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Best books on the Falkland Wars?


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With all the talk about the Falklands what are some of the decent books out there? I'm about to pick up Vulcan 607 and Sea Harrier over the Falklands. Not only on the military side, but also the political side mainly from the British standpoint. Also, anything by Argetina pilots and/or ground commanders worth reading?

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Well, I have about 60 books on this subject so I can speak to it. A few that come to mind are:

From a fair perspective - Max Hastings book Battle for the Falklands is probably the best. Well written and affordable.

Sea Harrier over the Falklands is Ok, as well as Vulcan 607, but both of these are written from a single perspective. Mark Adkins book on the Battle of Goose Green is quite compelling if you want something like that on the ground level.

Air War in the Falklands is all about detail down to each aircraft and each action. Affordable too, and probably the best book on a specific subject I have ever read.

Argentine Fight for the Falklands by Martin Middlebrook is very interesting from the Argentine side. A couple of excellent Argentine (en Espanol) books are 1033 Tripulantes which is the story of the ARA General Belgrano and Los Dios Y Halcones, which is an excellent summary of Air Operations by 5 Grupo De Caza in particular, (although the credibility starts to get worrysome when the Invincible is reported as hit by an Exocet).

Ask me a few others if you know then.. I'm sure I have it.

Cheers

Adam

Edited by scooter
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I think I read Sea Harrier over the Falklands, is that by Sharkey Ward? I enjoyed it.

I am not sure what many of you think of the war, but Argentina was bankrupt and had to deflect attention away from their economy. So they invaded the Falklands.

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100 days by the British Commander Admiral Sandy Woodward is a good read from the command perspective. I've also read Sharky Ward's book and found it a good read if not all that balanced. In all fairness to Sharky, it's his story and FWIW he tells it like he saw it.

Trent

Edited by BadCop
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I just read "Falklands30," a new one-off magazine from Key Publishing. I like it a lot. I contains several new, personal stories from the conflict, as well as current status of ships and more. As much as I've read, this was a welcome new angle on several aspects of the war.

Rick in Maine

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Actually, I'm looking for single perspective accounts on both sides. Air, Sea, Land, and British politics. I'm planning on making a stop there next year.

Good for you, that is quite off the beaten path for most tourists. I'd love to go there but there is no way I could ever sell that to the wife.

The Brits had some of the world's best light infantry deployed down there. First class troops who had a much tougher fight than many people realize.

Leave a flower at the marker dedicated to H. Jones.

Edited by 11bee
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Woodwards "100 days" is the best (although very much from the British perspective). Again "Air War South Atlantic" is recommended (written just after war? I recall). Scooter's brief overview post above is pretty well spot on. I joined the RN 3 years after the war and have had various stories recounted from both the ordinary sailors/marines viewpoint as well as senior management. Sadly politicians (hyped on by media?) who have never been fired upon in their lives seem to relish stirring up the 'crowds' for their own gains at this 30th anniversary - regardless of the feelings of many UK/Argentinian families feelings.

Last year's Sea Vixen display pilot was Simon Hargreaves (Sea Harrier versus B707 1982 fame & F-35B test pilot) - although I don't know if he was flying at the incident last week at Bournemouth airport (Sea Vixen undercarriage collapse).

Here are a few of my observations:(no trade secrets!)

- Significance of US hurriedly supplied AIM9L variant of sidewinder. (there is evidence to suggest that loan of Independence was on the table (with US flown jets) - but politically unacceptable to the UK to avoid the US dictating post War diplomatic solution.)

- Significance of range from home bases on Argentinean a/c (and high-lo-high profile on fuel consumption versus detection range for Brit ships)

- Capability of Argentinian pilots, AAR capability & night time flying? (neither I recall) - Although their bravery remains the toast in many an RN ship

- (without insulting the skill required) but what was that Vulcan raid all about? More significantly just how much aviation fuel did it take from Ascension Island stocks (did that have any implication of RN aviation fuel supplies?). Being RN I will of course hold a bias against all things air farce, but this raid was only flown 4 years before the USAF F-111 raids from the UK to Libya which seemed far more complex to plan & execute......and they at least hit their targets(!)

- Although the UK's decision to get out of "proper" fixed wing flying at sea has often been cited, "...just think what could have been achieved with Ark Royal with F-4s & buccaneers etc..." the prevailing sea state & weather would have put a carrier of her size (read Essex Class, Foch etc) out of limits for conventional flying. To fly in that weather VSTOL or a US CVN is required!

- finally, (again remaining under "IMHO") consider why & where your Defense taxes are now being spent in terms of capability to operate in the Southern Indian Ocean/Antarctica. As the worlds natural resources get smaller and "one" country's ambitions (beyond putting too many rivets on their models!)gets greater, the "un-owned" bits on those world atlas's ( you know, the bit at the bottom with : "there be sea monsters there etc!") become more attractive. Just google "China" & "Navy" to get an open source view! This might also explain why us "westerners" want to remain friends with South America at what ever cost.

Edited by FIGHTS ON
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Good for you, that is quite off the beaten path for most tourists. I'd love to go there but there is no way I could ever sell that to the wife.

The Brits has some of the world's best light infantry deployed down there. First class troops who had a much tougher fight than many people realize.

Leave a flower at the marker dedicated to H. Jones.

Will do. Off the beaten path means they can't call me back to work..... :monkeydance:......even though I know they're going to make me rent a sat phone as a condition :bandhead2:

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Another boring Falklands ditty for you:

My 1st visit there was in '87. This was in the days before SATNAV (the GPS type) so our navigation onboard was by visual bearings and radar ranges off prominent coastal features. All our navigational charts were freshly printed, but in the small print that explained "date of last survey" i was expecting something in the singles or even 10's of years......however most of the area was "last surveyed by Capt Cook year 17xx" (!)(?). All fairly accurate stuff, but in the early '90s when GPS SATNAV became a regular feature it was discovered that most of his charts were a couple of miles out - all due to an error in his watch at the time of his original survey. (After 6 months+ away from UK his watch had lost a few seconds(!))

If you are visiting, make an effort to read up on the 1914 battle. How the Germans sneaked up on Stanley to raid the place, only to discover 2x British battlecruisers there followed by a desperate attempt to steam EAST in a vain attempt to reach sundown (no radar then) before the British could hunt them down. One of the Battlecruisers was HMS Invincible, a name that featured again in '82.

Edited by FIGHTS ON
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The Brits had some of the world's best light infantry deployed down there. First class troops who had a much tougher fight than many people realize.

Two of my cousins fought in the Falklands, one of them on the ground with the SAS. The other was on the Harriers with the RAF. I was 14 at the time and still look up to the two of them to this day.

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I have some Falklands books that you might want to hunt down yourself.

Vulcan 607, Rowland White.

Sink The Belgrano, Mike Rossiter. In the same vein as Vulcan 607 but following HMS Conqueror and how the decision was made.

Falklands Commando, Hugh McManners was a Royal Artillery officer who went ashore to spot for the Navy as they shelled the enemy. Full of small details and anecdotes plus explains how the civilian deaths happened.

Spearhead Assault, John Geddes was a Corporal in the Parachute Regiment who was with Colonel H Jones at the Battle for Goose Green. He tells it how he saw it and is brutally honest.

Regarding the US loan of a carrier, that was not for the Falklands but would have been afterwards to guard the North Atlantic against Soviet ships and submarines in case we lost a carrier in the South Atlantic. Our NATO role was more important and the ship would have been one of those in the Reserve. Consider that it would have taken ages to train up RN crew to man the ship fully.

I thought the Vulcan raids were to point out to Argentina that the RAF could not only hit the Islands but also Buenos Aires and any other military target in Argentina. They did have some success against the radar units.

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Max Hastings for a good all round look. His history books are excellent.

Vulcan 607 & Sea harrier over the Falklands can be a bit one dimensional as they were written that way. Still good books though.

As for the value of the Vulcan raid, there has been a lot said & written about it. A lot of the effect was psychological. The fact that we could hit the mainland. It also did stop fast jets using the Stanley runway so they all used the mainland giving them less time over the Islands.

As mentioned the capability of the Argentine airforce may have been lacking in some areas but the bravery of the pilots to press the attack was never in any doubt. I have friends who fought down there and they testify to this.

Brave men sent by cowardly politicians, sent to divert peoples attention from their own failings.

Julien

Edited by Julien (UK)
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As my main interest is focused in aircrafts, in my personal opinion, "Falklands the Air War", by Burden et al, is the "Bible" about the air missions from both sides. Very well documented and despite it was wrote in 1985, is almost perfect including just a pair of inaccuracies.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Falklands-The-Air-R-Burden/dp/0853688427

From Argentine side the best books were writen a few years ago, all in Spanish, like "Malvinas, la Batalla de Pradera del Ganso" by Oscar Teves (a comprehensive account about the Darwin/Goose Green ground battle), "Tras los submarinos ingleses" by Mariano Sciaroni (the Argentine's war against English submarines) and "Jamás serán olvidados" by Claudio Meunier (Argentine Navy and Coast Guard air forces missions during the War). This one is about to be published in May.

Bye for now...

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Another vote for Falklands Commando by Hugh McManners from me.

You might also want to consider:

3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands: No Picnic by Julian Thopmson

Red and Green Life Machine: Diary of the Falklands Field Hospital by Rick Jolly

For a lighter side:

Don't Cry For Me, Sergeant Major by Robert McGowan and Jeremy Hands

(and for squaddie life in BAOR by same authors, Try Not To Laugh Sergeant Major)

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Going to go against the flow, and opine that Ward's "Sea Harrier over the Falklands" is one of the worst books on the conflict I have read. Read it twice to be sure, then got rid of my copy. I found it perfectly balanced, a chip on both shoulders toward anyone who didn't agree with the gospel according to Sharkey, and not all that fair to other participants :) The writing style I didn't particularly like either.

Will second "Air War South Atlantic" by Price/Ethell as a good day by day account of the air war, and "100 Days" as good reads, as well as Hasting's book, "Vulcan 607", and "Goose Green". The Osprey title on the Air War is also worth looking at.

I've got a couple of other good ones, one dealing with the immediate aftermath ("Falklands: The Aftermath" by Mark Dartford), and another collection of first-hand accounts the title of which I cannot recall. It is interesting to see how in separate published accounts the details can differ, even in different accounts by the same person.

I also have both of the "Don't Cry for me"/"Try not to laugh" books, which are fun, although I wonder how many of the stories have gotten better in the telling :)

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