June 15, 1937

STANLEY, LAS MALVINAS - General Blanche today congratulated the brave members of the Falklands Garrison who successfully fended off the combined Canadian, Brazilian and Portuguese menace from Las Malvinas this May. The force is now know by the nickname Brigada Morsa, after news of the spectacular failure of the Portuguese to claim the South Georgia islands. Local residents, mostly whalers, reported that the Portuguese landing force lost nearly 20 men to walruses (morsas in Spanish). The Portuguese, apparently unfamiliar with the Southern Winter or the harsh conditions of South Georgia, were singularly unprepared to stake a claim on the sparsely populated island or the surrounding South Sandwich islands, and retreated back to their reactionary isolation.

The bravery of these soldiers cannot be reiterated enough, so a brief summary of the story of their success, as reported in last month's Periódoco de Trabajador (Worker's Daily) will be quoted here.

Despite the overwhelming odds displayed against them, and with their only defense from the sea being the mine barricades laid by our brave navy, the 2,000 men of the Malvinas Brigade showed no fear. Even when the shells of the huge Brazilian battleship rained down upon the defenseless workers and residents of Port Stanley, the Brigade was preparing defenses and redoubts to protect themselves from shell fire and to defend the islands.

The revanchists, in their hubris, had not brought enough forces to overwhelm our brave garrison. Even with the support of the withering fire of their ships, our men stood bravely and repelled the enemy in a weekslong battle. Our courageous soldiers inflicted five-to-one casualties on the invading revanchists. One of the Brazilian ships struck a mine and blew up, while their huge battleship was also not impervious to our minefield.

Finally, the revanchists realized their huge blunder in attempting to overwhelm our brave soldiers and retreated, like cowards, surely afraid that the rest of their fleet would suffer destruction should our Navy come to relieve the siege. The Canadians first abandoned their so-called allies, before finally the two revanchist pariahs of Brazil and Portugal also realized their efforts were futile and their soldiers inferior to our brave men. The battlefields were littered with their dead and dying, all over a small island they have no business in trying to rule.

In the end, despite suffering casualties, our brave men successfully repelled the imperialist reactionaries and the dogs they send to do their dirty work. Our brave men protected the fellow workers and citizens of Las Malvinas from falling under the iron grip of the reactionaries.

For their valiant service against the reactionary menace, the men were all awarded with Gran Estrellas de Proteccion de Revolución (Grand Stars of Protection of the Revolution), one of the highest military honors in Syndicalist Chile.