Argentine Fight for the Falklands

A good book on a different point of view in history.

This British author who has written about the Falklands War from the British point of view has written this book to present the Argentine side of the military operations. He has, for the most part, avoided the politics and competing claims to the islands. In a very few places he leaned a bit far to the Argentine side in his efforts to present a fair and unbiased account. But I noticed only one which I feel to be material. That is a passage which could lead the uninformed to believe that British claims to the Falklands date from only 1833 and that they were seized from Argentina.The book is a little wordy sometimes taking a few pages to impart information which could have been done in a few paragraphs. But then, the author would not have been presenting complete interviews which in some cases he apparently felt were important in their entirety. His sources are primarily interviews with Argentine navy and army personnel: enlisted, officers and commanders. He believes that these people were truthful and in some places says that he is certain of it. The interviews and the writing were completed about five years after the war. The Argentine Air Force did not cooperate with the author so his information about air force operations came primarily from material previously written by air force personnel. Some of the interviews with soldiers and sailors also revealed information about the air force.There are very few footnotes but much of the material is attributed to various sources in the text itself. But there are assertions made with no attribution such as, "An early post-war version, that Captain Palaver’s Skyhawk was shot down in error by Argentine anti-aircraft gunners at Goose Green, was incorrect.". Another example is, "Some books state that it was a Hercules aircraft which dropped the bombs, but this is not correct."It seems that a major problem for the frontline Argentine troops was a lack of cold weather clothing and a lack of food. There was food but the commanders did not insure its distribution to the front. Some troops stayed nice and cozy at Stanley and other places while the troops on the front lines facing the British suffered severely from hunger and exposure. Adding to the morale problem was that some of these REMF's sold food supplies to the combat troops instead of delivering them. Some also stole packages sent to the troops from home and sold the contents to the troops. It was also widely believed that the officers had plenty and better food. Despite all of this, the Argentine commanders and others interviewed by the author contend that morale was high and that the troops expected to drive the British back.At the end of the book there are some retrospective comments by some Argentines. There is also an appendix with the order of battle of Argentine units from all services.Overall the book is a little dry with more detail of military movements than would be of interest to many casual readers. It is worth reading if one has an interest in a mostly successful attempt at an even-handed account of the military operations from the Argentine point of view.

My friend really appreciated it and says it is very good.

I've bought a few of Middlebrook's books, but I’m not sure if I've really read many of them. This was a fascinating book for me. I've read a few books on the topic (islands were invaded a year before i was born - so no first hand memory of the actual events from the news media). But the books were always written with a British slant.It's always interesting to see from the other side why they felt they were fighting. It seems odd that people could get so worked up over a bunch of islands that appear to have not much going for them, but never argue with ego and patriotism i guess. And I think Middlebrooks captures those feelings very well in his book.I wish he could have covered the air attacks against the British better, but like he said he wasn’t going to rehash it from the British sources and he was obviously limited by what sources he could get from Argentine contacts. I do find it interesting how often he mentioned that they still believe they sunk or damaged vessels that were clearly not sunk or not damaged. That the propaganda was so ingrained even in the pilots that they still believe the errors. Of course I’m left wondering how much of it is desperately wanting to believe that your fellow pilots didn’t die in vain, that they at least accomplished something.If you have an interest in the Falklands Islands, I think this is an essential reading. You still need another “regular” history of the war to fill in all the pieces and provide a more detailed coverage, but I think being exposed to the other view is essential to get as detailed picture as possible.

I have never read one of Mr Middlebrook's books before, but I am now searching for other titles by him. Because this was one of those books that I had a hard time putting down. Up front let me say that my nationalty is British and I can remember the Falklands War like it was yesterday. However despite having read numerous accounts of the British Victory very little has been said from the perspective of the soldiers who wore the Argentine Unform. This book changes all that, and thru what where obviously some pretty intense interviews as you read this book you start to get a feeling and even an understanding of the passions and emotions of the young soldiers facing the Brits. In the western press we hear about the superiority of the British War machine during the conflict; however the Argentines did put up a spirited if ineffective defence of the Falklands. Another thing that I thought was very interesting about this book is that we get to see how and why misinformation was distributed in the fog of war. I suppose the difference between the British and Argentine governments is that we laid open the books after the conflict to the public versus the Argentines who outright lied to preserve face. Then there are the issues of the foot soldiers on the Argentine side who despite facing what is arguable the best trained army in the world, displayed uncommon gallantry far and above what the pro British press has previously reported. About the only thing I wish Mr Middlebrook had fleshed out a little more is politcs of the Argentines on the mainland.

Surprisingly good. Presents Argentine side, without the politics, from perspective of British author. Depth of research may be questionable, but no reason to believe this to be too inaccurate. Always interesting to see differences in numbers presented by both sides.

A Guerra das Falklands foi apenas um devaneio do governo argentino que acabou custando caro para ambos os países participantes. O desenrolar das ações é minuciosamente descrito numa linguagem leve e boa de se ler. O autor mostra isenção na sua descrição dos fatos e nos conduz pelos horrores do combate mostrando desde a estratégia dos comandantes até o dia a dia dos soldados.

O autor agora narra a guerra pelo ponto de vista dos argentinos, após ter escrito sobre a guerra pelo ponto de vista britânico.

Apesar de ser escrito por um britânico, o livro é imparcial e é capaz de mostrar os dois lados da História

A well researched book that sheds a very interesting light on the conflict. The author conveys the Argentine feelings well.

This is an excellent read for anyone interested in modern warfare and military events.The author is British but writes from the Argentine perspective after extensive research and interviews.The detail is meticulous but not tedious. There is surprisingly little animosity between the opposing Military forces in the interviews, rather a respect in doing their job.I thoroughly enjoyed reading this well balanced book about a tough hard fought but probably avoidable war.