Word: beachhead
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...roared across the skies southwest of Port Stanley last week to deal the British their worst casualties of the campaign. Demolished on that disastrous Tuesday were two landing ships, the Sir Galahad and the Sir Tristram, carrying members of the Fifth Infantry Brigade who were establishing a second British beachhead only 17 miles from Port Stanley. That brought to seven the total of major British ships lost since a Royal Navy task force reached the wintry South Atlantic archipelago on April 29. Defense Secretary Nott somberly refused to disclose to the House of Commons the number of casualties...
While the tentative skirmishing continued around Port Stanley, the 3,500 troops of the Fifth Infantry Brigade began to make their moves ashore. The brigade, composed of the Scots and Welsh Guards and a battalion of the legendary Nepa-lese-born Gurkhas, landed at the Port San Carlos beachhead two weeks ago. The Gurkhas were assigned the task of mopping up pockets of Argentine resistance that were bypassed by Britain's fast-moving Parachute Regiment as it raced toward Goose Green and Port Stanley. Daily, after a ritual unsheathing of their curved kukris, they flew out in Scout helicopters...
Meanwhile, the unit of the Fifth led by Brigadier Tony Wilson was moving south from the beachhead to Goose Green, and then east toward Port Stanley. At the minuscule settlement of Swan Inlet, 35 miles from the capital, Wilson suddenly had a time-saving idea. Learning that the Argentines had left telephone lines intact, he stopped at a house and phoned ahead to Fitzroy, the next sizable settlement. To Wilson's amazement, someone answered. "Any Argies there?" asked Wilson. "Yes," replied Farmer Ron Binnie, "but they're not here today." Said Wilson: "In that case, I think...
...small British contingents held the position for about two days, while other units of the Fifth boarded the Sir Galahad and the Sir Tristram at Port San Carlos to join them. When the ships reached Fitzroy, they began unloading men and equipment. In effect, the British had a second beachhead on East Falkland...
...John Paul II would visit the country, something that Argentina has greatly desired for years. Headlines in the local press claimed extravagant victories (THE ENGLISH HAVE SUFFERED 200 DEAD AND 800 WOUNDED), but few citizens could ignore their government's reluctant admission that 1) the British had established a beachhead on the Falklands and 2) the foothold was rapidly growing. More and more, Argentines were expressing a longing for peace. Said Produce Vendor Jose Oscar Moryda, as he tidied up his display of fruits and vegetables in the El Retiro market in central Buenos Aires: "If I knew the Pope...