2 Para Falklands - The Battalion at War

London: Buchan & Enright , Publishers, 1984. Second Printing . Hard Back. Near Fine/Near Fine. 6" x 9. Red boards with gold spine lettering. In the early hours of 21 May 1982, the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment -- 2 Para -- came ashore at San Carlos in the Falkland Islands. Eight days later the outnumbered battalion had seized the settlements at Darwin and Goose Green from the Argentines; sixteen days after that they were the first British troops into Port Stanley. Those bald facts conceal an extraordinary tale of courage and endurance. The war on land in the Falklands was a soldier's war. This is a soldier's story, written from first-hand accounts and the battalion's written records, with the support and cooperation of the officers and men, and illustrated with many of their own photographs. It is a true story of a famous battalion preparing for, and going to war, and of how it fared in that war, telling not only of heroism, skill, sacrifice, discipline, but also of fear, humour, loneliness, sorrow, humanity -- the ordinary emotions of individuals who, collectively, form the living body of a battalion. Here are the characters, the actions, the weapons, the marches, set against the background of a war fought in most unpleasant conditions and inhospitable terrain, 8,000 miles from home. And here, too, are the fascinating details that lift the book above other accounts, set down by a man who knows only too well what it is to fight with a parachute battalion, and 2 Para in particular. Of how at Wireless Ridge, to prevent the recoil embedding the mortars in the soft ground, men stood on the baseplates as the weapons fired -- four suffered broken ankles. Of how the battalion 'hijacked' two snowcats and spirited them away to help evacuate the wounded during the Darwin and Goose Green battles. Of how the new CO parachuted into the sea near a British warship after Colonel Jones had been killed. Of what happened when an officer and an NCO from D Company met General Menendez at Government House. Of how Major Keeble bluffed the Argentines at Goose Green into surrendering. Of how Colonel H Jones's gallant sacrifice inspired A Company to victory on the burning, heavily defended slopes of Darwin Hill. Of the terrible day at Fitzroy when Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram were bombed. It is fitting that the record of2 Para's courage and skill in the Falklands should be set down by the man who led the battalion throughout the epic defence of Arnhem Bridge in 1944. General Frost does not seek to glorify war, nor to discount the many magnificent achievements of the other units of all three services during the campaign. What he gives is a superb portrait of a battalion at war, and, at times, a sad understanding of the price of freedom. Two sections of 68 black and white photographs. Six maps. Contents in Eight Chapters: Voyage South, The Move Ashore, Preparing For Action, Darwin and Goose Green, Victory -- and After, Fitzroy and Bluff Cove, Wireless Ridge and Stanley, and The End Of It All. Plus Six Appendices: Roll of Honour, Citation -- The Victoria Cross, Honours and Awards, Major Keeble's Ultimatum, The Brigade Log -- Goose Green, and Message to 2 Para from the CGS.