ABSTRACT
During the late afternoon of 31 March 1982, ministers received an intelligence report indicating that an Argentine Task Force expected to reach Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, in the early hours of Friday 2 April. Admiral Sir Henry Leach, the First Sea Lord, told them that little could be done to prevent the Argentine occupation but that with sufficient effort repossession was possible. This would require as powerful a force as Britain could muster, with both available aircraft carriers, a full complement of escorts, an amphibious capability and a commando brigade. If it could be despatched within a few days, after three weeks it would reach the Falkland Islands. The Government decided to send such a force.
