Chapter 1582 The Second Half

Eventually the British commander, Major General Moore, warned that the Argentine troops in Port Stanley, although there were tens of thousands of them, were already surrounded by the British Army, Navy and Air Force, and there was no way back except the sea, and that once they resisted to the end, they would just appear to be more victims of the Argentine junta.

Before the time limit for reply arrived, the commander of the Argentine Garrison, Major General Menendez, decided to surrender to Major General Moore of the British Royal Marines, Major General Menendez, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Revel, and an Argentine government legal advisor; Major General Moore of the United Kingdom, two Army Colonels, a Marine Colonel, and a Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, were present at the surrender ceremony, and thirteen thousand Argentine servicemen and women became prisoners of war.

The instrument of surrender was immediately forwarded to London, where it appeared on the front pages of all the major newspapers, and read in its entirety, Surrender of the Command of the Garrison on the Isle of Man: I, Major General Menendez, Commander of the Argentine Army, Navy, and Air Force on the Isle of Man, hereby unconditionally surrender to Major General Moore, representative of the Government of the Queen of England.

Under the terms of this agreement, all Argentine troops on the island will proceed to the place designated by Major General Moore to surrender their guns, ammunition, weapons of all kinds, and instruments of war as may be designated by General Moore or other British officers.

Upon the coming into force of this Agreement, all Albanian troops will be treated with honor and subject to all instructions relating to their movement and centralized accommodation, in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention signed in 1949.

It also applies to Argentine troops deployed around Port Stanley, East/West Falkland and the other Outer Islands.

The whole of Britain was in a state of euphoria. Since the Second World War, British citizens had become accustomed to the independence of one colony after another, and had gradually accepted the fact that Britain was no longer in control of the world, and the whole country was in a state of confusion, with the question of whether it was better to be a quiet bystander to the international situation, or whether it was going to act as the maker of the international order in the world, being the question for many.

Now the doubts have disappeared, and when the news of the surrender of the Argentine defenders of the Falklands came, even the poorest worker in London puffed out his chest with pride.

Mrs. Thatcher’s long underestimated approval ratings have finally reached their highest point since coming to power, and the shaky foundation of her administration has finally been solidified by this war’s to.

“Let go, too close.” Mrs. Thatcher looked angrily at the Cabinet Secretary in front of her, what can not help celebrating, simply is a pretext, do not think she can not see.

“Sorry.” Unlike the universally celebrating British citizens, Alan Wilson loosened his embrace, his face filled with disillusionment after being rejected, and forced himself to say, “This is just where it’s at, but it’s only halftime. It’s the next time to show the power of the nation, and after we retake the Falklands, we’ll have the front line.”

“Do we really have to fight on?” Mrs. Thatcher hesitated a little, “Some ministers think that we’ve got everything we deserve by this point.”

“Does the Prime Minister think that I may be doing Britain a disservice? Or do you think that the ministers who have been promoted are loyal and reliable?” Alan Wilson asked back with an expressionless face, and if Margaret Thatcher hadn’t forgotten about being forced to reorganize her cabinet earlier, she should have known which side to take.

“This war is only halfway through at best, and in fact the next few hours are the key time that Britain should focus on demonstrating its military strength, as well as convincing its citizens that the military is more than capable of defending Britain, and letting the citizens of the United Kingdom know that they are living in a strong country.”

This is the real purpose of this war, not just saving Margaret Thatcher’s approval ratings, as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher can only make Alan Wilson’s ideas come true if she supports the continuation of the war at this time.

Possibly in consideration of the Cabinet Secretary’s firm support behind the scenes for a long time, and probably also in her heart of hearts, she hoped that the British Expeditionary Force would create a greater battlefield result, Mrs. Thatcher agreed to the continuation of the war.

The Foreign Secretary, Francis Pym, after recapturing the Falkland Islands, continued to repeat in public Britain’s armistice conditions that the war could be ended as soon as the Argentine government recognized that the Falkland Islands were an inalienable part of British territory.

The problem is that the Argentine government is simply impossible to recognize, and this is a prerequisite for the armistice put forward by the United Kingdom, then there is no way to talk about, recaptured the Falkland Islands of the United Kingdom, immediately said that all the combat forces are concentrated in the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands before the construction of the airfields are in line with the role of use.

Strategic transport planes, strategic bombers, were transported to the Falkland Islands Typhoon fighters, most of the time is very desolate airfield full, the port is stationed in the Atlantic Fleet.

Whether it was to see if Britain still had anything left in the tank or to try and end the war became the focus of discussion in the White House, and so far the whole war has been lackluster, with seemingly nothing to show for it.

In fact this is a true reflection of history, this is a war of bullying, the British army may have a fighting chance but it is not showing it as the Argentine army is bordering on being unbeatable.

“As the war continues, the British will strike at Argentina itself, maybe something will change then?”

“Britain doesn’t specialize in ground warfare, half of the troops being used now are soldiers recruited from the colonies or former colonies, and the two brigades in Malaya fighting in the tropics are still talking. The one brigade in Nepal has no problem adapting, and that leaves the Rhodesian armies, and the 7th Armored Division. Once the landings are made the war will really get bloody.”

“But will the British really attack Argentina itself? From the experience of the Vietnam War, that’s not a good idea.”

Speculation within the Pentagon is rife about Britain’s strategic aims, and once the battlefield is expanded to Argentine soil, there could be uncontrollable developments.

But one trend that is definitely controllable for the White House and especially Wall Street is the Federal Reserve raising interest rates again, with Chairman Volcker leading the Volcker Moment with over-expectation hikes to reverse the inflation that has been getting worse since the 1970s, and over-expectation hikes starting up again as Britain goes to war in Latin America.

The over-expected rate hike will lead to a recession, but as long as the economy of other countries is worse, the U.S. will still be the winner, with the U.K. spending huge military expenditures, and the Latin American countries in the midst of insecurity, there will surely be a flight of capital, which seems to be a good opportunity to Wall Street.

Through the military communication, the Pentagon immediately learned that the British side is ready to end the war within a month, the expectation is very good, but can not do so that the U.S. military is still very doubtful.

After a few days of quiet period, in the July 5 day, after the restoration of the two fleets into one, gathered in the Argentinean offshore, missile battleship Mountbatten Marshal, as the world’s largest active arsenal ship, the first time in front of the world to show their own attack power.

Self-contained vertical launch system firepower, the Middle East war after the service of the Seahawk cruise missiles, from the huge missile battleship disappeared in the sky, the Argentine coastline radar positions and air defense positions, command and control systems and airports have become the main target of hundreds of cruise missile attacks.

With the Galileo navigation system, the launched cruise missiles found their targets as if they had eyes, and at the same time that the Marshal Mountbatten launched its cruise missiles, the Vulcan Strategic Bomber Wing appeared to add fuel to the fire, launching antiradiation missiles outside of the battle zone and joining in the strikes against Argentine military targets.

Important military targets along the Argentine coast all suffered heavy losses in this round of air strikes, and then it was time for the Royal Air Force and Naval Air Service to make their presence felt, as Rafale fighter-bombers catapulted off three heavy carriers and Typhoon fighters from airfields in the Falkland Islands entered the scene after the precision strikes, and began to indiscriminately bombard what remained of Argentina’s military targets.

On this day, air-raid sirens resounded through the major cities of Argentina, a spectacle the country had never seen since its emergence.

But this was just the beginning of a month-long strategic air campaign, which was like a re-emergence of the strategic bombing of Germany, as British planes after British planes invaded Argentina’s sacred airspace and bombed the country indiscriminately.

The Argentine Air Force, which had been on the mind of the supreme authority in London even before the war began, bravely took to the skies to meet the invaders of their country, and the Argentine coast became the site of the engagements between the air forces of both sides. The Argentine Air Force was supposed to discover in the midst of this war that ultra-low altitude raids could elude the radar of the Navy, but Britain, or a certain civil servant, simply didn’t give that a chance.

Back to the traditional air war, the level of the two air forces is directly high and low, after the Middle East war, because by the United States long arm jurisdiction a little, the British re-promote the sky flash program, this one air-to-air missiles also in the Argentine air force on the application of the Argentine air force.

Argentina is equipped with the A-4 attack aircraft is the fifties of the United States of America’s old models, super military flag fighter is the sixties of the French products, Mirage 3 fighters are also ten years ago the main type of France, the face of the United Kingdom’s Rapids carrier aircraft have a clear gap, let alone the Royal Air Force’s baby Typhoon fighters.

After the cruise missile strikes and RAF bombardment, two days of engagement down, the Argentine Air Force’s 3rd Attack Group, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Fighter Groups were either destroyed at the military bases or became the RAF’s battles in the midst of the air war.

“Ha, the Argentine Air Force might as well be using WWI wooden propeller fighters, at least we can’t lock onto them.”

Getting the battle report of the Argentine Air Force’s de facto total annihilation, Alan Wilson was quite happy and didn’t feel at all that there was anything wrong with beating up the little kids, “Leak it out to public opinion right away, and let them be as happy as they like as to whether it’s an exchange ratio of one to one hundred or one to two hundred.”

Cruise missiles coupled with strategic bombing, the Argentine Air Force became the most direct casualty, by now, Alan Wilson only slightly found the British Empire.