ABSTRACT
There could be no rest after 15 June. The fighting had ended suddenly. The campaign had been demanding, requiring that troops endure dreadful and physically draining conditions with brief but intense and often vicious moments of combat. Now they had to switch to the post-war tasks of managing prisoners and generally helping put the Falklands together again. Most arrived at Stanley hungry and with little food and water of their own. The small town, with many houses destroyed, could barely cope with the influx. The filtration plant had been damaged during shelling and there was no fresh water. Not surprisingly a degree of looting went on, largely but not solely from Argentine stores. The combination of the lifting tension and the arrival into Stanley of the troops did not always produce the best behaviour. Thompson later recalled:
I had to get the COs in and line them all up to read the Riot Act. Careful and diplomatic work by 3 Commando Brigade’s police sorted it outMPs from outside would certainly have caused a riot. I banned everyone from the streets of Port Stanley-including myself.
