The SAS operators also had some pretty restrictive rules of engagement. They couldn’t kill or wound the Argentine pilots, unless they were attacked, thus eliminating probably the most effective way of neutralizing the Exocet threat.
Nor were the British commandos prepared for the harsh environment in which they would have to operate.
“The South Atlantic winter was a big surprise for us. Thus far, we had been operating primarily in jungles and deserts,” a retired SAS officer who served in the Falklands told Insider.
“We had some Arctic warfare training — the SBS had more, going back to their Royal Marine roots — but not to the point of us being comfortable in the environment. In the initial days, we suffered a lot, but eventually we received more protective gear, including Gore-Tex clothing” provided by the U.S. Army’s Delta Force, the retired officer added.
There were also doubts among the SAS troops about the viability of the operation. The commanding officer and sergeant major of B Squadron thought the plan too rash and were fired because of it.
By mid-May, the British still didn’t have sufficient intelligence for a raid, so SAS leaders devised a strategic reconnaissance operation deep inside Argentina. Codenamed Operation Plum Duff, this mission would pave the way for the raid.
Operation Plum Duff: A Mission Gone Wrong
An eight-man team from B Squadron’s 6 Troop was chosen to infiltrate Argentina and reconnoiter the airfield.
They flew from SAS headquarters at Hereford in the U.K. to Ascension Island, a small island in the middle of the South Atlantic, and then parachuted near a Royal Navy aircraft carrier in South Atlantic.
After a quick rest and final brief, the SAS troopers boarded a specially configured Sea King helicopter, which would fly them to mainland Argentina on a very low-altitude, nap-of-the-earth route.
However, heavy fog forced the chopper to ascend once close to Argentina’s coast, allowing an Argentine destroyer to pick it up with its radar. Unbeknownst to the SAS team, they had already been compromised.
As they neared land, the SAS captain got into an argument with the Sea King pilot, insisting the team be inserted in the alternative infiltration point, which was farther from the airbase.
Once on the ground, the SAS operators began a grueling march toward the airbase. The commandos, each carrying about 120 pounds of gear, had to hide during daytime and walk at night because of the need to maintain secrecy.
As they marched, Patagonia’s rough terrain took a toll on the commandos. They were further slowed by a commando who got violently sick. It soon became clear to the freezing SAS troopers that they wouldn’t reach their target before their rations ran out.
The SAS captain contacted headquarters and was ordered to abort and escape to Chile and meet with an SAS liaison there. But upon reaching the Chilean border, the patrol couldn’t find their liaison. They had to improvise, seeking shelter and donning civilian clothes.
Finally, they made contact and, after some deliberations, were exfiltrated back to the United Kingdom.
The SAS troops involved faced “a horrible situation,” the SAS officer in charge of the operation said afterward.
“There was such a huge weight of expectation for the mission to be successful, to be balanced against walking out of the helicopter into what may well have been an already compromised situation and perhaps even into an enemy position,” the officer said.
Operation Plum Duff faced internal backlash, as its legality under the laws of armed conflict was dubious. Since the U.K. and Argentina hadn’t officially declared war on each other, any British troops caught in Argentina weren’t covered by the Geneva Conventions and could be tried for espionage and executed.
Mikado was eventually canceled because the Argentines fired all the Exocets stored at Rio Grande at the British fleet — with great effect, sinking a destroyer and a merchant marine ship — and because of sketchy intelligence about the base.
The British recaptured the Falklands when the remaining Argentines there surrendered on June 14, 1982. The 10-week conflict was the last to involve large air, land, and naval battles, and it was a bloody campaign: Nearly 1,000 British troops were killed or wounded, and Argentina suffered more than 2,200 casualties.
This article was written by Stavros Atlamazoglou and originally published on the Insider.
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