Falklands War

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Milamber

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30 years tomorrow since the Argies invaded. Time just flies. Never forget the look on the Sergeants face in the recruiters when my he ask my buddy why he wanted to join the Army. He told the Sergeant he "wanted to kill Argies"! Needless to say they declined his application.

I wonder what happened to all those rifle's
 

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Lots of them were saw cut and made into parts kits and brought into this country. I have been trying to learn a lot more about the FAL since I picked one up a month ago. On another note, can anyone recommend a good book?
 
The British military establishment was designed to defeat other military establishments. The Argentinian military establishment was designed to control the Argentinians. It wasn't hard to predict the outcome of that clash.
 
ol' scratch said:
On another note, can anyone recommend a good book?
Click to expand...


Another excellent book is about to be released the middle of April. Initial release will be in e-book format on Amazon, B&N, Apple bookstore, and others. Title is Above Reproach by J.D. Kinman. I got to read a pre-release copy of it and thoroughly enjoyed it. It brings the reader in quickly and is a fast moving book. I'd highly recommend it.
 
Blood Meridian is pretty bloodthirsty. Same author wrote No Country for Old Men, both excellent books as is his trilogy All the pretty horses.

Back to the OP. The Argentinians were mostly conscripts and poorly equipped for the climate. We were hampered by logistic's and the loss of the Atlantic Conveyor. But the Brits were up for it and did an excellent job. The benefit of a professional armed forces.
 
I remember that very well as I rode the bus with a couple of Brits and there were a couple of Argies on the bus as well. With the recent discovery of oil in the region, one can speculate on future events, especially remembering that the Argentine government wanted its troops buried on the islands as they consider it Argentine soil.
 
At the time it was sold as a war over Sovereignty but alas it was oil not sheep that the two governments were really interested in.
 
I am perplexed about why the books were mentioned in this post. Neither involves nor has anything to do with the Falklands War. :confused:

I recently read that the British no longer have the means to transport men and material quickly enough to rebuff an invasion if the Argies were to invade again. It is becoming a much more dangerous world when only the tyrants and loons are committed to being able to take actions they deem necessary.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good factual book on the Falklands war?
 
Argentina no longer has the means to invade, so it doesn't much matter. The British garrison in the islands is adequate to hold off anything the Argentines could do these days.

Martin Middlebrook's "The Falklands War" is a good account of the conflict.
 
Must be where companies like Century Arms get their parts, or does Century even make an FAL?
 
The British forces has semi-auto FALs, the Argies had full auto.

They invaded an island where the inhabitants consider themselves British, and luckily we had Maggie Thatcher in charge in those days, so the Falkland Islanders are still British :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Falk...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333353241&sr=1-1 Max Hastings was there at the time, and he is an eminent historical writer too, I have this book and would recomend it.
 
I was 22 at the time of the Falkland Island War and in the U.S. Army.
We were rooting for the British back then and still do.
The Falklands belong to Britain and should remain that way.

Argentina threw down the gauntlet and lost, decisively.
They need to let it go.
 
The only book I've read that had much information about the Falklands was Lifeblood of War. The book uses examples from history to discuss military logistics principles. As the author was in charge of logistics for the Falklands campaign, there is a good chapter on it. Lots of interesting nuggets throughout. It doesn't gloss over the mistakes. Unfortunately, the book is intended for military logisticians, and is not well edited.
 
I was 22 at the time of the Falkland Island War and in the U.S. Army.
We were rooting for the British back then and still do.
The Falklands belong to Britain and should remain that way.

Argentina threw down the gauntlet and lost, decisively.
They need to let it go.
Click to expand...

Same as we root for you guys! Shame about the administration though, Reagan didnt want us to send the task force there, apparently he said to Thatcher "whats a little lsland 1000's of miles away to you anyway?"

She said "would you have said that about Pearl Harbour?"

Case closed!
 
I seem to recall that even though both sides used FALs their magazines were not interchangable because they were then based on two slightly different design patterns.
 
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I seem to recall that even though both sides used FALs their magazines were not interchangable because they were the based on two slightly different design patterns.
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The British used inch pattern FALs (L1A1)
Argentina used a metric pattern FAL. The dimensions are different.
 
Virtually all the land mines planted by Argentine soldiers in the Falklands are still there. The Brits have dragged their feet on clearing mines. i made a mine clearance consulting trip to the Falklands about 15 years ago. The Brits did not like the bottom line. Some Brit company began a mine clearing "pilot project" in 2010 using cheap labor from Zimbabwe and Lebanon.
 
I had a bizarre moment one morning in London regarding this. A friend and I were staying at the Soldiers and Sailors Club there and rolled out the first morning noting an odd air in the lobby as we passed through. We get outside the front door and there's a news stand sort of affair there where everyone is crowding frantically. As we pass we see a bunch of headlines screaming in full page print things like; "It's War!", "Argies Attack!" and "Fleet Deployed!".
Having our thumb on the pulse of the "Cold War" at the time we discounted it as Russians (what the hell was an Argie to us?) so O'B turns to me and in the driest way says... "What the hell year is it, anyway?"
 
Steel Horse Rider said:
I am perplexed about why the books were mentioned in this post. Neither involves nor has anything to do with the Falklands War. :confused:

I recently read that the British no longer have the means to transport men and material quickly enough to rebuff an invasion if the Argies were to invade again. It is becoming a much more dangerous world when only the tyrants and loons are committed to being able to take actions they deem necessary.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good factual book on the Falklands war?
Click to expand...
not wanting to sound like "one of those people" but there is still the US....at least for a little while longer.
 
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