My Friends, The Enemy: Life in Military Intelligence During the Falklands War

by Nick van der Bijl

Overview

My Friends, The Enemy recounts the Falklands War from the viewpoint of the only Intelligence Corps serving with Intelligence Section, HQ 3 Commando Brigade. It is a personal account supported by intelligence comment assembled since 1982. Although Nick van der Bijl was a Staff Sergeant, his role, as part of the Intelligence Corps, meant that he was expected to provide expert intelligence to Brigade Headquarters about the Argentines. The fact that initially he knew nothing about them meant that he was very heavily involved in collecting and collating that intelligence from a variety of sources, including information from UK and after landing documents, prisoners of war and local people. The intelligence proved to be very accurate throughout the campaign. Controversially, the intelligence provided to 2nd Parachute Battalion at Goose Green was largely rejected in favor of less accurate information supplied by the SAS. Van der Bijl was one of the first into Port Stanley after the Argentine surrender and was part of an intelligence operation to search enemy HQs for documents, select several hundred Argentine officers for further interrogation before repatriation and interview several civilians as part of a counter-intelligence operation. My Friends, The Enemy is the first time that intelligence operations has been told by a prime witness to events from the start of the campaign to the finish.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781445694184
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	02/15/2020
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nick van der Bijl served 24 years as a Regular in the British Army in armor, military intelligence and security and finally as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army. He saw active service in Northern Ireland and with the 3rd Commando Brigade during the Falkland conflict. He is the Senior Producer and Writer for Brush Fire Films.

Table of Contents

Author's Acknowledgements 7

Prologue 9

Foreword by Major General Julian Thompson 12

1 Plymouth 15

2 Portsmouth to Ascension Island 35

3 Ascension Island 50

4 The Defence of Las Malvinas 70

5 Down South 85

6 San Carlos Water 117

7 Breakout 141

8 The Battle of Goose Green 159

9 After Goose Green 171

10 Teal Inlet 194

11 Mount Kent 208

12 The Liberation of Port Stanley 225

13 Homeward Bound 258

14 The End and Reflections 274

Index 281