Gregory Fremont-Barnes’ latest work is a tour de force. He has brought his considerable skill and knowledge as a military and naval historian, a senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and battlefield guide to writing A Companion to the Falklands War. The weaving together of fact and narrative is masterly and the end result is a book that will be an invaluable reference and research tool for writers and scholars. But it is also an accessible guide for members of the public seeking answers to questions they may have about the Falklands War of 1982. Readers will find every ship and unit that participated on the British side in the Falklands War listed in this book with relevant technical detail as well as an account of the actions in which that ship or unit participated.
With the exception of the British landings in Madagascar in 1942, the Falklands War involved an amphibious operation carried out at greater distance from home base to intermediate base to objective than any other amphibious enterprise in history, including the Pacific campaigns of the Second World War. A Ministry of Defence Study in 1981 had concluded that retaking the Falklands, in the event of their seizure by Argentina, was impossible; mainly, although not exclusively, because of the distances involved. So not only was the Task Force invited to carry out ‘mission impossible’, but also, in the opinion of some in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), ‘mission undesireable’ since it ran counter to the aspirations of elements within the FCO who hoped to hand over the Falkland Islands to Argentina regardless of the desire of the Islanders to remain British. While these views within the FCO did not impinge on the conduct of the campaign, geography is immutable, and distance was to present a massive challenge, especially logistically, hence due regard being accorded in this book to merchant Ships Taken Up From Trade, or STUFT for short.
Anyone contemplating just the array and variety of ships in particular listed in this Companion might question whether such an operation would be possible today; just one fact: twenty-three British frigates and destroyers took part in the Falklands War. This was less than half the total number of such vessels in the Royal Navy at that time. Now the frigates and destroyers in the navy total a mere nineteen. As well as providing food for thought, Gregory Fremont-Barnes’ book fills a gap that has existed for thirty-five years in the profusion of works on the Falklands War. He is to be congratulated.
Major General Julian Thompson CB OBE RM
CO 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands War
January 2017