The Unseen Falklands War

In early April 1982, the UK despatched a Task Force to the South Atlantic to recover the Falkland Islands and South Georgia from occupation by Argentina. A distance of over 8,000 miles, it was the second longest amphibious operation from home base to objective in modern military history. On 21 May, 3 Commando landed at San Carlos on East Falklands and a week later defeated the Argentinian garrison at Goose Green. Within the week 5 Infantry Brigade landed and by the middle of June, both brigades liberated Port Stanley against a numerically superior force.The images here, almost all of which are previously unpublished, illustrate the Argentinian occupation of the Falklands and give an overview of the conditions in which both sides fought the land war. The Argentines were largely based in Port Stanley and Goose Green on East Falkland and Port Howard and Fox Bay on West Falklands. Van der Bijl also looks at the repatriation of prisoners and finally the Islands today.Nick van der Bijl is the author of ’My Friends, The Enemy: Life in Military Intelligence During the Falkands War’, and was part of the British intelligence team during the conflict. In possession of unseen Argentinian photographs, he is in a unique position to offer an important new perspective on the conflict.

Nick van der Bijl served 24 years as a Regular in the British Army in armour, military intelligence and security and finally as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army. He saw active service in Northern Ireland and with the 3rd Commando Brigade during the Falkland conflict. The Senior Producer and Writer for Brush Fire Films, Nick lives and works in Somerset.