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For you history buffs, here is the end of the Falklands War, but those events are not the main point I take from this. The main point is that the British troops at the time, down to at least NCO level, were intelligent, thinking people. That is what enabled them to defeat rivals with the same firepower as them and greater numbers. If they were the stupid grunts of today, they would have been slaughtered.

It was a professional, battle hardened army against a badly trained, very badly led and inexperienced conscript army - the training shows in battle which it did in the Falklands War - two things...

The British sent out their elite regiments - no-one made up numbers amongst them and b)

The Argentinians still managed to take out 225 British casualties - something the Iraqis couldn't with a million men and a million tanks.

yick wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2021, 11:26 pm

The British sent out their elite regiments - no-one made up numbers amongst them

Yes that is one thing. The British sent elite light infantry units in, but couldn't the Argies have done so too to some extent?. I guess the exception was the Welsh Guards and certain other units, who wanted to earn their badges despite just being upper-class tossers. Then again, they are said to have fought somewhat well.

Cornfed wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2021, 12:02 am

yick wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2021, 11:26 pm

The British sent out their elite regiments - no-one made up numbers amongst them

Yes that is one thing. The British sent elite light infantry units in, but couldn't the Argies have done so too to some extent?. I guess the exception was the Welsh Guards and certain other units, who wanted to earn their badges despite just being upper-class tossers. Then again, they are said to have fought somewhat well.

They kept their best regiments on the mainland as they thought if the Falklands went wrong - they might invade Buenos Aires and grab the leadership - the elite Argentine units that were on the Falklands were really good according to the British forces that were there but they didn't make up 5% of the soldiers there.

A paratrooper who was at the battle of Goose Green (I think...) said there were Argentine special forces there who were taking out his comrades with one shot - but what they mostly met up with were dispirited conscripts.

Also, the Argentine logistics chain was f***ed up - it was winter and hot food seemed to be a problem as they were dug in during a southern hemisphere winter and exposed to the cold which was harsh - a lot of the soldiers were natives from the north of Argentina and they weren't used to that climate.

The Guards regiments are seen as on the cusp of the elite, it is them and the paratroopers who get an extra months physical preparation before they go out to their unit but yeah - they managed to get their names into the hat because of connections and prestige but also because they're Scottish and Welsh It wouldn't have made good headlines for English boys from Essex and Surrey to be dying horrible deaths on Mount Tumbledown.