Anniversary of two battles today

April the Second is the anniversary of at least two battles in which the British were successful.
The Battle of Copenhagen, 1801, where Admiral Nelson defeated the Danes. That was the battle where Nelson placed a telescope against his blind eye and claimed not to see his superior officer's signal.
The Battle of Gingindlovu, 1879, where the British Army defeated the Zulus. It's not one of the famous battles, probably because nobody made a film about it and Michael Caine didn't look all heroic. It was important at the time, though.

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wonkywinky · 51-55, M

Also the invasion of the Falklands in 1982.

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@wonkywinky Thank you. Thatcher's War, as my son called it.

wonkywinky · 51-55, M

@MandyMitchell Not really,it was Gen Galtieris' war.

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@wonkywinky We all knew it was coming and Thatcher allowed it to happen - she could have sent down a couple of ships and a company of RM or infantry a month earlier and the Argentines would never have tried.

wonkywinky · 51-55, M

@MandyMitchell Possibly.I guess you might say that would have been provocative?But certainly,a navy force could have been sent to defend the approaches.Nice juicy landing ships full of sea sick Argentine conscripts going to the bottom would sure have turned public opinion against the Junta.

barney1 · M

@MandyMitchell but it didnt suit Thatcher to do it,

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@barney1 Exactly - she needed a little war to keep herself in power- and hundreds of men died and hundreds more were wounded to keep an extremely unpleasant woman in power.

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wonkywinky · 51-55, M

@MandyMitchell At the time i always thought we should have bombed the Argentine naval bases on the mainland.I still dont get why they didnt do that.That would have basically isolated the Falklands garrison from supplies and maybe also air cover if they hit their mainland airfields.Thus saving lots of British lives.

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@wonkywinky I suspect the government wanted to keep the war withing certain boundaries - only on the islands rather than expand operations to the Argentine mainland. Obviously, I don't know really.