Strengthened with elements from other units, the 4th Infantry Regiment was composed of 500 men, armed with 7.62mm FN MAG machine guns, 120mm mortars, 105mm artillery pieces, and rocket launchers; not only did they have the advantage of high ground, but were also protected by the solid cover of rocky outcrops and crags. The 550 men of 45 Commando were highly trained professional soldiers, not conscripts, used to operate in extreme cold weather; on May 21, 1982, they had landed on Ajax Bay beach, on the west coast of East Falkland, and begun a long distance march eastward, over hilly and rough terrain, with full equipment, as they headed towards Port Stanley, the capital.

In May 1982, it was autumn in the southern hemisphere; it was very cold as razor-sharp winds blew hard from the southwest. But this cold and humid weather conditions had a more negative effect on the Argentines rather than on the British, since the bulk of the enemy forces was composed of 18 years old conscripts who had only had two months of military training in the warm sub-tropical province of Corrientes. The 12th Infantry Regiment had been deployed in area around Goose Green by mid April and had lately been reinforced by a well-trained company of the 25th Regiment, totaling 1,200 men.

The British 2nd Battalion (2 Para) consisted of 700 professional paratroopers divided in five companies; on May 21, they had landed on the beachhead of San Carlos bay that had been secured by elements of 3 Commando Brigade. On May 27, the British Para advanced in three columns towards Darwin hills. At approximately 03:00 hours of May 28, after naval bombardment from HMS Arrow rained down on the area, the British paratroopers launched ferocious attacks on the machine gun nests located on top of the hillocks. The first Argentine position to be taken by the Paras was Coronation Ridge, where Lance-Corporal Bingley got killed in action when he tried to take a machine gun nest. The savage fighting raged on for hours as tracers, artillery fire, and flare guns lit up the night. As he charged up a slope to capture an Argentine trench, Lt Col Jones was cut down by machine gun fire from a nearby hillock. However, by 10:00 hours on the morning of May 28, the British paratroopers had succeeded in taking Darwin hills. Then, they launched a final assault on the airfield of Goose Green, which was captured after fierce fighting.

To defend the islands from this Argentine invading force, there were only 85 Royal Marines, commanded by Major Micheal Norman. After a short yet intense fighting, in which Argentine Lieutenant Pedro Giaccino got killed and three others wounded near the government house, the British garrison surrendered to the Argentines, who raised their flag. Heavily outnumbered and outpowered, the reduced British unit had no option but to surrender to the enemy. They also seized the radio station and the post office building. The Royal Marines personnel were shipped to Montevideo, Uruguay, from which they were sent back to England.

The British commander of all the British troops in South Africa at the time was Field Marshall Horatio Herbert Kitchener. In order to defeat the Boers definitely and bring this armed struggle to an end, he had fortified blockhouses built and trenches dug across the wild African plain. At the beginning of 1902, he had ordered British units to sweep the open territory to destroy Boer commandos. On April 6, 1902, a new sweep of the countryside had been organized in order to trap a large Boer force, under Potgieter, between a British entrenchment in Rooival valley and the sweeping or driving force, under Robert Kekewich.

The reinforced British garrison that took part in the battle was made up of the Devonshire Regiment’s 1st Battalion, the Rifle Brigade’s 2nd Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders, and the Manchester Regiment’s 2nd Battalion, totaling 13,000 men. The Boer army was composed of 20,000 men, who had been deployed on hilly terrain along a wide front, four miles away to the north of the town of Ladysmith. The battle began on the morning of October 30, 1899, when Sir George White ordered his troops to rapidly advance east of Ladysmith and then swing around to attack the Boer army’s left flank. Despite the massive commitment of troops and their rapid advance, the British attack floundered completely as the Boers had set up several other positions on top of hillocks during the night, taking the British by surprise. Thus, White’s battalions were routed and forced retreat back into town.

The British brigade was composed of 15000 men, strengthened with an artillery unit equipped with 27 guns. On December 10, as they moved north, toward Kimberley to reinforce a garrison, they encountered a Boer force of 8000 men, dug in at the foot of Magersfontein ridge, near the Modder River. That day, when the British were still a long way off, the Boers opened fire with their long-range rifles, picking off a few of them. This made the Highland Brigade fall back.

With a force of 280 men of the 60th Rifle, the British commander, Sir George P Colley, began a mission to secure the supply line route between New Castle and the British camp at Mount Prospect. The reason for this mission was that the supply line path was under constant hit-and-run attacks carried out by the Boers. When Nicholas Smit and J Weilbach got word of this British expedition, they decided to lie in wait near the Ingogo River. However, Colley’s scouts informed him of a Boer unit ready to attack.

After their defeat at the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit, a British force of about 1300 men, under Sir George Pomeroy Colley, marched towards Transvaal to relieve a garrison. To get there, they had to go through Laing’s Nek pass, located in the Drakensberg mountains. The Boer commander had already deployed a force of 1950 men in the area, distributing some of his men in shooting position on the hill surrounding the pass. With artillery support, Sir Colley attempted to advance through this bottleneck way at about 09:30 hours. Although the hill sides were heavily pounded with 11 howitzers, the Boer force remained unscathed, since they wore greenish brown uniforms which blended in the landscape. As the British charged through the pass, the Boers opened fire from all sides, decimating the British force.