The Falklands War

THE FALKLANDS WAR

Up until the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina in the spring of 1982 was anyone even aware of their existence and that they were a British colony? According to Thatcher's daughter, Carol, on the night of the invasion her father had to search for an atlas to find out where exactly these islands were, begging the question: did his good lady wife initially even know where they were?

On being announced on the news that the Falklands had been invaded (and having established they weren't somewhere off the north coast of Scotland) things moved incredibly quickly with Thatcher suddenly coming into her own; it seemingly being the ideal opportunity to show what mettle the Iron Lady was made of.

A so-called 'war cabinet' was immediately formed consisting of the greatest militarist/conservative minds in the country: Willie Whitelaw, Francis Pym, Cecil Parkinson and other such luminaries. Within days a task force of aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines, frigates and landing craft was setting sail from Portsmouth harbour, cheered on by crowds of Union Jack-waving supporters and naval workers' families. Whilst two nuclear-powered submarines would be at the Falklands within a matter of days so as to be able to enforce a maritime exclusion zone around the islands, it would take three weeks for the whole task force to get there, providing time enough to consider the situation and for a potential diplomatic solution to be reached.

Governed by a military Junta headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri as President, Argentina at that time was suffering huge political, economic and social problems. Without question, the Junta was a Fascist one and due to its inherent corruption, its involvement in a domestic 'dirty war' against its own population, as well as the complete mishandling of the economy it was massively unpopular with Argentinians.

The ownership of the Falkland Islands (or the Malvinas, as the Argentinians called them) was historically an extremely populist issue that the Argentine public felt very passionate about. In a cynical ploy to win favour with his people, Galtieri had instigated the Falklands invasion believing there would be little or no opposition from Britain or America. Galtieri's big mistake, however, was his failing to take into account Thatcher's personality and her own precarious political position.

Having based her reputation on being strong-willed in the face of huge unpopularity and opposition, if Thatcher allowed herself to be seen to be humiliated by a common or garden dictator, her political and national defence policies would have been made a complete mockery of. Thatcher had no choice but to defend her political honour though inevitably she saw it not as her own but the nation's honour at stake.

It was a serious state of affairs but at the same time a quite ludicrous exercise. As war had not yet actually been declared, the launching of the task force was seen by many as grand but laughable posturing, more to be derided than seriously opposed.

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CRASS

SHEEP FARMING IN THE FALKLANDS

A derisory stance (fused with ample anger and abuse, of course) was the initial position taken by Crass over the whole situation, ably illustrated by Sheep Farming In The Falklands, released anonymously as a one-sided flexi-disc; 40000 copies of which were given away for free all around the country.

Starting with a radio pastiche comparing a summit meeting between Thatcher and Foreign Secretary

Lord Carrington to a full-blown sexual encounter between the two - the decision to launch the task force being Thatcher's orgasm - this was Crass at their most malicious, the like not heard since Hurry Up Garry on their Stations album.

"England expects every man to do his best. I know nothing of failure." Thatcher is quoted as saying before Crass enter with a chorus that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the song: "Sheep farming in the Falklands, re-arming in the Fucklands, fucking sheep in the homelands, the Royal Marines are cumming."

As with Hurry Up Garry, no analysis is offered, just angry, frustrated abuse: "When we finish with the sheep in the Falklands battle, we'll invade Argentina and fuck the cattle."

And just as Hurry Up Garry ends in a final riposte of "Piss off, you fucking stink. Bastards." so too does Sheep Farming end in a similar fashion with a torrent of insults: "You're old and you're ill and you're soon gonna die, you've got nothing to lose if you fill up the sky. You'd take us all with you, yeah it's tough at the top. You slop bucket, shit-filled, puss-ridden, death pimp snot." Then lastly, as though there were no more words to express the contempt: "You FUCK!"

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Though calls for peace and restraint were emanating from a variety of quarters, without question the most vociferous was from Crass and their very simple but very effective throwaway flexi-disc release. In stark contrast to this, however, stood tabloid newspaper The Sun; identifying, tapping into and giving voice to a latent patriotism that to many came as a shock for even existing at all.

Having always been staunchly supportive of Thatcher, with the Falklands crisis this support reached its zenith as The Sun suddenly morphed into an incredibly loud and very effective cheerleader for the war.

At one point, as the task force steamed steadily toward its destination, America brokered a peace deal which Thatcher outrightly rejected but just as importantly so too did The Sun with the quite ingenious headline, 'Stick it up your Junta'. And just to reinforce its position, The Sun printed up thousands of T-shirts bearing the same slogan which were then sold to its readers. With headlines such as this and the coining of such terms as 'Argies' and 'our boys', along with Page Three bare breasts and bingo, The Sun was on to a winner.

With the rejection of the peace deal, the task force continued unimpeded before eventually reaching the island of South Georgia where the Argentinian army had set up a base. Following an Argentine submarine being attacked and immobilized by British helicopters, the island was recaptured with relative ease.

Appearing outside 10 Downing Street, Thatcher and Defence Secretary John Nott announced the successful recovery of one of 'our' islands to waiting journalists. "Are we going to declare war now on Argentina, Mrs Thatcher?" one of the journalists enquired, to which Thatcher retorted: "Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the marines. Rejoice!"

If this was a war that dare not speak its name, then the rejoicing of it as urged by Thatcher held no such inhibitions as illustrated perfectly by what was to be the most famous of The Sun's headlines of that whole period: 'Gotcha!'

Having taken South Georgia, the task force moved full steam ahead to the Falkland Islands where a 200 mile total exclusion zone was immediately enforced. Orders were then given to bomb the runway of the airport at Port Stanley and other Argentine positions elsewhere on the Falklands. In response, the Argentine Air Force launched a major attack upon the British ships. Though there were no reports of casualties, the battle had obviously been joined.

Aware of the threat of the Argentine fleet and the capacity of its aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers to carry Exocet missiles, orders were also given to attack on sight any Argentine ship seen within the exclusion zone.

So, on Sunday 2nd of May, the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was torpedoed by British submarine HMS Conqueror and was sunk with a loss of some 321 lives.

'Gotcha!' cried The Sun, as though a score was being gained in some mad game where life and death held no bearing. Suddenly, however, nothing was in the slightest bit funny. 

This was no game. 
This was no joke. 
There was nothing to laugh about.

This was fucking war.

For all those conscious of the realities of war, whether it be through experience, education, or even through Crass and Discharge records, the sinking of the Belgrano came as a shocking outrage.

Just what the fuck was Thatcher and her so-called fucking 'war cabinet' doing? Just what the fuck was there now to rejoice?

Just a few months earlier these scrappy, wind-blasted islands of the Falklands held no meaning in the slightest to anyone outside of Argentina and now people were being killed over them. What did it matter to the Thatcher government that the Falkland islanders were British? It was hardly as though everyone born under the Union Jack was viewed or treated equally by Thatcher, particularly if their political beliefs clashed with her own. If the Falklands were a British but solidly socialist enclave would Thatcher still have been so passionate in her defence of them?

What did it matter to the Thatcher government that the Argentine Junta was a Fascist one? What did Thatcher care? It had never stopped Britain trading with them or stopped America being a good friend or stopped France selling them Exocet missiles. Just what the fuck?

In her own words, Thatcher was fighting and standing up for "the right to self-determination, for our territory, for our people, for international law". Fighting and standing up for "all those small territories and peoples the world over who, if someone doesn't stand up and say 'Enough, stop', would be at risk".

Future events as well as history would show this to be a selective lie although at the time it was enough to give the British electorate an invigorating boost of national pride. Abetted by the daily jingoistic outpourings of The Sun, this fervent patriotism was unsettling in its intensity; forging an atmosphere where anyone speaking out against the war was branded 'traitor'.

Although the deaths of 321 Argentinians aboard the Belgrano came as a shocking wake-up call to the fact that this was real war being waged, it was to be the event two days later that would be the real test of the resolve and support of the British public.

Sinking the Belgrano had the unexpected effect of causing all other Argentine naval vessels to head back to port but this still left an extremely formidable Argentine air force to contend with. On Tuesday 5th of May this threat was realised when Argentine jet fighters launched an Exocet attack resulting in British destroyer HMS Sheffield being hit. Twenty British sailors were killed and the ship abandoned before finally sinking some six days later due to raging fire caused by the missile impact.

This was the point of no return. For both Thatcher and Galtieri it was now imperative that they neither lose nor back down as anything less than total victory would ultimately spell the end of their political lives. While the world looked on incredulously as negotiations between the two sides stumbled on for another two weeks, everyone knew that the chance of a peaceful solution had now gone and that only a land battle would be the deciding factor. So, on Friday 21st of May, just as Thatcher dined on fresh poached salmon and Black Forest gateau with members of her constituency, the battle for the Falkland Islands commenced in earnest.

Under cover of darkness, 4000 troops landed successfully at San Carlos on the north-western coast of the Falklands losing two helicopters and their crews in the process. As morning broke, however, the Argentine air force struck again, sinking the British frigate HMS Ardent and badly damaging two other ships - frigate HMS Argonaut and the destroyer HMS Brilliant.

Over the next few days as British troops fortified their position, more ships came under punishing attack from Argentine jet fighters resulting in the loss of frigate HMS Antelope, destroyer HMS Coventry and container ship Atlantic Conveyor. Along with the loss of lives and horrific injuries a number of helicopters and vital supplies being transported on the Atlantic Conveyor were lost also, meaning the troops would no longer be able to be flown over the Falklands terrain and instead would have to march.

Truth, as in any other war was also another major casualty. Being 8000 miles away from the British mainland, all journalists covering the story were totally dependent on the Ministry Of Defence to not only get anywhere near the islands but to also file a report back to Britain via the navy's satellite communication system.

All news concerning the war was being heavily censored, firstly on the actual naval vessels and then back in London again by the MOD resulting in highly sanitised versions of events. When the BBC started to take an impartial stance on the war by referring to the two warring sides as 'British' and 'Argentinian' instead of 'us' and 'them', Thatcher accused the Corporation of being unsupportive and unpatriotic. The Sun went further by accusing the BBC of treason.

Under such conditions confusion reigned, no better illustrated than when the taking of Goose Green was announced on the BBC World Service one whole day prior to it actually happening; potentially forewarning the Argentinians but possibly even worse, igniting the fury of Thatcher.

The battle of Goose Green would turn out to be the most historic of the Falklands' land battles due primarily to the bravery of 500 British troops pitting themselves against 1500 Argentinian conscripts. Outnumbered, out-gunned and out-positioned the soldiers of the 2nd Parachute Regiment - although suffering relatively heavy casualties - emerged victorious, giving a morale boost not only to their fellow troops but to Thatcher and her cohorts back in Britain.

Following this, however, as preparations were being made for the final assault upon the capital town of Port Stanley that morale was shattered by the sinking of two landing ships, the Sir Tristram and the Sir Galahad.

The sinking of the Sir Galahad was a particularly devastating blow as it resulted in the deaths and terrible burn injuries of 48 troops, the most famous of those casualties being Welsh Guardsman Simon Weston whose name (or picture, at least) would in the near future be forever linked with Crass. Three days later, another ship - the destroyer HMS Glamorgan - was hit by yet another Exocet missile, killing 13 and injuring many others.

For all this, for the British army there was no turning back and after a gruelling march over treacherous terrain the troops entered into full-scale battles in the mountainous areas surrounding Port Stanley. One by one the mountains fell, leaving the Argentinians defeated or causing them to retreat. Finally, on Monday 14th of June the announcement came over the news that white flags were flying over Port Stanley. The Argentinian army had lain down its arms and the Falkland Islands were once again under British rule.

Britain had won the war.

Three days later, President Galtieri was cast out from office and within a year a new civilian President would be elected, banishing forever the military Junta to the dustbin of history.

Back in Britain - at a cost of 907 lives (258 British, 649 Argentinian), 1845 wounded (777 British, 1068 Argentinian), 6 ships (with another 10 badly damaged), 34 aircraft and more than £1.6billion - Thatcher was victorious.

The Falklands war had started suddenly and ended after 11 weeks relatively quickly, delivering a short, sharp shock to the body politic of Britain. When the task force first set sail from Portsmouth in April the support from the general public was extremely high, almost evoking memories of D-Day and the fleets of boats setting sail for Dunkirk. When British troops started to get killed, public support for the war didn't waver but became much more serious.

At first, the reason for going to war with Argentina was to liberate the Falkland Islands from an occupying Fascist power. That reason remained but then it also became about principle, national pride and Britain's self-confidence and standing in the world. These notions struck a chord with the general public, forging a national identity that people could unite around. For her own political ends, Thatcher exploited these notions to the hilt and labelling them 'the Falklands factor' used them to project her vanity upon the world.

Thatcher had shown that she was a very strong leader who had no qualms about unleashing the full power of the State that as Prime Minister was at her disposal, even when knowing that the end result would be destruction and death. Whether or not this made Thatcher seriously mad was something for psychologists to decide and there were probably quite a few who would have liked to have had her as a patient. What was without question was that this made her seriously dangerous and somebody to be extremely wary of.

If Thatcher was willing to go to war over some scrappy islands of sheep somewhere 8000 miles away from home in the South Atlantic, then what else might she be willing to do? What else might she be capable of? World leaders, particularly in Russia and America, looked on and took note of the many lessons to be learned from this Falklands 'crisis'.

The tragedy, however, was that not enough people within Britain itself would take heed of these lessons and that many would even believe that Thatcher had policies and qualities of such worth so as to warrant her being re-elected in the next General Election...