Spearhead Assault

by John Geddes

Spearhead Blood, Guts and Glory on the Falklands Frontlines [Hardcover] Geddes, John

Hardcover

First published May 24, 2007

Reviews

[C.G. Loggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic.

Fascinating insights to the physical and mental challenges of young men going into and coming out of war.

Hugely relatable to the characters i am evolving in my books.

Thanks for sharing John.

[Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, heartfelt and graphic insight into the reality of battle. Great read.

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Spearhead Assault by John Geddes which is an excellent book which I bought from a secondhand bookstore. This book is mostly about the battle at Goose Green during the Falklands Conflict at which the author who was in the Parachute Regiment fought. When the British forces landed at San Carlos on the Falklands Islands, some bright spark at the BBC broadcast that they were going to take Darwin & Goose Green. Nobody ever got blamed for it, but it gave the Argentine's important information. As it was there intelligence reported there was about 200 soldiers stationed at Goose Green when in fact there was 1,500. They had so much ammunition the men stood on the ammo boxes to keep their feet dry. There was only around 400 British soldiers involved. They had to take a bridge & there was a farmhouse where the Argentine's kept a family hostage and when the para's took the latter it was like the OK Corral although the family were unharmed and the Argentine's fled. The actual battle at Goose Green could have been won sooner had Colonel H listened to one of his men who suggested a flanking mannouvre which was initially over ruled but in the end they did. When the Argentine forces did surrender it was because the British were launching Milan rockets at the bunkers and they could see it was hopeless continuing. The Argentine's also had members from their special forces stationed at Goose Green and it was an extremely tough battle. The author John went onto join the SAS and was a Warrant Officer when he retired. I really enjoyed this book and it's a fascinating subject.