INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR TOM MARTIN (RETD.)
29 Battery’s forward left-hand gun
at Head of the Bay House
RFA Sir Galahad pictured only seconds after being hit during the initial Argentine attack at Fitzroy.
This photograph was taken in the vicinity of 29 Battery’s ammunition dump, 8 June 1982
THE GUNS OF
EAST FALKLAND
A Sea King brings in one of 29 Battery’s guns into Fitz
Cove, 5 June 1982. Due to the nature of East Falkland’s
terrain, all artillery pieces were transported by helicopter
INTERVIEW WITH
MAJOR TOM MARTIN (RETD.)
C Sub, 29 Battery
pose for a photograph
between fire missions
at Wether Ground,
10-13 June 1982.
Empty shell cases
litter the foreground
This British veteran reveals how the Royal Artillery played a
vital but often forgotten role during the 1982 conflict
WORDS TOM GARNER
Inset, above:
Tom Martin
pictured on MV
Norland during
the voyage south,
14 May 1982
The sinking of ARA General Belgrano by the
Royal Navy had a “sobering” effect on Martin and
his colleagues as they sailed south
he Falklands War is known for the
varied British units that fought
to recapture the South Atlantic
islands. RAF aircraft clashed with
Argentine jets, Royal Navy ships
bore the brunt of enemy air attacks, while
infantrymen ‘yomped’ across the rugged
landscape to engage Argentine defenders.
However, there is one aspect of the campaign
that has received little attention – the artillery.
Five batteries of the Royal Artillery fought
in the Falklands and Major General Julian
Thompson (commander of 3 Commando Brigade)
has since noted, “Without the gunners we would
not have won – however bravely and skilfully the
other soldiers fought. Only devastatingly accurate
and powerful fire missions enabled the infantry
to overcome well-sited Argentine soldiers among
rocks and crags on the formidable objectives.”
One of these artillerymen was Second
Lieutenant Tom Martin of 29 (Corunna) Field
Battery, RA. Martin and his colleagues had
sailed south with 2nd Battalion, Parachute
Regiment (2 Para) and would support them
throughout the land campaign. Nevertheless,
29 Battery would ultimately provide heavy
fire cover for any unit that requested it and
their guns participated in the majority of the
engagements during the campaign.
T
A “shock” deployment
Martin joined the British Army in 1979 and was
commissioned into the artillery the following
year. Becoming a gunnery officer was not his
original plan, “I came from a family of veterinary
surgeons that spanned 100 years. I was the
fourth generation and was expecting to go into
38
Martin vividly recalls when HMS Antelope
exploded in San Carlos Water on 24 May 1982
veterinary science but I performed abysmally in
my school exams and didn’t make the grade.
I then looked for something that gave me a
professional status but without a professional
qualification. I hit upon an idea of being a pilot
and pursued that with the intention of joining the
Army Air Corps.”
At that time the AAC did not directly recruit
officers so after completing his training at
Sandhurst, Martin entered the artillery because
it provided the most number of pilots for the
Air Corps. Upon completing his training Martin
joined 29 (Corunna) Field Battery, 4th Field
Regiment as a second lieutenant.
After a spell serving in Northern Ireland, 29
Battery had returned to their base at Aldershot
when news broke of the Argentine invasion of
the Falkland Islands, “It was a shock and for
the vast majority of people nobody even knew
where the Falklands were. Back in the day there
was no internet and what you saw was on the
news, radio or in the papers. We were very
much glued to TV screens when it happened.”
Martin recalls that although the British
response was swift, he didn’t think he would
be deployed, “Margaret Thatcher was saying
that she wouldn’t have any of this on her watch
and immediately dispatched a task force. This
was 3 Commando Brigade commanded by
Brigadier Julian Thompson, which included the
three batteries of 29 Commando Regiment,
RA. When they all sailed south, that was it. The
rest of us were told that this was a completely
commando affair and we wouldn’t get involved.”
29 Battery was even granted leave for Easter
before it was hurriedly called back, “Within
24 hours we got recalled to barracks by the
codeword ‘Pegasus’, which was a surprise.
In the time that the brigade had sailed, the
military planners had realised that there
still wasn’t enough infantry. They decided to
dispatch 2 Para under Colonel H. Jones, who
wasn’t going without his guns. Our battery
commander Tony Rice said, ‘Where 2 Para
goes, we go,’ so we went with them and sailed
on 26 April. This was some weeks after the
initial task force had deployed.”
The voyage south
29 Battery spent 25 days sailing the 8,000
miles down the Atlantic Ocean to the Falklands.
While its six L118 light guns were transported
on MV Europic, the gunners sailed on MV
Norland, a North Sea passenger ferry. Martin
recalls that the ship had to be specially
converted for conflict, “It wasn’t decked out to
be a troopship. They converted it by welding
flight decks on the stern and near the funnel.
It was also crewed by merchant seamen who
looked after us. We were their ‘charges’ and
they felt honour-bound to deliver us in the
best possible conditions.”
Martin suffered from seasickness and
remembers the voyage as a trial, “It was
absolutely awful and I was the world’s worst
sailor. I was getting my sea legs by the end of it
but if they had said, ‘Go and invade anywhere,’
we would have done. I personally would have
gone anywhere – I just had to get off.”
While suffering the rigours of life at sea,
Martin and his colleagues were largely cut
off from the outside world and assumed that
the developing crisis would be resolved, “The
impression was that it was all going to be
39
THE GUNS OF EAST FALKLAND
C Sub, 29 Battery pictured after the British
recapture of Stanley, 15-16 June 1982
“YOU WERE ON A SHIP WITH
900 PARATROOPERS AND
OTHER ASSORTED PEOPLE
SO IT WAS AN AGGRESSIVE
BUNCH AT THE BEST OF TIMES.
THE NOISE WAS ABSOLUTELY
DEAFENING WHEN THE NEWS
BROKE ON THE TANNOY”
San Carlos Water
The Norland finally arrived at the Falklands and
29 Battery landed at San Carlos Water during
the amphibious landings on 21 May. Located
on the west coast of East Falkland, the battle
for San Carlos was the fight to establish a
successful British beachhead on the territory’s
largest and most populated island. As crucial
artillery support, 29 Battery was one of the
first units to land, “The plan was clearly an
amphibious landing and it was something that
we hadn’t done for real since Korea. We sailed
in the dark and I got ashore by helicopter. I was
going to be one of the first ones to fly in at first
light to help set up the gun positions. These
had to be secured and set up ready for the
guns to come ashore.”
Martin’s first impressions of the Falklands
were of a bleak landscape, “It was a bit of a
shock because we didn’t know what to expect
and didn’t have any pictures per se. When dawn
broke you could have been off the northwest
coast of Scotland. It was grey, dark and you
didn’t think of vibrant colours.”
Once Martin was ashore, 29 Battery’s gun
position was established on the extreme
southern edge of San Carlos Water at a
deserted farm called Head of the Bay House.
The house was painted white with a red roof
and was used as a landmark by Argentine pilots
to guide them on attacking raids, “It stood out
like a sore thumb. Most of the air attacks came
in right over the top of our gun position because
the Argentine pilots were directed to the task
force at anchorage via our little farmstead. We
were their line-up point for all their attacks and
we saw a huge amount of Argentine jets fly over
us. We had a go at them of course and that
was our first taste of seeing the enemy.”
29 Battery fired at the jets with small arms,
which was Martin’s first experience of combat,
“You stood there and opened up at the jets as
they came through with their machine guns.
You were shooting at the plane, rather than
the person who was flying it, and it was more
of a case to just shoot the plane down. You
felt disconnected in that regard but in that
moment of anger and aggression it was a bit of
a release to know that you can do it.”
L118 LIGHT GUN
Originally produced for the British Army in the mid1970s, the L118 is a 105mm howitzer. Weighing
two tonnes, 8.8 metres (28.87 feet) long, 2.13
metres (6.99 feet) high and manned by a crew
of six, the gun is lightweight and can be towed.
The firing system is electrically actuated but the
weapon is otherwise conventionally designed. A
skilled crew can fire six to eight rounds-per-minute
29 BATTERY’S FIELD GUNS WERE NEWLY INTRODUCED
ARTILLERY PIECES THAT ARE STILL IN SERVICE TODAY
with each projectile exiting the barrel at 2,300
feet per second.
Since its introduction, the L118 has been widely
exported and participated in many war zones
including the western Sahara, Yugoslavia, Sierra
Leone and, most recently, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Falklands was the second conflict that the
gun saw active service and Martin recalls that their
introduction had unintended consequences, “We
had six L118 light guns [in 29 Battery] and they
could fire a 35-pound shell some 17.2 kilometres.
It was a pretty state-of-the-art gun in those days
because we’d sold the old light guns, which were
pack-howitzers. It turned out that the sales of
some of these guns went to Argentina and they
ended up at the far end!”
Royal Artillerymen fire L118 guns
during an exercise, 18 February 2013
The most famous L118 is the ‘One
O’Clock Gun’ at Edinburgh Castle, which is
fired at 1pm every day excepting Sunday,
Good Friday and Christmas Day
Firing the first shot
On 23 May, Martin gave the command to fire
the first land artillery shot of the war, “We were
the ones who were furthest south and were
effectively the closest to the Argentine garrison
Image: Richard Watt/MOD
sorted out diplomatically. Nobody thought
that we would actually be having any form of
real physical conflict because the stakes were
so high. As we sailed south we were in an
information vacuum.
“All you could rely on was the ship’s tannoy
telling you what had happened on the daily
news bulletin at mealtimes.”
The seriousness of their predicament was
confirmed on 2 May when HMS Conqueror sank
the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano,
“That news broke to us the following morning
at breakfast. You were on a ship with 900
paratroopers and other assorted people so it
was an aggressive bunch at the best of times.
The noise was absolutely deafening when the
news broke on the tannoy.”
Despite the initial cheering, the mood
darkened when the Argentine casualties
were announced, “You could sense that the
person making the broadcast was expecting a
response because he then said, ‘For the loss of
c.240 lives’. The place went absolutely silent,
you could have heard a pin drop. As it was, the
final toll was 323 lives that were lost.”
Further shocking news soon followed when
HMS Sheffield was sunk by an Exocet missile
and 22 members of the SAS were killed in a
helicopter crash, “We knew then that there was
no going back and the mood on the ship was
very sombre and quiet. Back in the UK, The Sun
had their banner headline of ‘GOTCHA!’ when
the Belgrano went down and it was all very
jingoistic. There was none of that on the task
force and certainly not on the Norland, we had
no time for that. It was very serious.”
INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR TOM MARTIN (RETD.)
The task force’s only surviving Chinook brings in 29
Battery’s first gun to Bluff Cove, 3 June 1982. The gun was
accidentally dropped off at the top of an exposed ridgeline
40
41
THE GUNS OF EAST FALKLAND
INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR TOM MARTIN (RETD.)
Left: Head of the Bay House.
The deserted farm building was
a useful landmark for Argentine
pilots to guide them to attack the
Task Force in San Carlos Water
DOUGLAS
JOHNSON
HARBOUR
PORT SAN CARLOS
SAN CARLOS
HEAD OF THE BAY HOUSE
1
PORT LOUIS
GREEN
PATCH
TEAL INLET
SAN CARLOS
21-25 MAY 1982
TWIN SISTERS
11-12 JUNE 1982
MOUNT KENT
29 MAY-11 JUNE 1982
A Sub, 29 Battery pictured at Wether
Ground just after the ceasefire. The snow
indicates the harsh weather conditions
that the gunners had to fight in
WETHER GROUND
BLUFF COVE
down at Darwin and Goose Green. One of our
observers was up on the Sussex Mountains
looking over these settlements and he saw
what he thought was an Argentinean patrol
travelling in a vehicle. He called for fire.”
Martin was prepared for the fire mission,
“As far as gunners are concerned we’re always
on call 24/7 at the drop of a hat. The call for
fire comes in the chilling tones of ‘Fire Mission
Battery’. That’s the cue for all gun batteries on
the regimental net who are listening in to then
respond. The first battery that calls ‘Ready’
gets the mission and that was me. I was in the
CP (Command Post) on duty at the time and it
was a moment and a half!”
The observer gave Martin a target and fire
orders, which then had to be interpreted,
“This was in terms of getting the ammunition
prepared, making sure the guns had the right
charge, getting the right fuses and computing
the firing data for the individual guns in
terms of bearing and elevation. I then told
the gunners to load and prepare to fire on
my command. I would wait on the observer’s
instruction, ‘Do it now’ and I’d be the one on
the end of a handset to say ‘Fire!’ At that point
the guns went ‘Bang!’.”
Martin was very much aware of the
importance of this event, “Artillery was used
during the Aden Emergency in a limited capacity
but the RA hadn’t fired in anger in any major
conflict since Malaya in 1960. Here we were,
some 20 years later, and you felt that the world
was watching you. You had to make sure all the
sums were right and it was career-limiting stuff
back home if you got it wrong. It was pretty
intense and we fired at extreme range. Of the
four gun batteries that were initially down in the
Falklands, 29 (Corunna) Field Battery fired the
first rounds in anger.”
During that night Martin was with the
battery’s senior lieutenant Bill Moore when
HMS Antelope was attacked in the bay, “I
was off-shift talking to Bill when we saw this
almighty flash. Then there was this incredible
bang as the ship exploded. The whole of San
Carlos Water lit up with this explosion and it
was one of those ‘OMG’ moments. When dawn
broke the following day you looked across
42
and could see the ship was on fire and still
smoking. Eventually, it broke its back and sank,
which was really sobering.”
Martin reflects that his initial combat
experiences in San Carlos Water were
reminiscent of earlier conflicts, “War was very
different back then to what it is now. Compared
to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the
Argentines had jets, artillery and infantry etc.
It was like a throwback to WWII. Watching jets
go in, ships being attacked and blown up while
airplanes were being shot down in front of you
was quite a surreal experience.”
Dustbin cuisine
At Head of the Bay House, 29 Battery began to
suffer from depleting food rations, “We went
ashore with a few days rations. The idea was
that after two days you said ‘Can we have some
more please?’ over the radio and then it would
be delivered. When you were down to your last
24 hours rations another lot would come in.
However, because of the loss of helicopters
on SS Atlantic Conveyor, rotary support was
limited. There was a tremendous effort getting
stores and equipment off the ships and we
were very much down the food chain. You’d
send requests and they’d say ‘Yes, we’ll do
that’ but nothing came.”
After two days without rations, the battery
resorted to desperate measures, “The one
thing we weren’t short of on the Falklands was
sheep and the decision was made to shoot
one. One of our cooks was a butcher by trade
and he butchered this sheep. A private from
the Catering Corps was then given a galvanised
“THE RA HADN’T FIRED IN
ANGER IN ANY MAJOR CONFLICT
SINCE MALAYA IN 1960. HERE
WE WERE, SOME 20 YEARS
LATER, AND YOU FELT THAT THE
WORLD WAS WATCHING YOU”
dustbin and told to clean it. He cleaned it up
absolutely spotless.”
With a bin acting as an improvised stove and
a few root vegetables discovered growing on
the farmstead, the gunners contributed random
ingredients, “A hole was dug with a large fire pit
because there was plenty of peat from the store
at the house. We got a fire going with girders
over the top and put the stew on. The cooks
went around with a bin bag and asked everybody
for anything they had squirrelled away in their
pockets. This was anything from a packet of
soup to stock cubes, biscuits and dried peas.”
The result was surprisingly tasty, “All
these things made this all-in stew and it was
wonderful. The mutton was perfect and the
chef actually got to do some cooking with
potatoes, carrots etc. We had it by the pint in
a mess tin and it fed the entire gun position. If
you ever saw a dustbin full of stew you wouldn’t
believe it!”
Bluff Cove
On 3 June, 29 Battery was moved forward to
the small settlement and sea inlet of Bluff
Cove. Martin recalls that logistics were one of
the biggest headaches for the British during
the campaign, “There were no roads and
everything had to be shifted by air. They were
in short supply because the Atlantic Conveyor
went down so all except one of the Chinooks
were lost. There was therefore a great weight
put on the rotary assets to deliver anything and
everything to do with the task force.”
Transporting a battery was particularly
difficult, “We required 42 helicopter lifts at a
minimum. That would transport the six guns,
90-odd personnel, command post, stores
and a limited amount of ammunition forward.
This could not cover the sustained amount of
firing so you would then have to also bring in
thousands of rounds by air. That was a huge
logistical effort placed on the rotary fleet but
the helicopters played an absolute blinder.”
Such was the artillery’s importance that the
guns became a military priority, “The Paras and
commandos had to exchange places and walk.
They ended up yomping across the Falklands
to fight their battles because there was no
DARWIN
GOOSE GREEN
2
3
BLUFF COVE
STANLEY
FITZROY
SAPPER HILL
13-14 JUNE 1982
MOUNT WILLIAM
13-14 JUNE 1982
SWAN INLET
MOUNT HARRIET
11-12 JUNE 1982
C Sub pictured in the act of firing. The gun is
at full recoil and firing at maximum range. The
blurred photograph indicates the huge physical
force, pressure and noise of the action
MOUNT LONGDON
11-12 JUNE 1982
MOUNT TUMBLEDOWN
13-14 JUNE 1982
Inset, below: 29 (Corunna) Field Battery RA pictured onboard MV Norland. Second
Lieutenant Tom Martin is pictured on the front second row standing, second from right
29 BATTERY’S
GUN POSITIONS
TOM MARTIN’S ARTILLERY UNIT WAS DEPLOYED THREE
TIMES TO SUPPORT THE LAND CAMPAIGN BATTLES
29 Battery’s gun positions were established in key strategic
areas to provide vital assistance to the advancing infantry
on East Falkland. From Head of the Bay House near San
Carlos Water to Bluff Cove and Wether Ground in the south,
Martin’s gunners kept up the heavy firepower required to
defeat Argentine forces.
Throughout these deployments and fire missions, Martin’s
role was based in each position’s command post, “When a call
to fire came in, my job was to convert that call using log tables,
slide rules and protractors into firing solutions for the guns to
be able to engage the target. I would then control the guns to
deliver what the guy at the sharp end was asking for.”
43
THE GUNS OF EAST FALKLAND
air support. Guns, ammunition and food were
moved forward and casualties would go back.”
Once the battery landed at Bluff Cove, Martin
discovered that they had effectively landed
in No-Man’s-Land, “When we got out of the
Chinook we were running around doing the
technical bits and establishing where we were.
A soldier from 2 Para came across and said,
‘You alright? You do realise that’s my trench
over there? There’s nothing between that trench
and Stanley apart from you.’ We were in full
view of the enemy, which was rather disturbing.
We were technically the furthest forward of our
own troops apart from the SAS and SBS. That
became another ‘OMG’ moment but we were
able to move the gun position.”
29 Battery were moved to a safer position
a short distance away from Bluff Cove at the
southern edge of Fitz Cove. A few days after
they arrived, Argentine jets attacked British
ships in what became known as the ‘Bluff Cove
Air Attacks’, “The misconception is that the
attacks actually happened at Bluff Cove but it
actually happened at Fitzroy. We’d had a couple
of bad days of really heavy weather and were
soaked through. After a shift I heard something
on the wind that sounded like a jet noise and
immediately shouted across to the command
post. The first wave of Argentine jets flew over
shortly afterwards and we started to engage
them. They realised they were under fire but
pressed home their attack. The second wave
came in and the Scots Guards then opened up
as well with this wall of lead. It was all tracers
Argentine troops pose
with weapons in a
defended position
44
INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR TOM MARTIN (RETD.)
so you could see where the bullets were flying.”
Despite the ground troops’ best efforts, the
Argentine jets proceeded to bomb the heavily
manned vessels RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir
Tristram, “The jets flew over our gun positions
but they weren’t interested in us, they were
interested in the ships. Nobody managed
to get a tracer lead on the jets, which was
unfortunate. They pressed home their attack
and the aircraft bombed Galahad and Tristram.
I didn’t see the bombing but you could see the
smoke and hear the jets fly around.”
Both ships were badly damaged and the
British suffered casualties of 56 killed and
150 wounded during the attacks, “Two of our
number were at Bluff Cove when it happened
and were down on the beach helping to pull
people ashore and tend to the wounded. When
they came back they were very, very quiet.”
Wether Ground
29 Battery was subsequently moved six
kilometres further forward towards Stanley
to their last combat gun position at Wether
Ground. This would prove to be the most
intense period for the gunners as they came
under increasing Argentine artillery fire, “We
were situated behind this little ridge, which kept
us covered from view. However, it doesn’t take
the brains of a rocket scientist to work out that
if 50-odd helicopters are bringing guns on a
little flight from Bluff Cove, dropping something
off and then going back empty then there is
something going on there.”
Argentine troops defend
a fire trench with a .50
calibre machine gun
The battery was then subjected to Argentine
artillery airbursts, “It was pretty scary. They
had a 155mm field howitzer, which could fire a
90-pound shell that was three times the size
of ours. They could fire that over 24 kilometres
but we couldn’t reach them because we only
had a 17-kilometre range. The Argentine 155
harassed us for about three days before it was
taken out by an airstrike.”
Martin and the other gunners had no choice
but to stand their ground, “The bottom line
is that when there is call for fire you’re there
manning the guns. You stand there and return
what fire support is required regardless of
what’s coming down on you. It’s the training
that gets you through.”
29 Battery was fortunate that the Argentine
fire was not accurate, “We were just so lucky
that the shells were landing all around us or
over the top of us. Believe me, they were very
close! Shrapnel was hitting us but by the time
it got to us it was effectively spent. However, it
still would have ruined your day if you’d been hit
by it as one of our number was.”
As a gunner, Martin found it ironic that
he was under fire, “We were doing what
artillerymen have had to do over hundreds
of years but it was quite something to come
under artillery fire yourself. You’re dishing it
out and we had thousands of rounds going off
but to have it coming back to you as well was a
surreal experience. It wasn’t pleasant.”
Despite the intense shelling, Martin knew the
British would win, “We knew that the Argentinean
“THERE WAS ONE OF US TO THREE OF THEM BUT IT WAS
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. WE WERE WORLDS APART IN
TERMS OF PROFESSIONALISM AND AGGRESSION”
A standard number of
rounds prepared behind
C Sub gun. Although the
rounds were out in the
open, their cartridge cases
remained in protective
black plastic cases
Martin (front, right) and
two other British soldiers
pictured next to an
Argentine 155mm Field
Howitzer on the outskirts
of Stanley, 26 June 1982
45
THE GUNS OF EAST FALKLAND
Victory
“AS A SOLDIER YOU ARE A TOOL
USED BY POLITICIANS TO GO
AND PROSECUTE THE POLITICAL
WILL, SO AS A COLLECTIVE THEY
WERE THE ENEMY”
29 Battery had been involved in supporting
almost every land engagement including the
battles of Mount Kent, Two Sisters, Mount
Longdon and Mount Tumbledown. By the time
Stanley was recaptured on 14 June the battery
was still at Wether Ground and Martin recalls
feeling hesitant in the wake of victory, “There was
huge relief that we’d won but you couldn’t rest
on your laurels. Although the Argentines were
surrendering there was nothing to say that was
what their government wanted. It was a military
junta and it didn’t look good to fail so there was
no cast-iron guarantee that it had all stopped.”
The gunners were also suffering from the
effects of the elements while they returned
to Bluff Cove and remained in the field, “We
had been out in the open all the time and the
weather was just brutal. It was cold, wet and
windy and if you were damp there was wind
chill. Not having enough to eat made you hungry
and fatigued. You were not out of action even
when the fire missions were going down. It had
a debilitating effect and only through training
and finding a routine that worked did you fight
your way through it to survive.”
The battery was billeted in outbuildings at
Bluff Cove where they slept in a garage and
sheep-shearing shed. On one occasion, Martin
was driven through Stanley where he saw many
Argentine prisoners, “They were dejected and
crestfallen but I had no sympathy for them.
As a soldier you are a tool used by politicians
to go and prosecute the political will, so as a
collective they were the enemy.
“However, it wasn’t their choice to be
there and as individuals you could feel some
sympathy because they were so poorly led,
fed and looked after.”
Martin also had a low opinion of the
Argentine fighting ability, “Argentina doesn’t
have, to my mind, an extensive history of
warfare. We have a fighting capability and
centuries’ worth of tradition doing it whereas
the Argentine forces didn’t.
“They had some very good soldiers in terms
of professionals and they caused a lot of grief
but they were few and far between. Compared
to a British commando or parachute battalion it
was chalk and cheese.”
However, Martin did respect the Argentine
pilots, “Their skill and bravery was never in
question. To see what they did day after day in
San Carlos eventually meant that the area was
called ‘Bomb Alley’. They must have known they
were losing people but they kept coming back.
There was no question about their fighting
capability, they were very determined.”
The Argentine military threat ultimately never
materialised after the recapture of Stanley and
29 Battery finally returned home on 11 July
1982. Although their role has been relatively
unsung, Martin is no doubt of the importance of
the Royal Artillery during the war, “The artillery
played a vital role. Julian Thompson always
speaks of its tremendous worth and knew
that without the gunners we probably wouldn’t
have won, it’s that stark. They were a major
Images: Pen & Sword, Tom Martin, David Gibbins and Steve Sprotson
resolve was crumbling just by the nature of how
they were rolled up in various battles. There
were determined bands of Argentine soldiers
but by and large they were conscripts who were
poorly trained and – we felt – poorly led. There
was one of us to three of them but it was quality
over quantity. We were worlds apart in terms of
professionalism and aggression.”
46
Tom Martin (left) and fellow 29
Battery veterans David Gibbins and
Bill Moore at their old position at Fitz
Cove, 35 years after they fought there
A group of Argentine POWs onboard the
‘prison ship’ MV St Edmund, 29 June 1982
During a revisit to Bluff
Cove, Martin found one
of 29 Battery’s command
post chairs
ingredient and there’s an old adage that says,
‘Infantry wins battles, but artillery wins wars’.”
“Was it worth it?”
After returning to the UK, Martin went on to
achieve his ambition of becoming a helicopter
pilot in the Army Air Corps and retired from
the British Army with the rank of major.
He still works for the emergency services
as a helicopter pilot and has been flying
professionally for 35 years. Nevertheless, he
did not return to the Falklands until 2017.
Martin was visiting to commemorate the
35th anniversary of the conflict with his
former battery colleagues and he observed a
transformed society, “Back then there were
about 1,800 people scattered across the
islands and they were in decline because of an
ageing population and people leaving. Now it’s
‘Boom Town’. The last census they had in
2016 listed 3,000 people living there. The
islanders are also incredibly grateful about the
sacrifices that were made.”
For the veterans, revisiting their old
battlegrounds was, “quite a cathartic experience.
It meant we were able to return and pay our
respects to those who had been left behind. Was
it tough? Yes. There were a few hard moments
when we visited certain places but overall
everyone came away with a positive experience.”
The Falklands War was, and remains,
perceived by many as a controversial conflict
but Martin is convinced that it had to be
fought, “It was necessary. The Falklands were
incredibly British even though it was a sleepy
backwater. It was 8,000 miles away but it had
the same needs for protection as the Isle of
Wight. There’s no difference, it’s something
we’re responsible for and Argentina’s junta saw
it as an easy get out from the political mire
they were in. When you speak to the islanders
they could be from a UK county, they sound so
British. Was it worth it? Yes. There was no way
we could turn our backs on them.”
Veterans of 29 Battery,
including Martin (far right),
revisited the Falkland
Islands in January 2017
Tom Martin is the author of Falklands
Gunner, which is published by Pen &
Sword and includes a foreword by Major
General Julian Thompson CB, OBE. For more
information visit: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk