The Falklands War

Discussion in 'Postwar' started by Drew5233, Nov 26, 2009.

  1. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Thought it might be nice to share these? They were passed on to me to send to a friend who served with Henry's Grandfather. The buoy in the water marks the last resting place of HMS Antelope. The photos were taken a couple of weeks ago.

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  2. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    There is an event @ National Army Museum, Chelsea this Friday evening (18/1/19 btw 6-8pm) and it appears tickets are still available via: The Falklands 1982: Realities of a shared war | National Army Museum
    The event description starts with: 'Join Lieutenant General Sir Cedric Delves and Helen Parr in conversation with Major General Arthur Denaro as they look at the Falklands War through the experiences of those who fought there.' Delves and Parr have recently written books on the SAS and Paras respectively.
     
  3. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Only just spotted this thread, so apologies if the following items are already here.

    Via New Zealand, where it was spotted a few years back. Some great talks by veterans of 3 Para on Mt Longdon. The first link starts off with the CO (Pike) and he finishes the last link. If nothing else, watch the second half of the last link for his ‘lessons learnt’.







    Via a USMC friend who highly recommends CIMSEC's long (10 parter?) series of podcasts on the Falklands, interviews with many Royal Marine officers, "Sharky" Ward, and others. Available free on iTunes, and on their website: Falklands Series 1 - (Re-Run) 45 Commando
     
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  4. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    All very interesting--have consumed the lot in a single afternoon-sized bite.

    I'll add this interesting five-reel interview with Maj Philip Neame, who commanded D-Coy 2 Para at Goose Green, Wireless Ridge and elsewhere in the Falklands.

    Neame, Philip (Oral history)

    Also, Jeremy Moore (Commander, Land Forces):

    Moore, Jeremy (Oral history)

    And Julian Thompson (Commanded 3 Commando Bde).

    One exclusively on the Falklands conflict:

    Thompson, Julian Howard Atherden (Oral history)

    One very long one on his whole military career:

    Thompson, Julian Howard Atherden (Oral history)
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2019
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  5. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

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  6. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    An update after The National Army Museum talk last month.

    This was an interesting event with two speakers, Cedric Delves (ex-SAS) tended to dominate the dialogue and the Q&A. With one exception I did not note Helen’s contribution.

    His emphasis on writing his book was to ‘Get the record straight’ and was a riposte to the novels and other books written on the SAS since 1980 (the Iranian Embassy siege and the SAS assault).

    Asked what his most vivid memory was he replied the weather. The Falkland Islands climate is incredibly windy, it is very dark and in the campaign it was only light 0800-1630hrs. At night it could be bright, with stars and you might have hail, rain and snow. The islands are like Dartmoor, but always cold and wet.

    Helen Parr explained her book was due to the death of her uncle and the atmosphere at the time was that ‘Joining up made you a man’. At the time there was far more personal experience of the military and war. Veterans of WW2, Korea, Aden and Northern Ireland were still alive in large numbers.

    Delves referred to the Paras expected the campaign would be hard; their energy and initiative would give them a real energy to win. This was in the expectation – built into their training and ethos - not all of them would reach the battle for the target. Curiously he likened this to landing in a marsh and advancing on a bridge (part of the US Airborne’s D-Day experience and not the British?).

    The SAS were different. They had a ‘breadth of experience, the cream of the best’ and the second factor was that they were more mature being older – the Paras were in their early twenties, the SAS their early thirties and many of them had been NCOs. The SAS were in ‘the same place, fighting a different war’. Slightly oddly he added ‘The Paras were doing the business, I envied them’.

    Delves went onto say the SAS had an awareness of the consequences of war and were conscious of the burden that would follow without recriminations.

    The impact of combat featured and Delves commented: You must accept you could die on the battlefield. On returning home it was a shock, something fundamental has changed in your mind. Life could not carry on as before. You live to an intensity never seen before and you come home it is very hard. Society cannot talk about loss; you must think about the future life after the loss.

    Both spoke about the changes made to returning from operations / combat since the Falklands. Nowadays there is a decompression time before returning home, for example during the Afghan campaign troops had time in Cyprus before going onto the UK / Germany.

    Delves spoke about the morality of killing the enemy and the importance of no gratuitous killing. We had to be decent once we were on top of the enemy. We broadly understood the Rules of War. We were and are decent people at the end.

    Interestingly he remarked there was real surprise at going to war with Argentina; almost being so like us. Not once was Argentina being a military dictatorship mentioned, although in the Q&A session did include a known torturer being detained and eventually released (Captain Astiz, who much later was convicted and jailed in Argentina for torture. See: Alfredo Astiz - Wikipedia ).

    There were a number of anecdotes, notably preparing to fire an ATGM at a beached Argentinian submarine on South Georgia, as the missile was aimed he ignored a NCO shouting until at the last minute he learnt the Argentine garrison, plus sailors, had surrendered.

    He was very complimentary about the Royal Navy, particularly those commanding officers who had been submariners; although he cautioned about their commitment to the objective could be a weakness.

    The biggest surprise was that the SAS CO, Michael Rose, had been in contact with the Argentine garrison via the telephone system, which still was connected locally and to the UK.

    In 2012 General Rose gives a slightly different account, for example he used a US-provided satellite phone not the normal telephone system
    . See: Gen Sir Michael Rose remembers the Argentine surrender on the Falklands: I said to them, 'No funny business'.
     
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  7. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Random but entertaining Falklands conflict fact:

    During the task force's two-week stopover on Ascension Island, British troops expended 37.5 years' worth of their regular training allowance of ammunition in firing drills and practice exercises.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2019
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  8. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Pinched from a RAF FB page.

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    This is a mine map from April 1984.

    My first of many tours of the Falklands was in November 1984 and I worked on a radar station on Mt Kent.

    All personnel who wanted to go out 'bimbling' had to have a radio, a mine map and a field dressing just in case.

    The map showed all of the 'no go' areas which were wired and clearly sign posted.

    But the map was time critical as the mines had a nasty habit of moving within the peat bogs just as an object moves on a glacier.

    Gus
     
  9. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I don't have UK TV, so no idea when this aired, but I'm halfway through this pseudo-documentary on Goose Green:



    I say 'pseudo-documentary' as so many today try to incorporate some kind of 'reality TV' element, in this case featuring former paras revisiting the battle fields to (cringe) 'face their demons'.

    Major Phil Neame then o/c D-Coy 2Para features heavily. Having listened to his interview with the IWM people, I'm always amused by his wry descriptions of interaction with Col. H Jones--almost every one seems to involve him being told to 'stop complaining' or 'bloody well get on with it'.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2019
  10. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    On 2 April 1982, Argentinian forces invaded the British overseas territory of the Falkland Islands.

    Argentina had claimed sovereignty over the islands for many years and their ruling military junta did not believe that Britain would attempt to regain the islands by force.

    Despite the huge distance involved - the Falklands were 8,000 miles away in the South Atlantic - Britain, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, undertook the extraordinary feat of assembling and sending a task force of warships and rapidly refitted merchant ships to the Falklands.

    A Short History of the Falklands War
     
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  11. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Here is what the Great Lady wrote in her diaries:

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  12. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Only just read that Ian McDonald died last month.
     
  13. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    There is a short (8 mins), new podcast by Dan Snow on YouTube entitled: 'How did the SAS prepare for the Falklands War? The speakers are Sir Cedric Delves and Danny West. Link:

    It is amusing to hear one anecdote that the SAS self-deployed to Mrs Thatcher's consternation.
     
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  14. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Enjoyed that, thank you.

    Part Two now up:

     
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  15. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

  16. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Official MOD statement in relation to the sinking of the General Belgrano:

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  17. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    I am sorry to hear that.

    I met Ian at a mutual friend's party about 20 years ago. He was a very witty and warm man, famous for delivering bad news with a straight face.
     
  18. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    My small interest in gongs evaporated when I clocked the prices.

    That said, if you're buying, I'll have the second one.

    Edit: somebody was selling an Africa Star and an Italy Star inscribed to a named member of the Raj Rifs for a very small sum the other day. My hand was hovering to click, but I had a vision of what it might begin. There are couple of 1/4 Essex medals for sale out there...
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2019
  19. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Thanks for your input CF. I do want to add a SAM to my collection and would prefer it not to be a single. My collecting theme is the Liverpool Regiment back and forth, but they did not take part in the war, so I thought I ought to go Naval really and these are nice, but as you say pricey.

    You are right to be careful about beginning a collection in this area. I started by buying £15 WW1 Victory medals and now am seriously considering the above mentioned groups!! :moh: :police:
     
  20. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

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