Early on 3 April 1982, Mills received a radio message from HMS
Endurance relaying instructions from London that he should make only a token resistance to any Argentine violation of British territory. He allegedly replied "sod that, I'll make their eyes water",
[1] a remark that became famous.
During the two-hour
Battle of Grytviken on 3 April 1982, Lieutenant Mills' detachment of 22 Royal Marines inflicted damage on the Argentine corvette
ARA Guerrico, hitting her with an 84mm anti-tank rocket and many rounds of small arms fire, 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