Above all, courage: The Falklands front line : first-hand accounts

Max Arthur spent two years interviewing servicemen and women who took part in the Falklands campaign. He established an extraordinary rapport with them, and the result is one of the most remarkable collections of first-hand accounts of war ever published.

The contributors are drawn from all three services, each a superb professional, many decorated for their actions, others not recognized officially. Their stories embrace almost every significant aspect of the campaign, from the actions of the formidable 2 Para to the suffering and dignity of the ill-fated Welsh Guards, from the evacuation of the wounded to the command of the Task Force. The accounts cover the Argentinian invasion, the journey south with the fleet, the recapture of South Georgia, the sinking of HMS Ardent, the tragedy of the Sir Galahad, the heroics of the Harriers and helicopter pilots, the fierce and, at times, hand-to-hand fighting of the battles of Goose Green, Longdon, Harriet, Two Sisters and Tumbledown, the Argentine surrender and the entry into Port Stanley. All the accounts are in the worlds of the participants – the language of the front line: immediate, moving, often brutal, sometimes reflective, frequently humorous.

Throughout the Falklands campaign British servicemen and women showed toughness, stamina, skill and resolve. Their accounts vividly illuminate the timeless contours of warfare: the loneliness, the camaraderie, the suffering, the inspiration, the horror, and, above all, courage.