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Bezig met laden... No Picnic (1985)door Julian Thompson
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 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. 3   Helenliz | Jun 1, 2013 |  geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Major General Julian Thompson first wrote No Picnic when the momentous events of April - June 1982 were fresh in his mind. As Commander of 3 Commando Brigade, he was at the heart of the planning and conduct of the War. Under his direct command had been the Royal Marine Commandos and the two battalions of the Parachute Regiment who conducted the lion's share of the fighting.No-one therefore is better qualified to tell the extraordinary story of there-taking of the Falkland Islands from the Argentinians. The author, now a celebrated military historian, has revised his early book and added for this 25 Anniversary edition more of his own personal thoughts and impressions.It is all too easy to overlook just how perilous and risky a venture this expedition to the depths of the Southern Hemisphere was. Victory and defeat hung in the balance. Even those who feel they know about this most remarkable of wars will learn more from reading this classic account. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)997.11History and Geography Oceania and elsewhere South Atlantic Islands Falklands, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Bouvet Islands Falkland IslandsLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (3)
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The Falklands campaign took place when I was 10, and was the first time I could remember an event I was aware of being of national importance - it was the first time that my parents instance on reading the newspaper and watching the news made sense. And it had an impact on my life in that I grew up 10 miles from a large naval base, which meant parents of my class mates were down there, as was Neil, who lived down our road (we had a street party when he returned). After the conflict finished my parents bought a number of the books that were published (I even remember a 24 piece part work), including this one. This is written by the Commander of 3 brigade, which contains the marine units (family connection there).
As a book it takes a little while to get going. But then you can't really describe the shock that the invasion created, the unpreparedness, or the rush to assemble equipment, men & ships without this section either. Where this concerns just 3 Brigade, some of the events that are remembered from the conflict, namely the loss of ships at Bluff Cove and the battle for Mount Tumbledown, are not mentioned, as they did not involve 3 brigade.
It ends quite abruptly, with the surrender and the march into Stanley, but it's not a bad ending at that. There would be a danger that it could tail off if the return journey and all the activities to repatriate the Argentine forces and clear the islands were covered. This way you end on an emotional high, which is due reward for having had the tension ramped up throughout the book.
Does it loose anything, being read at a distance of years? Not really. It remains a factual account of what happened, and there are some remarkable stories in here of lucky escapes and acts of courage. But it is told in the curiously understated way that the British military man has (or certainly used to have) about him. Regardless of the rights & wrongs of the situation, they did something that no-one thought was possible, traveled 8000 miles and out thought and out fought vastly superior numbers against the odds. (