber a cartridge and close the action. Either system had its strong and weak points. The advantages of a cock-on-closing mechanism do not begin to become obvious until firing a rapid fire string. And, in the rapid fire matches, Enfields won unreserved praise.
United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917. Photo from the Army FM 23-6 Basic Field Manual, October 1943
The sights were another matter, though, and caused something of a division among the student marksmen. Shooters generally from east of the Mississippi River (and presumably familiar with the windage adjustable sights of the Krag and the Springfield) denounced the lack of a windage adjustment on the 1917 rear sight and had trouble holding off, or “favoring” to compensate for changes in the wind. Shooters from out West (and presumably familiar with the non-adjustable sights found on Winchester and other sporting rifles) had little difficulty adapting to the generally excellent aperture rear sight used on the Enfield. They simply applied what is generally referred to as “Kentucky windage” and fired away accurately and effectively.
What about results? We already know that the winner of the special match for ROTC students used a Model 1903 rifle albeit one fitted with experimental sights. Again, one must presume that he was able to compensate for changing wind using the wind gauge on the Springfield rear sight. Also, shooters who attended the NRA Championships, and brought their rifles with them, shot Springfields. And, in those matches fired to test the adequacy of the SAFS, use of the Model 1917 rifle was required. That included both rapid fire matches, 200 yards sitting and 300 yards prone, the President’s Rifle Match and the National Trophy rifle matches. Only in one match was Springfield pitted against Enfield. That was the NRA National Individual Rifle Championship, 10 shots sitting rapid, 10 shots prone rapid, 20 shots prone slow from 500 yards, and 20 shots prone slow from 600 yards—60 shots for a possible score of 300 points. H.J. Mueller, a civilian from Terra Haute, IN, who attended the SAFS as part of the Indiana team, won the contest with a score of 289, using a Model 1917 rifle. On the other hand, the Leech Cup, shot then with the service rifle, went to Seamen 2nd Class F.A. Cantieri, USN, and the Wimbledon went to Marine Corporal Frank Branson. Branson won the Marine Corps Cup as well. Both contestants are pictured in Arms and The Man for September 28, 1918, holding Model 1903 rifles.
Comfort was not the last shooter to use a Model 1917 rifle at Perry, either. The first year this author went to Perry as a reporter, in the 1970s, one of the LaBerge brothers was shooting a 1917 Enfield in the long range matches.
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