Soldier B: Heroes of the South Atlantic by Shaun Clarke

Author:Shaun Clarke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1993-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

‘I’ve called this briefing,’ Captain Grenville said in the ladies’ toilet of the Resource, ‘because we’re going in on another urgent recce.’

Corporal Jock McGregor and troopers Taff Burgess and Gumboot Gillis glanced at one another with the air of men being offered a release from prison. They were also pleased to be given the chance to do something, now that the war with Argentina had truly begun.

The day after Ricketts and his patrol had been inserted on East Falkland, the British submarine HMS Conqueror had sunk the Argentinian heavy cruiser the General Belgrano. This had led to jubilation among the members of the fleet, but this was brutally extinguished when, two days later, an Exocet missile fired from an Argentinian Super Etendard warplane sank HMS Sheffield, resulting in many British dead and wounded. During that time three British Harriers were also lost, one shot down, two colliding over the sea. The war with Argentina was well and truly engaged, making the frustrated members of the SAS itch to take part and make amends for their own recent disasters.

‘The various recce patrols of East Falkland,’ Captain Grenville continued, ‘produced enough intelligence to enable us to launch a major offensive against the island as the first step on the road to Port Stanley. The intended landing beaches are at San Carlos Water, on the west coast of East Falkland, but before the landings can take place we have to destroy any Argentinian aircraft that are within range of the beaches. At the moment, all we know is that those aircraft are based on a grass strip near the only settlement on Pebble Island.’

‘Our destination,’ Jock said.

‘Exactly.’

‘Do we know anything else about the aircraft?’ Gumboot asked, scratching the broken nose that lent a distorted appearance to his ferret-like face.

‘Only that they include 1A-58 Pucara ground-attack planes built in Argentina for use against lightly armed forces. Each carries 20mm cannons, four 7.62mm machine-guns and bombs or rockets, all of which can be used when flying slowly, to strafe our ground troops.’

‘How many?’ Taff Burgess asked, rubbing his big belly and offering the other two his familiar, distant smile.

‘That’s what we have to find out.’

‘Then we destroy them.’

‘No. Then we report back here. Once we’ve brought the intelligence back, the green slime will decide the next course of action.’

‘Shit,’ Jock said, then coughed into his fist and glanced around him. It was difficult to breathe in the toilet because of the dense cigarette smoke, most of which came from the constantly burning fags of the radio operatives set up near the toilet booths. ‘Hell of a place for our base,’ Jock observed. ‘Makes me feel right queer, boss.’

‘Maybe that’s because you are queer,’ Gumboot responded.

‘Yes, dear,’ Taff said.

‘Come on, men, cut the bullshit,’ Captain Grenville said. ‘We’ve no time to spare.’

‘So what do we know about Pebble Island?’ Jock asked sensibly.

‘We believe there’s a radar station on the island, although electronic checks have shown that if there is one, it’s not being operated. However,

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