Now that ten years have passed since the Falklands War, Julian Thompson has decided to revise and update completely his bestseller No Picnic. Since 1983, when he wrote the first edition, he has had access to information contained in the Argentine Army Official Report on their part in the Falklands War.
What made the first edition of No Picnic different, and a bestseller, was that it was the first major account to come from one of the senior fighting participants.
Although the tenth anniversary may see many books by other senior commanders, No Picnic was written while the events were still fresh in Julian Thompson's mind, and in the minds of those he spoke with and quoted. Because he was still serving, he had an added advantage: he was able to check key dates, timings and events against his Brigade War Diary, Battle Logs, and signals to and from his headquarters.
This book still retains the quality which made it unique when first published, but enhanced by important additions and insights into the difficulties and frustrations of command. These difficulties were not eased by the knowledge that the operation being attempted was balanced on a knife-edge between triumph and disaster; knowledge that could not be shared.
Few, if any, of the public in 1982--or since--knew that informed mllitary opinion in the United States regarded the operation as 'Mission Impossible' without three large-deck carriers and 100 assault helicopters. Some senior British Army and Air Force officers were opposed to the operation, because they feared that it would fail.
The fighting on land was crucial to success: navies can lose wars, but they can never win them. As Julian Thompson makes plain in the book, the lion's share of the fighting on land fell to 3 Commando Brigade. This is their story.