John Nott's Story
By Harold Briley
(Falkland Islands Newsletter No.81, May 2002)
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Revelations of the conduct of the 1982 War
are contained in a book by the British Defence Secretary at the time, Sir
John Nott. He tells his version for the first time of the tensions
in Margaret Thatcher's War Cabinet, of his feud with the head of the Royal
Navy, of how British agents denied Argentina supplies of the feared Exocet
missile, and how France advised on ways to counter the missiles. The
book's title 'Here Today, Gone Tomorrow' derives from a controversial BBC
television interview which he angrily quit when accused of being only a
transient politician.
Falklands Navy Chief faced dismissal
He reveals that the Chief of Naval Staff,
Admiral Sir Henry Leach, who persuaded Margaret Thatcher that the
Falklands could be re-taken from the Argentines, when the Ministry of
Defence advised they could not, was on the verge of being sacked or
resigning a few months earlier for campaigning against Nott's proposed
Navy cuts, including the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible and the Antarctic
vessel HMS Endurance. The book says both Mrs Thatcher and Deputy
Prime Minister Willie Whitelaw were outraged that he was undermining
Nott's authority and said 'he must go'. But Nott successfullly
dissuaded them not to blight Leach's distinguished forty year career.
World-wide plot to block Argentine
Exocets
Nott reveals that France and President
Mitterand "were in many ways (Britain's) greatest allies".
The most formidable weapon in Argentina's arsenal was the French built
Super Etendard strike aircraft and Exocet missile which sank some British
ships. Nott writes: "As soon as the conflict began Hernou
(French Defence Minister) got in touch with me to make available a Super-Etendard
and Mirage aircraft so our Harrier pilots could train against them before
setting off to the South Atlantic. The French supplied detailed
technical information on the Exocet, showing us how to tamper with the
missiles.
Britain launched a clandestine
international plot to block supplies to Argentina. "A
remarkable world-wide operation then ensured to prevent further Exocets
being bought by Argentina. I authorised our agents to pose as bona
fide purchasers of equipment on the international market, ensuring that we
outbid the Argentineans. Other agents identified Exocet missiles in
various markets and covertly rendered them inoperable, based on
information from the French. It was a remarkably successful
operation. In spite of strenuous efforts by several countries,
particularly the Israelis and South Africans, to help Argentina, we
succeeded in intercepting and preventing the supply of further equipment
to the Argentines."
Belgrano sinking 'justified'
On the controversial torpedoing of the
cruiser Belgrano, Britain, as well as declaring the 200-mile total
exclusion zone around the Falklands, warned Argentina this was 'without
prejudice to the right of the UK to take whatever additional measures may
be needed in its exercise of the right of self-defence, under Article 51
of the United Nations Charter'. On April 23rd Britain sent a warning
to the Argentine Government and published it internationally, declaring
'Her Majesty's Government now wishes to make clear that any approach on
the part of Argentine warships including submarines, naval auxiliaries or
military aircraft which could amount to a threat to interfere with the
mission of British forces in the South Atlantic will encounter the
appropriate response.'
The Argentines did not similarly warn
Britain before attacking the Royal Marines' barracks near Stanley.
"It is often forgotten that the only reason why we had not suffered
loss of life to the Marines in the initial assault by Argentine forces was
that following our receipt of the intercepted Argentine signal to invade,
we instructed the Marines to abandon their barracks at Moody Brook and
disperse themselves around the Island." Nott says he is
astonished that anyone should consider the "momentary compass bearing
of the Belgrano's passage to be of any consequence whatever .... She was
sunk in international waters in strict conformity with the warnings that
we had given - and for us to have taken any other decision, given her
threat to the Fleet, would have been a serious dereliction of duty on our
part."
"Shocked by terrible loss of
life"
"I was shocked when I heard of the
terrible loss of life, and I regret it deeply .... That was the
consequence of a war we did not initiate .... This incident did in fact
save many British lives. If we had been forced to contend with an
aggressive Argentine navy as well as the courageous Argentine pilots,
things might have been different .... Admiral Anaya, the most aggressive
member of the Argentine junta and more than anyone responsible for the
conflict in the first place, decided to keep the Argentine surface fleet
in port following the sinking of the Belgrano. By neturalising the
whole of the Argentine Navy, our decision proved to be correct and fully
justified."
The Task Force Commander, Admiral Sir John
'Sandy' Woodward, had also been given rules of engagement enabling him to
attack the aircraft carrier Veintecinco de Mayo wherever he found
her. A British submarine did detect her but as the land campaign was
nearly over, it was decided not to sink her.
Chile's "importance very
great"
Nott writes that South American countries
declared their support for Argentina, with the single exception of Chile,
"whose importance, with its long-standing rivalry and fear of
Argentina, was very great .... If we had been able to use a South American
airfield, even for a diversion in an emergency, it would have made the
whole operation easier .... We wanted to use (Chile's) airfields for
stationing our Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft so they could hunt down the
Argentine submarines, which were a real threat. They would also have
been valuable to monitor the movement of the task force .... We had no
satellite coverage at all of the South Atlantic .... I don't think we ever
expected the Chileans would allow us to station aircraft on their soil,
though we tried to do a deal. We were never successful, but in
several respects the Chilean link proved very valuable to use."
"Splendid Weinberger and
Pentagon"
Criticising the US State Department and President Reagan for their Latin
American sympathies, Nott sarcastically writes: "I wondered if Reagan
knew where Europe was .... The State Department was dominated by the
Latinos, who saw President Reagan's Latin American policy going down the
drain."
By contrast he strongly praises US Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger and
the Pengtagon. "Weinberger was splendid from the outset.
Ignoring the jealousies and rivalries in Washington, he ordered his staff
to give maximum and urgent support to the British. We needed
additional fuel supplies in Ascension, which the Americans supplied with
their tankers. Valuable weapons, in particular the Sidewinder
air-to-air missiles, supplemented and upgraded the capability of the
Harriers, and a host of other incremental stores were all forthcoming
without cost ever being mentioned."
Thatcher
"courage and obstinacy"
Nott disagrees with
Margaret Thatcher and many Americans who claim Britain could not have
recovered the Falklands without American support. "I believe
the decisive factor was Mrs Thatcher's firm and immediate decision to
retake the Islands, despite the impressive military and other advice in
the Pentagon to the contrary .... We could have succeeded without US
logistic and equipment back-up though the operation would have been
infinitely more extended and hazardous .... It took weeks of determined
diplomacy before the White House wholeheartedly declared itself on the
side of the British .... Congress and American public opinion had come
down heavily on our side. By doing so, it destroyed the support of
the South American dictators for Reagan's anti-Communist crusade in
Central America."
Praising Margaret Thatcher's
leadership, Sir John Nott writes: "She had more courage and more
obstinacy than a man .... She shut her mind to the risks of conducting
such an adventure eight thousand miles away .... In the last resort, it
was a woman's war - and the woman in her won."
'Here
Today, Gone Tomorrow' by Sir John Nott, Politicos, London, 2002
This article first
appeared in the Falkland Islands Newsletter, Edition 81, May 2002.
The Falkland Islands Association is an independent organisation which
brings together those who support the continuing freedom of the people of
the Falkland Islands. Its Constitution states that its objectives
are to assist the people of the Falkland Islands to decide their own
future for themselves without being subjected to pressure direct or
indirect from any quarter.
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