Seven years ago I set out to read everything that had been published in English and Spanish about the Falklands War for my twenty-fifth anniversary book Razor’s Edge, subtitled ‘The Unofficial History’ in the knowledge that Lawrence Freedman’s imminent official history would be focused on British policy-making. Apart from some insights about the origins of the war that I was able to provide from personal experience as an intelligence officer in Buenos Aires in the 1970s, I focused on the land campaign because I thought the air and naval aspects of the campaign had been adequately covered – indeed, as far as the RAF’s rather pointless heavy bomber sorties were concerned, disproportionately so.

Unsurprisingly, given the chronic costiveness of Whitehall, it was far easier to obtain basic Argentine Army data, maps and battle reports than British ones. Fortunately a number of excellent first-hand accounts by British participants balanced the picture, and two visits to the islands gave me the opportunity to make my