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Green-Eyed Boys : 3 Para and the Battle for Mount Longdon
The bloodiest battle fought by the British Army since the Korean War occurred in the Falkland Islands in June 1982. Allegations have emerged of incompetence, cowardice and murder by British soldiers. This account of what happened on Longdon is based on eyewitness interviews and primary sources.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 15, 2020
Just what the hell is it with the British military, anyway? This book has caused me to reflect on some dealings I've had with uniformed Brits in the past, and I have to say they are some of the worst bipedal beasts you will find anywhere. Sadly, most of them would take that as a compliment. I think it was my very first encounter with British soldiery when I saw a young Private eating a puddle of vomit, hopefully his own, but at least not before offering it around to others present. There have been other things, enough to make you wonder why we rent out training areas to them. This book does nothing to dispel those feelings.
Jennings and Weale do a great job here, starting essentially with the history and deployments of the Paras and giving the reader a little background on some of the principal characters we'll be reading about later on. They also give a brief but creditable account of how the Falklands conflict started and just enough on the preparations and subsequent embarkation of troops for the long voyage to the conflict. In other words, they provide enough info to keep you in the know without staggering you with unnecessary statistics.
They don't whitewash anything, these chaps. The shenanigans of the seaborne troops en route to the Falklands would make the Pope curse, or at least slap their hands. There's the little game of "freckle", where troops sit around a human turd pressed between two coasters and then smacked with a mug. The troop who gets the most shit on him during the ensuing splat has to buy the next round. There are other things, mistreatment of native boatmen off the coast of Sierra Leone, beating a homosexual who made a pass at one of the troops (what was he thinking?), general boorish behaviour toward people who came out to wish them well.
In view of the apparent unwillingness to enforce discipline, it should come as no surprise later in the book when, after action starts, some of the Paras are involved in war crimes and atrocity. At least one Para was found to be in possession of a collection of ears, some of them possibly taken from living Argentinian POWs. Other Paras are alleged to have summarily executed Argie prisoners. I was a little disappointed in the stand taken by the authors, who seem to take a "fog of war" stand on some of these killings. In one case, Vince Bramley (author of the excellent Excursion To Hell: Mount Longdon: A Universal Story Of Battle) claimed to have had his ankle grasped by a surrendering Argentinian soldier, at which time the soldier with Bramley fired two shots into the Argentinian's head. Amazingly, the soldier, Corporal Carrizo, survived and gives his account of the incident here: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...
According to Carrizo, he had surrendered to two Brit soldiers, handing over his rifle and ammo belt, after which he was shot in the head. This was witnessed by another Argentinian soldier from hiding. There is also a question as to whether American citizens serving with Argentinian forces were summarily executed as well.
The atrocities serve to put a blight on the conduct of a campaign in which the Brit forces suffered some setbacks but prevailed over superior forces. The book is definitely a page-turner, complete with photos and maps. It is not a complete account of the Falklands campaign, and if you want an account of any unit other than 3 Para you'll have to look elsewhere.
Jennings and Weale do a great job here, starting essentially with the history and deployments of the Paras and giving the reader a little background on some of the principal characters we'll be reading about later on. They also give a brief but creditable account of how the Falklands conflict started and just enough on the preparations and subsequent embarkation of troops for the long voyage to the conflict. In other words, they provide enough info to keep you in the know without staggering you with unnecessary statistics.
They don't whitewash anything, these chaps. The shenanigans of the seaborne troops en route to the Falklands would make the Pope curse, or at least slap their hands. There's the little game of "freckle", where troops sit around a human turd pressed between two coasters and then smacked with a mug. The troop who gets the most shit on him during the ensuing splat has to buy the next round. There are other things, mistreatment of native boatmen off the coast of Sierra Leone, beating a homosexual who made a pass at one of the troops (what was he thinking?), general boorish behaviour toward people who came out to wish them well.
In view of the apparent unwillingness to enforce discipline, it should come as no surprise later in the book when, after action starts, some of the Paras are involved in war crimes and atrocity. At least one Para was found to be in possession of a collection of ears, some of them possibly taken from living Argentinian POWs. Other Paras are alleged to have summarily executed Argie prisoners. I was a little disappointed in the stand taken by the authors, who seem to take a "fog of war" stand on some of these killings. In one case, Vince Bramley (author of the excellent Excursion To Hell: Mount Longdon: A Universal Story Of Battle) claimed to have had his ankle grasped by a surrendering Argentinian soldier, at which time the soldier with Bramley fired two shots into the Argentinian's head. Amazingly, the soldier, Corporal Carrizo, survived and gives his account of the incident here: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...
According to Carrizo, he had surrendered to two Brit soldiers, handing over his rifle and ammo belt, after which he was shot in the head. This was witnessed by another Argentinian soldier from hiding. There is also a question as to whether American citizens serving with Argentinian forces were summarily executed as well.
The atrocities serve to put a blight on the conduct of a campaign in which the Brit forces suffered some setbacks but prevailed over superior forces. The book is definitely a page-turner, complete with photos and maps. It is not a complete account of the Falklands campaign, and if you want an account of any unit other than 3 Para you'll have to look elsewhere.
December 10, 2024
Green-Eyed Boys is a gripping tale on the Battle of Mount Longdon and the exploits of 3Para during the battle. Mount Longdon was a mountain on the Falklands East Island, and was one of the many islands fortified and entrenched by Argentinian forces when they took the islands, it was the most northernly mountain blocked British Forces from taking Stanley back.
The 3rd battalion Parachute regiment landed at San Carlos bay initially with the rest of the Task Force, which included Guards, Marines and Paras. They marched across the Falklands plain for days as all the helicopters the task force had were destroyed by Argentinian air attacks. They had to TAB several 10s of miles and when they got to Mount Longdon they were tired and exhausted. Initially they wanted to surprise the defenders, but when one Corporal Milne stepped on a landmine, blowing his leg straight off, the chaos erupted. The firefighting was one of the most heavily described I have read, and some of the accounts and stories told were horrific to read. One Sergeant McLaughlin was said to have had an ammo pouch full of dead Argentinian ears as war trophies. McLaughlin was killed when a Mortar struck him clean in the head, killing him instantly. The battle also was the tragic end of 3 young Privates. A 17 year old and two 18 year olds. The fact that a 17 year old kid got killed in this battle caused the Military to raise deployment age to 18 so that no children could get directly killed in a battle again. A Sergeant Ian McKay was also killed, and got the Victoria Cross, for his actions. He ran, basically alone, up to an Argentinian machine gun, jumped in with grenades and killed it's occupants. But was tragically killed.
The actions of the men in this battle allowed this position to be taken by the British forces and allowed the rest of the task force to successfully take other mountains and allowed the Task Force to eventually go up to Stanley and take it. This battle was one of the most costly of any battle in the war, claiming over 20 Para's lives and injuring over 60. Meanwhile on the Argentinian side, over 50 were killed, and hundreds injured or taken prisoner.
Overall this book was a good read of this particular battle, and the maps within it were very descriptive of the awful terrain the Paras had to get up to take the positions. I hope to never experience horror like the men in this battle did. Jennings and Weale really gave the reader a sense of the horrors of war, and the discipline of the Paras going up and taking the Mountain. They are good authors and I would reccomend you to read their books. If you're interested in Military History, or more particularly the Falklands War, give this book a go. A lot of people talk about 2 Para and their exploits at Goose Green, but not a lot know of Mount Longdon and the men who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The 3rd battalion Parachute regiment landed at San Carlos bay initially with the rest of the Task Force, which included Guards, Marines and Paras. They marched across the Falklands plain for days as all the helicopters the task force had were destroyed by Argentinian air attacks. They had to TAB several 10s of miles and when they got to Mount Longdon they were tired and exhausted. Initially they wanted to surprise the defenders, but when one Corporal Milne stepped on a landmine, blowing his leg straight off, the chaos erupted. The firefighting was one of the most heavily described I have read, and some of the accounts and stories told were horrific to read. One Sergeant McLaughlin was said to have had an ammo pouch full of dead Argentinian ears as war trophies. McLaughlin was killed when a Mortar struck him clean in the head, killing him instantly. The battle also was the tragic end of 3 young Privates. A 17 year old and two 18 year olds. The fact that a 17 year old kid got killed in this battle caused the Military to raise deployment age to 18 so that no children could get directly killed in a battle again. A Sergeant Ian McKay was also killed, and got the Victoria Cross, for his actions. He ran, basically alone, up to an Argentinian machine gun, jumped in with grenades and killed it's occupants. But was tragically killed.
The actions of the men in this battle allowed this position to be taken by the British forces and allowed the rest of the task force to successfully take other mountains and allowed the Task Force to eventually go up to Stanley and take it. This battle was one of the most costly of any battle in the war, claiming over 20 Para's lives and injuring over 60. Meanwhile on the Argentinian side, over 50 were killed, and hundreds injured or taken prisoner.
Overall this book was a good read of this particular battle, and the maps within it were very descriptive of the awful terrain the Paras had to get up to take the positions. I hope to never experience horror like the men in this battle did. Jennings and Weale really gave the reader a sense of the horrors of war, and the discipline of the Paras going up and taking the Mountain. They are good authors and I would reccomend you to read their books. If you're interested in Military History, or more particularly the Falklands War, give this book a go. A lot of people talk about 2 Para and their exploits at Goose Green, but not a lot know of Mount Longdon and the men who made the ultimate sacrifice.
December 10, 2019
This is an excellent account of 3 Para during the Falkland Island War specifically focused on the Battle for Mount Longdon.
The author does a good job of explaining the events leading up to the war without going into a lot of detail as well as giving an overview of the previous actions that occurred prior to 3 Para's main battle. This really helps the reader understand the context of the battle.
In addition to describing the Battle for Mount Longdon, the book also examines the character of the battalion and the mindset of the Paratroopers, which for people that have never served in an Infantry unit can be hard to understand.
There is some controversy about the actions of some of the soldiers of 3 Para during the war and this book addresses this (it is up to the reader to make their own judgement).
As the author interviewed soldiers for information to use in this book some of the language used can be course (much like typical soldiers) but if you are old enough to be reading books about military history you most likely are old enough for such language.
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Military history and especially those that are interested in Operation Corporate (the British codename for the liberation).
The author does a good job of explaining the events leading up to the war without going into a lot of detail as well as giving an overview of the previous actions that occurred prior to 3 Para's main battle. This really helps the reader understand the context of the battle.
In addition to describing the Battle for Mount Longdon, the book also examines the character of the battalion and the mindset of the Paratroopers, which for people that have never served in an Infantry unit can be hard to understand.
There is some controversy about the actions of some of the soldiers of 3 Para during the war and this book addresses this (it is up to the reader to make their own judgement).
As the author interviewed soldiers for information to use in this book some of the language used can be course (much like typical soldiers) but if you are old enough to be reading books about military history you most likely are old enough for such language.
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Military history and especially those that are interested in Operation Corporate (the British codename for the liberation).
August 4, 2015
What a fantastic book, a true no holds barred account of 3 para from peace time soldiers to war fighting and back. A warts and all account covering their exemplary capabilities but also doesn't shy away from the controversy of POWs being shot even though in my opinion id have done the same given that 1 had a weapon the others where still on the battlefield and had not formality surrendered.
1 of the better books on the Falkland war I've read!
1 of the better books on the Falkland war I've read!
March 30, 2011
This book meant a lot to me as i knew a lot of the people involved, quite moving...
March 27, 2013
Brutally honest look at one of the bloodiest battles of the Falklands conflict.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews