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Eyewitness Falklands: A personal account of the Falklands campaign
Book by Fox, Robert
337 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1982
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July 31, 2022
That 2022 is the fortieth anniversary of The Falklands War didn't strike me as odd, it did make me stop to think when i realised that we now are, further away in time from the Falklands War than the Falklands War was from the end of the Second World War did put into perspective. I was almost a teenager and while i think i was aware of how nasty this conflict was and the prospects of that before it started, i was certainly more excited by the heroism, bangs and flashes of war.
This book released in late 1982 is by a BBC Radio correspondent who sailed with the Task Force to the Falklands, lands with the troops, is present at The Battle of Goose Green and later walks into Port Stanley to report on the surrender of the Argentinian forces and the immediate aftermath though he does come home quite quickly, not quite before some of his reports! He comes under direct fire at least once, being mortared though not hit.
The chapter on the Battle of Goose Green is by far the longest chapter of the book. To say it reads like a key chapter in a thriller i hope doesn't detract from the moments of terror and that the things Robert Fox reports happened, i think it's a wonderful piece of war reporting.
The narrative starts after the Task Force has left the UK and from the arrival at Ascension Island. the extent to which the majority of the troops and the staff knew nothing about what was happening. There are reporting restrictions and once the British landed, the journalists with them had a difficult job in getting their reports back home. It's amazing to think now when some things are being reported on before they have happened, that creating its own problems. I've since heard that the Falklands War was the worst reported conflict since the Crimean War in the 19thCE when reports would take weeks to get from the warzone to the UK.
Forty years have passed and so much information will have come out in those years and maybe something come to a definitive campaign history has been written. as a good reporter Mr Fox is scrupulous in reporting only what he saw, keeping mostly away from what he thought so i would suggest this account still stands up as accurate now.
As an eye-witness report and written from memory as Mr Fox spends a lot of time without pen or paper or tape-recording facilities, it reads true and accurate. That the military looked after Mr Fox and the other journalists is without question and that, thanks to his access to the officer corps and contact with the UK he was able to return the favour by keeping the troops up to date is something i especially picked up on.
As an eyewitness account of what one man saw forty years ago, which is of course the sentiment behind the title it's very very good indeed.
This book released in late 1982 is by a BBC Radio correspondent who sailed with the Task Force to the Falklands, lands with the troops, is present at The Battle of Goose Green and later walks into Port Stanley to report on the surrender of the Argentinian forces and the immediate aftermath though he does come home quite quickly, not quite before some of his reports! He comes under direct fire at least once, being mortared though not hit.
The chapter on the Battle of Goose Green is by far the longest chapter of the book. To say it reads like a key chapter in a thriller i hope doesn't detract from the moments of terror and that the things Robert Fox reports happened, i think it's a wonderful piece of war reporting.
The narrative starts after the Task Force has left the UK and from the arrival at Ascension Island. the extent to which the majority of the troops and the staff knew nothing about what was happening. There are reporting restrictions and once the British landed, the journalists with them had a difficult job in getting their reports back home. It's amazing to think now when some things are being reported on before they have happened, that creating its own problems. I've since heard that the Falklands War was the worst reported conflict since the Crimean War in the 19thCE when reports would take weeks to get from the warzone to the UK.
Forty years have passed and so much information will have come out in those years and maybe something come to a definitive campaign history has been written. as a good reporter Mr Fox is scrupulous in reporting only what he saw, keeping mostly away from what he thought so i would suggest this account still stands up as accurate now.
As an eye-witness report and written from memory as Mr Fox spends a lot of time without pen or paper or tape-recording facilities, it reads true and accurate. That the military looked after Mr Fox and the other journalists is without question and that, thanks to his access to the officer corps and contact with the UK he was able to return the favour by keeping the troops up to date is something i especially picked up on.
As an eyewitness account of what one man saw forty years ago, which is of course the sentiment behind the title it's very very good indeed.
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