5th Marine Infantry Battalion, The Elite Unit that Emerged from the Trenches

The 5th Marine Infantry Battalion (BIM 5), reinforced with 200 Army personnel, became a heroic legend due to its extraordinary performance in the 1982 war. This unit was trained, organised, and prepared for combat by its commanding officer, then Frigate Captain Carlos H. Robacio.

Once in the Malvinas, Robacio led his men in combat with such determination that he astonished the enemy. As M. Hastings notes in The Battle for the Falklands:

"The Scots Guards (an elite unit) could hear the Argentinians shouting and even singing as they fought. They were the best troops... the 5th Argentine Marine Infantry Battalion."

The Sunday Times reported:

"The Argentinians did not surrender or retreat on Mount Tumbledown, where the Scots Guards had to face the fiercest action of all. There, they encountered highly skilled and well-entrenched Argentine Marine Infantry who kept firing relentlessly and with remarkable intensity."

Robacio and his BIM 5 refused to obey the order to surrender on 14 June 1982. They continued to fight fiercely until they ran out of ammunition, and then engaged in hand-to-hand combat using cold steel. They marched into Puerto Argentino in perfect formation, weapons shouldered and in ceremonial step. The British, astonished by such an extraordinary display of courage, lined up to salute them and received them with military honours...



Carlos Hugo Robacio

• Medal for Valour in Combat

• Honoured by the National Congress of Argentina

• Argentine Army: Order of Distinguished Service and Military Merit in the rank of Commander

• Republic of Peru: Peruvian Cross for Naval Merit and Legion of Merit in the rank of Commander
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