Chapter 1576: Setting the stage

Among the sea of people in the military harbor to send off their families, there were destined to be a lot of sob stories, and even if they didn’t happen, I’m sure the major newspapers in the UK would have made them up.

The New York Times in the US, on the other hand, called the Royal Navy out of Portsmouth, the Empire Strikes Back, and paired it with the just-released Star Wars movie and a link to the action in the UK.

Of course that’s for later, and aside from the various types of warships fishtailing out of the harbor, a lot of citizens were attracted to the concert by Queen, who also exemplified the great quality of I-can-talk-about-I-can-also-be-patriotic by sporting long hair with a unified world aesthetic of the eighties, and making the British Expeditionary Forces anthem the finale of the concert.

This brings us to the most musically savvy Cabinet Secretary, micro-innovating the supreme authority of the Warrior Song, the heirloom classic portrayed was perfect for the mood of the moment. The Warrior Song was already very much a bully, both from a musical and lyrical point of view.

The British Expeditionary Force anthem is played not only on home soil, but also in Hong Kong and Penang, where the two Centaur carriers, homeported in Penang and Hong Kong, respectively, have been converted to helicopter carriers after being built after the Eagle class carriers, which were built and maintained well enough to be converted into helicopter carriers.

The assembled task force would take the ocean-going merchant ships to Perth to join the only British guided-missile battleship based here, HMS Marshal Mountbatten, and resupply via New Zealand, while the New Zealand government had already sent supplies to the Pitcairn Islands, the closest British island in the South Pacific to Latin America, to help the task force complete its final preparations before arriving in Latin America.

A missile battleship and two helicopter carriers as the main force of the task force will be from the direction of the South Pacific, its purpose is to occupy closer to the mainland of Argentina, half of the sovereignty belongs to the Chilean Tierra del Fuego, of course, the current fleet of high-ranking do not know the strategic purpose, in the military confidentiality of considerations, but also to conceal the fleet of high-ranking.

April 20 and 21 two days, the British claimed the recapture of the Falkland Islands of the two fleets have departed, the two fleets together have three heavy aircraft carriers, helicopter carriers two, a missile battleship, twelve nuclear submarines, twenty-two type 82 destroyers and type 42 frigates, together with the auxiliary ships and ocean-going merchant ships, more than two hundred ships.

The tonnage of warships alone had exceeded seven hundred thousand tons, and it could be said that even during the siege of the Bismarck, the Royal Navy had never put up such a big show.

The Belfast strategic transport plane, which flew over the Mediterranean Sea from Europe and landed in the capital of the royal domain of Rhodesia, disturbed the silence over Africa, and at the same time reminded the already independent African countries that the sovereign power was not far away, and it was not impossible to come back to the country if they wanted to, and that it was not coming back to the country.

The Mountbatten Group poked at the oil scam that caused Ethiopia and Somalia early on, and the world didn’t give Brezhnev a chance to show off the power of the Soviet Union and play strategic grand airlift.

Now this opportunity fell into the hands of the United Kingdom, Rhodesia can now be said to be quite lively, in addition to the strategic transport aircraft from Europe and its modified refueling aircraft, from Australia and Malaya took off twelve Vulcan strategic bombers, via Mauritius, the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and landed in the royal territory.

Grace accompanied his son-in-law, who had already arrived first, to familiarize himself with the Royal Rhodesian Armored Brigade, which had only just been established and merged with the British garrison. Originally, Grace was not optimistic about this war, as the African leader remembered that his experience in war had been all about infantry combat, and he had almost died at the hands of Tito.

So for a battlefield 13,000 kilometers away from the British mainland, but also in the vast sea between the combat zone, the heart is very not optimistic. But seeing so many strategic transport planes and strategic bombers landing, instantly felt that it was not impossible to fight.

Seeing that his father-in-law had already been convinced by the truth, Albert opened his mouth and said, “Although these two kinds of big airplanes are not much new technology, they have been making improvements since their introduction, the appearance has not changed much, but it is incomparable with thirty years ago, otherwise, the Vulcan strategic bomber would not have been able to take off from Australia and make one stop to get here. ”

Tu 22 bomber and Tu 22M backfire bomber name are similar, but has long been turned into two completely different bombers, set in the Vulcan strategic bomber here is also the same, as for and the Vulcan bomber alongside the Warrior bomber, in fact, in the British Air Force’s sequence in the British Air Force no longer exists, the Warrior bomber has been in the seventies after the Warrior electronic reconnaissance aircraft, changed to the Warrior electronic reconnaissance aircraft.

“We don’t have a strong defense industry on our side, it’s all about facing the guerrillas, making some mine-resistant armored vehicles is okay, but anything else just seems uninformed.” Grace paused at this, “But I’m sure your father would have thought about it before letting you come over, he’s a man who strips people naked and has to look them over with a magnifying glass.”

Looking at his father-in-law’s indignation, Albert’s face flashed with embarrassment, that time although he was not yet born, but? Also heard about it.

“Father said that there shouldn’t be any valuable targets left in Argentina by the time the Army lands there.”

Albert also showed honesty in front of his father-in-law, “Buenos Aires is a coastal city and will not be in an environment that would put Britain deep in the mud. Father says if Argentina is smart enough it should grab supplies when the main fleet isn’t in the South Atlantic.”

“Why, wouldn’t that have made the defenders more prepared?” Grace inquired with some incomprehension, “It would have made the war longer, the British Expeditionary Force is a long way off after all.”

“I don’t know, but it’s rumored that the expeditionary force is expected to take supplies from the Argentine defenders.” Albert shook his head as well, how weak would the Argentine garrison have to be to make that vision a reality?

It was natural for Britain to come raging in with a fleet that only the United States and the Soviet Union could resist, and naturally it was impossible to go unnoticed, and while Britain was stepping up its troop shipments and calling for an armed buildup in its overseas territories, the countries that were campaigning for peace were taking their own scripts.

Whether or not they can intervene is left aside, taking a stand is definitely necessary. To this end, international forces were out in force to campaign for a peaceful settlement of the dispute between Britain and Afghanistan.

The appeal for peace by a major power, the fierce attack by the Soviet Union as well as the European side of Germany and France valued the friendship with Britain, Alan Wilson is still trying his best to mobilize the diplomatic support of the Commonwealth countries for Britain, Australia and New Zealand have no difficulty in this, Australia is even willing to send troops, only to be rejected by the United Kingdom.

Difficulty is already independent, and Britain does not have traditional ties with the country, for example, among the Commonwealth countries there is not a big and powerful country, which do not count on, people and the Soviet Union relationship is better, and can not jump out to attack the United Kingdom even if it is a victory.

With the arrival of the strategic bomber fleet in Rhodesia, the Commonwealth of African countries to the United Kingdom’s voice of support gradually appeared, along with the European countries to the United Kingdom’s understanding of the diplomatic level, the voice of the United Kingdom has finally overwhelmed the Latin American countries of Argentina’s solidarity.

How could the United States be missing from the list of countries exercising diplomatic influence? As a “special relationship” ally of the United Kingdom and the United States, the United States and Argentina are also members of the Organization of American States to take the lead.

Britain all of a sudden made such a big movement, the United States was also startled, and a large fleet, and strategic bombers, strategic transport aircraft, but also in the overseas territories of the deployment of troops, and even recruited mercenaries in Nepal, and now Washington very much want to know, Britain in the end to what extent, and what is the ultimate goal?

To the outside world, it appeared that the Secretary of State, General Hague, in the first few weeks of the crisis, had been shuttling non-stop between London and Buenos Aires, trying to facilitate the emergence of a compromise between the two sides, but in fact, when General Hague came to London, he asked most of all what Britain was going to do, and what was the strategic purpose? Why were the aces of the Army of the Rhine Group in Germany being drawn out?

Alan Wilson reiterated his support for the special relationship between Britain and the United States, and then complained, “For the Prime Minister, support is already in jeopardy, this war is the last chance, the United Kingdom can only win and not lose, once the consequences of defeat is the whole of Britain can not afford. But the objective conditions are here, the battlefield is tens of thousands of kilometers from the mainland, how dare we be careless? This kind of distance General Haig, you were once also the commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, you should understand that if Europe fights, the U.S. is also required to put out its full strength to deal with it.”

“Objectively the difficulty is indeed great.” General Haig admitted that this distance was not something that an average country could afford, but wasn’t the force that Britain had assembled a little too large?

“Argentina is on its doorstep with 200,000 armed forces, less than 100,000 expeditionary forces how much?” Alan Wilson was cautious, it is true that less than 100,000 expeditionary force, or just over 90,000 people, in addition to the seventh armored division, there are two brigades left in Malaya, a brigade in Rhodesia, and mercenaries recruited from Nepal.

Although the words are so, General Hague still want to take out the mediation program, the Arab forces all withdrew from the island, the British task force from the island of a thousand miles away from the waters of the anchorage, and then in the United States to supervise, in the island of the British residents of the premise does not go against the wishes of the British and the Arab two sides on the issue of the sovereignty of the island within the next five years to reopen the negotiation.

This option was naturally rejected dryly by Margaret Thatcher, “The Falkland Islands are indeed a long way from Britain, and Czechoslovakia was a long way from Britain in those days.”

“General Haig, Washington has shown the utmost goodwill for a peaceful settlement. We are grateful for that, but there is nothing else to be done now.” Alan Wilson conciliated, “The preparations Britain has made are designed to win, but it will never want an inch of Argentina.”

On May 15, the RAF began to move in at Wideawake Air Base on Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic, including a fleet of Rafale fighter-bombers with Vulcan strategic bombers and refueling planes for escorts, and the next day, the main fleet from the mainland arrived on Ascension Island.

On the same day, Britain declared the area around the Falkland Islands as a zone of belligerency, and almost at the same time as this British declaration came the news that an interim meeting of the European Community had announced sanctions against Argentina.