all’s fair in love and war
With the Russia/Ukraine conflict being centre stage I was surprised to realise that it was the anniversary of one of our own wars and, looking further into it, I was gobsmacked to realise I’d had it wrong all along. Forty years ago, British servicemen fought Argentina over the remotest of archipelagos, more than 8000 miles away, in the South Atlantic.
The Falklands is ours for no other reason than we made the first recorded landing on the group of uninhabited islands, about 300 miles off the South American coast, in 1690. Having funded the venture, Viscount Falkland was delighted to be commemorated in its subsequent naming. The French followed suit and successfully established the first settlement in 1764 and determined the precedent that its’ status would be contested thereafter. France ceded to Spain before we then almost went to war over the issue in 1770. In the early 19th century, newly independent Argentina popped-up with its own claim for this gloomy, inhospitable seal colony.
By the late 1960s, successive British governments openly resented the growing expense of owning and maintaining them, and genuine attempts to negotiate a severance deal were initiated, including a ‘Hong-Hong-esque’ solution where formal ownership was ceded to Argentina and then leased back to the UK. The spanner-in-the-works was when Parliament gave the 1800 islanders the right to self-determination with a veto on all/any formal change. On 2nd April 1982, an Argentinian military government, led by General Leopold Galtieri, broke-off negotiations and invaded.
With major civil unrest taking place throughout the country there’s no doubt that a swift patriotic victory would provide a helpful distraction. Furthermore, in an age of widespread decolonisation, the General anticipated a high degree of international support and sympathy. As it transpired he received neither and his reported assumption that “the woman wouldn’t dare” proved as incorrect as incorrect could be. Britain won the day at the UN and, with the full support of Michael Foot’s Labour opposition, Thatcher sent a task force of 127 ships and 30,000 soldiers to retake the islands. 74 days later, and at a cost of 258 British and 649 Argentinian lives, this objective was realised. 11,000 Argies were captured and a legally-supported and internationally approved conflict the US Navy had assessed as a ‘militarily impossible’ had been achieved.
That was all fine & dandy but the contentious issue for me was the sinking of the General Belgrano.
On the 2nd May, the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror torpedoed the Belgrano, with the loss of 323 lives. The cruiser was widely reported to have been travelling away from the Falklands and its sinking took place outside the international maritime exclusion zone. At the time, neither point was referred to in The Sun’s infamous headline ‘GOTCHA’, which I vividly remember, and which has led to forty years of personal doubt over our actions in the far seas. Thankfully, the timed-release of official documents has finally thrown some light and truth on this scenario. And, man was I wrong.
It has now emerged that Britain had known, from signal intercepts, that the ship had indeed been ordered to join the attack on our forces. Additionally, the Belgrano’s captain, Hector Bonzo, confirmed that he had been maneuvering to try to confuse the enemy and had no intention of leaving the war zone. He later explained “It was an act of war, not a war crime and was lamentably legal” together with the fact that Britain had formally notified Argentina’s high command that hostilities were not limited to the exclusion zone. Phew. Probably. Furthermore, the victory was never quite as assured as the tabloids would have us believe. Due to faulty equipment, many of the bombs that struck the ships of the taskforce failed to detonate, prompting Lord Craig, an RAF air marshal to comment “six better fuses and we would have lost.”
Sadly, the long-term position wrt the islands’ sovereignty was, in reality, far from settled forty years ago. Since 1994, the Argentinian constitution, backed by a supporting vote in excess of 80%, has made the issue a permanent and irrevocable aim. However, the Islanders own 2013 vote surpassed even this level with a 99.8% ‘Yes’ to remaining British and self-governing. They are now defended by a garrison of 1200 military personnel at an annual cost of £60m. I can’t help but think we’ve not heard the last from this small and distant enclave.
