This account of the Falklands War is by the commander of the British Task Force, Admiral Sandy Woodward. On 5 April 1982, three days after the invasion of the Falkland Islands, British armed forces were ordered to sail 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic unaware of what lay ahead of them or whether they would be committed to war with Argentina. In his memoirs, Admiral Sandy Woodward, Task Force commander from the aircraft carrier Hermes, take us from day one to day 100 of the conflict; from sailing through the waters of the Atlantic with hopes of a political settlement fading, and war becoming increasingly likely, to the repulse of the Argentinian navy and the daring amphibious landing at San Carlos Water. The war, which cost the lives of over 1000 men, has left a legacy of many historical debates and controversies, from the sinking of ships such as HMS Coventry, HMS Sheffield and Sir Galahad, and the Argentinian cruiser, the Belgrano, to wider issues such as what was it like to command and fight a modern air and naval war, the biggest naval action since the Second World War.

"One Hundred Days" is a portrayal of the world of modern naval warfare, where despite the use of sophisticated equipment and communications, the margins for human error and courage were as wide as they were in the days of Nelson.

2008-03-09 A Fish-head's eye view

This book is interesting in that it gives you a view to the thought processes of the man in charge of the whole show, and just how hopelessly out of touch he was with the actual capabilities of the forces at his disposal he was, as well as how he seems to have a rather different view of certain important events to the reality of what happened.

Read this only in conjuction with something like Nigel "Sharkey" Ward's "Sea Harrier over the Falklands" or Jerry Pook's "RAF HArrier Ground Attack, Falklands", unless you want a rather distorted view of events.

It does give an insight into the stresses, worries and other problems the overall commander of even a small task force faces, particularly so far away from outside help, so you can empathise with him, but you wonder at times how we managed to win with someone like him in charge.