On 1 April 1982 Major Mike Norman,
commander of Naval Party 8901, was looking forward to a
peaceful year-long tour of duty on the Falkland Islands. But
events turned out differently, for the next day the
Argentinians invaded and he and his small Royal Marines
garrison found themselves fighting for their lives. They
took up defensive positions in and around Government House
and on the approaches to Stanley to protect the Governor,
Rex Hunt, and delay the enemy’s advance. They were prepared
to die executing these orders. After a desperate battle
against vastly superior numbers, Hunt ordered them to lay
down their arms. As the surrender took place, an Argentinian
told a Marine: ‘The Islands are ours now’. The response was
simple: ‘We will be back’. They were, and this is their
story. The Royal Marines of Naval Party 8901 volunteered to
join the Task Force and, seventy-five days after the
invasion, the men who were forced to watch the raising of
the Argentine flag were able to proudly run up the Falklands
flag once more at Government House. With a Foreword by
Major General Julian Thompson CB, OBE.
A revised edition of 'Falkland
Islander's at War'. Falkland Islanders were the first British
people to come under enemy occupation since the Channel Islands
during the Second World War. This book tells how islanders'
warnings were ignored in London, how their slim defences gave
way to a massive invasion, and how they survived occupation.
While some established a cautiously pragmatic modus vivendi with
the occupiers, some islanders opted for active resistance.
Others joined advancing British troops, transporting ammunition
and leading men to the battlefields.
THE
OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE FALKLANDS CAMPAIGN: VOL.I
by Sir Lawrence Freedman
The origins of the April, 1982 war. The book describes
the long dispute between Argentina and Britain over the
sovereignty of the Islands, the difficulties faced by
successive governments in finding a way to reconcile the
opposed interests of the Argentines and the islanders, and
the constant struggle to keep the Islands viable. In March
1982 what started as an apparently trivial incident over an
illegal landing by scrap-metal merchants on the island of
South Georgia turned into a major crisis. Drawing on
official papers the author charts the growing realisation
within the British government of the seriousness of the
situation, culminating in the Argentine invasion.
The SAS, MI6 and the war Whitehall
nearly lost. The Falklands conflict was the first time the
Royal Navy had been engaged by an enemy since 1945. It was a
test of the world's latest air and defence systems and a
unique opportunity to push competing fighters to their
limits. This book focuses on Operation Corporate, the task
force assigned to retake the Falklands, and on the
clandestine efforts to deny General Galtieri the one weapon
that could have turned Corporate into a humiliating defeat
for Britain, the French manufactured Exocet missile.
This copy has been signed by the author.
Very good.
Unread but slight browning to top page edges due to storage
- 266pp, 16 b/w photos, facsimille documents
The SAS, MI6 and the war Whitehall
nearly lost. A Spanish language edition of intelligence
specialist Nigel West's volume on the secret war for the
Falklands, or the Malvinas as the islands are known in the
Spanish speaking world. Scarce and collectible.
Like
new in card cover - 259pp, 16 b/w photos, facsimille
documents