The Battle for Goose Green has become an integral part of the Falklands story and yet it nearly didn't take place at all. Originally embarded to be isolated, Goose Green was eventually attacked due to the loss of momentum in the invasion force. The British 2 Para Regiment were deployed, against 12th Argentinean Regiment which numbered about 1,200 men; the British believed that the Argentinean force numbered at least half this and set off with a strength of c. 690 men. They took two days's rations, weapons and ammunition in the belief that it woud be a swift conquest. There followed a bitter and bloody fight, as the Argentine forces fiercely defended Goose Green. Despite reconnaissance, the British were hampered by trench systems that they had been unaware of. Eventually the Argentines were forced to surrender, with 961 men captured, 145 taken prisoner during the fighting and 47 killed. It was the first major engagement of the Falklands War.

GREGORY FREMONT-BARNES holds a doctorate in Modern History from Oxford University and has served as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He has written extensively on a broad range of military history, including Battle Story: Goose Green 1982, Waterloo 1815 and The Falklands 1982: Ground Operations in the South Atlantic, as well as editing Armies of the Napoleonic Wars and the three-volume Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars .