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Falklands War order of battle: British ground forces

This is a list of British ground forces in the Falklands War. For a list of ground forces from Argentina, see Falklands War order of battle: Argentine ground forces

Land Forces

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Operation Corporate command structure 1982
D-day at San Carlos

The land forces employed by the United Kingdom during the Falklands War amounted to a divisional sized formation, named as Land Forces Falkland Islands, consisting of two brigades:

  • 3 Commando Brigade - formed primarily by the Royal Marines, 3 Commando Brigade was the primary British rapid reaction force, tasked with reinforcing the NATO northern flank in Norway in the event of war with the Soviet Union in Europe. 3 Commando Brigade was the only formation with experience of amphibious operations. In its NATO role, 3 Commando Brigade was reinforced by the Dutch Korps Mariniers. However, the situation required reinforcement by British units, so 2nd & 3rd Battalions of the Parachute Regiment were reassigned from 5 Infantry Brigade.
  • 5 Infantry Brigade - a home defence brigade and the UK's main "out of area" reaction formation, tasked with operations outside the European theatre. It would normally be formed with two battalions of the Parachute Regiment and the UK based Gurkha battalion. However, since both 2 PARA and 3 PARA had augmented 3 Commando Brigade, 5 Brigade was reconstituted with two battalions of Foot Guards then on public duties in London along with its Gurkha battalion. These were chosen since they were immediately available, as they were in UK and neither on nor preparing for internal security duties in Northern Ireland.

Land Forces HQ

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Memorial plaque to the Commando Logistic Regiment at Ajax Bay,

3 Commando Brigade

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Commander: Brigadier JHA Thompson

Task organization of UK 3 Commando Brigade in Falklands War

^1 - Replaced by Lt Col David Chaundler

5th Infantry Brigade

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Commander: Brigadier MJA Wilson

Infantry weapons

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A L2-A2 fragmentation grenade

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Britain's Small Wars". Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Guns of the Falklands War"

Sources

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