The Battle of Goose Green was the first major land conflict of the Falklands War. The Battle for Goose Green has become an integral part of the Falklands story, and yet it nearly didn’t take place at all. Originally earmarked to be isolated, Goose Green was eventually attacked due to the loss of momentum in the invasion force. The British 2 Para Regiment were deployed against the 12th Argentinean Regiment, which numbered about 1,200 men. The British believed that the Argentinean force numbered at least half this and set off with a strength of 690 men. They took two days’ rations, weapons, and ammunition in the belief that it would be a swift conquest. There followed a bitter and bloody fight as the Argentine forces fiercely defended Goose Green. Despite reconnaissance, the British were hampered by trench systems that they had been unaware of. Eventually the Argentines were forced to surrender, with 961 men captured, 145 taken prisoner during the fighting, and 47 killed. It was the first major engagement of the Falklands War.
While many books have been written on the Falklands War, this is the first to focus on the vital aspect of logistics. The challenges were huge; the lack of preparation time; the urgency; the huge distances involved; the need to requisition ships from trade to name but four.??After a brief discussion of events leading to Argentina's invasion the book describes in detail the rush to re-organise and deploy forces, despatch a large task force, the innovative solutions needed to sustain the Task Force, the vital staging base at Ascension Island, the in-theatre resupply, the set-backs and finally the restoring of order after victory.??Had the logistics plan failed, victory would have been impossible and humiliation inevitable, with no food for the troops, no ammunition for the guns, no medical support for casualties etc.??The lessons learnt have never been more important with increasing numbers of out-of-area operations required in remote trouble spots at short notice. The Falklands experience is crucial for the education of new generations of military planners and fascinating for military buffs and this book fills an important gap.
The Falklands War is a story of occupation, fierce air battles, heavy naval losses and bitter encounters between ground forces amidst an inhospitable terrain and unforgiving climate. With complex political machinations and nationalist sentiment at the centre of the conflict, even today the sovereignty of the islands is hotly contested in political circles.For the first time, renowned military historian Gregory Fremont-Barnes has compiled a definitive A–Z guide to the British involvement in the Falklands conflict, including personalities, weapons, battles, ships, places and much more. This accessible yet comprehensive companion to the Falklands War will be a welcome addition to any enthusiast’s shelves.
Goose Green was the first land battle of the Falklands War. It was also the longest, the hardest-fought, the most controversial and the most important to win. What began as a raid became a vicious, 14-hour infantry struggle, in which 2 Para - outnumbered, exhausted, forced to attack across open ground in full daylight, and with inadequate fire support - lost their commanding officer, and almost lost the action.This is the only full-length, detailed account of this crucial battle. Drawing on the eye-witness accounts of both British and Argentinian soldiers who fought at Goose Green, and their commanders' narratives, it has become the definitive account of most important and controversial land battle of the Falklands War. A compelling story of men engaged in a battle that hung in the balance for hours, in which Colonel 'H' Jones' solo charge against an entrenched enemy won him a posthumous V.C., and which for both sides was a gruelling and often terrifying encounter.
This controversial and very readable work examines in detail the decisive events of the Falklands War. With maps and diagrams the author takes us through the build-up to the conflict and the different stages of the battle, right up to the final surrender.
"Thoroughly researched and including much new material, this biography is written with the cooperation of H. Jones's widow and is published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his death at the climax of the Falklands War. It is the story of an emblematic but complex war hero whose family history was surprising, whose army life included exposure to most of the military problems which Britain has encountered since the Second World War (including security in Northern Ireland, where H. Jones was in command of the search for Robert Nairac), and whose dramatic death and subsequent posthumous VC symbolized an extraordinary campaign which was truly the end of an era. Sir John Wilsey was a close friend and army colleague of H. Jones. The biography is introduced by Sir John Keegan."
When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the Marine Corps was ordered to deploy an air-ground brigade in less than ten days, even though no such brigade existed at the time. Assembled from the woefully understrength 1st Marine Division and 1st Marine Air Wing units, the Brigade shipped out only six days after activation, sailed directly to Korea, was in combat within ninety-six hours of landing and, despite these enormous handicaps and numerically superior enemy forces, won every one of its engagements and helped secure the Pusan Perimeter. Despite its remarkable achievements, the Brigade's history has largely been lost amid accounts of the sweeping operations that followed. Its real history has been replaced by myths that attribute its success to tough training, great conditioning, unit cohesion, and combat-experienced officers. None of which were true. T. X. Hammes now reveals the real story of the Brigade's success, prominently citing the Corps' crucial ability to maintain its ethos, culture, and combat effectiveness during the period between World War II and Korea, when its very existence was being challenged. By studying the Corps from 1945 to 1950, Hammes shows that it was indeed the culture of the Corps-a culture based on remembering its storied history and learning to face modern challenges-that was responsible for the Brigade's success. The Corps remembered the human factors that made it so successful in past wars, notably the ethos of never leaving another marine behind. At the same time, the Corps demonstrated commendable flexibility in adapting its doctrine and operations to evolutions in modern warfare. In particular, the Corps overcame the air-ground schism that marked the end of World War II to excel at close air support. Despite massive budget and manpower cuts, the Corps continued to experiment and learn even at it clung to its historical lodestones. This approach was validated during the Brigade's trial by fire. More than a mere battle history, Forgotten Warriors gets to the heart of marine culture to show fighting forces have to both remember and learn. As today's armed forces face similar challenges, this book confirms that culture as much as technology prepares America's fighting men and women to answer their country's call.
A battle that helped decide a rare modern confrontation between an imperial power and an emerging one over territory is expertly related and explained by a leading historian, with detailed illustrations and supplementary facts.
*As featured in the landmark BBC2 documentary Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story* Published to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Falklands war 'There was a time when we did extraordinary things.' On 28 May 1982, 450 men of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment - 2 Para - went into action to retake the settlement of Goose Green on East Falkland, where more than 1,000 Argentine soldiers were holding 119 Falkland Islanders - men, women, children and one baby - in squalid conditions. Forty years on, Goose Green is still the biggest and bloodiest battle the British Army has fought in modern times. This book is the living narrative of the battle told by the very men who fought it; not just the soldiers of 2 Para, but also the SAS, the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, and others, in more than a hundred exclusive and untold personal accounts. Some are extremely funny, some touching, and some heart-breaking. All were recorded face to face, the speakers' own words adding a gritty authenticity to each account and conveying the confusion and terror of battle, as well as the courage and selflessness of men in action. Goose Green is a book that goes beyond the official histories and the many memoirs to bring to life the first and, as it turned out, the decisive battle of this country's outstanding campaign to retake the Falkland Islands from a foreign invader. This is a true story of a great victory against all the odds, told by the men who fought it.
Follows the task force to the South Atlantic, through the battles of early May that saw the loss of the Belgrano and the Sheffield, and on to the landings at San Carlos and the eventual surrender of the Argentine garrison.
