The fate of Thatcher’s task force was touch and go. If one of the aircraft carriers had been knocked out, or if the Argentine's had effectively opposed the amphibious landing at San Carlos, Britain’s attempt to recapture her long-faded imperial ‘glory’ would have been doomed. Furthermore, if the British Army had not managed to fight their way through the mountains that protected Stanley so rapidly, hundreds of people would have frozen to death in the snow.

• Mark Halliley