Too Thin for a Shroud

'One of the best in the field.' JON SNOWOn 8 June, 1982, some 600 troops aged 17-22 were packed closely together on the Galahad at Fitzroy, 3 miles from the front line, to liberate Port Stanley on 10 June. They became the thunderbolt target of Argentine airforce attacks resulting in Britain's most devastating military day since 1945 with additional attacks on two Royal Navy ships, including frigate HMS Portsmouth struck by five 500lbs bombs.Written as a tribute to the bravery of the troops as they suddenly came under attack, this memoir is filled with first-hand recollections from officers under attack. The first history of that fateful day, it is also the first Falklands book based on the official June-Sept 1982 Royal Navy Inquiry, recently declassified and made accessible at Kew Archives. Too Thin for a Shroud casts an unmissable, gripping new light on this dramatic part of the land-campaign that has been misunderstood and overlooked for forty years.

Crispin Black served as platoon commander of the Welsh Guards in the Falklands. He went on to serve in Germany and three tours in Northern Ireland before joining the Cabinet Office as a lieutenant colonel with responsibilities for intelligence and COBRA liaison. He studied at King's College, London, was a Defence Fellow at St John's College, Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He previously wrote the acclaimed 7/7 What Went Wrong? (Gibson Square) and has written for The Times, Guardian, Telegraph and Independent as well as commented on intelligence for Channel 4, BBC, Sky and ITV.