GREEN-EYED BOYS: 3 PARA AND THE BATTLE FOR MOUNT LONGDON. [Hardcover]

Christian and Adrian Weale. Jennings (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002555905
• ISBN-13: 978-0002555906
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,898,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An objetive account of Para 3 in Malvinas (Flaklands), July 7, 2007

By 

Jorge F. Duran "Delta1966" (Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Green-Eyed Boys (Paperback)

I have read eleven books about Malvinas/ Falklands war and I was surprised because this book is not only about the war. I'm an argentine Para and this book is about the Para's way of life. It shows us the differences in behavior between the Para (or Marines, SBS or SAS) units and conventional ones. The Paras have their own sense of discipline, informal and with close cooperation between ranks. Another point of interest is the officer education. It uses to waste time in administrative or formal matters instead of the real preparation for war.

In the chapter about the landing in San Carlos and the jump to the East the book stresses two matters. First, after the Argentine Navy Aviation sank the Atlantic Conveyor with her helicopters the 3rd Commandos Brigade lost almost all its air mobility. In consequence the brigade marched across the island almost 90 kilometers. This is an example of how the infantry should be trained without any dependence of technological resources. The second one is the value of patrols in order to gain the initiative and to gather information. They put Argentines on defensive.

In the chapter named "Snot and Aggression" the authors tell us about the combat of Mount Longdon. This was one of the bloodiest combats between Argentine and British forces. As the book said "the deployment of the argentine units, their command and control and their concept of operations were almost ridiculously incompetent". I could add that the Argentine forces didn't make any effort to obtain information, to gain the initiative by combat patrols or put OP or security forces far ahead of the FEBA. Therefore the British forces had the freedom of maneuver to seize the attack position without any opposition. Moreover, the argentine commanders misused the argentine commandos (the book said Special Forces, but Argentina didn't have, the argentine commandos were like rangers more than Green Berets) to develop reconnaissance missions that could be done by more conventional units.

The combat at Mount Longdon is described as a fierce night fighting with heroes in the British side such us Sergeant Ian Mc Kay, who died when he was assaulting the argentine positions, or the Corporal McLaughlin. The book don't mention the Argentine heroes. The Lieutenant Baldini and the Corporal Rios died while they spearheaded a counterattack to retake their platoon position. Their platoon was in the west side of the mountain and was overran by A and B Para 3 Companies. About this, I want to quote three paragraphs. The first two are from this book. In page 124 we can read "Certainly their officers at company level and above were severely deficient in the arts of leadership and tactics, but at Goose Green and elsewhere individual Argentine soldiers, NCOs and officers had fought bravely and competently" in page 185 it is added "The battle proved, if anything, just the opposite: despite fierce attacks by a better trained and more cohesive army, the Argentine conscripts stood their ground and fought hard" In another book, Gen Julian Thompson write in page 235 (I'm translating from an Spanish edition) "In Mount Harriet and in other places, the Officers and the NCOs fought hard and sometimes, nearly to the definition of the combat, they tried to avoid the surrender of their men shooting on them. The solution was to kill officers and NCOs before accept the soldiers' surrender". Some people in Argentina have blamed Argentine soldiers, NCOs and officers of cowards. Moreover, the only two movies made in my country about the war describe them as cowards. In contrast, the British have recognized Argentine's courage more than the own Argentine have. A controversial matter is about the assumed British's war crimes. It was when a Para shot to die an Argentine prisoner immediately after the battle. The book said the accused was prosecuted but nothing happened with him. I think that after the battle is very difficult to switch emotions from killing the enemy to caring prisoners. I'm not justifying this Para. He committed a crime, but the circumstances could discharge him. This is a thing that the "civilian justice of peace" doesn't understand. Other thing could have been if the British had killed prisoner in detention facilities or had done things like Abu Garib. I'm not justifying the Para. I only try to understand the circumstances.

To summarize my opinion I think this book is a good account of Para 3 campaign, well written and very objective. I encourage all the people interested in Malvinas (Falklands) to read and enjoy it.