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Category: Cold War

Falkland Islands Defence Force

This article has also been published in the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers Journal.

In 1854, during the Crimean War, a volunteer unit was formed in the Falkland Islands to guard against Russian invasion. This unit was commonly known as the Stanley Volunteers, but had no official title. In 1891 a Chilean steamer, with 200 armed men aboard, called at Port William for repairs. The presence of so many armed men was considered to be a threat to the islands, and so the governor, Sir Roger Goldsworthy, formed the Falkland Islands Volunteers, with an initial strength of 37 men, to provide the islands with an indigenous defence force. The men of the unit were sworn in at a ceremony at Government House in June 1892.

An Ineffective System: The M247 Sergeant York

This article has also been published in the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers Journal.

Background

In the late 1960’s, helicopters with anti-tank missiles started to be deployed, and a new tactic known as a “pop-up” was developed. The helicopter would hover behind cover, then climb just high enough to fire a missile, before dropping down behind cover again. Newer missiles such as the American TOW allowed the helicopter to perform such a manoeuvre quickly, limiting it’s exposure to enemy fire. By 1977, the Soviets had introduced the 9K114 Shturm missile (known to NATO as the AT-6 Spiral), which had a range of 5km.