Falkland Islands in T2K

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Thanks for the history lesson, Russ. I've read Max Hastings' book on the Falklands War a couple of times but I didn't know about all of the previous 20th century Argentine attempts to reclaim the islands.

No problem. I just hope it didn't come across as patronising. I seem to recall seeing a documentary once where an Argentinian said that kids there are taught that Britain stole the islands from Argentina years ago, and that most Argentinians feel very strongly that they should be returned. On the other hand, in 1982 very few Brits knew where they were. I was 12 when the Argentinians invaded, and remember wondering how they'd managed to get an invasion force to Scotland without being noticed

I guess it's pretty safe to assume, then, that post TDM (or possibly sooner), the Falklands would once again become the Islas Malvinas.[/QUOTE]
The v2 timeline says that Argentina invaded and took over the islands in 1997, but withdrew their forces in 1998 to reinforce the Brazil front.

I agree with Targan that the islanders probably wouldn't starve. As I wrote in the T2K wiki article

The islanders were in a relatively good position to cope with the effects of the war. The Islands had a population of about 3,000. Sheep farming (there were over 500,000 sheep on the islands at the start of the Twilight War) and fishing were the main industries. The Islands were already largely self-sufficient, so being cut off from the rest of the world had relatively little effect on them. They did rely on outside help for some medical care, however (there is a hospital in Stanley, though no ophthalmologists or opticians).

[Rainbow Six]

I'd tend to agree with Targan / Russ that the islanders would be fairly self sufficient.

Militarily, I go with canon (more or less) and have a Territorial Army Infantry Battalion replace the garrison's Regular Infantry so the Regulars can be redeployed to Europe, although I'd probably keep the other elements of the Regular garrison in place (e.g. Royal Artillery Air Defence Troop, Royal Engineers Squadron). I'd also retain the resident RAF Flight of four F3 Tornados (1435 Flight of memory serves?), but any Naval assets would be required elsewhere I would think.

Re what happens in 97 / 98, I must confess I hadn't really given it much thought up until now...from what I know I agree with the viewpoint that seizing the Falklands is engrained deep into the Argentinean culture, so no matter how strategically unsound such a move might be they'd be liable to give it a go if they could. The only thing I could see deterring them would be the presence of a British submarine, which would be able to send any invasion fleet to the bottom of the South Atlantic. But accepting that the Royal Navy can't keep an SSN on station off the Falklands forever as WW3 rages, yeah, I reckon the Argentineans would be able to make their move and get away with it.

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by avantman42

The v2 timeline says that Argentina invaded and took over the islands in 1997, but withdrew their forces in 1998 to reinforce the Brazil front.

I think it states rather there was military action, but they didn't take over. The Argentinians withdrew, and the UK Battalion remained.

[Raellus]

Anyone read the first couple of Adrian Mole books by Sue Townsend? This discussion reminds me of Adrian updating his Time's Falkland Islands campaign map.

And the Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go. Apparently it's about the FI war. Note the Spanish stuff at the end of the song.