Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: sprior

Kick away! What did you read and where?

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ORIGINAL: sprior

I asked more from interest than rancour and wondered how - or if - it differed from the treatment meted out to prisoners of war duing the Naploeonic Wars or the US Civil war

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ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

Another little bit of info that may not be widely known, but the US refused to get involved on any military scale. They were very active in the diplomacy, but not so on the military front. I believe a request was made for some. We didn't have enough aircraft carriers or aircraft, and I think seaborne aviation help was requested.

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ORIGINAL: Ike99
I believe the US was very involved. If not the British would never have recovered the MALVINAS.

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ORIGINAL: Ike99

The several thousand islanders may want it this way but 40 million Argentines do not and the Argentine government supports them.

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The problem is that the Falklands War is a fresh memory, with so many veterans from both sides still with us there will be strong feelings from both sides for quite some time.

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ORIGINAL: Ike99
But my British mates have not mentioned Mrs.Thatchers own little wag the dog war crime of sinking the Belgrano outside of the publicly stated and agreed upon exclusion zones to get a quick victory, bring up the low war support at home and help her own political future.

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I've never heard a British person saying they were mistreated by Argentine soldier.

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Didn't each side fly prisoners to Chile while the war was going on?

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Calling the sinking of the Belgrano a war crime is bizarre. It wasn't a pleasure cruiser, and happening to be outside the British-advertised field of play hardly makes it a war crime.

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ORIGINAL: Ike99
Well it seems bizarre because your flying the union jack for your avatar.

just joking

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But regardless of what Belgrano was doing she was outside the exclusion zone when sunk.

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By sinking the Belgrano outside of the exclusion zone one of the rules was broken and that constitutes a war crime.

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This is why there was a last second attempt by the British commander to have the British exclusion zone made larger prior to sinking Belgrano outside the exclusion zone. He did not want to be comitting a crime. If he felt he was doing nothing wrong he would have simply sunk her no questions asked. But it was a violation and that's why he hesitated.

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To flip it around...imagine Port Stanley being publicly declared ¨open¨ when the British soldiers surrendered and the Argentine general saying ¨well...these British soldiers may change their mind, they can still be a threat, open city...ehh, who cares. Let shell them anyways.

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It looks quite nasty yes?

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ORIGINAL: Ike99

Well you also have this little thing about the Malvinas are 13,000 kilometers from Britian too but still self proclaimed ¨theirs¨ by 2,000 sheep herders.

I wonder what British attitudes will be if we go up to the Sheffield Islands, drop a couple thousand Gouchos with some cows on one and claim it, then we offer a trade?

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The point is easy to see...it's a geographic absurdidty. Before the war I'm guessing 90% of the British populace didn`t know where the Malvinas were much less ¨theirs¨ Maybe they still don´t. I did see a documentary and at first news of the war most of them thought the Malvinas were an island off Scottland!

During the war there was a song on the radio that summed it up by Raul Porchetto about a British soldier saying...

¨Estoy en este lugar, tan lejos de casa, que ni el nombre recuerdo...¨-I´m in this place very far from my home and can´t even remember the places name.

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But JudgeDredd says this thread is about the conflict itself not the islands soverignty so... It's been said here how the Junta timed the event because the domestic population wanted democracy and it was a ¨wag the dog¨ thing. I agree with that.

But my British mates have not mentioned Mrs.Thatchers own little wag the dog war crime of sinking the Belgrano outside of the publicly stated and agreed upon exclusion zones to get a quick victory, bring up the low war support at home and help her own political future.

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edit-Hi Larry, I've never heard anyone saying the British soldiers mistreated them as a prisoner. I've never heard a British person saying they were mistreated by Argentine soldier.

About the islanders, 3 were killed during the war by British friendly fire accidents. So it was very clean except for the Belgrano sinking. Who knows, maybe one day even they too will recognize the Malvinas as a ¨wrong¨ from their colonial past and return them. If they do as a bonus they should give Northern Ireland back to the Irish too.

Bigger boys stole my sig

(in reply to Ike99)

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ORIGINAL: Ike99
By sinking the Belgrano outside of the exclusion zone one of the rules was broken and that constitutes a war crime.

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ORIGINAL: Ike99

This is why there was a last second attempt by the British commander to have the British exclusion zone made larger prior to sinking Belgrano outside the exclusion zone. He did not want to be comitting a crime. If he felt he was doing nothing wrong he would have simply sunk her no questions asked. But it was a violation and that's why he hesitated.

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ORIGINAL: Ike99

Who knows, maybe one day even they too will recognize the Malvinas as a ¨wrong¨ from their colonial past and return them. If they do as a bonus they should give Northern Ireland back to the Irish too.

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But my British mates have not mentioned Mrs.Thatchers own little wag the dog war crime of sinking the Belgrano outside of the publicly stated and agreed upon exclusion zones to get a quick victory, bring up the low war support at home and help her own political future.

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In announcing the establishment of a Maritime Exclusion Zone around the Falkland Islands, Her Majesty's Government made it clear that this measure was without prejudice to the right of the United Kingdom to take whatever additional measures may be needed in the exercise of its right of self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. In this connection Her Majesty's Government now wishes to make clear that any approach on the part of Argentine warships, including submarines, naval auxiliaries or military aircraft, which could amount to a threat to interfere with the mission of British Forces in the South Atlantic will encounter the appropriate response. All Argentine aircraft, including civil aircraft engaged in surveillance of these British forces, will be regarded as hostile and are liable to be dealt with accordingly.

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"After that message of 23 April, the entire South Atlantic was an operational theatre for both sides. We, as professionals, said it was just too bad that we lost the Belgrano".

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ORIGINAL: Tomus

The exclusion zone is about the most misunderstood part of the whole conflict. It was only established to give neutral shipping an idea that they could be targetted by the Royal navy if they strayed within the zone. It had absolutely nothing to do with the engagement of enemy vessels...

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ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

And on a side note for any South American people here...

The Argentinian pilots showed absolute courage under fire.

The British press incorrectly informed the British public that the armed forces facing the British were ill supplied, ill equiped and low morale conscripts. The truth of the matter was they were brave enough to fight for their country.

Yes they did surrender in large quantities, but they were fighting the cream of the British Army. There were some hard core units sent there. It was widely perceived in the UK that the conflict would amount to nothing...that there would be no fighting. In fact, the British had to fight very hard.

As always, to all who served in both sides, my respect for those who took part goes without saying.