This is a revelatory account of three untabulated special forces
operations, Plum Duff, Mikado and Kettledrum, that failed to destroy
Argentina's Exocet missiles during the 1982 Falkland's campaign. In that
context alone this book is of international military importance.
Using previously unknown material and through interviewing key players
who have remained silent for 30 years, Ewen Southby-Tailyour has finally
established the truth: that it has taken so long reflects the
sensitivities, both military and personal, involved.
Interviews with the SAS officer commanding Operation Plum Duff, members
of the reconnaissance patrol for Operation Mikado, plus the navigator of
the helicopter that flew eight troopers into Tierra del Fuego, has
allowed the author to describe the tortuous events that led, instead, to
a significant survival story.
The RAF [pilots tasked with ' crash-landing' two Hercules onto Rio
Grande during Operation Mikado have spoken of the extraordinary
procedures they developed: so has the captain of the British submarine
involved.
The Super Etendard pilots who sank HMS Sheffield and MV Atlantic
Conveyor and then 'attacked' HMS Invincible, plus a key member of the
Argentine special forces and the brigadier defending Rio Grande, add
credence, depth and gravitas to the saga.
Exocet Falklands is a groundbreaking work of investigative military
history.
