In the second part of our Falklands War commemorations, the Oxford Mail remembers the conflict's first and bloodiest land battle: the fight for Goose Green. Debbie Waite spoke to Para Geoff Johnston, who witnessed the bloody battle first hand.

Geoff Johnston, now 57, and from Grove, near Wantage, was 31 and with the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment when he was sent to the Falklands. The Paras had spent the years leading to the Falklands fighting the IRA.

"We'd been due to go jungle training in Belize when we were told we were off to the Falklands. We were pretty pleased not to be going to Belize - funny when you think of that.

"We advanced under a cover of mist but left our ship, the Norland, in San Carlos Bay on a crystal clear night when you could see every star.

"After a murderous slog up to the high ground, we dug in amongst the rocks on the hillside to provide cover for the troops coming ashore.

"San Carlos Bay is nicknamed Bomb Alley because the Argies' planes would swoop over the ridge and down into the bay, bombing as they went.

"We were there for a week while all the infantry units came ashore, then we were told we were going to Goose Green.

"Unfortunately, the BBC had got wind of this somehow and had announced where we were going on the news.

"Our commanding officer, Col H Jones, went mental and their name was mud as we began the 14-mile trek there, not knowing what kind of welcome was in store.

"We were used to the bombing and the carnage, but we knew Goose Green would be hand-to-hand combat and that it would be a baptism of fire.

"We also knew that the battlefield was large, bleak and without a shred of cover, with no hiding place."

Stationed at Goose Green was Argentina's 12th Regiment. The 114 islanders who made their living around Goose Green were under guard in the Goose Green community centre.

"We literally ghost-walked into it as we advanced to contact, through mine fields, towards an army that wanted us dead," said Mr Johnston.

"We'd advance and engage, in between maybe grabbing half an hour's sleep, or food, when we could. I'm sure every man went home in his dreams."

As 2 Para moved on to the south via Darwin, Goose Green, its soldiers were full of confidence that they had broken the back of the enemy. But they were wrong.

The Argentinians made a determined stand along Darwin, and broke up the first British assault. It was then that 2 Para suffered a crushing blow - the loss of its commanding officer, the legendary Col Herbert 'H' Jones.

The CO had stormed his nearest enemy position with complete disregard for his own safety. Witnesses described how, as he charged up a short slope at the enemy position, he was seen to fall and roll backwards downhill.

He immediately picked himself up, and again charged the enemy trench, firing his sub-machine gun and seemingly oblivious to the intense fire directed at him.

He was hit and fell dying only a few feet from the enemy he had assaulted. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for this heroic charge.

"All we heard was 'Sunray is down', but we knew he was badly injured. News of Jonesy's death hit us all hard. But in a way, it also spurred us on, even though we were exhausted.

"We heard the second in command, Chris Keeble, had taken command and we got on with our job."

The intensity of the fighting continued and after heavy Argentinian casualties, the British took Darwin.

Two Argentinian Air Force prisoners were then sent to the Argentinian commanders at Goose Green by the acting CO of 2 Para, Maj Chris Keeble, with the terms of surrender.

The following day, Lt Col Piaggi surrendered all Argentinian forces, approximately 1,000 men, including 202 men of the Argentinian Air Force.

Mr Johnston said: "Everything was dark, it was still early morning, and the only light was from the gorse which was ablaze all around us from the shelling.

"I remember thinking, So what's happening now? Our boys had started to stand up and look about.

"Soon after we got news of their surrender, we saw helicopters come in and we knew this was the Argie special forces being flown out.

"Then the Argentinians started coming across the airfield in dribs and drabs - 20 to start with, then 20 or so more and they kept coming until there were more than a thousand of them.

"There were so many of them and we'd been short of ammo. If they'd decided to have had a fight on the airfield, we'd have been in trouble."

Fifty-five Argentine troops and 17 British soldiers were dead, but the killing was not over.

Following the surrender, Mr Johnston and the rest of his unit were put in charge of a group of PoWs and took over a sheep shearing shed at the Goose Green settlement.

"We were inside brewing up and drying out when there was an almighty explosion. I thought we were being bombed, but a huge pile of ammo left behind by the Argies, next to the shed, had been booby trapped and started to explode.

"There was ammo firing off everywhere. One PoW was totally on fire and was screaming.

"We had no water and he was dying in front of us. Our medic took out a 9mm pistol and shot him. Then the batallion doctor, Doc Hughes, started shouting and pointing at me and a mate.

"He was telling us to get an Argie guy who had been injured and was lying nearby.

"We grabbed him and dragged him. He was a big lad, but he felt light. When I looked down, I saw his legs were gone, only the femurs remained.

"We dragged him as fast as we could and at one point we had to go through a gorse hedge to get him into the back of a Land Rover, where the doc was waiting to treat him.

"The doc gave me a huge bottle of fluid and hooked it up to the guy and told me to squeeze it into him as fast as I could.

"They got him to the first aid post but he didn't make it. I did my best for him, but I still have nightmares about him even now."