Three Shirburnians serving with the 2nd Battalion Scots Guard were involved in the Battle of Tumbledown Mountain during the Falklands Conflict, which was fought on 13-14 June 1982 and resulted in the British troops capturing the heights above Stanley :
- Major Iain Charles Mackay-Dick (Westcott House 1959-63), 2nd i/c, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.
- Captain Timothy Simon Spicer (School House 1966-69), 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.
- Captain Andrew William Foster (Abbey House 1969-73), Intelligence Officer, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.
The following account of the Battle of Tumbledown Mountain was published in The Shirburnian, Michaelmas 1982:
On Friday 2 April 1982, the date of the Argentinian Invasion, the Battalion was finding the Queens Guard at Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and the Tower of London. Little did we think then that we would find ourselves involved in the recovery of the Falklands. After numerous briefings and a work-up exercise in Wales, we set sail from Southampton on the QEII at 1600hrs on Wednesday 12th May, and landed at San Carlos on 2nd June.
The Commanding Officer received his orders for the attack on Tumbledown Mountain feature on Thursday 10th June. This was part of a Brigade plan which included subsequent attacks on Mt William and Sapper Hill by the 1/7 Gurkha Rifles and the Welsh Guards respectively. The Battalion moved to its Assembly Area by helicopter on Sunday 13th June. The attack began on schedule at 0100 hrs on Monday 14th June. It was to be a silent night attack, until the enemy discovered us, at which time we would employ the considerable fire support available. This support consisted of two Naval ships (HMS YARMOUTH and HMS PHOEBE), 3 batteries of Artillery, 3 Mortar platoons and a .5 machine gun platoon. The attack was to be in 3 phases, each phase consisting of a company attack on part of the feature. There was also to be a diversionary attack to the South during the first phase.
‘G’ Company was to take the first part of Tumbledown Mountain, this they did completely undetected by 0230 hrs. Left flank company moved forward and immediately came under fire from enemy mortars, machine gun and snipers. At this stage there was also sporadic shelling of both ‘G’ Company and Battalion Headquarters. Unknown to the rest of the Battalion at this time, the diversionary attack had run into an enemy platoon which it took out but suffered several casualties. It is felt that this kept the enemy occupied and enabled ‘G’ Company to achieve its foothold on the objective.
The left flank company remained pinned down for some hours before a concerted bombardment immediately followed by a vigorous company assault finally broke the deadlock and Left Flank were secure on their objective by 0820 hrs.
The final phase of the assault involved Right Flank Company passing quickly through the Left Flank Company position and putting in a swift flanking attack on the final enemy location. Once this was completed the Battalion was secure on Tumbledown feature, leaving the way open for 1/7 Gurkha Rifles to attack Mt. William.
During the attack, and subsequent shell fire on our position, the Battalion lost 8 killed, 41 wounded and 1 missing. The enemy losses were considerably higher and the Battalion took 27 prisoners. It is now known that the enemy troops were the Recce Platoon and a Rifle Company from the 5th Marine Battalion.
After this battle the Argentinians surrendered totally. We hope therefore that our losses were not in vain and indeed our action contributed to an early end of the war, saving many other British lives.
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