Across the literary pages: 30 years on

It is 30 years since the Falklands war, and a flush of anniversary memoirs is being published. The best of the bunch is Down South, by former navy man Chris Parry. We’ll have an interview with Parry later this week; but, in the meantime, here’s Max Hastings (£), who made his name reporting on the war, on Parry’s account:

‘The SAS — “a strange lot” in Parry’s words — may indeed be the best of its kind in the world, but its institutional conceit creates problems both on and off the battlefield. At South Georgia, in the first British attempt to take back territory, the SAS’s insouciant insistence on landing on the Fortuna Glacier on April 21 in appalling Antarctic weather almost caused a disaster, especially when two helicopters crashed rescuing them. This was followed by an ignominious foray in inflatable boats, where again only a miracle averted tragedy. South Georgia fell four days later after the helicopter in which Parry was serving attacked an Argentine submarine with depth charges.