fbpx
Wikipedia

Argentine Army

The Argentine Army (Spanish: Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, exercising his or her command authority through the Minister of Defense.

Argentine Army
Ejército Argentino
Seal
FoundedMay 29, 1810; 212 years ago (1810-05-29)
Country Argentine Republic
BranchArmy
Size
  • 70,600 active soldiers (2022)
  • 350 medium & light tanks
  • 800 armored fighting vehicles
  • 60 self propelled artillery
  • 400 towed artillery
  • 30 rocket artillery
Part ofArgentine Armed Forces
Motto(s)"Born with the Fatherland in May 1810"
MarchSong of the Argentine Army
AnniversariesArmy Day (29 May)
EquipmentEquipment of the Argentine Army
Engagements
Websiteargentina.gob.ar/ejercito
Commanders
Commander-in-chiefPresident Alberto Fernández
Chief of General StaffBrigadier General Agustín Humberto Cejas
Deputy Chief of General StaffDivisional-general Héctor Horacio Prechi
Insignia
Identification
symbol

The Army's official foundation date is May 29, 1810 (celebrated in Argentina as the Army Day), four days after the Spanish colonial administration in Buenos Aires was overthrown. The new national army was formed out of several pre-existing colonial militia units and locally manned regiments; most notably the Infantry Regiment "Patricios", which to this date is still an active unit.

As of 2022, the active element of the Argentine Army numbered some 70,600 military personnel.

History

 
Argentine infantry soldiers in the Paraguayan War illustrated by Ange-Louis Janet for L'Illustration, 1864)

Several armed expeditions were sent to the Upper Peru (now Bolivia), Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile to fight Spanish forces and secure Argentina's newly gained independence. The most famous of these expeditions was the one led by General José de San Martín, who led a 5000-man army across the Andes Mountains to expel the Spaniards from Chile and later from Perú. While the other expeditions failed in their goal of bringing all the dependencies of the former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata under the new government in Buenos Aires, they prevented the Spaniards from crushing the rebellion.

 
Argentine Army, led by General Julio A. Roca, commemorating an anniversary of the May Revolution in 1879

During the civil wars of the first half of the nineteenth century, the Argentine Army became fractionalized under the leadership of the so-called caudillos ("leaders" or "warlords"), provincial leaders who waged a war against the centralist Buenos Aires administration. However, the Army was briefly re-unified during the war with the Brazilian Empire. (1824–1827).

It was only with the establishment of a constitution (which explicitly forbade the provinces from maintaining military forces of their own) and a national government recognized by all the provinces that the Army became a single force, absorbing the older provincial militias. The Army went on to fight the War of the Triple Alliance in the 1860s together with Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay. After that war, the Army became involved in Argentina's Conquista del Desierto ("Conquest of the Desert"): the campaign to occupy Patagonia and root out the natives, who conducted looting raids throughout the country.

1880–1960s

 
Argentine army soldiers with standard uniform in 1938. Note the similarity with the uniforms of the Wehrmacht.

Between 1880 and 1930, the Army sought to become a professional force without active involvement in politics, even though many a political figure -President Julio Argentino Roca, for example- benefitted from a past military career. The Army prevented the fall of the government in a number of Radical-led uprisings. Meanwhile, the military in general and the Army, in particular, contributed to develop Argentina's unsettled southern frontier and its nascent industrial complex.

The main foreign influence during this period was, by and large, the Prussian (and then German) doctrine. Partly because of that, during both World Wars most of the officers supported the Germans, more or less openly, while the Argentine Navy favored the British instead.

 
Argentine troops in 1943

In 1930, a small group of Army forces (not more than 600 troops) deposed President Hipólito Yrigoyen without much response from the rest of the Army and the Navy. This was the beginning of a long history of political intervention by the military. Another coup, in 1943, was responsible for bringing an obscure colonel into the political limelight: Juan Perón.

Even though Perón had the support of the military during his two consecutive terms of office (1946–1952 and 1952–1955), his increasingly repressive government alienated many officers, which finally led to a military uprising which overthrew him in September 1955. Between 1955 and 1973 the Army and the rest of the military became vigilant over the possible re-emergence of Peronism in the political arena, which led to two new coups against elected Presidents in 1962 (deposing Arturo Frondizi) and 1966 (ousting Arturo Illia). Political infighting eroded discipline and cohesion within the army, to the extent that there was armed fighting between contending military units during the early 1960s.

1960s and the military junta

The military government ruled Argentina between 1966 and 1973. During that decade the saw the rise of several terrorist groups including Montoneros and the ERP. During Héctor Cámpora's first months of government, a rather moderate and left-wing Peronist, approximatively 600 social conflicts, strikes and factory occupations took place.[1] Following the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, left and right-wing Peronism broke apart, and the Triple A a far-right terrorist group founded by José López Rega, the right-hand man of Juan Peron and, later, Isabel Perón, started a campaign of terror and death against any perceived political rivals. Isabel Perón herself was ousted during the March 1976 coup by a military junta.

The new military government, self-named Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, initially tried to end the guerrilla's campaigns, but the nation rapidly descended into a state of civil unrest. Terrorist organisations and guerilla movements where often met with a mixture of state terror and general paranoia. The civilian population was now caught in a police state between a paranoid and brutal military dictatorship and violent dissident communist guerrillas. The PRN called this period the "Dirty War" — a term refused by jurists during the 1985 Trial of the Juntas. Batallón de Inteligencia 601 (the 601st Intelligence Battalion) became infamous during this period. It was a special military intelligence service set up in the late 1970s, active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor, and disbanded in 2000.[2] Its personnel collected information on and infiltrated guerrilla groups and human rights organisations, and coordinated killings, kidnappings and other abuses. The unit also participated in the training of Nicaraguan Contras with US assistance, including from John Negroponte.

"Annihilation decrees"

 
Military zones of Argentina, 1975–1983

Meanwhile, the Guevarist People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), led by Roberto Santucho and inspired by Che Guevara's foco theory, began a rural insurgency in the province of Tucumán, in the mountainous northwest of Argentina. It started the campaign with no more than 100 men and women of the Marxist ERP guerrilla force and ended with about 300 in the mountains (including reinforcements in the form of the elite Montoneros 65-strong "Compañía de Monte" (Jungle Company) and the ERP's "Decididos de Córdoba" Urban Company),[3] which the Argentine Army managed to defeat, but at a cost.

On 5 January 1975, an Army DHC-6 transport plane was downed near the Monteros mountains, apparently shot down by the Guerrillas.[4] All thirteen on board were killed. The military believe a heavy machine gun had downed the aircraft.[5]

 
Argentine troops in 1977.

In response, Ítalo Luder, President of the National Assembly who acted as interim President substituting himself to Isabel Perón who was ill for a short period, signed in February 1975 the secret presidential decree 261, which ordered the army to neutralize and/or annihilate the insurgency in Tucumán, the smallest province of Argentina. Operativo Independencia gave power to the Armed Forces to "execute all military operations necessary for the effects of neutralizing or annihilating the action of subversive elements acting in the Province of Tucumán."[6][7] Santucho had declared a 620-mile (1,000 km) "liberated zone" in Tucuman and demanded Soviet-backed protection for its borders as well as proper treatment of captured guerrillas as POWs.[8]

The Argentine Army Fifth Brigade, then consisting of the 19th, 20th and 29th Mountain Infantry Regiments[9] and commanded by Brigadier-General Acdel Vilas received the order to move to Famailla in the foothills of the Monteros mountains on 8 February 1975. While fighting the guerrillas in the jungle, Vilas concentrated on uprooting the ERP support network in the towns, using tactics later adopted nationwide, as well as a civic action campaign.

By July 1975, anti-guerrilla commandos were mounting search-and-destroy missions in the mountains. Army special forces discovered Santucho's base camp in August, then raided the ERP urban headquarters in September. Most of the Compañia de Monte's general staff was killed in October and was dispersed by the end of the year.[10]

The leadership of the rural guerrilla force was mostly eradicated and many of the ERP guerrillas and civilian sympathizers in Tucumán were either killed or forcefully disappeared. Efforts to restrain the rural guerrilla activity to Tucumán, however, remained unsuccessful despite the use of 24 recently arrived US-made Bell UH-1H Huey troop-transport helicopters. In early October, the 5th Brigade suffered a major blow at the hands of the Montoneros, when more than one hundred, and possibly several hundred [11] Montoneros and supporters were involved in the Operation Primicia, the most elaborate operation of the "Dirty War", which involved hijacking a civilian airliner, taking over the provincial airport, attacking the 29th Infantry Regiment (which had retired to barracks in Formosa province) and capturing its cache of arms, and finally escaping by air. Once the operation was over, they escaped towards a remote area in Santa Fe province. The aircraft, a Boeing 737, eventually landed on a crop field not far from the city of Rafaela.

In the aftermath, twelve soldiers and two policemen[12] were killed and several wounded. The sophistication of the operation, and the getaway cars and safehouses they used to escape from the crash-landing site, suggest several hundred guerrillas and their supporters were involved.[13] The Argentine security forces admitted to 43 army troops killed in action in Tucuman, although this figure does not take into account police and Gendarmerie troops, and the soldiers who died defending their barracks in Formosa province on 5 October 1975. By December 1975, the Argentine military could, with some justification claim that it was winning the 'Dirty War', but it was dismayed to find no evidence of overall victory.

On 23 December 1975, several hundred ERP fighters[14] with the help of hundreds of underground supporters, staged an all-out battle with the 601st Arsenal Battalion nine miles (14 km) from Buenos Aires and occupied four local police stations and a regimental headquarters.[15] 63 guerrillas,[16] seven army troops and three policemen were killed.[17] In addition 20 civilians were killed in the crossfire. Many of the civilian deaths occurred when the guerrillas and supporting militants burned 15 city buses[18] near the arsenal to hamper military reinforcements. This development was to have far-reaching ramifications. On 30 December 1975, urban guerrillas exploded a bomb inside the Army's headquarters in Buenos Aires, injuring at least six soldiers.[19]

The Montoneros movement successfully utilized divers in underwater infiltrations and blew the pier where the Argentine destroyer ARA Santísima Trinidad was being built, on 22 August 1975. The ship was effectively immobilized for several years.

French cooperation

French journalist Marie-Monique Robin has found in the archives of the Quai d'Orsay, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, the original document proving that a 1959 agreement between Paris and Buenos Aires instaured a "permanent French military mission," formed of veterans who had fought in the Algerian War, and which was located in the offices of the chief of staff of the Argentine Army. She showed how Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's government secretly collaborated with Jorge Rafael Videla's junta in Argentina and with Augusto Pinochet's regime in Chile.[20]

Green deputies Noël Mamère, Martine Billard and Yves Cochet deposed on September 10, 2003, a request for the constitution of a Parliamentary Commission on the "role of France in the support of military regimes in Latin America from 1973 to 1984" before the Foreign Affairs Commission of the National Assembly, presided by Edouard Balladur. Apart from Le Monde, newspapers remained silent about this request.[21] However, deputy Roland Blum, in charge of the commission, refused to hear Marie-Monique Robin, and published in December 2003 a 12 pages report qualified by Robin as the summum of bad faith. It claimed that no agreement had been signed, despite the agreement found by Robin in the Quai d'Orsay[22][23]

When Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin traveled to Chile in February 2004, he claimed that no cooperation between France and the military regimes had occurred.[24]

Falklands war

 
Argentine soldiers with FN FAL rifles, Falklands War

On 2 April 1982, Leopoldo Galtieri initiated the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands or Operation Rosario as a result of negotiations with the United Kingdom running long.[25] The Argentine Army contributed forces to Operation Rosario and occupation that followed. Army forces also opposed the amphibious landing in San Carlos Water on 21 May, and fought the British at Goose Green, Mount Kent, and the battles around Port Stanley that lead to the ceasefire of 14 June followed by the surrender of the Argentine troops.[26]

The Argentine Army suffered 194 men killed and 1,308 wounded and lost much equipment.[27] The war left the army weakened in equipment, personal, moral and supremacy in the region. The Dirty War events, coupled with the defeat in the Falklands War, precipitated the fall of the military junta that ruled the country, then enters the General Reynaldo Bignone, who began the process of return to democracy in 1983.

1980s to present

 
Soldier of the Argentine Joint Battalion of MINUSTAH entertains some children.

Since the return to civilian rule in 1983, the Argentine military have been reduced both in number and budget and, by law, cannot intervene anymore in internal civil conflicts. They became more professional, especially after conscription was abolished.

In 1998, Argentina was granted Major non-NATO ally status by the United States. The modern Argentine Army is fully committed to international peacekeeping under United Nations mandates, humanitarian aid and emergencies relief.

In 2010, the Army incorporated Chinese Norinco armored wheeled APCs to deploy with its peacekeeping forces.[28]

In 2016 President Mauricio Macri modified a decree made by the 1984 government of Raúl Alfonsín which had removed much of the military's autonomy.[29]

A major problem of today's Army is that most of its combat units are understrength in manpower due to budgetary limitations; the current Table of Organization and Equipment being established at a time during which the Army could rely on larger budgets and conscripted troops.[30] Current plans call for the expansion of all combat units until all combat units are again full-strength, as soon as budget constraints allow for the induction of new volunteer service personnel of both genders.

Structure

Army General Staff

 
Personnel of the Caballería de Tanques N°11 in Santa Cruz, Argentina
 
Parade of the Argentine Army, 2016.

The Army is headed by a Chief of General Staff directly appointed by the President. The current Chief of the General Staff (since September 2008) is General Luis Alberto Pozzi.[31] The General Staff of the Army (Estado Mayor General del Ejército) includes the Chief of Staff, a Deputy Chief of the General Staff and the heads of the General Staff's six departments (Jefaturas). The current departments of the General Staff (known also by their Roman numerals) are:

There are also a number of Commands and Directorates responsible for development and implementation of policies within the Army regarding technological and operational areas. They also handle administrative affairs. As of 2020, these include the following:

  • Communications and Computer Directorate (Dirección General de Comunicaciones e Informática)
  • Education Directorate (Dirección General de Educación)
  • Engineers and Infrastructure Directorate (Dirección de Ingenieros e Infraestructura)
  • Remount and Veterinary Directorate (Dirección de Remonta y Veterinaria)
  • Health Directorate (Dirección General de Salud)
  • Personnel and Welfare Directorate
  • Materiel Directorate (Dirección General de Material)
  • Intelligence Directorate
  • Organization and Doctrine Directorate
  • Research and Development Directorate (Dirección General de Investigación y Desarrollo)
  • Planning Directorate (Dirección de Planeamiento)
  • Finance Directorate
  • Historical Service Directorate

Field organization

 
Structure of the Argentine Army 2020 (click to enlarge)

In the 1960s, the Army was reorganised into five Army Corps. This structure replaced the old structure based on divisions following the French model. There was a further reorganisation in 1991, when brigades were assigned to six new divisions, two stationed at Santa Cruz and Mendoza.[32]

Until late 2010, the First, Second and Third Army Divisions were designated as the Second, Third and Fifth Army Corps (Cuerpos de Ejército) respectively, without any intermediate division-level commands. These redesignations took place as part of a major reorganization of the Armed Forces' administrative and command structure. Two additional Army Corps, the First and Fourth, had already been dissolved in 1984 and 1991 respectively, with their dependent units reassigned to the remaining three Army Corps.

As of 2011, army forces are geographically grouped into three Army Divisions (Divisiones de Ejército), each roughly equivalent in terms of nominal organization to a U.S. Army division (+). Each Army Division has an area of responsibility over a specific region of the country; First Army Division covers the northeast of the country, Second Army Division covers the center and northwest of Argentina and Third Army Division covers the south and Patagonia. In addition to the three Army Divisions, the Rapid Deployment Force (Fuerza de Despliegue Rápido, FDR) forms an additional fourth divisional-level formation, while the Buenos Aires Military Garrison operates independently from any division-sized command. There are also several separate groups, including an anti-aircraft group and the Argentine Army Aviation group.

Each division has varying numbers of brigades of armor, mechanized forces and infantry.

As of 2011, the Argentine Army has eleven brigades:

  • two armored brigades (1st and 2nd),
  • three mechanized brigades (9th, 10th and 11th),
  • three mountain brigades (5th, 6th and 8th),
  • one paratrooper brigade (4th) and
  • two bush brigades (3rd and 12th).

Note: The 7th Infantry Brigade was dissolved in early 1985, while the 3rd Infantry Brigade was converted into a motorized training formation, which was ultimately dissolved in 2003.

 
TAM tank in exercise

Depending on its type, each brigade includes two to five Cavalry or Infantry Regiments, one or two Artillery Groups, a scout cavalry squadron, one battalion or company-sized engineer unit, one intelligence company, one communications company, one command company and a battalion-sized logistical support unit. The terms "regiment" and "group", found in the official designations of cavalry, infantry and artillery units, are used due to historical reasons. During the Argentine War of Independence, the Argentine Army fielded traditional regiment-sized units. 'Regiments' are more accurately described as battalions; similar-sized units that do not belong to the above-mentioned services are referred to as "battalions". In addition to their service, Regiments and Groups are also specialized according to their area of operations (Mountain Infantry, Jungle Infantry, Mountain Cavalry), their equipment (Tank Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Mechanized Infantry) or their special training (Paratroopers, Commandos, Air Assault, Mountain Cazadores or Jungle Cazadores). Regiments are made up by four maneuver sub-units (companies in infantry regiments and squadrons in cavalry regiments) and one command and support sub-unit for a total of 350 to 700 troops.

In 2006, a Rapid Deployment Force was created based on the 4th Paratrooper Brigade.

In 2008, a Special Operations Forces Group was created comprising two Commando Companies, one Special Forces Company and one psychological operations company.

Equipment

Ranks

Insignia for all ranks except volunteers is worn on shoulder boards. Ranks from colonel major onwards use red-trimmed shoulderboards and the suns denoting rank are gold-braid; the suns on other officers' shoulder boards are metallic. Generals also wear golden wreath leaves on their coat lapels.

The rank insignia for volunteers 1st class, 2nd class and commissioned 2nd class is worn on the sleeves. Collar versions of the ranks are used in combat uniforms.

The highest army rank in use is lieutenant-general. A higher army rank, captain-general, was awarded twice in the nineteenth century: to José de San Martín and to Bernardino Rivadavia. As a promotion to this rank is not foreseen, no insignia for the rank currently exists.

Officers

Rank group General/flag officers Senior officers Junior officers Officer cadet
  Argentine Army[33]
                     
Teniente general General de división General de brigada Coronel mayor Coronel Teniente coronel Mayor Capitán Teniente primero Teniente Subteniente

The rank of coronel mayor (senior colonel) is an honorary distinction for colonels occupying general's positions (such as brigade commander), but who are not senior enough to be promoted.[34]

NCOs and enlisted

Rank group Senior NCOs Junior NCOs Enlisted
  Argentine Army[33]
                   
Suboficial mayor Suboficial principal Sargento ayudante Sargento primero Sargento Cabo primero Cabo Voluntario primero Voluntario segundo Soldado de segunda en comisión

Image gallery

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Hugo Moreno, Le désastre argentin. Péronisme, politique et violence sociale (1930–2001), Editions Syllepses, Paris, 2005, p.109 (in French)
  2. ^ . Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. ^ Paul H. Lewis, Guerrillas & Generals: The "Dirty War" in Argentina, Praeger Paperback, 2001, p. 126.
  4. ^ John Keegan, World Armies|page=22, Macmillan, 1983
  5. ^ TUCUMAN 1975: Avión del Ejército Argentino es derribado con ametralladoras antiaéreas 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "[E]l commando general del Ejército procederá a ejecutar todas las operaciones militares que sean necesarias a efectos de neutralizar o aniquilar el accionar de los elementos subversivos que actúan en la provincia de Tucumán" (in Spanish)
  7. ^ Decree No. 261/75 2006-11-15 at the Wayback Machine. NuncaMas.org, Decretos de aniquilamiento.
  8. ^ Facts on File, p. 126 (1975)
  9. ^ English, Adrian J. Armed Forces of Latin America: Their Histories, Development, Present Strength, and Military Potential, Janes Information Group, 1984, p. 33
  10. ^ Times, Juan de Onis Special to The New York (1975-11-11). "Guerrillas in Argentina Battle Army in a War Without Prisoners". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  11. ^ Martha Crenshaw (1995). Terrorism in Context. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-271-01015-1.
  12. ^ "The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  13. ^ "The Sydney Morning Herald – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  14. ^ "monte chingolo guerrillas and generals – Google Search". Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  15. ^ Troops fight off guerrillas, The Rock Hill Herald, 22 December 1975
  16. ^ Monte Chingolo: Voces de Resistencia 2009-11-30 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ . Time. 5 January 1976.
  18. ^ "The Windsor Star – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  19. ^ "Argentine theatre hit by bomb" The Spokesman-Review 31 December 1975
  20. ^ Conclusion of Marie-Monique Robin's Escadrons de la mort, l'école française (in French)
  21. ^ MM. Giscard d'Estaing et Messmer pourraient être entendus sur l'aide aux dictatures sud-américaines, Le Monde, September 25, 2003 (in French)
  22. ^ « Série B. Amérique 1952–1963. Sous-série : Argentine, n° 74. Cotes : 18.6.1. mars 52-août 63 ».
  23. ^ RAPPORT FAIT AU NOM DE LA COMMISSION DES AFFAIRES ÉTRANGÈRES SUR LA PROPOSITION DE RÉSOLUTION (n° 1060), tendant à la création d'une commission d'enquête sur le rôle de la France dans le soutien aux régimes militaires d'Amérique latine entre 1973 et 1984, PAR M. ROLAND BLUM, French National Assembly (in French)
  24. ^ Argentine : M. de Villepin défend les firmes françaises, Le Monde, February 5, 2003 (in French)
  25. ^ "Falkland Islands War | Summary, Casualties, Facts, & Map | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  26. ^ "Operación Rosario". Argentina.gob.ar. Argentine Ministry of Defence. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  27. ^ "1.657 heridos 1.308 del Ejército 303 de la Armada 46 de la Fuerza Aérea." Historia Marítima Argentina, p. 137, Argentina. Departamento de Estudios Históricos Navales Cuántica Editora, 1993
  28. ^ vehículos Norinco de reciente provisión
  29. ^ Rivas Molina, Federico (June 3, 2016). "Mauricio Macri reduce el control civil sobre las Fuerzas Armadas". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  30. ^ "Argentina Military Spending/Defense Budget 1960-2023". www.macrotrends.net. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  31. ^ Nueva, La. "La Nueva". www.lanueva.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  32. ^ Jane's Defence Weekly 2 February 1991
  33. ^ a b "Grados". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Government of Argentina. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  34. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-10. Retrieved 2013-06-08.

Sources

Further reading

  • Garcia Loperena, Gaston Javier (August 2016). (in Spanish) (1st ed.). 1884 Editorial – Buenos Aires (2015). ISBN 9789509822993. Archived from the original on 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  • Garcia Loperena, Gaston Javier (March 2015). (in Spanish) (1st ed.). 1884 Editorial – Buenos Aires (2014). ISBN 9789509822962. Archived from the original on 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2016-10-27.

External links

  • Official website   (in Spanish)
  • on Saorbats.com
  • Globalsecurity.org – Argentine Army – Equipment (page updated 05-02-2015) (accessed 2015-02-28)

argentine, army, spanish, ejército, argentino, land, force, branch, armed, forces, argentine, republic, senior, military, service, argentina, under, argentine, constitution, president, argentina, commander, chief, armed, forces, exercising, command, authority,. The Argentine Army Spanish Ejercito Argentino EA is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina Under the Argentine Constitution the president of Argentina is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces exercising his or her command authority through the Minister of Defense Argentine ArmyEjercito ArgentinoSealFoundedMay 29 1810 212 years ago 1810 05 29 Country Argentine RepublicBranchArmySize70 600 active soldiers 2022 350 medium amp light tanks 800 armored fighting vehicles 60 self propelled artillery 400 towed artillery 30 rocket artilleryPart ofArgentine Armed ForcesMotto s Born with the Fatherland in May 1810 MarchSong of the Argentine ArmyAnniversariesArmy Day 29 May EquipmentEquipment of the Argentine ArmyEngagementsList Argentine War of Independence Spanish American wars of independence Argentine Civil Wars Portuguese conquest of the Banda Oriental Cisplatine War War of the Confederation Platine War Uruguayan Civil War Anglo French blockade of the Rio de la Plata Paraguayan War Conquest of the Desert Operativo Independencia Falklands War 1989 attack on La Tablada barracksWebsiteargentina gob ar ejercitoCommandersCommander in chiefPresident Alberto FernandezChief of General StaffBrigadier General Agustin Humberto CejasDeputy Chief of General StaffDivisional general Hector Horacio PrechiInsigniaIdentificationsymbol The Army s official foundation date is May 29 1810 celebrated in Argentina as the Army Day four days after the Spanish colonial administration in Buenos Aires was overthrown The new national army was formed out of several pre existing colonial militia units and locally manned regiments most notably the Infantry Regiment Patricios which to this date is still an active unit As of 2022 update the active element of the Argentine Army numbered some 70 600 military personnel Contents 1 History 1 1 1880 1960s 1 2 1960s and the military junta 1 2 1 Annihilation decrees 1 2 2 French cooperation 1 2 3 Falklands war 1 3 1980s to present 2 Structure 2 1 Army General Staff 2 2 Field organization 3 Equipment 4 Ranks 4 1 Officers 4 2 NCOs and enlisted 5 Image gallery 6 See also 7 References 7 1 Citations 7 2 Sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory Edit Gral Jose de San Martin during Battle of Chacabuco 1817 Argentine infantry soldiers in the Paraguayan War illustrated by Ange Louis Janet for L Illustration 1864 Several armed expeditions were sent to the Upper Peru now Bolivia Paraguay Uruguay and Chile to fight Spanish forces and secure Argentina s newly gained independence The most famous of these expeditions was the one led by General Jose de San Martin who led a 5000 man army across the Andes Mountains to expel the Spaniards from Chile and later from Peru While the other expeditions failed in their goal of bringing all the dependencies of the former Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata under the new government in Buenos Aires they prevented the Spaniards from crushing the rebellion Argentine Army led by General Julio A Roca commemorating an anniversary of the May Revolution in 1879 During the civil wars of the first half of the nineteenth century the Argentine Army became fractionalized under the leadership of the so called caudillos leaders or warlords provincial leaders who waged a war against the centralist Buenos Aires administration However the Army was briefly re unified during the war with the Brazilian Empire 1824 1827 It was only with the establishment of a constitution which explicitly forbade the provinces from maintaining military forces of their own and a national government recognized by all the provinces that the Army became a single force absorbing the older provincial militias The Army went on to fight the War of the Triple Alliance in the 1860s together with Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay After that war the Army became involved in Argentina s Conquista del Desierto Conquest of the Desert the campaign to occupy Patagonia and root out the natives who conducted looting raids throughout the country 1880 1960s Edit Argentine army soldiers with standard uniform in 1938 Note the similarity with the uniforms of the Wehrmacht Between 1880 and 1930 the Army sought to become a professional force without active involvement in politics even though many a political figure President Julio Argentino Roca for example benefitted from a past military career The Army prevented the fall of the government in a number of Radical led uprisings Meanwhile the military in general and the Army in particular contributed to develop Argentina s unsettled southern frontier and its nascent industrial complex The main foreign influence during this period was by and large the Prussian and then German doctrine Partly because of that during both World Wars most of the officers supported the Germans more or less openly while the Argentine Navy favored the British instead Argentine troops in 1943 In 1930 a small group of Army forces not more than 600 troops deposed President Hipolito Yrigoyen without much response from the rest of the Army and the Navy This was the beginning of a long history of political intervention by the military Another coup in 1943 was responsible for bringing an obscure colonel into the political limelight Juan Peron Even though Peron had the support of the military during his two consecutive terms of office 1946 1952 and 1952 1955 his increasingly repressive government alienated many officers which finally led to a military uprising which overthrew him in September 1955 Between 1955 and 1973 the Army and the rest of the military became vigilant over the possible re emergence of Peronism in the political arena which led to two new coups against elected Presidents in 1962 deposing Arturo Frondizi and 1966 ousting Arturo Illia Political infighting eroded discipline and cohesion within the army to the extent that there was armed fighting between contending military units during the early 1960s 1960s and the military junta Edit The military government ruled Argentina between 1966 and 1973 During that decade the saw the rise of several terrorist groups including Montoneros and the ERP During Hector Campora s first months of government a rather moderate and left wing Peronist approximatively 600 social conflicts strikes and factory occupations took place 1 Following the June 20 1973 Ezeiza massacre left and right wing Peronism broke apart and the Triple A a far right terrorist group founded by Jose Lopez Rega the right hand man of Juan Peron and later Isabel Peron started a campaign of terror and death against any perceived political rivals Isabel Peron herself was ousted during the March 1976 coup by a military junta The new military government self named Proceso de Reorganizacion Nacional initially tried to end the guerrilla s campaigns but the nation rapidly descended into a state of civil unrest Terrorist organisations and guerilla movements where often met with a mixture of state terror and general paranoia The civilian population was now caught in a police state between a paranoid and brutal military dictatorship and violent dissident communist guerrillas The PRN called this period the Dirty War a term refused by jurists during the 1985 Trial of the Juntas Batallon de Inteligencia 601 the 601st Intelligence Battalion became infamous during this period It was a special military intelligence service set up in the late 1970s active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor and disbanded in 2000 2 Its personnel collected information on and infiltrated guerrilla groups and human rights organisations and coordinated killings kidnappings and other abuses The unit also participated in the training of Nicaraguan Contras with US assistance including from John Negroponte Annihilation decrees Edit Main article Operativo Independencia Military zones of Argentina 1975 1983 Meanwhile the Guevarist People s Revolutionary Army ERP led by Roberto Santucho and inspired by Che Guevara s foco theory began a rural insurgency in the province of Tucuman in the mountainous northwest of Argentina It started the campaign with no more than 100 men and women of the Marxist ERP guerrilla force and ended with about 300 in the mountains including reinforcements in the form of the elite Montoneros 65 strong Compania de Monte Jungle Company and the ERP s Decididos de Cordoba Urban Company 3 which the Argentine Army managed to defeat but at a cost On 5 January 1975 an Army DHC 6 transport plane was downed near the Monteros mountains apparently shot down by the Guerrillas 4 All thirteen on board were killed The military believe a heavy machine gun had downed the aircraft 5 Argentine troops in 1977 In response Italo Luder President of the National Assembly who acted as interim President substituting himself to Isabel Peron who was ill for a short period signed in February 1975 the secret presidential decree 261 which ordered the army to neutralize and or annihilate the insurgency in Tucuman the smallest province of Argentina Operativo Independencia gave power to the Armed Forces to execute all military operations necessary for the effects of neutralizing or annihilating the action of subversive elements acting in the Province of Tucuman 6 7 Santucho had declared a 620 mile 1 000 km liberated zone in Tucuman and demanded Soviet backed protection for its borders as well as proper treatment of captured guerrillas as POWs 8 The Argentine Army Fifth Brigade then consisting of the 19th 20th and 29th Mountain Infantry Regiments 9 and commanded by Brigadier General Acdel Vilas received the order to move to Famailla in the foothills of the Monteros mountains on 8 February 1975 While fighting the guerrillas in the jungle Vilas concentrated on uprooting the ERP support network in the towns using tactics later adopted nationwide as well as a civic action campaign By July 1975 anti guerrilla commandos were mounting search and destroy missions in the mountains Army special forces discovered Santucho s base camp in August then raided the ERP urban headquarters in September Most of the Compania de Monte s general staff was killed in October and was dispersed by the end of the year 10 The leadership of the rural guerrilla force was mostly eradicated and many of the ERP guerrillas and civilian sympathizers in Tucuman were either killed or forcefully disappeared Efforts to restrain the rural guerrilla activity to Tucuman however remained unsuccessful despite the use of 24 recently arrived US made Bell UH 1H Huey troop transport helicopters In early October the 5th Brigade suffered a major blow at the hands of the Montoneros when more than one hundred and possibly several hundred 11 Montoneros and supporters were involved in the Operation Primicia the most elaborate operation of the Dirty War which involved hijacking a civilian airliner taking over the provincial airport attacking the 29th Infantry Regiment which had retired to barracks in Formosa province and capturing its cache of arms and finally escaping by air Once the operation was over they escaped towards a remote area in Santa Fe province The aircraft a Boeing 737 eventually landed on a crop field not far from the city of Rafaela In the aftermath twelve soldiers and two policemen 12 were killed and several wounded The sophistication of the operation and the getaway cars and safehouses they used to escape from the crash landing site suggest several hundred guerrillas and their supporters were involved 13 The Argentine security forces admitted to 43 army troops killed in action in Tucuman although this figure does not take into account police and Gendarmerie troops and the soldiers who died defending their barracks in Formosa province on 5 October 1975 By December 1975 the Argentine military could with some justification claim that it was winning the Dirty War but it was dismayed to find no evidence of overall victory On 23 December 1975 several hundred ERP fighters 14 with the help of hundreds of underground supporters staged an all out battle with the 601st Arsenal Battalion nine miles 14 km from Buenos Aires and occupied four local police stations and a regimental headquarters 15 63 guerrillas 16 seven army troops and three policemen were killed 17 In addition 20 civilians were killed in the crossfire Many of the civilian deaths occurred when the guerrillas and supporting militants burned 15 city buses 18 near the arsenal to hamper military reinforcements This development was to have far reaching ramifications On 30 December 1975 urban guerrillas exploded a bomb inside the Army s headquarters in Buenos Aires injuring at least six soldiers 19 The Montoneros movement successfully utilized divers in underwater infiltrations and blew the pier where the Argentine destroyer ARA Santisima Trinidad was being built on 22 August 1975 The ship was effectively immobilized for several years French cooperation Edit French journalist Marie Monique Robin has found in the archives of the Quai d Orsay the French Minister of Foreign Affairs the original document proving that a 1959 agreement between Paris and Buenos Aires instaured a permanent French military mission formed of veterans who had fought in the Algerian War and which was located in the offices of the chief of staff of the Argentine Army She showed how Valery Giscard d Estaing s government secretly collaborated with Jorge Rafael Videla s junta in Argentina and with Augusto Pinochet s regime in Chile 20 Green deputies Noel Mamere Martine Billard and Yves Cochet deposed on September 10 2003 a request for the constitution of a Parliamentary Commission on the role of France in the support of military regimes in Latin America from 1973 to 1984 before the Foreign Affairs Commission of the National Assembly presided by Edouard Balladur Apart from Le Monde newspapers remained silent about this request 21 However deputy Roland Blum in charge of the commission refused to hear Marie Monique Robin and published in December 2003 a 12 pages report qualified by Robin as the summum of bad faith It claimed that no agreement had been signed despite the agreement found by Robin in the Quai d Orsay 22 23 When Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin traveled to Chile in February 2004 he claimed that no cooperation between France and the military regimes had occurred 24 Falklands war Edit Main article Falklands War See also Argentine ground forces in the Falklands War Argentine soldiers with FN FAL rifles Falklands WarOn 2 April 1982 Leopoldo Galtieri initiated the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands or Operation Rosario as a result of negotiations with the United Kingdom running long 25 The Argentine Army contributed forces to Operation Rosario and occupation that followed Army forces also opposed the amphibious landing in San Carlos Water on 21 May and fought the British at Goose Green Mount Kent and the battles around Port Stanley that lead to the ceasefire of 14 June followed by the surrender of the Argentine troops 26 The Argentine Army suffered 194 men killed and 1 308 wounded and lost much equipment 27 The war left the army weakened in equipment personal moral and supremacy in the region The Dirty War events coupled with the defeat in the Falklands War precipitated the fall of the military junta that ruled the country then enters the General Reynaldo Bignone who began the process of return to democracy in 1983 1980s to present Edit Soldier of the Argentine Joint Battalion of MINUSTAH entertains some children Since the return to civilian rule in 1983 the Argentine military have been reduced both in number and budget and by law cannot intervene anymore in internal civil conflicts They became more professional especially after conscription was abolished In 1998 Argentina was granted Major non NATO ally status by the United States The modern Argentine Army is fully committed to international peacekeeping under United Nations mandates humanitarian aid and emergencies relief In 2010 the Army incorporated Chinese Norinco armored wheeled APCs to deploy with its peacekeeping forces 28 In 2016 President Mauricio Macri modified a decree made by the 1984 government of Raul Alfonsin which had removed much of the military s autonomy 29 A major problem of today s Army is that most of its combat units are understrength in manpower due to budgetary limitations the current Table of Organization and Equipment being established at a time during which the Army could rely on larger budgets and conscripted troops 30 Current plans call for the expansion of all combat units until all combat units are again full strength as soon as budget constraints allow for the induction of new volunteer service personnel of both genders Structure EditMain article Structure of the Argentine Army Army General Staff Edit Main article List of Chiefs of the General Staff of the Argentine Army Personnel of the Caballeria de Tanques N 11 in Santa Cruz Argentina Parade of the Argentine Army 2016 The Army is headed by a Chief of General Staff directly appointed by the President The current Chief of the General Staff since September 2008 is General Luis Alberto Pozzi 31 The General Staff of the Army Estado Mayor General del Ejercito includes the Chief of Staff a Deputy Chief of the General Staff and the heads of the General Staff s six departments Jefaturas The current departments of the General Staff known also by their Roman numerals are There are also a number of Commands and Directorates responsible for development and implementation of policies within the Army regarding technological and operational areas They also handle administrative affairs As of 2020 these include the following Communications and Computer Directorate Direccion General de Comunicaciones e Informatica Education Directorate Direccion General de Educacion Engineers and Infrastructure Directorate Direccion de Ingenieros e Infraestructura Remount and Veterinary Directorate Direccion de Remonta y Veterinaria Health Directorate Direccion General de Salud Personnel and Welfare Directorate Materiel Directorate Direccion General de Material Intelligence Directorate Organization and Doctrine Directorate Research and Development Directorate Direccion General de Investigacion y Desarrollo Planning Directorate Direccion de Planeamiento Finance Directorate Historical Service DirectorateField organization Edit Structure of the Argentine Army 2020 click to enlarge In the 1960s the Army was reorganised into five Army Corps This structure replaced the old structure based on divisions following the French model There was a further reorganisation in 1991 when brigades were assigned to six new divisions two stationed at Santa Cruz and Mendoza 32 Until late 2010 the First Second and Third Army Divisions were designated as the Second Third and Fifth Army Corps Cuerpos de Ejercito respectively without any intermediate division level commands These redesignations took place as part of a major reorganization of the Armed Forces administrative and command structure Two additional Army Corps the First and Fourth had already been dissolved in 1984 and 1991 respectively with their dependent units reassigned to the remaining three Army Corps As of 2011 army forces are geographically grouped into three Army Divisions Divisiones de Ejercito each roughly equivalent in terms of nominal organization to a U S Army division Each Army Division has an area of responsibility over a specific region of the country First Army Division covers the northeast of the country Second Army Division covers the center and northwest of Argentina and Third Army Division covers the south and Patagonia In addition to the three Army Divisions the Rapid Deployment Force Fuerza de Despliegue Rapido FDR forms an additional fourth divisional level formation while the Buenos Aires Military Garrison operates independently from any division sized command There are also several separate groups including an anti aircraft group and the Argentine Army Aviation group Each division has varying numbers of brigades of armor mechanized forces and infantry As of 2011 the Argentine Army has eleven brigades two armored brigades 1st and 2nd three mechanized brigades 9th 10th and 11th three mountain brigades 5th 6th and 8th one paratrooper brigade 4th and two bush brigades 3rd and 12th Note The 7th Infantry Brigade was dissolved in early 1985 while the 3rd Infantry Brigade was converted into a motorized training formation which was ultimately dissolved in 2003 TAM tank in exercise Depending on its type each brigade includes two to five Cavalry or Infantry Regiments one or two Artillery Groups a scout cavalry squadron one battalion or company sized engineer unit one intelligence company one communications company one command company and a battalion sized logistical support unit The terms regiment and group found in the official designations of cavalry infantry and artillery units are used due to historical reasons During the Argentine War of Independence the Argentine Army fielded traditional regiment sized units Regiments are more accurately described as battalions similar sized units that do not belong to the above mentioned services are referred to as battalions In addition to their service Regiments and Groups are also specialized according to their area of operations Mountain Infantry Jungle Infantry Mountain Cavalry their equipment Tank Cavalry Light Cavalry Mechanized Infantry or their special training Paratroopers Commandos Air Assault Mountain Cazadores or Jungle Cazadores Regiments are made up by four maneuver sub units companies in infantry regiments and squadrons in cavalry regiments and one command and support sub unit for a total of 350 to 700 troops In 2006 a Rapid Deployment Force was created based on the 4th Paratrooper Brigade In 2008 a Special Operations Forces Group was created comprising two Commando Companies one Special Forces Company and one psychological operations company Equipment EditSee also List of equipment of the Argentine ArmyRanks EditInsignia for all ranks except volunteers is worn on shoulder boards Ranks from colonel major onwards use red trimmed shoulderboards and the suns denoting rank are gold braid the suns on other officers shoulder boards are metallic Generals also wear golden wreath leaves on their coat lapels The rank insignia for volunteers 1st class 2nd class and commissioned 2nd class is worn on the sleeves Collar versions of the ranks are used in combat uniforms The highest army rank in use is lieutenant general A higher army rank captain general was awarded twice in the nineteenth century to Jose de San Martin and to Bernardino Rivadavia As a promotion to this rank is not foreseen no insignia for the rank currently exists Officers Edit Rank group General flag officers Senior officers Junior officers Officer cadet Argentine Army 33 vte Teniente general General de division General de brigada Coronel mayor Coronel Teniente coronel Mayor Capitan Teniente primero Teniente SubtenienteThe rank of coronel mayor senior colonel is an honorary distinction for colonels occupying general s positions such as brigade commander but who are not senior enough to be promoted 34 NCOs and enlisted Edit Rank group Senior NCOs Junior NCOs Enlisted Argentine Army 33 vte Suboficial mayor Suboficial principal Sargento ayudante Sargento primero Sargento Cabo primero Cabo Voluntario primero Voluntario segundo Soldado de segunda en comisionImage gallery Edit Air cavalry of the Argentine Army Two TAM VCA in exercise Medium Argentine Tank Self propelled mortar VCTM opening fire Argentine M 113 equipped with AA cannon Unimog truck of the Argentine Army Argentine Army Exploration Squadron Argentine Infantry Argentine soldiers on surveillance at the border Argentine soldiers receiving instructions before exercise communications platoon of the Argentine army Argentine hunter infantry REO M35 truck Bell UH 1 Huey of the Argentine Army Armored infantry in M 113sSee also Edit Argentina portalArgentine Navy Argentine Air Force Argentine Naval Aviation Argentine Army Aviation Equipment of the Argentine ArmyReferences EditCitations Edit Hugo Moreno Le desastre argentin Peronisme politique et violence sociale 1930 2001 Editions Syllepses Paris 2005 p 109 in French Buenos Aires News Argentina reveals secrets of dirty war Archived from the original on 14 May 2013 Retrieved 24 December 2014 Paul H Lewis Guerrillas amp Generals The Dirty War in Argentina Praeger Paperback 2001 p 126 John Keegan World Armies page 22 Macmillan 1983 TUCUMAN 1975 Avion del Ejercito Argentino es derribado con ametralladoras antiaereas Archived 2011 07 06 at the Wayback Machine E l commando general del Ejercito procedera a ejecutar todas las operaciones militares que sean necesarias a efectos de neutralizar o aniquilar el accionar de los elementos subversivos que actuan en la provincia de Tucuman in Spanish Decree No 261 75 Archived 2006 11 15 at the Wayback Machine NuncaMas org Decretos de aniquilamiento Facts on File p 126 1975 English Adrian J Armed Forces of Latin America Their Histories Development Present Strength and Military Potential Janes Information Group 1984 p 33 Times Juan de Onis Special to The New York 1975 11 11 Guerrillas in Argentina Battle Army in a War Without Prisoners The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2023 05 13 Martha Crenshaw 1995 Terrorism in Context p 236 ISBN 978 0 271 01015 1 The Montreal Gazette Google News Archive Search Retrieved 24 December 2014 The Sydney Morning Herald Google News Archive Search Retrieved 24 December 2014 monte chingolo guerrillas and generals Google Search Retrieved 24 December 2014 Troops fight off guerrillas The Rock Hill Herald 22 December 1975 Monte Chingolo Voces de Resistencia Archived 2009 11 30 at the Wayback Machine Argentina Hanging from the Cliff Time 5 January 1976 The Windsor Star Google News Archive Search Retrieved 24 December 2014 Argentine theatre hit by bomb The Spokesman Review 31 December 1975 Conclusion of Marie Monique Robin s Escadrons de la mort l ecole francaise in French MM Giscard d Estaing et Messmer pourraient etre entendus sur l aide aux dictatures sud americaines Le Monde September 25 2003 in French Serie B Amerique 1952 1963 Sous serie Argentine n 74 Cotes 18 6 1 mars 52 aout 63 RAPPORT FAIT AU NOM DE LA COMMISSION DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES SUR LA PROPOSITION DE RESOLUTION n 1060 tendant a la creation d une commission d enquete sur le role de la France dans le soutien aux regimes militaires d Amerique latine entre 1973 et 1984 PAR M ROLAND BLUM French National Assembly in French Argentine M de Villepin defend les firmes francaises Le Monde February 5 2003 in French Falkland Islands War Summary Casualties Facts amp Map Britannica www britannica com Retrieved 2023 05 13 Operacion Rosario Argentina gob ar Argentine Ministry of Defence 7 May 2018 Retrieved 8 June 2018 1 657 heridos 1 308 del Ejercito 303 de la Armada 46 de la Fuerza Aerea Historia Maritima Argentina p 137 Argentina Departamento de Estudios Historicos Navales Cuantica Editora 1993 vehiculos Norinco de reciente provision Rivas Molina Federico June 3 2016 Mauricio Macri reduce el control civil sobre las Fuerzas Armadas El Pais in Spanish Retrieved August 30 2017 Argentina Military Spending Defense Budget 1960 2023 www macrotrends net Retrieved 2023 05 13 Nueva La La Nueva www lanueva com in Spanish Retrieved 2019 03 09 Jane s Defence Weekly 2 February 1991 a b Grados argentina gob ar in Spanish Government of Argentina Retrieved 27 May 2021 Coronel Mayor y Comodoro de Marina PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2016 09 10 Retrieved 2013 06 08 Sources Edit International Institute for Strategic Studies 2010 02 03 Hackett James ed The Military Balance 2010 London Routledge ISBN 978 1 85743 557 3 Further reading EditGarcia Loperena Gaston Javier August 2016 El Unimog en el Ejercito Argentino in Spanish 1st ed 1884 Editorial Buenos Aires 2015 ISBN 9789509822993 Archived from the original on 2017 01 22 Retrieved 2016 10 27 Garcia Loperena Gaston Javier March 2015 Vehiculos Tacticos del Ejercito Argentino in Spanish 1st ed 1884 Editorial Buenos Aires 2014 ISBN 9789509822962 Archived from the original on 2017 01 22 Retrieved 2016 10 27 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Army of Argentina Official website in Spanish Organization and equipment on Saorbats com Globalsecurity org Argentine Army Equipment page updated 05 02 2015 accessed 2015 02 28 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Argentine Army amp oldid 1154528379, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.