Logistics in the Falklands War

By Kenneth L. Privratsky

While many books have been written on the Falklands War, this is the first to focus on the vital aspect of logistics. The challenges were huge; the lack of preparation time; the urgency; the huge distances involved; the need to requisition ships from trade to name but four.

After a brief discussion of events leading to Argentina's invasion the book describes in detail the rush to re-organise and deploy forces, despatch a large task force, the innovative solutions needed to sustain the Task Force, the vital staging base at Ascension Island, the in-theatre resupply, the set-backs and finally the restoring of order after victory.

Had the logistics plan failed, victory would have been impossible and humiliation inevitable, with no food for the troops, no ammunition for the guns, no medical support for casualties etc.

The lessons learnt have never been more important with increasing numbers of out-of-area operations required in remote trouble spots at short notice. The Falklands experience is crucial for the education of new generations of military planners and fascinating for military buffs and this book fills an important gap.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Aug 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473843080

Kenneth L. Privratsky

Major General (Retd) Kenneth L. Privratsky served in the US Army infantry in Vietnam before becoming a logistician. A graduate of the Airborne and Ranger Schools, he gained multiple academic degrees, an honorary doctorate, and taught at West Point. He served as a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. The Defense Logistics Agency inducted him into its Hall of Fame and recently named a new headquarters building in his honor. His work Logistics in the Falklands War (Pen and Sword Military, 2014) has been reprinted numerous times and is recommended US military reading. A keen fisherman, he and his wife, Kathy, live mainly in Alaska but travel widely

Reviews for Logistics in the Falklands War

[jztemple · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book is excellent, the author is a retired US Major General whose specialty was logistics and this book is an expansion of a couple of professional papers written while in service. As he explains in the preface, he wrote the book with an eye towards a more general (no pun intended!) audience with an interest in military history and it is quite readable, although some basic understanding of military terms and structure would be very helpful. Also if you aren't familiar with the Falklands War it wouldn't hurt to brush up on it via the internet beforehand. Otherwise however it is very readable and extremely interesting even if you don't happen to have an interest in logistics in war (like I do!).