Goose Green: A Harrowing Account

Jones: A Harrowing Account

Particularly for the British, owing to the devastating loss of Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones and almost his entire team within mere minutes of combat.

“The first land battle in the Malvinas was initiated at Colonel Jones’s request. At first, everything seemed likely to proceed smoothly, but the fighting proved ferocious. The 2 PARA, exhausted after nearly a full day’s march, was forced to attack across open ground, in broad daylight, and with inadequate fire support. They lost their commander, his aides-de-camp, and almost the entire staff — and with them, very nearly the action itself...”

Captain David Wood, a close friend of H. Jones, was known for his humour and knack for lifting the men’s spirits at just the right moment. According to the plans and training carried out in Kenya in 1981, Wood was not meant to accompany Jones during reconnaissance, as his role was to remain at the command post. But swept up in Jones’s enthusiasm, Wood moved to the front line. During the assault on the Argentine trench, he shouted to his comrades: “Remember Arnhem!” — a reference to the largest airborne operation ever undertaken by the Parachute Regiment, and their greatest loss at the hands of the Germans, depicted in the film A Bridge Too Far.

David Wood ran forward, but an Argentine bullet killed him instantly, along with two other soldiers. Jones witnessed the scene, unaware that his fallen friend was among the dead. At his side, Captain Chris Dent was ordered by Jones to recover the radio equipment used by the fallen men. Dent prepared to move, but another soldier warned him of the danger of venturing into the open under Argentine fire. Dent went anyway and was shot dead on the spot.

Jones was shaken; he could see almost his entire team being cut down by enemy fire. He decided to take the nearest trench, hurling a grenade, when from a slightly offset position an Argentine machine-gun, about fifty metres away, opened fire. The first burst hit him. Another officer nearby, Farrar-Hockley, tried to help him, as Jones was bleeding heavily and making faint movements, but the intense Argentine fire made it impossible. Corporal Michael Melia of the Royal Engineers attempted to reach Jones’s body, only to be killed by several shots. Another burst struck Jones again, and this time he no longer moved.

Jones was mortally wounded. A young soldier named Tuffen tried to rescue him but was shot in the head. Another paratrooper, Worrell, was badly wounded in the same action. Corporal Stephen Prior attempted to reach the bodies but was killed by Argentine fire; his comrade Albols lay prone and motionless, unable to act. Tuffen was thought dead, but several hours later medics found him in the field, covered with a sheet of metal, still alive.

Corporal Hardman, who had been watching the events unfold, tried to reach them at a run but was killed by multiple Argentine shots, one of which completely destroyed his head. His comrades, lying prone, used Hardman’s body as cover.

Only Corporal Todd remained. Seeing that his entire team and commanding officers were gone, he requested permission to withdraw to the starting point.

The posthumous decoration awarded to H. Jones was heavily questioned within the British Armed Forces, notably by 2 PARA officer and military theorist Spencer Fitz-Gibbon, who wrote in 1995 that, despite his undoubted bravery, Herbert Jones did more to hinder his unit’s victory than to secure it. According to his analysis, Jones lost sight of the broader picture of the battle and prevented his sub-unit commanders from exercising mission command, in favour of attempting his “own feat of heroism.”