The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Falklands war remembered
A former Royal Marine on the lessons of the Falklands War
Ian Gardiner, writer and former commanding officer of X Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, speaks to The Courier about his experience of a war that changed British military history. His men were involved in the battle for Two Sisters, the two 1,000-foot peaks around which Argentine forces defended Stanley.
AS ONE of the UK’S furthest-flung territories is again being drawn into a diplomatic tug of war, it seems easy to forget the lessons of the past.
Almost 30 years since Britain and Argentina entered into conflict over the Falkland Islands’ sovereignty, the tiny archipelago and its single town is at the centre of growing posturing between the two governments.
The undeclared two-month war in 1982 defined Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government for years to come and crystallised certain myths about the armed forces and their capacity to defend Britain’s interests overseas.
While the UK is similarly embroiled in a recession and under the aegis of Conservative government, Argentina is a democratic country and could not be more different than the Junta-led military dictatorship responsible for the Falklands War. Nonetheless, its president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has requested talks on the islands’ future, accusing the UK Government of “arrogance” for refusing to negotiate.
Ian Gardiner, writer and former commanding officer of X Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, spoke to The Courier about his experience of a war that changed British military history. His men were involved in the battle for Two Sisters, the two 1,000-foot peaks around which Argentine forces defended Stanley.
“It was an extraordinary event, quite unlike anything that has happened since,” he said. “The lead-up to the Gulf Wars, the war in Afghanistan – that didn’t exist when war broke out in the Falklands.
“It was an instant response and perhaps we sometimes forget that. The conditions were so unexpected. In the Marines we were and continue to be proud of being ready.”
Mr Gardiner spoke of the proud Royal Marine traditions and sense of belonging to a team.
“The Royal Marines are very unusual for a British military unit,” he said. “We are definitely Navy – not Army – and with all the traditions and ceremonies that entails.
“There’s a different culture and attitude. Nobody cares who you are or where you are from. Your religion, region, tribe or class are irrelevant. There is only one question that matters: can you do your job? If you can say ‘yes’, then you are one of us.”
Mr Gardiner added: “The difficult amphibious landing and the winter weather were well suited to our training, and we were well prepared for it, and took very few casualties comparatively. We won our battles, relatively bloodlessly. Attwo Sisters we lost four men and 13 overall in the campaign.
“When people go over there they are taken on the battle tours, they go to Goose Green and Tumbledown, where there were many more casualties, but it was at the likes of Two Sisters and Mount Harriet where the battles went best and where perhaps the most important lessons are to be learned.
“Fortune doesn’t favour the brave, or the bold,” he said. “That is one of the biggest lies told about any conflict. Fortune favours the professional. It was good leadership and professionalism that won it for us, and bad leadership that lost it for the Argentines.
“From the brigadier down to my commanding officer, down through the rank structure to the most junior lance corporal and to my men, leadership was the most important thing on the ground.
“I didn’t fire a shot during the war. I was part of an organisation that ensured my men got to the right place at the right time with the right equipment, physically, mentally and spiritually equipped for battle. But during a close-quarter battle half-way up a mountain in a snowstorm in the dark, they had to know their jobs. They won the battle fortwo Sisters, and they won it well because they were properly trained and prepared. This result cannot be demanded. It has to be deserved. Quality is a gift from your people to you.”
Ian Gardiner’s book, The Yompers – with 45 Commando in the Falklands War, is published by Pen and Sword Ltd and has inspired a Channel 5 documentary, The Great Falklands Gamble: Revealed, to which Mr Gardiner is a main contributor. It will be broadcast tomorrow at 8pm.