A Fish-head's eye view
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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.
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Well written & surprisingly frank accounts of the Falklands war.
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Written by the Taskforce commander, this is a first class account of the naval aspect of the Falklands war, giving insights in to the technicalities, politics, strategy and human side of the whole thing. He is surprisingly open and frank with both facts and opinions, some of which ignore both politcal correctness, and political expediency. The author is unashamedly a Navy man, and the story is wholly a navy one, but it is what he knows about, so it is better for all that.
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Jolly good memoirs with Robinson on board
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It is a bit tragic to admit this, but I bought 'One Hundred Days' because the ghost writer was one Patrick Robinson, right-wing modern naval chronicler.
The influence of Woodward on Robinson - most notably in 'Nimitz Class' where whole chunks of Woodward's life are picked up and deposited in the text - was interesting to a 'fan' like me. The book itself was gripping.
The Falklands War was the only major naval engagement between the second world war and - well - now and as such has generated an awful lot of memoiring. Quite right too.
Woodward admits he's a bad-tempered control-freak - thus confirming everything anyone had ever suspected about a British Admiral at war - which is very much to his credit. His seemingly callous acceptance of risks and dangers to task force elements - like the SAS on Pebble Island - shows, graphically and chillingly, what senior command is all about.
Obviously - having recently read Mike Rossiter's 'Sink the Belgrano' - some bits have been left out, like his direct order for his staff to send a message to HMS Conqueror to sink the Argentine cruiser and his fury at their refusal (as this was beyond his remit). I think this is a bit like Alan Brooke's war diaries, originally and controversially released with the 'Age of Reason' historian Arthur Bryant in an edited form, then released after his death - a long way actually - as a warts and all and isn't-Churchill-a-drunken-pain-in-the-rear version. I don't wish him ill, but when Sandy Woodward goes to the great wardroom in the sky, I really hope that an unexpurgated version of his undoubtedly colourful Falklands diaries and letters appears.
Jolly good read.
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Down to earth account of the Falklands naval warfare
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A very well written account by the battle group commander during the Falklands conflict. It is very down to earth which concentrates mostly on the naval warfare of the battle. It does not go into the subsequent land battle in detail as woodward was not involved much with this.
Falls short of five stars for the lack of documentation and extra bits. There is only two very simple maps and the pictures are only 'mugshots' of the commanding officers and none of the actual conflict.
Overall it gives an excellent account and a real feel for the difficulty in surface-to-air warfare.
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A good account of the responsiblities of command
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One of the most interesting things about the book is the new foreward that Admiral Woodward has written to accompany this new edition. In it he acknowledges the communications problems that beset the British during the war, and the problems that led to with some of his opposite numbers such as Brigadier Thompson and Commander Mike Clapp (who commanded the amphibious group).
Woodward admits that during the fighting, he often wasn't aware that sometimes he had stepped on his counterparts' toes.
A better satellite communications system would certainly have helped cure some of these headaches, it seems.What comes across is something of the loneliness of command. Wodward says he dealt with it by letting off steam in his diary -- of which there are chunks in the book. In all a well-written account - for which the Admiral quite properly thanks Patrick Robinson, who wrote most of the book.
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