Authors: Patrick Bishop and John Witherow.
Title: Battle for the Falklands - The Winter War.
Publisher: Harper Press.
Copyright: 1982.
Pages: 157.
Price: $4.99 US (ebook).
Overview and impressions:
The Falklands War was a new subject for me. I read the book by Patrick Bishop and John Witherow. It was an unexpected conflict. Argentine invaded the territory and the UK came back to reclaim it. I'm not sure if they're still arguing over who should control the islands.
The conflict could be divided between the air/sea battles and the land invasion. From what I read, the whole thing was a close run affair until the actual D-Day. The British used regular army troops. The Argentines had conscripts. Both sides fought well.
The Argentines could have done much more damage if their bombs had properly armed when their pilots flew at twenty to thirty feet in the air. The ship missiles did enough damage to the British Navy to make them think twice about their anti-missile defenses. By the time of the ground of war, the Argentine will to fight was done for. The Argentines had time to entrench and fortify their positions. But no one wanted to die in the Falklands.
I enjoyed the read. Though I admit it's biased because the authors are UK newspaper reporters. I wouldn't mind reading someone from the Argentine perspective. Unfortunately, I'm not fluent in Spanish.
Blake,
ReplyDeleteBoth sides are still wanting the islands and that is why to this day the UK is sabotaging any Argentine attempts to update their air force through political and economical means.
There are several books on the Argentine perspective in English:
'Argentine Fight for the Falklands' by Martin Middlebrook (I have read and it is good, his book on the British side of the conflict, 'The Falklands War' is equally good.)
'The Malvinas War from the Argentinian Viewpoint ' by Lt. Col Ricardo Albert Puche (I have it but have not read it yet - it is slated to be read this year)
'Wings of the Malvinas: The Argentine Air War over the Falklands' by Santiago Rivas (same as above)
'Chicos de la Guerra' by Daniel Kon (Don't let the Spanish name throw you off, it is available in English. I have a copy and plan to read it this year)
'The Land That Lost Its Heroes: How Argentina Lost the Falklands War' by Jimmy Burns (same again as above)
But, most importantly, if you want to read a good book on the Falklands conflict, read 'Razor's Edge' by Hugh Bicheno. While some of the things have been proven incorrect over the years when more access to information came out, this is probably the only book that really gives a great detail account of the all of the problems faces by both sides, and the author does not hold back on putting the blame on key people, even while praising them for things that they did right. His descriptions of the battles is most invaluable to wargamer too and are probably the best out there.
Sapper