Page 129 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

631
aCta
several weeks: “At the center the conditions were rather precarious. We were a hundred and
fourteen in there, and there were only two toilets and two lavatories. There were no sleeping
implements; all the people had to sleep lying on the floor. Each of us had a little surface to
place the mattresses and blankets to sleep on. … As it was a community center there was a
pool table and the people played darts or cards or spent the day reading”. 56
In the morning of 12 May, medicines from the Puerto Argentino hospital were distributed
to the population, and eventually some of the women were allowed to go out and cook the
food for the rest of the people.
The town at Goose Green was under British attack on 28 May, and the Argentine garrison
surrendered the next day. No residents were killed or injured in the fighting.

8. finaL actions
After the landing operations and the first land clashes at Goose Green, the British were
mobilized around the defensive area surrounding Puerto Argentino. “Somehow, every time
we noticed that the population was under imminent risk, the zone was evacuated and the resi-
dents relocated in the town center, lodging them for the time being in the hotel or in private
houses”. as a preventive measure, a communiqué was issued urging the population to
57
evacuate the houses located towards the western end of the town. 58
On 11 June, at 0810 hours, a British helicopter attacked the area of Puerto Argentino
59
with air-land missiles which were fired against the Town Hall, where a meeting of com-
manding officers, including the Governor, was presumed to be taking place. The first missile
missed the building for a few meters and hit the roof of the Police Station. The second missile
had a failure in its guiding cable and hit the ground a few meters away from Hospital Ship
ARA “Bahía Paraíso” which was anchored in front of the town. Besides its own personnel
and a number of injured troops, the ship carried on board a mission from the International
Red Cross.
In the nights, the Royal Navy ships staged cannonade runs over the race track area, which
started around 10:30 p.m. and ended at about 2 a.m. Primary targets were the ammunition
depots installed in the area and surrounding houses, the argentine air Force headquarters,
the residence of the Government’s Secretary of Justice, and in the night from 11 to 12 June
the attacks were aimed at the residence military government’s senior officers. “Each cannon-
ade normally comprised three shots and repeated itself over some other target every fifteen to
thirty minutes. … The shots were directed to our house but they missed their target by some
seven meters and hit the house of education superintendence John Fowler, which was located

56 June McMullen, an islander woman, in Milton & Kaminsky, op.cit., page 302.
57 Brigadier Carlos Bloomer Reeve, in Palazzi, op.cit., page 97
58 Smith, John, op.cit., page 230. “By order of the Military Government all inhabitants living on the west side
of the Monument Battle Hill have to leave their homes before 4 pm of today. The enemy´s shelling make
these houses unsafe and a serious risk to all who live there. The order is Mandatory and cannot be refused,
Those who have no place to go in the City Hill have available as first place to go The Cathedral, The West
Store, The Colony Club, and the Saint Mary’s Church Annex. This order is issued as part of the responsibility
of the Government to ensure the security of the Civilian population. Signed: The Military Government.”
59 Wessex HU5 (XT484) with AS.12 missiles from Flight “A” of the 845 Naval Air Squadron..