Next Monday, April 2, will mark the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War -- or, as the Argentinians refer to it, la Guerra de las Malvinas. The Falklands, an Atlantic archipelago 460 km (290 mi) east of Argentina, are the subject of a long-standing dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom. In 1982, Argentinian junta leader General Leopoldo Galtieri sent 600 troops to take the islands, which then had a population of 1,800 people. The British government was surprised by the attack, but quickly organized a task force and sailed south to retake the territory. A brief but bloody series of battles took place at sea, in the air, and on the ground, ending with a British victory on June 14 -- 74 days after the initial invasion. In all, more than 900 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured. The loss marked the beginning of the end of Galtieri's junta, but not the dispute over the islands. Current president Cristina Fernandez has been ratcheting up pressure on Britain to engage in new talks over what her countrymen call the Malvinas.



During the 1982 Malvinas War, the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano sinks amid orange life rafts holding survivors in the South Atlantic Ocean, after being torpedoed by the British nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarine HMS Conqueror on May 1, 1982. While Argentine and Chilean ships managed to rescue 770 men, 323 were killed in the attack.



Argentine soldiers carrying military supplies shortly after invading the Malvinas Islands, on April 13, 1982.


In Buenos Aires, tens of thousands of Argentinians gather at Plaza de Mayo to show their support for dixtator Leopoldo Galtieri during the Malvinas War on April 10, 1982.


Argentine soldiers buy postcards at a souvenir shop in Stanley, on the Malvinas Islands, shortly after their invasion, on April 13, 1982.


Argentine military personnel of the 601 Company take their position in the Strait of San Carlos during the Malvinas War, in this May 1982 photo



Argentine army soldiers read newspapers in Port Stanley during the Malvinas War, in this April 1982 photo


Argentine "Air Macchi" fighter-bombers take part in operations over the Malvinas Islands on May 21, 1982.


The British frigate HMS Antelope burning and pouring smoke, sinks in the chilly waters of Ajax Bay in Malvinas Sound, May 24, 1982. Four Argentine A-4B Skyhawks attacked the day before, one of them launching a bomb that did not explode, but lodged inside the frigate's hull. While bomb disposal technicians were attempting to defuse the bomb, it detonated, tearing the ship apart and starting massive fires. All but two crew members survived, the ship sank hours later


An Argentine army officer walks next to a British war plane that was shot down during the Malvinas War in Darwin in this May, 1982 photo.


Hundreds of people jam Calle Florida in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 21, 1982 to read the latest newspaper in the window of a store. The crowd was especially large when war news from the Malvinas became available.


The surviving crew of Argentine Navy patrol boat, Alferez Sobral, stand at attention in the city of Puerto Deseado on the Argentine mainland, during a ceremony honoring their companions killed when their boat was attacked by Britain's HMS Coventry, on May 4, 1982.


Argentine soldiers take position in Port Howard, Malvinas Islands, in May of 1982.



The Union Jack flies over Ajax Bay in 1982. In late April, British forces began landing on the Malvinas Islands, to retake them from Argentine troops.


A frigate closes in on the damaged HMS Sheffield, spraying water from her hoses as a Sea King helicopter hovers over head in Malvinas Islands, on May 28, 1982. Two Argentine Super Etendard strike fighters attacked the ship with missiles, starting fires that burned for days, before the Sheffield finally sank. Twenty lives were lost..


A line of Argentine prisoners of war are marched past a still-burning building in Port Stanley during a house-to house roundup in the final days of Argentine occupation of the South Atlantic islands in 1982.


Argentine Malvinas War veteran Jose Luis Aparacio holds up a picture of himself (right) and his mate Jorge Suarez (left) when they were taken prisoner by the British troops after the June 12, 1982 battle of Mont Longdon. Photo taken in La Plata, Argentina, on March 20, 2007.


A British military Hercules plane flies near Port Stanley, on March 16, 2012.


Argentine Malvinas War veteran Jorge Bratulich poses for a picture in front of Darwin cemetery, where Argentine soldiers who died during the conflict were buried, on March 11, 2012.

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