• Hi Guest!

    The costs of running this forum are covered by Sea Lion Press. If you'd like to help support the company and the forum, visit patreon.com/sealionpress

Naval Gazing: The Empire Strikes Back

For obvious reasons, I read this with some interest.

A few points:

The Empire Strikes Back.

However many times you think this phrase was used at the time, I can assure you it was used more frequently than that number.



a clash between Argentine and British special forces in the Mount Kent region

Humph, and double humph. My memory of that incident doesn't accord with the version that has gained official traction. I could wax lyrical about it, but the summary is: SAS patrol report Mt Kent unoccupied. Brigadier Thompson decides to get troops to occupy this, as it overlooked the line of advance. 1 and a bit troops of Royal Marines from K Company, 42 Commando were bundled into helicopters to take and hold Mount Kent until relieved. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the "unoccupied" Mount Kent was actually held by a battalion or so of Argentine troops. A heliborne assault on a strong defensive site held by ten times the number isn't a great position for those in the helicopter, but fortunately for those wearing a green beret, the defenders concluded that this assault was something larger than it actually was, and quickly decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

The only involvement British special forces had in this incident was making a mess of their primary function - reconnaissance. Idiots. However, they got back first, and made their official report first. Far be it from me to imply that their report wasn't strictly accurate. I'm stating it outright. But, because their report was the first one, and the report from the guys who actually did the job was a brief radio report transmitted prior to being relieved, and going on to the next objective, Mount Harriet.



British soldiers, commandos and Royal Marines

I'm curious as to the distinction between commandos and Royal Marines. My understanding was that the Royal Marines involved were Royal Marine Commandos - the name of the regiment equivalent, Commando (40, 42, and 45 Cdo) is a bit of a giveaway. Now, there are people like the Royal Marine Band, who are not commando-qualified (it gets complicated). However, with one solitary exception, everyone with the Royal Marine green beret was commando-qualified. They wouldn't have been there if they weren't.
I tried to be as vague as possible here to avoid contradicting the more detailed accounts of those who were there like yourself - if this was the extent of my inaccuracies then I think I succeeded! For instance in my first draft I had the attack on Sir Galahad happening at completely the wrong place and time.

I also chose not to include my uncle's Detailed Opinions of Admiral Woodward and Miranda Hart's dad.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top