Found this really nice video on the landings and following engagements on and near the water. A scary glimpse, if only for a moment of what war between 2 developed nations looked like in 1982. The Argentine military were woefully unprepared and already full of conscripts but the short war was still very costly for British troops aswell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-_l3ezW0l4
This is also a great video mainly from Infantry perspective, wasn't going to include it but I've seen it previously and the interviews and stories are great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO6Ptcerz3g
The Exocet gave us yet another reason to hate the French, and the Belgrano some to hate Thatcher, although I actually think she was right to take back The Falklands, even if I don't care for her generally.
It's something she did right, the people on the island were happy under the UK and the occupying forces knew fine well their fight wasn't justified, which is why they called it off fairly quickly when things got serious.
Still a dry cunt though.
at the same time france did help us with training against the equipment sold to the argentinians. There are a few small interesting articles on the role france played in the falklands war.
Oh, I'm sure they did. France and Britain are pretty good friends, really - have been since WWI, I'd say. Still, it's fun to hate the French sarcastically. I'm sure they were upset by the Exocet's use. It's honestly amazing that the British were able to defeat the Argentine air force with just a couple of aircraft carriers.
She did invent soft scoop icecream though, kinda makes up for fucking over almost everyone.
They only called it off because they somehow accidentally sunk one of their own ships and then blamed it on British submarines that weren't even in the area so they then refused to send supplies or more men.
Argentina could have taken and held the Falklands if they had actually committed and not just dumped a load of conscripts that had just come out of a hot climate on a freezing cold island where everything was against them.
Falklands is like the last time we saw 2 decently strong major powers battling it out. Although it wasn't full scale war, its about the closest we get to a modern war(albeit on a tiny island).
Iraq war wasn't even that comparable since the US was fighting against an enemy using 70s equipment.
What a waste of life, all over a tiny island with barely any natural resources. Makes me angry that this happened but we have to defend our nation at home and at crown colonies
The French dutifully fulfilled their contractual obligations. Sadly missile tech was more advanced than our ships countermeasures at that point, and we payed for it. The Belgrano was a valid kill no matter where it was in the world - the total exclusion zone was simply a warning to neutral ships/aircraft to stay away or face possible destruction. The British fleet had been shadowed by Argentine fishing ships reporting their position/composition on the way to the Falklands.
As for the ethical question of whether or not we should have defended the Falklands, the obvious answer is, yes, we should defend British subjects against clear and deliberate foreign aggression, for that, surely, is the entire purpose of an ethical defence force. The only real question is the price we are willing to pay to defend ourselves. -- although I'm slightly biased because I'm originally from one of those far flung and vulnerable islands.
Here's a recording of the Falklands island radio station during the night of the invasion, up to and including when the troops started poking him with rifles on air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agX45iQ1lP8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REGYK49DAIY
The Falklands will always be rightful British clay.
If you're talking about the Belgrano, a British submarine indeed sunk that. Which ship are you talking about that the Argentinians accidentally sunk?
HMS Conqueror indeed sunk the ARA General Belgrano. In fact, Conqueror is the only nuclear powered submarine to have sunk another vessel with torpedoes.
Per tradition, she flew a Jolly Roger on her way back to port to indicate a successful mission. The symbols on her flag indicate different aspects to their mission:
https://assets.rbl.ms/17310585/980x.jpg
The Jolly Roger tradition goes back to the First World War when Lieutenant Commander Max Horton flew on his HMS E-9 after sinking the SMS Hela. One theory as to why he chose to do this was because a British admiral in the early part of the first decade of the 1900s said that submarine crews should be hung "like pirates" if captured. The tradition spread to other nations, Germany and the U.S. included - although it wasn't as big for U.S. submarines.
Ascension Island. Interesting place, but sadly the British Government are now depopulating it, probably in preparation to sell it to the Americans as a military outpost.
In recent years they pretty much abolished the democratic council and took away everyone's pensions. I can't even return to the island where I was born to live anymore without explicit permission from the government, which they don't give out unless it's a temporary visa for a temporary work placement.
The British government says "there are no Ascension Island natives", but we had a growing community of over a thousand, and a lot of children were born there. Now we've essentially been banished from a land that was our ongoing terraforming project, started partly by Charles Darwin himself. When he arrived there, he backed up the local claim that the island wasn't a rock, but a cinder. Now, due to the layering of various plants at various altitudes to progressively catch more and more moisture and force it down towards sealevel - it's green.
It was an interesting place to live, because the landscape and environment became more pleasant for human habitation with every passing year. In terms of living there in 2018 with the internet, it might not be so bad. Virtually everyone knew each other. You'd have to wait weeks for even air mail shipping to arrive, because you'd have to arrange to have it shipped with the Royal Airforce or USAF. The US is a bit funny about shipping to the PX there, because they "don't ship to prison facilities". There was absolutely fantastic, if slightly terrifying spearfishing if you could stomach bumping next to sharks at with only a shitty hospital in a thousand miles. The main problem was that eventually you'd have to send your kids off to boarding school once they got to around 11-12 years old. One of my fondest memories there was sitting on a beach on a beautifully clear, warm night, watching sea turtles hatch and scurry into the waves while the really bright band of the milkyway fanned out above me.
I just want to say that I really appreciate your detailed posts and I'm really sorry to hear about what's happening on Ascension Island. It seems crazy that our government would sell it - it's how the Vulcan bombers got to do that bombing run on the airfield at Port Arthur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBJ99bIhAVk
Doubtful. The disparity of resources at the disposal of Argentina versus the UK means that even had the Argentinians struck at a better time with better troops, they wouldn't have been able to hold their position for long. The only way they could have held is if the Brits decided it wasn't worth fighting over, and while the war may have been pretty pointless, Thatcher was definitely not one about to back down from a conflict she knew she could win. Also don't forget it's highly unlikely the Argentinians even could have waited for a better opportunity to strike since the primary reason they attacked was to distract from major unrest at home that was threatening to topple their regime.
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