The updated paperback of the acclaimed first history of 8 June, 1982, Britains Worst Day of Combat since WWII.
In 1982, eight young Guards officers in their twenties found themselves suddenly on the way to the Falklands 8000 miles away from Britain. Some four decades later, they realised that no one had written the history of this unique war in Britains history from their side - including coming under Argentine fire on Sir Galahad on 8 June, the most dramatic day in Britains military history since the second world war. Crispin Black tells their story and casts a startling new light on what happened to them, using the latest official documents. Even basic facts have remained hidden to this day.
Crispin Black served as platoon commander of the Welsh Guards in the Falklands and survived the bombing of the HMS Sir Galahad. He was moved to Northern Ireland and Germany before joining the Ministry of Defence as COBRA intelligence liaison. A Colonel, he is a Fellow of Chatham House and has written for The Times, Guardian and Telegraph and commented on intelligence on the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and ITV.
Introduction 1. What dreams may come 2. Doubts 3. Untune that string 4. The Navys Private Army 5. Mortars and All That 6. South 7. The Waiting Room, 2nd June 8. March to Nowhere 9. Towards Bluff Cove, June 4-6th 10. Eyewitness: Jan Koops 11. Exocets and All That 12. Eyewitness: Jan Koops - Port Pleasant/Fitzroy 13. 10:26am, 8th June 14. Eyewitness: Jan Koops - Air Raid Warning Red 15. Eyewitness: Hugh Boddington 16. Eyewitness: Johnny Strutt 17. The valiant taste of death but once. 18. Eyewitness: Captain Koops - Upsetting An Apple Cart 19. Stirrings 20. The Southern Flank 21. The Devil in the Detail 22. 2nd June 23. Basics 24. Eyewitness 25. The New Plan: Major Guy Yeoman 26. The Death Knell 27. Shambles 28. A Sound of Revelry by Night 29. The next morning, 8th June 30. The Inquiry Board: Major Sayle 31. Squandering Half a Battalion 32. Admiral Fieldhouse 33. Fieldhouses Fingerprints 34. General Jeremy Moore 35. A Swiss Cheese 36. Army Doctrine 37. The Darkest Day: 14th July 1982 38. Eyewitness: Captain Koops - Walk on Wales 39. Return South Postscript
DAILY MAIL, Haunting... you are plunged at the heart of the action.;
DAILY TELEGRAPH, SIMON HEFFER An important new book... a repository of damning facts. ;
THE TIMES, Reveals how mistakes and prejudice led to an avoidable tragedy.;
PROSPECT MAGAZINE General Sir Michael Rose, Many disturbing facts... graphically described ... excoriating book... Until now, all these facts have been concealed by a smokescreen of accusation.;
GUARDIAN, New... call to release all files;
SPECTATOR [A] new light... a new trend... officers coming to question the hierarchies into which they were schooled" Professor Helen Parr;
DAILY TELEGRAPH, a powerful case for a public inquiry. General Thompson, Admiral Larken;
PICK OF THE MONTH ... [C]ompelling reading. [A]n evocative writing style... most absorbing in the telling of the human story.
SOLDIER MAGAZINE; GUARDS MAGAZINE, Important and in some senses shocking... for the first time accurately in the context of the planning, execution and historiography of [the war].;
ROGER ALTON, former Editor Observer and Independent, Full of heroic characters, a remarkable story that has lain hidden for too long... A terrific document about war, that will be studied in staff colleges for generations to come. The top brasss passing the buck afterwards is appalling.
