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The Falkland Islands and Islanders could not escape the impact of this war. Whereas, in the First World War the islands were the scene of a major Naval Battle, in WWII they were not touched directly by the fighting. However, despite the Islands limited resources, more than 150 men and women left the islands to serve overseas in the Royal and Merchant Navies, Royal Air Force and various units of the Army. Others worked in factories, the Land Army and in civil defense duties. Islanders found themselves aboard HMS Exeter at the Battle of the River Plate, HMS Zulu at the sinking of the Bismarck, Fire-fighting during the Blitz, at D-Day and in The Battle of Britain, to mention a few. Many died in the service of their Country and are remembered in the Falkland Islands Roll of Honour 1939-1945.
In the Falklands every able bodied man served in the Defense Force (FIDF), considerable funds were raised for the war effort and everyone had a part to play in the local security arrangements.
The islands also raised the money for ten presentation Spitfires.
There was also a naval operation, Tabarin, based in the islands in 1943:
Operation Tabarin was conceived at British Cabinet level in 1943 when there were fears of German naval involvement in the Southern Ocean and of Argentine and Chilean attempts to assert sovereignty in the Antarctic whilst Britain was involved in the Second World War. A carefully selected party of naval men was formed under the command of Lt.Commander James Marr, a veteran of Shackleton’s ‘Quest’ expedition and of the ‘Discovery’ investigations. The secret Operation was code-named after a Parisian night club, Bal Tabarin, in view of the long winter darkness of the Antarctic (its establishment also needed a lot of night work with some consequent chaos). A Norwegian wooden Arctic sealing vessel was chartered and re-named HMS Bransfield to carry the Party and equipment to the Falkland Islands, but she developed a leak and had to be abandoned, resulting in a switch of personnel and supplies to the Royal Mail liner Highland Monarch which was already scheduled to sail to the Island!
Although arrangements were made to detach to the operation the Antarctic Research Vessel, later converted to be a minesweeper, HMS William Scoresby this was clearly insufficient to transport all the cargo and men.
So, upon arrival Lt. Commander Marr was able to requisition the Island’s mail ship Fitzroy, the only link with the outside world. The Fitzroy was neither ice-strengthened, nor insured for operation in the Antarctic. Her loss would have isolated the Colony, which had already lost ‘Lafonia’, the other mail ship, following a similar requisition.
Captain D. W. Roberts, the Colonial Manager of the Falkland Islands Company, strongly resisted the requisition but to no avail and therefore insisted on accompanying the Captain (Keith Pitt) and sailing with the ship. He was the most experienced mariner in the areas south of the Falklands. HMS William Scoresby was commanded by Captain Victor Marchesi. The operation was successful and established two Antarctic Bases, complete with Post Offices to enhance sovereignty. Without the Fitzroy or Captain Roberts it is questionable whether the mission would have been such a success.
After peace returned it became a civilian operation, The Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey which, in 1962 became The British Antarctic Survey. Human occupation of Antarctica has been continuous since the establishment of the first Operation Tabarin bases.
