Keith Mills (Royal Marines officer)

Lieutenant Keith Mills, Royal Marines is the British military officer who commanded the defense of South Georgia against the 1982 Argentine invasion.

Mills was well acquainted with the local conditions, having participated shortly before the war in the 1981/82 Joint Services Expedition, which made extensive trekking and climbing in the southwest region of South Georgia from 12 December 1981 to 16 March 1982.

During the two-hour battle on 3 April 1982 Lieutenant Mill’s detachment of 22 Royal Marines inflicted severe damage on the Argentine corvette "Guerrico" and shot down a Puma helicopter, killing two Argentine Marines and one sailor, while sustaining one wounded on the British side. The losses suffered at Grytviken prevented Argentina from occupying the rest of the island, with 15 Britons remaining outside Argentine control on several locations from Bird Island and Schlieper Bay in the northwest to St. Andrews Bay to the southeast. [R.K. Headland, "The Island of South Georgia", Cambridge University Press, 1984.] [ [http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Falklands/South-Georgia.html Britain's Small Wars: The Argentine Invasion of South Georgia] ]

Lieutenant Mills and his Marines were treated as heroes in Britain, and he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for the defense of South Georgia.

ee also

* 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands
* History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsLt Mills was not a member of the 1981/82 JSE South Georgia.Submitted by Tom Scrimgeour, Member, JSESG 1981/82

References