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During the Falklands conflict, aircraft (both fixed and rotary-wing) were of crucial importance to both sides: in moving reinforcements quickly across the sea and over the islands, in attacking surface vessels, and in providing protection against attacks from both above and below the waves. The role of air power was thus to assist friendly surface forces in theirs. Consequently, the air arms of the two antagonists functioned in what was essentially a supporting role, but nevertheless a vital one. ... Read more

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In the early hours of the chilly late-autumn morning, April 2 1982, substantial forces of Argentine Marines, with heavy naval and air support, had invaded the Falkland islands, quickly and almost bloodlessly overwhelming a token garrison of Royal Marines. The following day Argentine forces also invaded the Falklands dependency of South Georgia, forcing the garrison of just 22 Royal Marines to surrender – though not before they had inflicted disproportionately heavy losses on their attackers. In this companion to Men-at-Arms 133 & 135 Adrian English and Anthony Watts examine the naval forces of both sides who fought in the battle for the Falklands. ... Read more

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Chapters: Alexander Haig, Jesse Helms, Caspar Weinberger, Jeane Kirkpatrick. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 79. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. (October 18, 1921 July 4, 2008) was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001. Helms was a leader of the modern American conservative movement, and he helped start the conservative resurgence, rescuing Ronald Reagan's political career before his presidency, but was known for confronting anyone that strayed from his own conservative convictions. A journalist by trade, Helms was the longest-serving popularly-elected Senator in North Carolina's history, and was widely credited with shifting the one-party state dominated by the Democrats into a competitive two-party state. The Helms-controlled National Congressional Club's state-of-the-art direct mail operation raised millions for Helms and other conservative candidates allowing Helms to outspend his opponents in most of his campaigns. He was praised for his ability to connect complicated ideas on a level that spoke to ordinary people. He was perhaps the last unreconstructed Southern conservative that started his political career in the Democratic Party when that party symbolized racial segregation and transitioned in the early 1970s to being a Republican. Helms was the most stridently conservative politician of the post 1960 era. , especially in opposition to federal intervention into what he considered state affairs(integration, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act). Helms also reminded voters that he tried, with a 16-day filibuster, to stop the Senate from approving a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Helms was credited even by his m...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=133250 ... Read more

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The Bren , usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of light machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1991. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry light machine gun (LMG) in World War II, it was also used in the Korean War and saw service throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including the 1982 Falklands War and the 1991 Gulf War. ... Read more

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Discussing a range of media, the essays in this illustrated volume analyze the cultural and ideological value of the Falklands conflict and the means by which symbolic outweighed historical significance to shape individual subjects and national identities in both Britain and Argentina. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Battle of Mount Longdon was an engagement of the Falklands War between British and Argentine forces, which took place on 1112 June 1982, resulting in the British victory and their occupation of a key position around the besieged Argentine garrison. The British force consisted of 3 PARA under Lieutenant Colonel Hew Pike (later general) with artillery support from six 105 mm light guns of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery; 2 PARA were in reserve. Naval gunfire support was provided by HMS Avenger's 4.5-in gun. The Argentine force consisted of B Company of the 7th Infantry Regiment (RI 7), as well as other detachments from other units. The local Argentine commander was Major Carlos Carrizo-Salvadores, the second-in-command of RI 7. The 7th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by two of the Marine Infantry platoons, held Mount Longdon, Wireless Ridge and Cortley Ridge to the east. Marine Sub-Lieutenant (naval rank equivalent to captain) Sergio Dachary had arrived on Mount Longdon in the week preceding the battle, and was on hand to control the Marine-manned heavy machine-guns on Mount Longdon. Mostly conscripts with a year of training, the young RI 7 soldiers were not going to rout the field easily and most were prepared to stand their ground. They possessed fully automatic FN FAL rifles which delivered more firepower than the British SLR, FN MAG 7.62mm general purpose machineguns identical to those of the Paras; some fifty of the 7th Regiment were to fight more resolutely than the rest, having been trained on a commando course organized by commando-trained Major Oscar Jaimet, the Operations Officer of the 6th Infantry Regiment (RI 6). Private Jorge Altieri, in an interview after the war told how he trained hard with B Company: I was issued with ... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=529949 ... Read more

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This book examines the debate which has long raged in Britain about the meaning of the Falklands War. Using literary critical methods, Monaghan examines how the Thatcherite reading of the war as a myth of British greatness reborn was developed through political speeches and journalistic writing. He then goes on to discuss a number of films, plays, cartoon strips and travel books which have subverted the dominant myth by finding national metaphors of a very different kind in the Falklands War. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Flawed Analysis of the Peace Process
Let me begin with a quibble. The book is filled acronyms. Ms. Juhn makes an attempt to identify these with a beginning listing but may acronyms are omitted. The same problem is repeated with the names of the persons involved. These problems result perhaps because the author is too familiar with her subject matter. It makes for opaque reading at times.

The book would also benefit from additional critical analysis or more exposition of the forces at work on people at an individual level. But, this information may not have been abundantly available.

My biggest problem is with the author's cavalier minimization of the social forces at work and the implications of not addressing these in the final peace accords. For example the author says "There are no villains and no heroes in this story. History is the procession of people fighting to preserve a way of life or to change it. This is no less true in El Salvador than it was in the United States during its own civil war."

I suppose the author would not be an admirer of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. There is a powerful vector in human history that is propelled by people's being marginalized and humiliated. Individually a person may be made to feel worthless or deficient. When many people experience this emotion together, as a result of the same causes, powerful social forces may be set in motion.

Too what extent is the current gang violence in El Salvador the result of the failure of the peace process to hold accountable those responsible for the death squads? What will be the long term consequences of the continued concentration of wealth in a few hands?

I appreciate the author's efforts but must express my reservations.

A superb behind the scenes analysis
The peace process in El Salvador was very difficult to understand for outsiders, even Salvadorans like me.This book succeeds in claryfing not only the actual events, but also the underlying motives and incentives for each of the parties involved.

The book begins with a good historical analysis, which puts into perspective all the decisions taken during the actual peace negotiations.Once the historical motivation is clear, the actual strategies for the negotiation begin to make perfect sense.

All in all, this book really shines at explaining the underlying interests of the parties and the tactics they resorted to in achieving a truly remarkable agreement.

The Inside Story of the Salvadoran Peace Process
This book is an excellent study of the behind-the-scenes policy making during the Salvadoran peace process. The author obviously had access to many of the persons involved in the process.It is also lacks theleft-wing bias found in much of the U.S. literature on El Salvador. Irecommend this book for anyone interested in the Salvadoran Civil War aswell as for those who study the topic of negotiated settlements to civilconflicts. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: L/70: 5,150 kg (11,400 lb) The Bofors 40 mm gun is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed by the Swedish defence firm of Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, used by most of the western Allies as well as various other forces. It is often referred to simply as the Bofors gun. The Swedish Navy purchased a number of 2 pounder Pom-Poms from Vickers as anti-aircraft guns in 1922. However the Navy eventually soured on the Pom-Pom and approached Bofors about the development of a more capable replacement. Bofors was initially reluctant, as the Swedish Navy was a fairly small market, but when the Navy agreed to pay for the development of a prototype, a contract was signed in late 1928. Bofors responded with a gun that was, to some extent, a smaller version of a 57 mm (6-pounder) semi-automatic gun developed as an anti-torpedo boat weapon in the late 1900s by Finspong before Bofors drove them out of business. Their first test gun was in fact a re-barreled Nordenfelt version of the Finspong gun, to which was added a semi-automatic loading mechanism. Testing of this gun in 1929 demonstrated that the major problem was feeding the weapon in order to maintain a reasonable rate of fire. A mechanism that was strong enough to handle the stresses of moving the large round was too heavy to move quickly enough to fire rapidly. One interesting attempt to solve this problem used zinc shell cases that burned up when fired. This proved to leave heavy zinc deposits in the barrel, and had to be abandoned. In the summer of 1930 they began experimenting with a new test gun that did away with controlled feed and instead flicked the spent casing out the rear whereafter a second mechanism reloaded the gun by "throwing... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=616860 ... Read more

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Chapters: Michael Beetham, Peter Squire, Kenneth Hayr, Simon Falla, Eric Dunn, Patrick Hine. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 31. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Aden EmergencyFalklands War Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael James Beetham GCB, CBE, DFC, AFC, DL (b. 17 May 1923) is a former World War II bomber pilot and a high-ranking commander in the Royal Air Force from the 1960s to the 1980s. At present, Beetham is one of only four people holding his Service's most senior rank and excluding Prince Philip's honorary rank, Beetham has the longest time in rank, making him the senior Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Beetham was born in London and educated at St Marylebone Grammar School. As a young man he witnessed the Battle of Britain from the ground which prompted him to join the RAF in May 1941. Following flying training in the United States and Great Britain, he was assigned flying duties with 50 Squadron just prior to the Battle of Berlin. During the Battle, Beetham flew his Lancaster on bombing missions over Berlin 10 times. In a raid over Augsburg he lost an engine and he survived the Nuremberg Raid in which many Bomber Command aircraft were destroyed. In February 1944, whilst Beetham was on a training flight, one of his aircraft's engines caught fire. Beetham and his crew bailed out, landing by parachute near East Kirkby; Beetham then joined the Caterpillar Club. In May 1944 Beetham was posted to a flying instruction role. Beetham returned to operation duties with 57 Squadron just as the war in Europe was coming to an end. He was involved in dropping supplies to the Dutch and in the repatriation of prisoners-of-war. In November 1945, just after the end of World War II, Beetham was posted to 35 Squadron which was then selected to carry out the victory fly-past and co...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3055905 ... Read more

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In this comprehensive history, updated to include the climactic events of the five years since the Falklands War, Professor Rock documents the early colonial history of Argentina, pointing to the colonial forms established during the Spanish conquest as the source for Argentina's continued reliance on foreign commercial and investment partnerships. The collapse of Argentina's close western European ties after World War II is thus seen as the underlying cause for her current economic and political crisis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The best start to Argentina's History
David Rock writes one of the most definitive accounts of Argentine history to date. His book dates from the Spanish colonization through the election of Alfonsin.He looks at the limited number of Spaniards that came to colonize Argentina and their effects on the buildup of Buenos Ares compared with the interior. There is only a little attention paid to the mission systems in the Chaco and other surrounding areas.(for more on the Chaco See The Chaco Mission Frontier by James Saeger).This book does provide an excellent overview of the countries history without going into too much depth. Economics is a major focus of the book as well as the politics of the peronist era.The Falklands conflict is one of the last major pieces covered and is done very well. This is a great book to get a bearing on Argentina's history and then decide where you want to read more.Whether you are a beginner or an expert this is an essential book for South American history.

Well-written panorama of Argentine history
From 16th Century colonial foundations to the colapse of the vicious dictatorships of the 1980s and the election of Raoul Alfonsin, Rock's history gives us a sweeping, clear view of Argentina's past.His style is readable and vey well organized.He takes the country's turbulent centuries in simple chronological order, introducing the reader to the leaders of politics, the economy, social classes, the military and, to some extent, the arts.Rock has a penchant for the economic details pulling the country up and down, supporting his conclusions with much specific data.I enjoyed his presentation of long-lasting Argentine themes, such as the conflicts between Buenos Aires and the interior and the rich and workers.The economic and social influence of other nations is traced with care, starting, of course, with Spain, but also including Brazil, England and the US.

I read this in preparation for my first trip to Argentina, leaving a few days after I write this.I feel the book has given me a much deeper understanding of the society I am about to explore.

A concise, comprehensive review of Argentina
I found the book relatively easy to follow and well thought out. There is a good discussion of economic, political, and social problems and developments, helping the reader to fully understand the events of the day, providing an excellent introduction to Argentina's history. ... Read more

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On Friday, April 9, 1982, a British task force set sail for the Falkland Islands. Three months later it, after a short but brutal campaign, it had successfully completed its mission of ejecting the Argentinean occupying forces from the islands. With 3 Para to the Falklands, released to mark the twentieth anniversary of the campaign, is the full story of that dramatic campaign from the point of view of a sergeant in 3 Para.

3 Para played a significant part in the sharp, bloody campaign, marching from Port San Carlos to Port Stanley and fighting one of the crucial battles of the campaign the night assault on Mount Longdon. Graham Colbeck was there every step of the way and his account reveals the realities of fighting in this stubbornly contested conflict. His narrative brings to the fore the chilling nature of the fighting, the challenge of the harsh conditions met on the Falklands, the training and techniques of an elite force, and the comradeship of troops in battle. With 3 Para to the Falklands is one man's story of living through this vivid and intense period and a gripping insight into the experience of modern battle.Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the campaign, it provides a stunning account of the struggle for the Falklands. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Just "another" Falklands book, 24 July, 2002
Someone gave me a paperback version of this book some years ago, and unlike other books by authors "who were there", I found it a difficult read, and often boring. However, some of the photos are OK. Typically, like the authors of other such books, Colbeck has turned to a former senior officer to provide a forward, with the obvious intention of giving weight and authenticity to the title. I'm surprised the book was thought worthy of a reprint.

There are many books covering the Falklands conflict, both general and at ground level. This is one to avoid at all costs. ... Read more

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From the Frontline is an extraordinary record of a family's military service over the last 100 years.Thanks to careful editing, each individual tells his story through letters and diaries which capture the military scene and reflect family ties that bind them all closely. The eight family members served in South Africa, West Africa, Korea, Aden, the Falklands and Afghanistan as well as both World Wars.One lost his life and others were wounded.Two became generals, many were decorated.

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As John Winton, the best and most authoritative writer on current naval matters, says in the foreword to this book, 'The Navy has never been known for its flair for publicity... Again and again during the Falklands War it seems to me that the chances of giving the Navy a 'chuck-up' were being fumbled... so when the ships began to come home I let it be known that I was going to compile a book on the Navy's part in the Falklands'. The response was overwhelming and this, sadly, is only a skimming from the cream of the response to his appeals. Nevertheless it gives, without doubt, as vivid an impression as we are ever likely to have of the feelings and experiences of those of all ranks and trades who served with the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary on that brief but remarkably successful campaign. ... Read more

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In early 1982 the announcement of the imminent withdrawal of the Royal Navy's ice patrol ship HMS Endurance prompted the current military Junta in Buenos Aires to suppose that a military grab of the Falklands would be allowed to succeed without more than token resistance. Such an adventure was attractive as a distraction for the Argentine public at a time of political unease. On the night of 1/2 April 1982, the Juntaled by Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri made its move. This fascinating text by Nicholas van der Bijl examines the Argentine forces that battled for control of this remote British outpost. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential for journalists and historians
The author served along the British general in command of the Royal Marines Brigade in the Malvinas and later wrote Nine Battles to Stanley (published in 1999) that studied the ground war in much greater detail.Nicholas van der Bijl establishes that the 601st and 602nd Commando Units of the Argentine Army gave the British patrols a lot of trouble prior tothe final battles.He sheds new light on the battle for Goose Green byproving that an Argentine company there was made up of tough hand-pickedconscripts that had undergone Commando-training.I believe that this wasthe reason the Paras went through such a horrible time at Goose Green.Ienjoyed this book for its colour plates and pictures of the elite RI 25. It is a good companion to his latest book Nine Battles to Stanley (click"Book Search" to find it or otherwise you will makeno progress)in which he describes in great detail the ground war from theArgentine side, naming practically all the Argentine platoon commandersthat saw action on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters, describing in detail thenumerous Argentine platoon-sized nocturnal counterattacks that took placeand which involved roughly 600 Argentine conscripts and regulars.TheBritish commanders as his second books establishes, severely underestimatedthe Argentines, which resulted in higher (that could have otherwise beenavoided)casualties among the British patrolsand platoons that took thehills. ... Read more