3rd Engineer Officer Christopher Francis HAILWOOD Rank: 3rd Engineer Officer Service: Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship: RFA Sir Galahad Date of death: 8th June 1982 Age at death: 26 Buried: Lived in Farnborough. Mentioned on the Crewe War Memorial Thank you very much for your father's sacrifice and sorry for you loss
Your dad was a hero ❤ I can't quite remember what ship my grandad was on but he saw the Galahad go up. One of dad's current engineers survived but he still has painful memories of the day ❤
@@pimpmydiecastsdiecastandto3176Jajajajaja what a lie. Look 4 the story of Baruzzo and how he killed an english soldier whit a knife at the chest. After killing 4 english to get a comerade to safety. Don't root just for 1 side. We have warriors too and english suffered it
@@gonzaloescalante2627 A LOT THAT HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT THE CONFLICT REPEAT the proppaganda bullshit my friend is a royal marine vet from the conflict and make no mistake they were not all conscripts there were elite units that put up hard fights
Damn this is one good overview, love it Brother, those British have some balls and metal..That was some take back ... Mental strengh and endurance, must of been intense!.. greetings from Brazil
you'll be interested to know that Brazil had a role (kinda) one of the Vulcan bombers that was destined for the islands had to re-route because of issues with the tankers escorting them and it landed in Brazil.
My dad went. He was a Royal Marine Signals Corp engineer and said it was a tough time. He worked under fire while setting communications equipment and cables between temporary operations centres and fought alongside his squad mates. He doesn't talk about it much and has long since retired from the military. He became a Stone Mason when he left and has made several war memorials before retiring from work at the age of 70.
The most mind-boggling story I've found on the Falklands War is a personal one. In the hours before the ceasefire, an extremely bitter battle was fought on the slopes of Mount Tumbledown. Knowing the mountain had to be taken before daylight, because otherwise the Argentinian artillery in Stanley could've started shelling their positions, the Scots Guards bore the brunt of making numerous assaults trying to take it. The one furthest south was led by a young lieutenant who personally led an attack that took out a machine gun nest and three sniper positions. He personally killed just under twenty enemy soldiers. Unfortunately for him, he ran past a fourth concealed sniper on his way to the top of the ridge he was assaulting and this guy fired at him from about thirty yards away, from behind. The 7.62 bullet hit him in the back of the head and came out above his right eyebrow, shattering his skull and causing just under 45% of his brain to evaporate on the spot. He lay in sub-zero temperatures, in the snow, for several hours before a helicopter pilot came in and, under fire and against orders, casevaced several wounded off the side of the mountain (earning the DFC in the process) . Arriving at a field hospital he spent seven or eight further hours in triage, because no-one expected him to live, then was finally treated. Despite losing nearly 45% of his brain to a 7.62 round, he not only lived, but he retained his personality and memory and learned to walk again. The left side of his body is nearly paralysed, but the stubborn bastard somehow learned to walk, by wearing supporting boots to keep his paralysed leg stiff enough. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the Battle of Tumbledown.
Story of Robert Lawrence. It was turned into a made for TV movie in the 80s called "Tumbledown" and featurd British actor Colin Firth. Lawrence himself appeared on British TV and knocked against the side of his head, saying that it was acrylic. video can be found on youtube.
@@Tonydjjokerit Even the Scots unicorn?! Pretty sure that one just screams "See you, Jimmy!" before nutting the target of its ire (after all, Glasgow) ... then probably downs a litre of vodka-irnbru and chomps a deep-fried mars bar!!!
My dad told me story of being in a night club in London at the time, around midnight the DJ cut the music and made the announcement that the union Jack was once again flying over port Stanley. The room went nuts. Such a patriotic moment that stood out for him.
Hey I’m from the Falklands. The conflict was won but remains in everyone’s heart. I was not born when the conflict happened but it is embedded in my history. Keep up the good videos man 👍🏻
In Britain we have great pride in the Falklands, this war is still very fresh in the mind despite other conflicts happening since. Hopefully Falklanders know we will always have your back, and support your sovereignty as a democratic state.
The exclusion zone wasn't there for the benefit of the Argentine Navy it was there for the benefit of neutral navies and civilian shipping. It was so they knew that if they were in the zone they would be assumed to be aiding Argentina and could be boarded or possibly sunk. Britian could have sunk any Argentine combatant ships irrspective of where they were.
He's not, he's spot on the money. It was entirely the right decision to sink her, as her battlegroup, along with a separate group escorting the Argie carrier the 5o de Mayo, was aggressively maneuvering against the British Task force at the time (common misconception that she was trying to clear the area is quite false). Sad as the loss of life was, the shock scared the Argentine Navy, and crucially their carrier with Exocet armed aircraft piloted by incredible pilots, back into port for the duration of the conflict. Had the de Mayo remained at sea it's possible, and even quite likely, that we'd have lost multiple ships, to include heavily packed troop transports, to her aircraft which would have lost us the war before it started. That single ship loss and the resulting fear of our subs enabled our surface Task Force to close with the Islands and act with much greater freedom, and undoubtedly saved many British lives in the process. That's the truth of what really happened.
Splendid had a firing solution on the 5o de Mayo for an extended period but was directly ordered not to take the shot as at the time she was not threatening the Task Force.
@Heather Stephens He's not telling untruths , the position on the exclusion zone was well understood and was re-iterated to the Argentines via the Swiss before the shooting started .
Heather Stephens as a vet I know he is NOT telling untruths. You need to shut up and sit down. If the aircraft carrier hadn’t done a runner back to base that would have been sunk also.
Don't forget the UK "sunk" an Argie submarine on South Georgia with a missile. Also they managed to get a Vulcan bomber to bomb Port Stanley runway, which was an epic feat worth investigating.
And a squad of Royal Marines did heavy damage to an Argentine Navy Corvette with modified Lee enfields, slr's, gpmg's and a carl gustav and LAW rockets.
I landed on the 21st Mau 1982 at Ajax Bay with my Troop 8 Troop Zulu Coy 45 Commando ROYAL MARINES I was the Troop Sgt We then YOMPED from San Carlos via Douglas Settlement and Teal Inlet to the bak ofMt Kent From thee we lanched a night attack on the 11 June on the hills called Two Sisters and eventually got into Stanley to have our FIRST shower sincelandin on 16 th June Where my avatar photo was taen I had one man wounded in the attack I was happy to have been part of it A BEAUTIFUL place
The paras made their bloody eyes water in no uncertain terms. That said I have met a lot with PTSD and other costs associated with that conflict. If you have any issues as a result of the combat please get in touch with combat stress or a veterans centre or myself as I can sign post you.
I actually knew a few guys that fought in the Falklands, one local lad in the Welsh Guards died on the Sir Gallahad troopship, another lost his leg on the Gallahad. A third guy I knew was a bootneck and was ferrying supplies & troops ashore from the Gallahad when she was hit. After using his Dory 'rigid raider' to ferry survivors to shore, boarded the stricken ship and tried to rescue a wounded Guardsman - who had his leg sheared off by a hatch blown off it's mounts, but was beaten back by the flames. Later, while in an aid station with burns, he tried to ram his morphine ampoule into his chest to kill himself, believing he'd left a Guardsman to burn to death... it turned out he was in the adjoining stretcher, having been rescued via another route.
I’m Welsh and I’d proudly fight again for the falklands, and I would fight as a British force. At the end of the day, Britain is our country and we are stronger together
I was down there with the RN. I ended up on a hospital ship after my ship was sunk. There were 4 Argentinian soldiers all with leg wounds alongside me in the ward. They had been shot by the SAS. The funny thing was that they would bury their heads in the sheets out of fear, so all you could see were their eyes peering over the tops of their sheets. We later found out, through the ship's translator, that they were told if they were captured by the British, that they would be eaten. After some time they began to relax when the guys on the ward started sharing their girlie mags with them.
I can remember getting told a similar story in Poole years ago on a gunfire support course to explain why the fire missions may not be crystal clear over the headset, ram that the double well hard bollards
I was 3 years old when my Dad served in the Falklands. He hasn't told me any stories about the Falklands. He has told me a story about his first tour and that was in Northern Ireland. Within days of arrival they had a long convoy he was at the end of. He was directed with another soldier to question a man who had pulled over a car and was watching. As Dad was walking up, the man pulled started shooting at them and someone else threw a grenade. Amazingly, even at short range, he wasn't hit by any bullets but did get thrown by the grenade. We have a photo of Dad taken a few minutes afterward, he looks 14. He waved and smiled for the camera yelling that he still had his bollocks. At the time, that was his biggest fear: losing his bollocks. I think NI was hard on him. His Dad is Catholic from NI and Dad was born over there. I get the impression that the Falkland's were a relief after NI. NI was very personal for him but he had no such issues in the Falkland's. He had a simple objective and could just do his job without second guessing himself.
My dad probably very similar age with a very similar background only his family were from the south, talks and jokes a lot about his army days never Ireland though refuses to even mention it.
As a brit, the falklands war is looked on with pride, we're glad we defended them, especially given the referndum result. It also feels nice that despite how our military power has fallen, whether thats a good or bad thing in these modern times that we showed everyone that we could still defend our people.
@@dianeshelton9592 suspect the 'most people' there is an exaggeration and certainly does not include many others in this comment section, so you might want to keep your opinions to yourself there
diane shelton I think you do realise I was referring to the people who live in the island. You’d rather us let them have the islands even though they said they wanted to be British? Come now, don’t be an idiot
1IbramGaunt most people I know, well EVERY British person I know is proud we defended them. Also any reasonable British person would be, unless your saying that the people on the islands opinions don’t matter?
I remember when Stanley was recaptured, everyone seemed to walk straighter and taller. The pride in the achievement was palpable. You only have to watch the video of the ships arriving back home and see the reception they got.
Such a shame the Marines were given a heroes welcome on board Canberra, but the Paras were flown in to Brize Norton and almost reintroduced through the back door. A friend was in 3 Para and just 17 years old (as were several of the Paras), when he returned, everyone was cheering for the Royal Marines, but the Paras were almost forgotten - the two VCs were both Parachute Regiment.
@@andrewmallard2301 Plus the hardest battles were taken on by the Parachute Regiment. Goose Green was an amazing victory by a mssively outnumbered force of 2 Para. 2 Para were the ONLY unit to fight TWO major battles in this conflict. 2 Para, first to land (except for SAS/SBS) first to fight and first into Port Stanley. 2 Para 74-97.
And without the Royal Navy securing the area around the islands in the first place and providing air cover and ngs neither the Paras or marines would have won anything, there is no ‘i’ in TEAM. RN Crazy Y
Peter Stubbs and everyone else, let’s not be forgetting that the Scots Guards were there please. Mount Tumbledown was taken by the kilt wearing oat meal munching savages from the north. There were also Gurkhas and Welsh Guards present although they were held back (very famous picture of a few Gurkha lads sitting on the side of a helicopter, crying their eyes out because they didn’t get to see action.) and the Welsh Guards had had a terrible time as their troop transport ship Gallahad had been bombed and a number killed and many horribly burnt. 42 Commando were there too. Another amazing story is that when one of the Welsh guards was being treated on the Canberra (converted cruise ship to hospital ship) there was an Argentine soldier in the bed next to him crying out for his mother...in Welsh. He was from Patagonia where the Welsh settled nearly 200 years ago, and they still speak Welsh to this day.
@@firkinflyer and the Royal Air Force. Let's not forget there were RAF pilots flying CAP and attacking ground targets. Don't know whether they were GR3s or Sea Harriers, but RAF pilots, none the less.
Mark Felton has some really good videos about the falklands war, mills marauders and the empire strikes back are about South Georgia. If you’re interested.
@@chickenperson5721 mmm no , it is confirmed that this not the case, they found graves of "Gauchos" (baqueros of Argentine origin) biried on the island a long time before the British arrived ,the ONU it self said from the beginning the islands were Argentine but the British murdered all Argentines of the island to stay ,there is story of "La Gaucha de Malvinas" (the Gaucha of Malvinas) that tells how she saw the first British arrive ,that is ,the island was alredy inhabited by the Argentines long before the British. (Her grave is still in the island)
I was a young lad when the Task Force returned to Plymouth and my Uncle (a retired RAF boat Captain) took me out in the harbour to welcome them home. I also remember seeing a Chinook flying with a Pucara under it. Inspired me to enlist so I spent 22 years in the Infantry as a result.
By far the most British casualties were inflicted by the Argentine Air Force. The Argentine Air Force were extremely well trained, capable and very brave. This was because they had been trained by the British Royal Air Force. In the 1970's Britain and Argentina actually had pretty good relations. Britain greatly helped Argentina upgrade its military. Britain trained Argentina's Air Force, some aspects of it's Navy and it's elite Marine infantry units. Britain along with France had also exported a lot of modern military equipment and technology to Argentina. This created a war where both sides were using large amounts of exactly the same weapons. Most notably both sides used the same Navy Destroyers. The British designed and built Type 42 Destroyer. Such that it's still the only war where both sides had absolutely identical Navy ships. This proved a major disadvantage for Britain. The Argentine Air Force Squadrons which received training in Britain carried out multiple practice attacks against Royal Navy Ships. As such the Argentine Air Force was very familiar with the Royal Navy, and the weaknesses of many of its ships. Especially the weaknesses of the Type 42 Destroyer, given that Argentina had their own identical Type 42s. Many British ships were sunk and damaged by Argentine air attack. The Royal Navy had difficulty repelling these attacks. As both Thatcher's Conservative Government and the previous Labour Government had significantly cut back the entire British military, particularly the Royal Navy's aerial capability. The Royal Navy used to have large Aircraft Carriers, equivalent to USA Aircraft Carriers, capable of launching multiple types of Aircraft. Including super-sonic fighters and airborne early warning radar (AWACS) aircraft. But all of them were scrapped in the 1970s and replaced by much smaller and less capable carriers which could only launch Sea Harrier attack aircraft and helicopters. Due to the small size of the carriers, the number of Sea Harriers taken to the conflict was insufficient. The Sea Harrier while primarily designed as a close air support ground-attack aircraft, proved itself to also be a very effective close-range aerial fighter. However, they were not capable of super-sonic and only had a very short range and endurance. All these disadvantages combined made it impossible for the Sea Harriers to achieve air superiority. Most catastrophic of all was the fact that the Royal Navy no longer had any AWACS aircraft. Detection of enemy Argentine aircraft was nearly totally reliant on Ship mounted radar. The well trained Argentine Air Force flew very low, using the mountains of the Islands, and skimming just above the seawater to mask their detection from the radar of the Royal Navy ships. This meant the Royal Navy often didn't detect Argentine air attacks until they were in the final stages, often just seconds before the missiles or bombs were launched / released. Furthermore, due to the military cutbacks most of the Royal Navy ships also lacked adequate close in weapon defence systems. So many British lives were lost due to the British Government having cut back and neutered the capability of its Royal Navy.
Chile actually provided clandestine support from their long-range radar stations, which was able to provide some more early warning of Argentinian airstrikes, so it wasn't _entirely_ ship mounted radar.
@@GameFreak7744 Yer I did know that. But my comment was already on the long side. So I left it out. Chile provided massive help. I have great appreciation and respect towards them for it. Along with pointing their ground radar towards Argentine airbases. Chile also allowed several secret Royal Air Force (RAF) AWAC aircraft, painted in Chilian colours to fly along and a little bit over the Argentine border. Together they provided a good awareness of when Argentine fighters took off and landed. However, once the fighters left the Argentine coast and flew low over the Atlantic there was no longer any way of keeping track of them. They used the terrain of the Islands as a cover screen from the radars of the Royal Navy fleet. Thus they'd often not be detected by the fleet radars until the last moment. It's was so unfortunate. Had it not been for the military cuts the Royal Navy would've still had its own AWAC aircraft and supersonic F4 Phantoms. Such that the Argentine fighters would've been tracked their entire journey and been easily intercepted long before they got anywhere near British ships. Also. The secret RAF AWAC aircraft were so secret. That apart from a small select amount of personnel. Even the Chilian military weren't aware of them. Such that on one particular night. One of them was almost potentially shot down by Chilian fighter aircraft. The RAF AWAC in question had been detected on radar as an unidentified aircraft heading in from the Argentine border. The only person aware of the RAF AWAC that night was the Radar Room Commander. He had unfortunately chosen that moment to leave the Radar Room for the toilet and to get something to eat. The crew in the room believed the RAF AWAC was a possible hostile Argentine aircraft. They dispatched 2 Chilian fighters, who were close by, to intercept it. The 2 fighters archived missile lock and the RAF AWAC rapidly dived to low level in an attempt to evade them. Fortunately, the Commander then returned to the Radar Room. He immediately realised it was the RAF AWAC that was being targeted and ordered the 2 fighters to stand down.
Thanks for this recognition to our Air Force. I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The war was awful for me, because I saw my mother, a wonderful English lady putting all her English things into a box to never take them out, her picture of Her Majesty the Queen, some mugs with the British flag, and the flag itself, a small one she had on her desk. On the other side, some of my class mates were sent to the islands. Our Air Force reassembled the Mirage engines to gain speed, 50km more per our. The gov. had purchased missils from France, but just the missils, so there weren't enough launchers, so they made low flights under radar detection and throw them by hand. I am still sad almost 40 years later when I think about it. After all this years, I can have the Union Jack in a pillow on my favourite armchair, just to remember where a part of me come from. Regards
@@Andres-xc7de I don't think anyone is hating Argentines as individuals. It's the people in power that start wars but never actually do any fighting themselves. Having travelled a bit we are all pretty much the same regardless of culture and language. I have yet to engage with any culture that doesn't laugh at a loud fart. So we all have that in common. :-)
You should have a look at “ The Battle Of Imjin River”, a brigade took on an army. This was a battle fought during the Korean War and ended with the last stand of the Gloucesters. It was a desperate action.
All the more astounding as it was during the days of National Service, so a fair proportion of the squaddies were conscripts. Definitely a testament to the quality of British Army training. I can't imagine what a grenade duel is like, but apparently they happened a lot in this engagement.
10.000 Chinese against a few hundred British soldiers. The British ran out of ammo early on and resorted to fighting with knives and rocks. When the Chinese captured them they respected them for their heroics and treated them well. Sadly when they were handed over to the North Koreans they were tortured and killed
@@keighlancoe5933 Bit of an overstatement there methinks, 522 men of the Goucesters became POW's, of which some 180 were wounded during the battle. Of those a total of 34 died in captivity, MOST of whom had been seriously injured before being captured, as such their deaths can be attributed to the wounds they had suffered, and not mistreatment at the hands of the North Koreans. Other than those 34 all were returned to Britain after the war. You literally made it sound as if they were all routinely tortured then murdered, which was not the case. While there was a certain amount of mistreatment of POW's by the North Koreans, large scale torture and subsequent murder of UN troops was generally avoided. They were *far* more savage to South Koreans they captured.
The Glorious Glosters and an artillery unit got a meritorious unit award from the US. The Glosters wore this until a regimental amalgamation recently - why would that award not be worn?
The Gloucester Regiment wore cap badges front and back of their berets. Against the French in Egypt they reversed one of their ranks to fight the French from the front and behind.
I worked with a guy that had been a Royal Marine in the campaign, he did his training at age 28, a really tough bugger. He was part of the reserve force and never even left his ship during the fighting. He's always felt bad about it, I think they call it survivor guilt. But I think sitting on a ship that's getting strafed and bombed is tough enough tbh.
Hello sir. I hope you are well and not going stir crazy. Looking forward to the RUC video. Don’t forget the Parachute Regiment, the Ghurkas and the Guards in the Falklands. I served with blokes who fought there. One particular Bloke who was SAS. His stories would curl your hair.
There's some footage on YT following the Ghurkas across the Falklands. They where due to be committed to the fight for Stanley the day after Argentina surrendered. When their officer tells them it's over, they look so pissed off.
Some people wanted to leave the mines, as they kept humans away and animals weren't heavy enough to set them off, creating totally human-free nature reserves. But Britain signed up to a treaty to clear minefields, so there was a legal obligation to do it.
Fun fact: The Belgrano was once the USS Phoenix, a survivor of Pearl Harbour. So technically the last time the British sank an American ship was 1982. Might come in handy in a pub quiz or something ;)
I think some of the ships in the gulf wars were damn near ancient (in military terms) USN destroyers that had been given to Greece and they had replaced them and sold them on. I could be getting my wires crossed though.
Haha yeah I suppose there is always that caveat. Sorry, yes that's what I meant, I wasn't sure there was a distinction, but one has nukes one is just powered by a reactor ? Or are you being pedantic ? Lol
Fascinating fact - British did actually take helicopters to the islands, but the majority were sunk on the ships, before they could be unloaded, so the soldiers had to walk across the islands and the long walk, with all their gear was a surprising challenge
They also ended up with dysentry on the narch efore battle.. there was a lack of fresh water and ghe troops drank black brackish water from peat bogs.. Sterilising tablets did nothing.
Erm... sort of, but not quite. Most British ships had Helicopters, but the heavy lift helicopters that were supposed to transport the Marines and Paras once the beachhead had been fully established were all carried on the Atlantic Conveyor. Which of course was sunk by exocet early on, and before they could get more than a couple of the heavy lift Helicopters unloaded. So not sunk on the ships, but on *a* ship..... The helicopters most of the ships carried were not really suitable for heavy lift or troops transport (which is what the aircraft on the Atlantic Conveyor were for). The (I think two) helicopters that survived were so busy ferrying equipment and supplies that they could not carry out the original plan of leapfrogging the Para's and Marines by airlift, hence why they had to walk.
All the Chinooks except one were sunk. There was a documentary in the UK about the one that survived, callsign Bravo November, and it is still, much upgraded, in action Well worth a look press.discovery.com/uk/dsc/programs/bravo-november/ or alternatively en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravo_November
The Light Cruiser the Brit's sunk, The Belgrano actually started life as the USS Phoenix, she was the only US Navy surface combat ship that managed to sail out of Pearl Harbour unscathed during the 1941 Japanese attack, surviving numerous engagements in WWII only to be sunk by WWII vintage heavy unguided torpedo's (smaller modern torp's would barely have dented her belt armour) fired by a nuclear submarine 41 years later!
As a Brit I remember the sinking of the Belgrano very well.Many people here in the UK thought that maybe this was not the correct thing to do and cast doubt on our policy over the Falklands. However it soon passed and we proceeded to recover our islands as we all knew we would ( with help from our American friends ).Pity it had to come to war over a patch of rough land at the bottom of the world but the people wanted to stay British and we knew MRs T would not let them down.
Interesting story about HMS Conqueror and those torpedoes too Pete. She was actually the trials boat for the new Tigerfish system that had not yet entered service when redeployed to the Falklands and so had the RN's most advanced homing torpedoes aboard, live, and ready for use. However, the Captain did not trust them at all as new fangled tech prone to going wrong, and so he closed to knife fighting range and sunk Belgrano with an old fashioned spread of WW2 straight runners as you say. Goes to show, when it counts, keep it simple and go with what you know.
Also, it was entirely the right decision to sink her, as her battlegroup, along with a separate group escorting the Argie carrier the 5o de Mayo, was aggressively maneuvering against the British Task force at the time (common misconception that she was trying to clear the area is quite false). Sad as the loss of life was, the shock scared the Argentine Navy, and crucially their carrier with Exocet armed aircraft piloted by incredible pilots, back into port for the duration of the conflict. Had the de Mayo remained at sea it's possible, and even quite likely, that we'd have lost multiple ships, to include heavily packed troop transports, to her aircraft which would have lost us the war before it started. That single ship loss and the resulting fear of our subs enabled our surface Task Force to close with the Islands and act with much greater freedom, and undoubtedly saved many British lives in the process.
Actually the MK8 torpedos used by HMS Conqureror were considerably older than World War 2 (and General Belgrano) entering service in 1927, they were trusted by the commanding officer of the submaine as a reliable weapon that would work well whilst he only had a limited supply of tigerfish guided torpedoes and he was concerned that they may malfunction and also that he may need them if he encountered Argentinian Submarines known to be in the area (one of which was later caught on the surface and beached in south Georgia, the other conducted attacks on the british task group and was probably detected but it wasn't recognised at the time - one of her torpedos probably destroyed a towed sonar, she also experienced problems with her modern torpedo system - leads were connected with revered polarity). Ironically given the captains faith in the MK8s a dent was later found in the side of one of the destroyers escorting the Belgrano and her position at the time fits with the area into which the torpedos would have overrun - therefore one failled to explode (and would have probably sunk the Argentinian destroyer) one of the reasons for the loss of life was the speed with which the ship sank - her watertight doors were either not closed (which seems incredible for a warship at sea in wartime) or not sufficiently maintained another was that one of the first torpedoes to hit destroyed the radio room so no Mayday was sent, the conditions were so bad at the time that it was 20minutes before her escorts realised she'd been attacked and went back to pick up survivours - Conqueror had solutions plotted on them but did not fire once it became apparent that they were rescuing the survivours. Just to correct another post above Argentina only had 5 exocet missiles during the war, all were fired, they atempted to buy more but France refused to sell them, British intelligence also went out and bought as many as they could from other countries, outbidding the argentinians (and probably using other methods) successfully preventing them from acquiring any more - the Super Entendards that carried them (systems integration provided by the Israelis) could not operate from the 5 de Mayo carrier at the time and were purely land based with air to air refueling, the Carrier operated the A4 skyhawk and at one point was in position to launch an attak on the british Carrier group but the wind over the deck was too light for her to be able to launch them - it would have been the first carrier battle since the second world war. She was then detected (accounts vary) by a British Sea Harrier on reconaisance and ran for the Argentinian coast whist submarines atempted to intercept her, due to the need to evade argentian ASW they were unable to get in position in time. Actually an invasion had been planned in 1977 and a force started to build but but an attack submarine was sent to position herself between Argentina and the Falklands and the Argentinian government informed that she would attack any invasion force which led to it being cancelled. One other detail - when declaring the TEZ (total exclusion zone) it was stated that any ship in that radius from the falklands would be fired on - actually not in keeping with international law as firing on a civilian ship would be against IHL however it was more a matter of practicality in that it would be very difficult to confirm identitiy before firing, actually the result of this was that no insurance company would insure ships within the TEZ and so all merchant shipping kept clear, the same declaration however also stated that the UK reserved the right to fire on any Argentinian military vessel anyhwere in the south atlantic, so whether the belgrano was inside or outside of the TEZ is essentially unimportant. As for it being an "undeclared war" IHL is quite clear that war does not need to be declared for a state of war to exist. There are also some comments about the degree of US support during the Falklands, the US was in a bit of a hard place as it had supported the Argentinian government (indeed this is probably why Soviet Russia did not oppose the UK's resolution in the UN - as well as seeing lots of UK forces beaten up in the South Atlantic being entirely in their interest), some within the administration wanted to support Argentina because of this, in the end though Regan decided to support Britain, AIM-9L sidewinders were taken from NATO Stocks by britain (although probably not too consequential as the sea harrier pilots were used to the AIM-9J and all shots in the Falklands were taken within that missiles parameters) these were replaced via a new order to the US. The US provided sattelite intelligence (as well reportedly of some Russian Satellite reconaisance after they were hacked into by the Norwegians - possibly with russian knowledge - who knows!) and the USAF base on Ascension island was used extensively (actually the USAF report on the logistics of the falklands war - on the internet now is interesting reading, they were very impressed with the adapatability of the UK forces - for example when there was a problem truking enough jet fuel from the port in ascencion to the base the British laid a pipeline :-)). All in all it's such a shame so many lives had to be lost fighting over islands in the middle of nowhere to end up in the same situation as before between what had historically been two friendly nations. It's largely forgotten now but Britain and Argentina had a long history of friendship and cooperation - some of the first ships to arrive with beef after the end of world war 2 were from Argentina, Britain sent trains to pay for them the Falklands issue largely didn't exist until it was stoked up by Peron to help himself win power. Sorry for the long and disjointed post but hopefully you found it interesting.
I was 19 years of age when I went to war in the Falklands. I was a Royal Marine and this was my baptism of fire. Afterwards, I never worried or, took anything in life seriously. I enjoy my days here on this plain when others were cut too short, and I'm thankful for this.
Being an ex soldier in the british infantry Im happy your taking your time to look in to your cousins across the pond! having been stationed in the falklands myself and having done the long march over that terrain I can say it is one of the worst places I've ever conducted exercises (id rather a month in Brecon or otterburn!) truly were tough men back then!
"The First Casualty - The Untold Story of the Falklands War" The 57 Royal Marines of Naval Party 8901 defending the Falklands fired 6500 rounds of ammunition 5 AT rounds and 7 LAWs, at the 600+ invading Argentinian forces who were equipped with helicopters and twenty LVTP-7A1 tracked amphibious armoured personnel carriers. After engaging the enemy and inflicting heavy losses they then made a tactical withdrawal, without loosing any men. On their return however: The General Belgrano ( formerly the USS Phoenix CL-46 a survivor of Pearl Harbor )and her Task Group 79.3 were the Southern half of an Argentinian pincer attack on the British task force. The Northern group Task Group 79.1 included the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo that had once served in the the Royal Navy as HMS Venerable. Task Group 79.4 consisted of three A69 corvettes and following the air strike, were to launch Exocet MM38 missiles from over twenty miles away. On 1 May 1982, the Argentine Submarine ARA San Luis began the attack and launched 3 torpedo attacks whilst the carrier attempted to launch six A-4Q Skyhawk jets against the Royal Navy Task Force but by 3:15 pm light winds prevented the heavily loaded jets from being launched. The British had assigned HMS Splendid] a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary and located ship on the 23rd of April but were not authorized to attack. Failing to launch her aircraft the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo had to abandon the attack being forced to leave the area when one of her escort ships detected an approaching Sea Harrier. On the 2nd May HMS Conqueror sank the General Belgrano using three obsolete MK VIII torpedoes (an extremely austere "economy of force') preventing further attempts by the Argentinian surface fleet to engage the Royal Navy. If the Commanders had been given permission to sink the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo it could have caused many more casualties and an ignominious ending for HMS Venerable instead of the tragic end for the USS Phoenix.
The First Casualty has many, many mistakes about the casualties, I got pictures and videos of both the LCVP and LVTP-7 that were supposedly destroyed and they don't have battle damage: tfcdissected.blogspot.com/2020/04/welcome.html
There is some interesting analysis in that book on the actions of SBS during and after the invasion. Actions never admitted by the British government who hoped it would all just go away. Also an interesting account of how the Agentinians tried to hide the extent of the damage caused by the Royal Marines and the SBS which would have been very bad news got Galtieri back home.
Hey, hope you are keeping safe? I served in the Grenadier Guards and when I was training at the Guards Depot in 1986, a number of my instructors had served in the Falklands War with the Scots Guards, Welsh Guards and Blue and Royals as well as with 22 Special Air Regiment. If you get chance, check out the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, where the Scots Guards faced the Argentinian Marines. A brutal story, but well worth leaning about! Thanks for the video!
Hi Darrell thanks for the mention I served with Left Flank 2nd Battalion Scots Guards in the Falklands we often get over looked,the Welsh Guards and Gurkhas too,5 Brigade.
My mate's stepfather fought with one of the Guards regiments (can't remember which) on Tumbledown. He's the most softly spoken and unassuming bloke you could ever wish to meet... but in the back of my mind, I'll always know all those years ago he's a guy that took the order "fix bayonets!" and go in hand-to-hand. Massive respect!
I was 28 at that time, I got so annoyed at seeing on the news the 200 British soldiers being paraded by the Argies with their hands up and looking dejected.It was Rex Hunt that ordered the troops to surrender due to overwhelming force. But, look at what impact they had on the invaders. By mid June that was righted, now it's the British who were parading totally demoralised Argentian forces. Much praise to ALL UK forces. God Bless the Gurkhas. Thank you NZ & Australia for offers of help. God Save The Queen. And special thanks to Maggie Thatcher, without her iron will who knows what would have happened.
This is super refreshing man, I've seen a lot of Military Personnel on the internet badmouthing other countries Military and other units in their Military, it's great to see the amount of respect you show to everyone!
Was an amazing time, I was only 13, it re-energised the UK, and our economy started to fly soon afterwards. I remember seeing on TV, all those UK industries, companies, small/medium businesses, corporations etc, giving food and vast supplies to the task force for FREE, the whole country came together! But spare a minute for all those that died, on both sides.
That was a 'typical' case proving that The British Soldiers are not 'deployed' but unleashed! - should have taken 15 mins - took those in command 45 mins to get the lads back! lol
From what I understand, "Here, have some weapons" included diverting deliveries of the latest Sidewinder air-to-air missiles from the USAF to the Royal Navy.
Oh really?! Try telling that to Simon Weston and the rest of the guys from The RFA Sir Galahad. I’m quite sure that they’ll be happy to set you straight on that one so that you do realise. *SBSS* Nuff said.
i used to go on holiday every summer up there in the late 70s with the scouts. we would run into soldiers from time to time. ya it was wet and windy in summer god knows what it was like in winter. still had a lot of fun camping.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned previously but you might want to look up the story of how the airfield at Port Stanley was bombed by aircraft (Avro Vulcans) that flew from the UK with refuelling on the way there and back.
Some of the most tragic stories of the Falklands war concern the Argentinian conscripts who were minimally trained, weren't provided with adequate clothing, were poorly fed and housed, and often treated harshly by their commanders. I saw an interview with one who said he and his fellow conscripts were flown in without knowing where they were going, had no idea until they got there that the islands even existed, and once they arrived weren't told the reason why they were there. He said the place was a cold, windy, and barren wasteland out in the middle of the ocean and that no Argentinian would be insane enough to want to live there, and so they couldn't figure out why it was worth invading and setting up a military occupation of a few sheep farms. Despite the cost on both sides, two good things came out of the war. The islands were restored to the people who actually lived there, and the same people in Argentina who cheered the military Junta when they invaded the islands went on to overthrow it after the islands were lost.
They were well clothed, their boots were way better than ours and their jackets were warm. They seemed to have canned goods and pasta left in the trenches, what I didn't see was any means of cooking the stuff. Also personal admin was bad, latrines all around the trenches. The trenches were well sited, but badly constructed. The trenches had no form of duck boards to get your feet out of the water and the trench sides were not reveted in any way, hence you got wet if touched the sides. They also had no water points - amazing what you pick up in 30 seconds! Remember, these trenches at Goose Green were 3k (2 mile) in depth and we had to fight every bloody inch of the 3K. When they surrendered at Goose Green, about 1,200 came out to the runway - so much for a re-enforced battalion.
i saw a really interesting play about the falklands from the perspective of a farmer on the island. The whole play was performed by 2 people and my god was it amazing. It showed all the struggles the civilians had to go through, including helping the British army with maps and traversing the hills, as the farmers knew the place like the back of their hands. It was refreshing to see it from a different point of view rather than the bias of either a British soldier or an Argentinian soldier.
They were there and were outstanding. Spearheading most contacts is not correct. Each unit had its AO and missions. Did the Paras spearhead tumbledown? The nailed goose green for sure.
"I didn't know penguins exist in S. America" Funnily enough, it is land mines that have helped with this. Penguins are light enough to not set them off, which pretty much keeps them protected on some of these islands near south america. They also fall over backwards looking up as jets fly overhead, it is quite adorable
I remember from some book that members of the SAS ended up at a US military base en route. When the US soldiers learned why they were there and what lay ahead of them they bent over backwards to help. At the time the SAS were not issued cutting edge weapons. They left the US base loaded with the personal weapons and equipment from many of the soldiers. Brothers in arms.
Mate I just don't buy that, the SAS had Heckler & Koch MPA53s in the Iranian Embassy siege a couple of years earlier, which were cutting edge weapons, at least for that type of combat, obviously not for the Falklands. Nevertheless although I don't know for sure they would most likely have been well equipped for the Falklands and could have taken AR-15s if these had been deemed suitable for the operation.
@@simonh6371 Yea, both the Paras and the Marines- and especially the SAS & SBS were extensively trained for cold weather warfare and trained in northern Norway three months a year. Their weapons would have been suitable for the conditions on the Falklands. In fact Julian Thompson and the planners of the brigade counted on the Argies not being prepared for cold weather war, while the professional British soldiers were, and planned the invasion site accordingly; reckoning that the Argies would not venture out of the cities, while their soldiers would excell in the harsh climate- being used to it.
Those minefields were due to be completely cleared by about April this year until Covid-19 struck, but it will probably still be completed this year, a British company with Zimbabwean Deminers are cllose to achieving what many thought could nver be achieved as the minefields lay in peat belts and tended to shift about...
years agoi worked with an ex-marine cammando who was 18 when he went over there. .told me that, the call to fix bayonets (first time since WW2) went out.. and hand to hand fighting, he see a couple of his guys bashing the argies with their helmets, and watching them burn due to the phospherus grenades they thew into their positions..ptsd started to effect him in his 40s, long after he left due to breaking his back from a bad parachute landing...lovely guy
Funnily enough, Thatcher actually agreed when he asked, but the leader of Argentina realised that Britain publicly saying they're handing it over wouldn't help his propaganda, so he refused to negotiate, which is what tilted American neutrality towards the UK, when before their policy was aimed towards rewarding Argentina for their aggression to prevent Soviet influence spreading to South America. Funnily enough, ex-president Obama and nearly-president Hillary Clinton also offered similar sentiments, tilting towards Argentina on the issue and Biden has shown little but disdain for Britain, so I hope CAC's sentiments don't just lie with him.
The Seven-years-war was an all out war in Europe between the mayor powers, for us the american theatre was just a sideshow. Thats why it is not called the french-indian war in Europe
There also was also plenty of fighting between colonies in Africa, South America, and Asia. It was a war between European powers, but otherwise it really was an early World War.
You should look at the Battles that happened in The Falklands Islands The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was like something out of the 19th Century Bagpipes & Bayonets... literally 1st Battalion Scots Guards The true story would give you goose bumps
The Kiwis were like "You need some shups ma'am? We've got shups." Regarding the victorious sinking of the ARA General Belgrano... Most of the Argentine sailors died in the liferafts from hypothermia due to poor training. They didn't inflate the floors of the liferafts that would have offered insulation. This type of poor training was typical of a lot of the Argentine military.
According to the book "The First Casualty" by Ricky D Phillips, 57 Royal Marines of Naval Party 1801 caused absolute havoc and carnage using Milan, 66mm LAW, SLRs and GPMG. They destroyed several armoured vehicles and caused over 100 casualties before being ordered to stand down by Governor Rex Hunt. They laid down their arms as instructed and were generally well treated by those on whom they'd inflicted a spectacular bloody nose. Most of them went back with the RM Commandos who returned to retake the islands 10 weeks later. It was a story which was suppressed at the time in the interests of fostering international peace efforts. By the time the conflict was fully underway, the story was old news and the myth of the "token resistance" was firmly established. One can only imagine what a full company strength detachment would have done.
I love this blokes channel , not just because he is clearly tough as old boots but also because of his appreciation military history and he's obviously an intelligent feller not some dead head psycho grunt that just wants blood and guts. Love to see his thoughts on the battles of Isildwana and rourkes drift. Respect.
Thank you for the balanced view of the war. Having fought there during the 1982 war I can tell you, yes it was cold (icers as we used to say). Carrying the kit due to the demise of the Atlantic Conveyor (which was bringing down the Chinook helicoptors to carry us forward) was some task. We carried exceedingly heavy loads over freezing rough terrain for over 60 miles. Fighting at Two Sisters with my boss at the time Clive Idris Dytor (look him up) and my brothers in arms was a most interesting experience. Following up on Sapper Hill and finally down in to Stanley leaves me with chills at the thought processes that I went through at the time. If anyone knows Oscar Poltreieri, he will always be welcome over here to share a beer/wine and food and pull up a sandbag and tell a few dits. That man must have balls the size of three! Hit by the 84mm then hit by one of my 66mm and a couple of others he kept firing to the last when we went through. Keep up the good work and the balanced views. Most enjoyable.
Incredible video, as a brit and ex army I've always found this very interesting and yet not enough documentaries on it, I've read a number of books on the Falklands from the SAS, the Air force with the Vulcan bomber missions to the Royal navy and the mighty Sea Harrier. Great stuff
A veteran I sailed with (who also had been in the Field Gun competition for Portsmouth) survived the sinking of HMS Coventry, absolute top bloke and proud to have called him a shipmate, although only for a brief time
I served on board a British Frigate during the Falklands War. One of our last operations before the Argentinian surrender was with the SAS, i was part of our Ships rescue RIB boat crew and remember fishing out the last Soldier from this Regiment in The South Atlantic, the poor lad was green, been in the water for hours!!! we successfully recovered everyone on that day only to loose 18 of these very brave Soldiers in a helicopter accident from another British ship just hours after, a very very sad day. RIP
Worth noting, this was about more than the Falklands, this was about proving that Britain could still stand up for it's self and had international reach without relying on America or Europe.
When did we ever rely on Europe? And the Americans took over two years to get involved in WWII, the British were fighting the Nazis entirely alone for a year, and they watched.
@@truckerfromreno WW2 was a different generation with different technology, you can't rely on it forever to claim "we stood or ground then, so we've still got it". And FYI, we never fought the Nazis alone. That's a misconception. More importantly, this was about proving it to the world, not too you in hindsight. WW2 wasn't a war between Britain and someone else, it was an allied victory. They hadn't really had a notable independent victory on the world stage since maybe the boer war, and had seen some notable defeats like Vietnam, and multiple losses in minor conflicts like the cod wars. Politically they needed a big independent victory away from home to prove that they still head reach and power.
The Falklands War is my specialisation. I love the fact you did such a short video so well. I doth my cap to you young man. Am now about to watch you P Coy vid
Good video bro, I find it interesting that you see this war between Argentina and England. The truth is that for us Argentines this conflict was something very bad. Greetings from Argentina and as we say here "Sos re fachero" 😎👌 🇦🇷
Hiya Jarhead, I served as a Corporal in this war in A Coy 40 Commando. I had also served in the Falklands the year before as part of Navel Party 8901. And yes it was bloody cold wet and windy. RM are Britain's mountain troops so we were pretty well prepared for the conditions.Most of us suffered with Immersion foot ( trench foot ) which still gives me a bit of jip to this day. I have always enjoyed training with our sister unit the USMC who were always exceptionally hospitable to us. Best Wishes and Semper fi - Rob
A buddy of mine, Tony Bojko, from the Paras, went back a few years ago to visit the old battlefields he had fought on. He also met an Argentinian vet and befriended him. Tony is a great guy.
There’s a part of the war that wasn’t covered in this, the RAF actually sent the V force to do a bombing run of fort Stanley airbase. It took 12 air to air refuelling tankers (victors) and one bomber (Vulcan) going via assention island for supplies then to the Falklands and back it’s something like single longest bombing run ever done in any war. 100% worth watching the documentary on it!
I was 11 when it kicked off. It all became a thing for me when HMS Sheffield (I lived just outside the City and the Ship was known as the Shiny Sheff ) was his and burned. My mate's big bro was a Royal Marine. He came home safe. I watching the whole thing unfold and I cried at the losses. I'm no supporter of Mrs T, she was a cow 1st Class, but she was so right on this. You have to stand up for the rule of law.
My wife and I were going on holiday to SW England. On the way, we stopped at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeolviton, while we were there we watched the RAF Harriers arriving ready to join the fleet. They landed only a few hundred feet from the Museum car park.
Fun fact the Gen Belgrano was a survivor of Pearl Harbour she was previously the USS Phoenix (CL-46). I was 10 when the war started and I remember it like it was yesterday
I worked for a company called Plessey at the time. Part of the site made chaff rockets. They were on strike, the day Thatcher announced the task force the strike was called off for the duration. Living near Portsmouth all the pubs emptied out. It was a surreal time. I worked on radar systems and we had engineers on the carriers as far as Ascension fixing a software glitch on the Harrier radar.
Argentina fought for the islands. Great Britain fought for the islanders
very true, good observation!!
...and the oil reserves.
Existence of oil in the area wasn't known at that time.
Falkland Island company...
judgenutmeg1977 pretty sure the oil wasn’t known at the time.
This guy is respectable because he has some tea in the back there and anyone that drinks tea knows what there talking about. >.> lol
PG tips aswell 👍🏿
😂
@@MrMrgetbad the good stuff
Cant argue with that logic 😅
@British savvy yorkshire gold is my usual but it's not available here 😩
My father was on the RFA Sir Galahad and was one of the many who didn’t make it home. I was 6 months old when he passed.
3rd Engineer Officer Christopher Francis HAILWOOD
Rank: 3rd Engineer Officer
Service: Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Ship: RFA Sir Galahad
Date of death: 8th June 1982
Age at death: 26
Buried:
Lived in Farnborough.
Mentioned on the Crewe War Memorial
Thank you very much for your father's sacrifice and sorry for you loss
@@paulmarsh6492 thank you kindly.
@@jimhailwood2873 your dad is a hero. R.I.P.
Your dad was a hero ❤ I can't quite remember what ship my grandad was on but he saw the Galahad go up. One of dad's current engineers survived but he still has painful memories of the day ❤
RIP buddy from ex stoker HMS Invincible
As the British attacked a rocky outcrop as pictured.
One Argentinian soldier said
" as soon as we heard them say fix bayonets it was over "
"They dont like it up 'em, they do not like it up 'em!"
@@davefloyd9443 Mr Mainwaring !
only in some cases many were hard fighting elite units my freind an RM vet fought hand to hand with them and killed a few without using firearms
@@pimpmydiecastsdiecastandto3176Jajajajaja what a lie. Look 4 the story of Baruzzo and how he killed an english soldier whit a knife at the chest. After killing 4 english to get a comerade to safety. Don't root just for 1 side. We have warriors too and english suffered it
@@gonzaloescalante2627 A LOT THAT HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT THE CONFLICT REPEAT the proppaganda bullshit my friend is a royal marine vet from the conflict and make no mistake they were not all conscripts there were elite units that put up hard fights
Reagan be like "It's just an island, miles and miles away". Margret Thatcher was like "Oh, like Hawai???"
Yes I so agree
When Ronald Reagan heard Margaret Thatcher's reply, he telephoned Galtieri and told him he would get his arse kicked
@@silverknight4886
Reagan:
Galtieri: Yeah?
Reagan: You're fcked
Hawaii is much closer to American then the Falkland’s are to the England
@@saberur66 true. But the Falklanders think themselves British - and they are. Believe me the same thing would happen if this transpired tomorrow
Damn this is one good overview, love it Brother, those British have some balls and metal..That was some take back ... Mental strengh and endurance, must of been intense!.. greetings from Brazil
you'll be interested to know that Brazil had a role (kinda) one of the Vulcan bombers that was destined for the islands had to re-route because of issues with the tankers escorting them and it landed in Brazil.
We Brifs fight tough. Just as k Portugal, Spain, France, Germany twice.
@@karentodd6938 why not ask the US, they remember who burned the White House!
Obrigado!
My dad went. He was a Royal Marine Signals Corp engineer and said it was a tough time. He worked under fire while setting communications equipment and cables between temporary operations centres and fought alongside his squad mates. He doesn't talk about it much and has long since retired from the military.
He became a Stone Mason when he left and has made several war memorials before retiring from work at the age of 70.
The most mind-boggling story I've found on the Falklands War is a personal one. In the hours before the ceasefire, an extremely bitter battle was fought on the slopes of Mount Tumbledown. Knowing the mountain had to be taken before daylight, because otherwise the Argentinian artillery in Stanley could've started shelling their positions, the Scots Guards bore the brunt of making numerous assaults trying to take it. The one furthest south was led by a young lieutenant who personally led an attack that took out a machine gun nest and three sniper positions. He personally killed just under twenty enemy soldiers. Unfortunately for him, he ran past a fourth concealed sniper on his way to the top of the ridge he was assaulting and this guy fired at him from about thirty yards away, from behind. The 7.62 bullet hit him in the back of the head and came out above his right eyebrow, shattering his skull and causing just under 45% of his brain to evaporate on the spot.
He lay in sub-zero temperatures, in the snow, for several hours before a helicopter pilot came in and, under fire and against orders, casevaced several wounded off the side of the mountain (earning the DFC in the process) . Arriving at a field hospital he spent seven or eight further hours in triage, because no-one expected him to live, then was finally treated.
Despite losing nearly 45% of his brain to a 7.62 round, he not only lived, but he retained his personality and memory and learned to walk again. The left side of his body is nearly paralysed, but the stubborn bastard somehow learned to walk, by wearing supporting boots to keep his paralysed leg stiff enough. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the Battle of Tumbledown.
Lt Robert Lawrence.
@@stormblooper The very same.
Story of Robert Lawrence. It was turned into a made for TV movie in the 80s called "Tumbledown" and featurd British actor Colin Firth. Lawrence himself appeared on British TV and knocked against the side of his head, saying that it was acrylic. video can be found on youtube.
wow impressive should have been the victoria cross?
@@jaybone4732 And what a riveting tv show it was, watched it at the time but never sen it since.
"Where the eagle screams the Lion roars" 🇺🇸🇬🇧
ua-cam.com/video/G8Xe_15l0go/v-deo.html
And the Dragon commands! 😂 "This title gives you your power and authority"
Our Queen has many beasts and they all roar
@@Tonydjjokerit Even the Scots unicorn?! Pretty sure that one just screams "See you, Jimmy!" before nutting the target of its ire (after all, Glasgow) ... then probably downs a litre of vodka-irnbru and chomps a deep-fried mars bar!!!
@@Tarantio1983 How Ironic.....yawn!!!
My dad told me story of being in a night club in London at the time, around midnight the DJ cut the music and made the announcement that the union Jack was once again flying over port Stanley. The room went nuts. Such a patriotic moment that stood out for him.
Haha badass
Hey I’m from the Falklands. The conflict was won but remains in everyone’s heart. I was not born when the conflict happened but it is embedded in my history. Keep up the good videos man 👍🏻
In Britain we have great pride in the Falklands, this war is still very fresh in the mind despite other conflicts happening since. Hopefully Falklanders know we will always have your back, and support your sovereignty as a democratic state.
The exclusion zone wasn't there for the benefit of the Argentine Navy it was there for the benefit of neutral navies and civilian shipping. It was so they knew that if they were in the zone they would be assumed to be aiding Argentina and could be boarded or possibly sunk. Britian could have sunk any Argentine combatant ships irrspective of where they were.
He's not, he's spot on the money. It was entirely the right decision to sink her, as her battlegroup, along with a separate group escorting the Argie carrier the 5o de Mayo, was aggressively maneuvering against the British Task force at the time (common misconception that she was trying to clear the area is quite false).
Sad as the loss of life was, the shock scared the Argentine Navy, and crucially their carrier with Exocet armed aircraft piloted by incredible pilots, back into port for the duration of the conflict. Had the de Mayo remained at sea it's possible, and even quite likely, that we'd have lost multiple ships, to include heavily packed troop transports, to her aircraft which would have lost us the war before it started.
That single ship loss and the resulting fear of our subs enabled our surface Task Force to close with the Islands and act with much greater freedom, and undoubtedly saved many British lives in the process.
That's the truth of what really happened.
The other submarine lost contact with their aircraft carrier otherwise the loss of life would have been even worse.
Splendid had a firing solution on the 5o de Mayo for an extended period but was directly ordered not to take the shot as at the time she was not threatening the Task Force.
@Heather Stephens He's not telling untruths , the position on the exclusion zone was well understood and was re-iterated to the Argentines via the Swiss before the shooting started .
Heather Stephens as a vet I know he is NOT telling untruths. You need to shut up and sit down. If the aircraft carrier hadn’t done a runner back to base that would have been sunk also.
Don't forget the UK "sunk" an Argie submarine on South Georgia with a missile. Also they managed to get a Vulcan bomber to bomb Port Stanley runway, which was an epic feat worth investigating.
And a squad of Royal Marines did heavy damage to an Argentine Navy Corvette with modified Lee enfields, slr's, gpmg's and a carl gustav and LAW rockets.
and that we didn't loose a single harrier jet
@@johnphillips4252 In air to air combat.
I worked on that Vulcan at RAF Waddington ;-) then I went do San Carlo Bay then Port Stanley
SAS grounded the whole Argentine air force in 24 hours and got away. Incredible feat.
I landed on the 21st Mau 1982 at Ajax Bay with my Troop 8 Troop Zulu Coy 45 Commando ROYAL MARINES I was the Troop Sgt
We then YOMPED from San Carlos via Douglas Settlement and Teal Inlet to the bak ofMt Kent
From thee we lanched a night attack on the 11 June on the hills called Two Sisters and eventually got into Stanley to have our FIRST shower sincelandin on 16 th June
Where my avatar photo was taen
I had one man wounded in the attack
I was happy to have been part of it
A BEAUTIFUL place
Thanks for your service 👍🏻
Thanks 4 ur service
Nice one mate, and thank you.
Kudos.
Legend. Gods of war. A British fighting man and his bayonet. I’m Ex guards Afghan x3 and Iraq x2. So proud of you boys. 🇬🇧
I was there as a young 19-year-old. 2 Troop 9 Para Sqn RE, attached to 3 PARA.
Where you involved in the Murrell Bridge action, when a fighting patrol from 601st Commando Company attacked on the night of 6/7 June?
The paras made their bloody eyes water in no uncertain terms. That said I have met a lot with PTSD and other costs associated with that conflict. If you have any issues as a result of the combat please get in touch with combat stress or a veterans centre or myself as I can sign post you.
@ JJS 👍🏴
Respect
I actually knew a few guys that fought in the Falklands, one local lad in the Welsh Guards died on the Sir Gallahad troopship, another lost his leg on the Gallahad. A third guy I knew was a bootneck and was ferrying supplies & troops ashore from the Gallahad when she was hit. After using his Dory 'rigid raider' to ferry survivors to shore, boarded the stricken ship and tried to rescue a wounded Guardsman - who had his leg sheared off by a hatch blown off it's mounts, but was beaten back by the flames. Later, while in an aid station with burns, he tried to ram his morphine ampoule into his chest to kill himself, believing he'd left a Guardsman to burn to death... it turned out he was in the adjoining stretcher, having been rescued via another route.
very sad, war is hell... welsh and scot far from home, and fighting for thatcher´s reelection
I’m Welsh and I’d proudly fight again for the falklands, and I would fight as a British force. At the end of the day, Britain is our country and we are stronger together
@@andresmino1860 you dont knowm what you are talking about and you dont understand britain
I was down there with the RN. I ended up on a hospital ship after my ship was sunk. There were 4 Argentinian soldiers all with leg wounds alongside me in the ward. They had been shot by the SAS. The funny thing was that they would bury their heads in the sheets out of fear, so all you could see were their eyes peering over the tops of their sheets. We later found out, through the ship's translator, that they were told if they were captured by the British, that they would be eaten. After some time they began to relax when the guys on the ward started sharing their girlie mags with them.
Brilliant
@@Nomad.K Porn breaks down barriers.
Go tell that to the politicians and the world be a calmer place
Hahaha that is wild!!
Lewis Ayre 😂😂😂😂😂😂🇬🇧👊🏼
PG Tips...a man of culture i see
But wait... show him Yorkshire Tea
NicholasJames Smith it’s a good effort for a yank. At least he’s using a kettle and not a microwave.
Yeah, we won't mention the ukulele.
@@aegg9915 😂
@@metalsmithnick8714 I miss my Yorkshire Gold but the commissary here doesn't have it lol
There was also two sbs guys calling in air strikes from the sea by swimming around and not being seen and getting information on enemy positions
I can remember getting told a similar story in Poole years ago on a gunfire support course to explain why the fire missions may not be crystal clear over the headset, ram that the double well hard bollards
I was 3 years old when my Dad served in the Falklands. He hasn't told me any stories about the Falklands.
He has told me a story about his first tour and that was in Northern Ireland. Within days of arrival they had a long convoy he was at the end of. He was directed with another soldier to question a man who had pulled over a car and was watching. As Dad was walking up, the man pulled started shooting at them and someone else threw a grenade. Amazingly, even at short range, he wasn't hit by any bullets but did get thrown by the grenade. We have a photo of Dad taken a few minutes afterward, he looks 14. He waved and smiled for the camera yelling that he still had his bollocks. At the time, that was his biggest fear: losing his bollocks.
I think NI was hard on him. His Dad is Catholic from NI and Dad was born over there. I get the impression that the Falkland's were a relief after NI. NI was very personal for him but he had no such issues in the Falkland's. He had a simple objective and could just do his job without second guessing himself.
My dad probably very similar age with a very similar background only his family were from the south, talks and jokes a lot about his army days never Ireland though refuses to even mention it.
My father was a RN gunner on HMS fearless which was an amphibious ship that took part at the Battle of San Carlos.
As a brit, the falklands war is looked on with pride, we're glad we defended them, especially given the referndum result. It also feels nice that despite how our military power has fallen, whether thats a good or bad thing in these modern times that we showed everyone that we could still defend our people.
Nope not everyone. Most people regard it as a cynical ploy by Thatcher and regret the loss of life.
@@dianeshelton9592 Never met anyone who ever regretted defending The Falklands.
@@dianeshelton9592 suspect the 'most people' there is an exaggeration and certainly does not include many others in this comment section, so you might want to keep your opinions to yourself there
diane shelton I think you do realise I was referring to the people who live in the island. You’d rather us let them have the islands even though they said they wanted to be British? Come now, don’t be an idiot
1IbramGaunt most people I know, well EVERY British person I know is proud we defended them. Also any reasonable British person would be, unless your saying that the people on the islands opinions don’t matter?
I remember when Stanley was recaptured, everyone seemed to walk straighter and taller. The pride in the achievement was palpable. You only have to watch the video of the ships arriving back home and see the reception they got.
Such a shame the Marines were given a heroes welcome on board Canberra, but the Paras were flown in to Brize Norton and almost reintroduced through the back door. A friend was in 3 Para and just 17 years old (as were several of the Paras), when he returned, everyone was cheering for the Royal Marines, but the Paras were almost forgotten - the two VCs were both Parachute Regiment.
@@andrewmallard2301 Plus the hardest battles were taken on by the Parachute Regiment. Goose Green was an amazing victory by a mssively outnumbered force of 2 Para. 2 Para were the ONLY unit to fight TWO major battles in this conflict. 2 Para, first to land (except for SAS/SBS) first to fight and first into Port Stanley. 2 Para 74-97.
And without the Royal Navy securing the area around the islands in the first place and providing air cover and ngs neither the Paras or marines would have won anything, there is no ‘i’ in TEAM. RN Crazy Y
Peter Stubbs and everyone else, let’s not be forgetting that the Scots Guards were there please. Mount Tumbledown was taken by the kilt wearing oat meal munching savages from the north. There were also Gurkhas and Welsh Guards present although they were held back (very famous picture of a few Gurkha lads sitting on the side of a helicopter, crying their eyes out because they didn’t get to see action.) and the Welsh Guards had had a terrible time as their troop transport ship Gallahad had been bombed and a number killed and many horribly burnt. 42 Commando were there too. Another amazing story is that when one of the Welsh guards was being treated on the Canberra (converted cruise ship to hospital ship) there was an Argentine soldier in the bed next to him crying out for his mother...in Welsh. He was from Patagonia where the Welsh settled nearly 200 years ago, and they still speak Welsh to this day.
@@firkinflyer and the Royal Air Force. Let's not forget there were RAF pilots flying CAP and attacking ground targets. Don't know whether they were GR3s or Sea Harriers, but RAF pilots, none the less.
Mark Felton has some really good videos about the falklands war, mills marauders and the empire strikes back are about South Georgia. If you’re interested.
He also has an excellent vid on the attempts to sink the Argentine aircraft carrier:
ua-cam.com/video/EvvLxC1rvrQ/v-deo.html
Britain has had the falklands longer than Argentina has been a country.
@@chickenperson5721 mmm no , it is confirmed that this not the case, they found graves of "Gauchos" (baqueros of Argentine origin) biried on the island a long time before the British arrived ,the ONU it self said from the beginning the islands were Argentine but the British murdered all Argentines of the island to stay ,there is story of "La Gaucha de Malvinas" (the Gaucha of Malvinas) that tells how she saw the first British arrive ,that is ,the island was alredy inhabited by the Argentines long before the British. (Her grave is still in the island)
@@SimmiFred But she wasn't Argentine as Argentina as a state was only formed in 1853 - just sayin
I was a young lad when the Task Force returned to Plymouth and my Uncle (a retired RAF boat Captain) took me out in the harbour to welcome them home. I also remember seeing a Chinook flying with a Pucara under it. Inspired me to enlist so I spent 22 years in the Infantry as a result.
By far the most British casualties were inflicted by the Argentine Air Force. The Argentine Air Force were extremely well trained, capable and very brave. This was because they had been trained by the British Royal Air Force.
In the 1970's Britain and Argentina actually had pretty good relations. Britain greatly helped Argentina upgrade its military. Britain trained Argentina's Air Force, some aspects of it's Navy and it's elite Marine infantry units. Britain along with France had also exported a lot of modern military equipment and technology to Argentina.
This created a war where both sides were using large amounts of exactly the same weapons. Most notably both sides used the same Navy Destroyers. The British designed and built Type 42 Destroyer. Such that it's still the only war where both sides had absolutely identical Navy ships.
This proved a major disadvantage for Britain. The Argentine Air Force Squadrons which received training in Britain carried out multiple practice attacks against Royal Navy Ships. As such the Argentine Air Force was very familiar with the Royal Navy, and the weaknesses of many of its ships. Especially the weaknesses of the Type 42 Destroyer, given that Argentina had their own identical Type 42s.
Many British ships were sunk and damaged by Argentine air attack. The Royal Navy had difficulty repelling these attacks. As both Thatcher's Conservative Government and the previous Labour Government had significantly cut back the entire British military, particularly the Royal Navy's aerial capability.
The Royal Navy used to have large Aircraft Carriers, equivalent to USA Aircraft Carriers, capable of launching multiple types of Aircraft. Including super-sonic fighters and airborne early warning radar (AWACS) aircraft. But all of them were scrapped in the 1970s and replaced by much smaller and less capable carriers which could only launch Sea Harrier attack aircraft and helicopters.
Due to the small size of the carriers, the number of Sea Harriers taken to the conflict was insufficient. The Sea Harrier while primarily designed as a close air support ground-attack aircraft, proved itself to also be a very effective close-range aerial fighter. However, they were not capable of super-sonic and only had a very short range and endurance. All these disadvantages combined made it impossible for the Sea Harriers to achieve air superiority.
Most catastrophic of all was the fact that the Royal Navy no longer had any AWACS aircraft. Detection of enemy Argentine aircraft was nearly totally reliant on Ship mounted radar. The well trained Argentine Air Force flew very low, using the mountains of the Islands, and skimming just above the seawater to mask their detection from the radar of the Royal Navy ships. This meant the Royal Navy often didn't detect Argentine air attacks until they were in the final stages, often just seconds before the missiles or bombs were launched / released.
Furthermore, due to the military cutbacks most of the Royal Navy ships also lacked adequate close in weapon defence systems.
So many British lives were lost due to the British Government having cut back and neutered the capability of its Royal Navy.
Andy Williams and that shory sightedness continues, we still don't have any bloody planes for the Queen Elisabeth
Chile actually provided clandestine support from their long-range radar stations, which was able to provide some more early warning of Argentinian airstrikes, so it wasn't _entirely_ ship mounted radar.
@@GameFreak7744 Yer I did know that. But my comment was already on the long side. So I left it out. Chile provided massive help. I have great appreciation and respect towards them for it.
Along with pointing their ground radar towards Argentine airbases. Chile also allowed several secret Royal Air Force (RAF) AWAC aircraft, painted in Chilian colours to fly along and a little bit over the Argentine border.
Together they provided a good awareness of when Argentine fighters took off and landed. However, once the fighters left the Argentine coast and flew low over the Atlantic there was no longer any way of keeping track of them. They used the terrain of the Islands as a cover screen from the radars of the Royal Navy fleet. Thus they'd often not be detected by the fleet radars until the last moment.
It's was so unfortunate. Had it not been for the military cuts the Royal Navy would've still had its own AWAC aircraft and supersonic F4 Phantoms. Such that the Argentine fighters would've been tracked their entire journey and been easily intercepted long before they got anywhere near British ships.
Also. The secret RAF AWAC aircraft were so secret. That apart from a small select amount of personnel. Even the Chilian military weren't aware of them. Such that on one particular night. One of them was almost potentially shot down by Chilian fighter aircraft.
The RAF AWAC in question had been detected on radar as an unidentified aircraft heading in from the Argentine border. The only person aware of the RAF AWAC that night was the Radar Room Commander. He had unfortunately chosen that moment to leave the Radar Room for the toilet and to get something to eat.
The crew in the room believed the RAF AWAC was a possible hostile Argentine aircraft. They dispatched 2 Chilian fighters, who were close by, to intercept it. The 2 fighters archived missile lock and the RAF AWAC rapidly dived to low level in an attempt to evade them. Fortunately, the Commander then returned to the Radar Room. He immediately realised it was the RAF AWAC that was being targeted and ordered the 2 fighters to stand down.
Thanks for this recognition to our Air Force. I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The war was awful for me, because I saw my mother, a wonderful English lady putting all her English things into a box to never take them out, her picture of Her Majesty the Queen, some mugs with the British flag, and the flag itself, a small one she had on her desk. On the other side, some of my class mates were sent to the islands. Our Air Force reassembled the Mirage engines to gain speed, 50km more per our. The gov. had purchased missils from France, but just the missils, so there weren't enough launchers, so they made low flights under radar detection and throw them by hand. I am still sad almost 40 years later when I think about it. After all this years, I can have the Union Jack in a pillow on my favourite armchair, just to remember where a part of me come from. Regards
@@Andres-xc7de I don't think anyone is hating Argentines as individuals. It's the people in power that start wars but never actually do any fighting themselves.
Having travelled a bit we are all pretty much the same regardless of culture and language.
I have yet to engage with any culture that doesn't laugh at a loud fart. So we all have that in common. :-)
You should have a look at “ The Battle Of Imjin River”, a brigade took on an army. This was a battle fought during the Korean War and ended with the last stand of the Gloucesters. It was a desperate action.
All the more astounding as it was during the days of National Service, so a fair proportion of the squaddies were conscripts. Definitely a testament to the quality of British Army training. I can't imagine what a grenade duel is like, but apparently they happened a lot in this engagement.
10.000 Chinese against a few hundred British soldiers. The British ran out of ammo early on and resorted to fighting with knives and rocks. When the Chinese captured them they respected them for their heroics and treated them well. Sadly when they were handed over to the North Koreans they were tortured and killed
@@keighlancoe5933 Bit of an overstatement there methinks, 522 men of the Goucesters became POW's, of which some 180 were wounded during the battle. Of those a total of 34 died in captivity, MOST of whom had been seriously injured before being captured, as such their deaths can be attributed to the wounds they had suffered, and not mistreatment at the hands of the North Koreans. Other than those 34 all were returned to Britain after the war. You literally made it sound as if they were all routinely tortured then murdered, which was not the case.
While there was a certain amount of mistreatment of POW's by the North Koreans, large scale torture and subsequent murder of UN troops was generally avoided. They were *far* more savage to South Koreans they captured.
The Glorious Glosters and an artillery unit got a meritorious unit award from the US.
The Glosters wore this until a regimental amalgamation recently - why would that award not be worn?
The Gloucester Regiment wore cap badges front and back of their berets. Against the French in Egypt they reversed one of their ranks to fight the French from the front and behind.
I worked with a guy that had been a Royal Marine in the campaign, he did his training at age 28, a really tough bugger. He was part of the reserve force and never even left his ship during the fighting. He's always felt bad about it, I think they call it survivor guilt. But I think sitting on a ship that's getting strafed and bombed is tough enough tbh.
Hello sir. I hope you are well and not going stir crazy. Looking forward to the RUC video. Don’t forget the Parachute Regiment, the Ghurkas and the Guards in the Falklands. I served with blokes who fought there. One particular Bloke who was SAS. His stories would curl your hair.
There's some footage on YT following the Ghurkas across the Falklands. They where due to be committed to the fight for Stanley the day after Argentina surrendered. When their officer tells them it's over, they look so pissed off.
Note: The last of the remaining landmines were cleared last month, October 2020. The Falkland Islands therefore are now officially landmine free!!
Just a number of african civil war countries with european and russian ordinance to do then.
Yes, some of the marines cleared them whilst the fighting was going on
@@highpath4776 they can do they own cleanup
Some people wanted to leave the mines, as they kept humans away and animals weren't heavy enough to set them off, creating totally human-free nature reserves. But Britain signed up to a treaty to clear minefields, so there was a legal obligation to do it.
Sure Europe Russia sold land mines for decades Russia still does. Who planted the mines should clear them up.
Fun fact: The Belgrano was once the USS Phoenix, a survivor of Pearl Harbour. So technically the last time the British sank an American ship was 1982. Might come in handy in a pub quiz or something ;)
I think some of the ships in the gulf wars were damn near ancient (in military terms) USN destroyers that had been given to Greece and they had replaced them and sold them on. I could be getting my wires crossed though.
It's also the only ship to be sunk by a nuclear submarine
@@stewartcarmichael8947 That you know of. Also it was a nuclear powered submarine.
Haha yeah I suppose there is always that caveat.
Sorry, yes that's what I meant, I wasn't sure there was a distinction, but one has nukes one is just powered by a reactor ? Or are you being pedantic ? Lol
How it an American ship if it was sold to The Argies. twat
Fascinating fact - British did actually take helicopters to the islands, but the majority were sunk on the ships, before they could be unloaded, so the soldiers had to walk across the islands and the long walk, with all their gear was a surprising challenge
They also ended up with dysentry on the narch efore battle.. there was a lack of fresh water and ghe troops drank black brackish water from peat bogs.. Sterilising tablets did nothing.
the helicopters were mostly on the ship Atlantic Conveyor.
some of the had the shits so bad they'd not even stop walking lol
Erm... sort of, but not quite. Most British ships had Helicopters, but the heavy lift helicopters that were supposed to transport the Marines and Paras once the beachhead had been fully established were all carried on the Atlantic Conveyor. Which of course was sunk by exocet early on, and before they could get more than a couple of the heavy lift Helicopters unloaded. So not sunk on the ships, but on *a* ship.....
The helicopters most of the ships carried were not really suitable for heavy lift or troops transport (which is what the aircraft on the Atlantic Conveyor were for). The (I think two) helicopters that survived were so busy ferrying equipment and supplies that they could not carry out the original plan of leapfrogging the Para's and Marines by airlift, hence why they had to walk.
All the Chinooks except one were sunk. There was a documentary in the UK about the one that survived, callsign Bravo November, and it is still, much upgraded, in action
Well worth a look press.discovery.com/uk/dsc/programs/bravo-november/ or alternatively en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravo_November
another amazing story that kicked off the war, the 22 royal marines who fought a large invading argentine force on south georgia.
There were actually 57 of the. Read "The First Casualty" by Ricky Phillips.
The Light Cruiser the Brit's sunk, The Belgrano actually started life as the USS Phoenix, she was the only US Navy surface combat ship that managed to sail out of Pearl Harbour unscathed during the 1941 Japanese attack, surviving numerous engagements in WWII only to be sunk by WWII vintage heavy unguided torpedo's (smaller modern torp's would barely have dented her belt armour) fired by a nuclear submarine 41 years later!
Awesome!
As a Brit I remember the sinking of the Belgrano very well.Many people here in the UK thought that maybe this was not the correct thing to do and cast doubt on our policy over the Falklands. However it soon passed and we proceeded to recover our islands as we all knew we would ( with help from our American friends ).Pity it had to come to war over a patch of rough land at the bottom of the world but the people wanted to stay British and we knew MRs T would not let them down.
Interesting story about HMS Conqueror and those torpedoes too Pete. She was actually the trials boat for the new Tigerfish system that had not yet entered service when redeployed to the Falklands and so had the RN's most advanced homing torpedoes aboard, live, and ready for use.
However, the Captain did not trust them at all as new fangled tech prone to going wrong, and so he closed to knife fighting range and sunk Belgrano with an old fashioned spread of WW2 straight runners as you say.
Goes to show, when it counts, keep it simple and go with what you know.
Also, it was entirely the right decision to sink her, as her battlegroup, along with a separate group escorting the Argie carrier the 5o de Mayo, was aggressively maneuvering against the British Task force at the time (common misconception that she was trying to clear the area is quite false).
Sad as the loss of life was, the shock scared the Argentine Navy, and crucially their carrier with Exocet armed aircraft piloted by incredible pilots, back into port for the duration of the conflict. Had the de Mayo remained at sea it's possible, and even quite likely, that we'd have lost multiple ships, to include heavily packed troop transports, to her aircraft which would have lost us the war before it started.
That single ship loss and the resulting fear of our subs enabled our surface Task Force to close with the Islands and act with much greater freedom, and undoubtedly saved many British lives in the process.
Actually the MK8 torpedos used by HMS Conqureror were considerably older than World War 2 (and General Belgrano) entering service in 1927, they were trusted by the commanding officer of the submaine as a reliable weapon that would work well whilst he only had a limited supply of tigerfish guided torpedoes and he was concerned that they may malfunction and also that he may need them if he encountered Argentinian Submarines known to be in the area (one of which was later caught on the surface and beached in south Georgia, the other conducted attacks on the british task group and was probably detected but it wasn't recognised at the time - one of her torpedos probably destroyed a towed sonar, she also experienced problems with her modern torpedo system - leads were connected with revered polarity). Ironically given the captains faith in the MK8s a dent was later found in the side of one of the destroyers escorting the Belgrano and her position at the time fits with the area into which the torpedos would have overrun - therefore one failled to explode (and would have probably sunk the Argentinian destroyer) one of the reasons for the loss of life was the speed with which the ship sank - her watertight doors were either not closed (which seems incredible for a warship at sea in wartime) or not sufficiently maintained another was that one of the first torpedoes to hit destroyed the radio room so no Mayday was sent, the conditions were so bad at the time that it was 20minutes before her escorts realised she'd been attacked and went back to pick up survivours - Conqueror had solutions plotted on them but did not fire once it became apparent that they were rescuing the survivours. Just to correct another post above Argentina only had 5 exocet missiles during the war, all were fired, they atempted to buy more but France refused to sell them, British intelligence also went out and bought as many as they could from other countries, outbidding the argentinians (and probably using other methods) successfully preventing them from acquiring any more - the Super Entendards that carried them (systems integration provided by the Israelis) could not operate from the 5 de Mayo carrier at the time and were purely land based with air to air refueling, the Carrier operated the A4 skyhawk and at one point was in position to launch an attak on the british Carrier group but the wind over the deck was too light for her to be able to launch them - it would have been the first carrier battle since the second world war. She was then detected (accounts vary) by a British Sea Harrier on reconaisance and ran for the Argentinian coast whist submarines atempted to intercept her, due to the need to evade argentian ASW they were unable to get in position in time. Actually an invasion had been planned in 1977 and a force started to build but but an attack submarine was sent to position herself between Argentina and the Falklands and the Argentinian government informed that she would attack any invasion force which led to it being cancelled. One other detail - when declaring the TEZ (total exclusion zone) it was stated that any ship in that radius from the falklands would be fired on - actually not in keeping with international law as firing on a civilian ship would be against IHL however it was more a matter of practicality in that it would be very difficult to confirm identitiy before firing, actually the result of this was that no insurance company would insure ships within the TEZ and so all merchant shipping kept clear, the same declaration however also stated that the UK reserved the right to fire on any Argentinian military vessel anyhwere in the south atlantic, so whether the belgrano was inside or outside of the TEZ is essentially unimportant. As for it being an "undeclared war" IHL is quite clear that war does not need to be declared for a state of war to exist. There are also some comments about the degree of US support during the Falklands, the US was in a bit of a hard place as it had supported the Argentinian government (indeed this is probably why Soviet Russia did not oppose the UK's resolution in the UN - as well as seeing lots of UK forces beaten up in the South Atlantic being entirely in their interest), some within the administration wanted to support Argentina because of this, in the end though Regan decided to support Britain, AIM-9L sidewinders were taken from NATO Stocks by britain (although probably not too consequential as the sea harrier pilots were used to the AIM-9J and all shots in the Falklands were taken within that missiles parameters) these were replaced via a new order to the US. The US provided sattelite intelligence (as well reportedly of some Russian Satellite reconaisance after they were hacked into by the Norwegians - possibly with russian knowledge - who knows!) and the USAF base on Ascension island was used extensively (actually the USAF report on the logistics of the falklands war - on the internet now is interesting reading, they were very impressed with the adapatability of the UK forces - for example when there was a problem truking enough jet fuel from the port in ascencion to the base the British laid a pipeline :-)). All in all it's such a shame so many lives had to be lost fighting over islands in the middle of nowhere to end up in the same situation as before between what had historically been two friendly nations. It's largely forgotten now but Britain and Argentina had a long history of friendship and cooperation - some of the first ships to arrive with beef after the end of world war 2 were from Argentina, Britain sent trains to pay for them the Falklands issue largely didn't exist until it was stoked up by Peron to help himself win power. Sorry for the long and disjointed post but hopefully you found it interesting.
I was 19 years of age when I went to war in the Falklands. I was a Royal Marine and this was my baptism of fire. Afterwards, I never worried or, took anything in life seriously.
I enjoy my days here on this plain when others were cut too short, and I'm thankful for this.
Being an ex soldier in the british infantry Im happy your taking your time to look in to your cousins across the pond! having been stationed in the falklands myself and having done the long march over that terrain I can say it is one of the worst places I've ever conducted exercises (id rather a month in Brecon or otterburn!) truly were tough men back then!
"The First Casualty - The Untold Story of the Falklands War"
The 57 Royal Marines of Naval Party 8901 defending the Falklands fired 6500 rounds of ammunition 5 AT rounds and 7 LAWs, at the 600+ invading Argentinian forces who were equipped with helicopters and twenty LVTP-7A1 tracked amphibious armoured personnel carriers. After engaging the enemy and inflicting heavy losses they then made a tactical withdrawal, without loosing any men.
On their return however:
The General Belgrano ( formerly the USS Phoenix CL-46 a survivor of Pearl Harbor )and her Task Group 79.3 were the Southern half of an Argentinian pincer attack on the British task force. The Northern group Task Group 79.1 included the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo that had once served in the the Royal Navy as HMS Venerable. Task Group 79.4 consisted of three A69 corvettes and following the air strike, were to launch Exocet MM38 missiles from over twenty miles away.
On 1 May 1982, the Argentine Submarine ARA San Luis began the attack and launched 3 torpedo attacks whilst the carrier attempted to launch six A-4Q Skyhawk jets against the Royal Navy Task Force but by 3:15 pm light winds prevented the heavily loaded jets from being launched. The British had assigned HMS Splendid] a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary and located ship on the 23rd of April but were not authorized to attack. Failing to launch her aircraft the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo had to abandon the attack being forced to leave the area when one of her escort ships detected an approaching Sea Harrier.
On the 2nd May HMS Conqueror sank the General Belgrano using three obsolete MK VIII torpedoes (an extremely austere "economy of force') preventing further attempts by the Argentinian surface fleet to engage the Royal Navy.
If the Commanders had been given permission to sink the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo it could have caused many more casualties and an ignominious ending for HMS Venerable instead of the tragic end for the USS Phoenix.
If you want a good book about the Falklands from the means point of view look for"dont cry for me sergeant major"
The First Casualty has many, many mistakes about the casualties, I got pictures and videos of both the LCVP and LVTP-7 that were supposedly destroyed and they don't have battle damage: tfcdissected.blogspot.com/2020/04/welcome.html
herés a walkaround the LCVP, no damage: ua-cam.com/video/sENg6DO1HWo/v-deo.html
Imagine being one of the three who voted to leave.
There is some interesting analysis in that book on the actions of SBS during and after the invasion. Actions never admitted by the British government who hoped it would all just go away. Also an interesting account of how the Agentinians tried to hide the extent of the damage caused by the Royal Marines and the SBS which would have been very bad news got Galtieri back home.
Hey, hope you are keeping safe? I served in the Grenadier Guards and when I was training at the Guards Depot in 1986, a number of my instructors had served in the Falklands War with the Scots Guards, Welsh Guards and Blue and Royals as well as with 22 Special Air Regiment. If you get chance, check out the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, where the Scots Guards faced the Argentinian Marines. A brutal story, but well worth leaning about! Thanks for the video!
Hi Darrell thanks for the mention I served with Left Flank 2nd Battalion Scots Guards in the Falklands we often get over looked,the Welsh Guards and Gurkhas too,5 Brigade.
You definitely do get overlooked Gareth! Septem Juncta in Uno & you stay safe my friend!
*22 Special Air Service Regiment*
@@translunar1 BRB 💂♂️
My mate's stepfather fought with one of the Guards regiments (can't remember which) on Tumbledown. He's the most softly spoken and unassuming bloke you could ever wish to meet... but in the back of my mind, I'll always know all those years ago he's a guy that took the order "fix bayonets!" and go in hand-to-hand. Massive respect!
I was 28 at that time, I got so annoyed at seeing on the news the 200 British soldiers being paraded by the Argies with their hands up and looking dejected.It was Rex Hunt that ordered the troops to surrender due to overwhelming force. But, look at what impact they had on the invaders. By mid June that was righted, now it's the British who were parading totally demoralised Argentian forces. Much praise to ALL UK forces. God Bless the Gurkhas.
Thank you NZ & Australia for offers of help. God Save The Queen.
And special thanks to Maggie Thatcher, without her iron will who knows what would have happened.
This is super refreshing man, I've seen a lot of Military Personnel on the internet badmouthing other countries Military and other units in their Military, it's great to see the amount of respect you show to everyone!
Was an amazing time, I was only 13, it re-energised the UK, and our economy started to fly soon afterwards. I remember seeing on TV, all those UK industries, companies, small/medium businesses, corporations etc, giving food and vast supplies to the task force for FREE, the whole country came together!
But spare a minute for all those that died, on both sides.
Have a look into the pebble island raid by the sas where they took out the pucaras on the ground
That was a 'typical' case proving that The British Soldiers are not 'deployed' but unleashed! - should have taken 15 mins - took those in command 45 mins to get the lads back! lol
From what I understand, "Here, have some weapons" included diverting deliveries of the latest Sidewinder air-to-air missiles from the USAF to the Royal Navy.
I didn't realise Argentina was involved. I thought it was a race between the RM and the PARAS.
legendary comment
@carmine paola who won ?
@carmine paola nah our sub getting target practise was much better
dulede thanks for the history lesson but no need; well aware of what happened. My comment was a retort to the person above!!!!
Oh really?! Try telling that to Simon Weston and the rest of the guys from The RFA Sir Galahad. I’m quite sure that they’ll be happy to set you straight on that one so that you do realise. *SBSS* Nuff said.
I take it you've worked with some of our lads of something? Nice to see mutual respect. Much love from the UK.
You’ve been the backing track to my work day recently, love your content man. Thanks for taking time to produce it
UK troops train in the Brecon beacons an area in Wales cold wet and miserable weather all year round my feet are still cold 25years later.
Very much like the Falklands terrain, so the marines and paras wete quite at home really
Cold and miserable all year round?! Says someone who's Obviosly never spent all year round there.
i used to go on holiday every summer up there in the late 70s with the scouts. we would run into soldiers from time to time.
ya it was wet and windy in summer god knows what it was like in winter. still had a lot of fun camping.
My husband was there, served 26 years in British Army.
Yep it’s was the anniversary of the ships we lost over the past couple of weeks and the troops that we lost 🙏🏻
🇦🇷❤🇬🇧
Thanks for showing so much respect to my country as a whole and obviously the military it means a lot coming from a foreign military soldier
Not sure if anyone has mentioned previously but you might want to look up the story of how the airfield at Port Stanley was bombed by aircraft (Avro Vulcans) that flew from the UK with refuelling on the way there and back.
No hard feelings you won fair and square.
gg my man
Ulster TBF it was a civil war
@S G Yh what
He's obviously American .....
S G my post is in response to saying “ sorry British” when the video mentioned the war of independence!!
Some of the most tragic stories of the Falklands war concern the Argentinian conscripts who were minimally trained, weren't provided with adequate clothing, were poorly fed and housed, and often treated harshly by their commanders. I saw an interview with one who said he and his fellow conscripts were flown in without knowing where they were going, had no idea until they got there that the islands even existed, and once they arrived weren't told the reason why they were there. He said the place was a cold, windy, and barren wasteland out in the middle of the ocean and that no Argentinian would be insane enough to want to live there, and so they couldn't figure out why it was worth invading and setting up a military occupation of a few sheep farms.
Despite the cost on both sides, two good things came out of the war. The islands were restored to the people who actually lived there, and the same people in Argentina who cheered the military Junta when they invaded the islands went on to overthrow it after the islands were lost.
They were well clothed, their boots were way better than ours and their jackets were warm. They seemed to have canned goods and pasta left in the trenches, what I didn't see was any means of cooking the stuff. Also personal admin was bad, latrines all around the trenches. The trenches were well sited, but badly constructed. The trenches had no form of duck boards to get your feet out of the water and the trench sides were not reveted in any way, hence you got wet if touched the sides. They also had no water points - amazing what you pick up in 30 seconds!
Remember, these trenches at Goose Green were 3k (2 mile) in depth and we had to fight every bloody inch of the 3K. When they surrendered at Goose Green, about 1,200 came out to the runway - so much for a re-enforced battalion.
I was there, I served on HMS Cardiff.
i saw a really interesting play about the falklands from the perspective of a farmer on the island. The whole play was performed by 2 people and my god was it amazing. It showed all the struggles the civilians had to go through, including helping the British army with maps and traversing the hills, as the farmers knew the place like the back of their hands. It was refreshing to see it from a different point of view rather than the bias of either a British soldier or an Argentinian soldier.
The low volume really helped me hear you clearly whilst talking over the narrator.
Paras were there too and we're the spearhead of most contacts
They were there and were outstanding. Spearheading most contacts is not correct. Each unit had its AO and missions. Did the Paras spearhead tumbledown? The nailed goose green for sure.
My old teacher was a para during that war
"I didn't know penguins exist in S. America"
Funnily enough, it is land mines that have helped with this. Penguins are light enough to not set them off, which pretty much keeps them protected on some of these islands near south america.
They also fall over backwards looking up as jets fly overhead, it is quite adorable
The only good thing about Thatcher being in charge at that time. The Iron Lady, that she was.
The ship that was sunk the General Belgrano was bought from the US and had survived Pearl Harbour.
great channel. what i,dlike to know is who would not like this, i,ve never served but ii respect all who have. great channel and great mix of things
I remember from some book that members of the SAS ended up at a US military base en route. When the US soldiers learned why they were there and what lay ahead of them they bent over backwards to help. At the time the SAS were not issued cutting edge weapons. They left the US base loaded with the personal weapons and equipment from many of the soldiers. Brothers in arms.
Mate I just don't buy that, the SAS had Heckler & Koch MPA53s in the Iranian Embassy siege a couple of years earlier, which were cutting edge weapons, at least for that type of combat, obviously not for the Falklands. Nevertheless although I don't know for sure they would most likely have been well equipped for the Falklands and could have taken AR-15s if these had been deemed suitable for the operation.
@@simonh6371 Yea, both the Paras and the Marines- and especially the SAS & SBS were extensively trained for cold weather warfare and trained in northern Norway three months a year. Their weapons would have been suitable for the conditions on the Falklands. In fact Julian Thompson and the planners of the brigade counted on the Argies not being prepared for cold weather war, while the professional British soldiers were, and planned the invasion site accordingly; reckoning that the Argies would not venture out of the cities, while their soldiers would excell in the harsh climate- being used to it.
Those minefields were due to be completely cleared by about April this year until Covid-19 struck, but it will probably still be completed this year, a British company with Zimbabwean Deminers are cllose to achieving what many thought could nver be achieved as the minefields lay in peat belts and tended to shift about...
You'd think that the Falklands were about as socially distant as it gets! nice to hear that the mine fields are almost clear though
Iranian embassy siege in London would be a good video
Done to many times
Yemen
Aden
Battles are better
@@madfishermanwest200 I havnt actually come across a reaction to the embassy siege
@@RomeoMike22 iv only seen 1 person react to it.
@@madfishermanwest200 and it's one of the SASs greatest moments.
years agoi worked with an ex-marine cammando who was 18 when he went over there. .told me that, the call to fix bayonets (first time since WW2) went out.. and hand to hand fighting, he see a couple of his guys bashing the argies with their helmets, and watching them burn due to the phospherus grenades they thew into their positions..ptsd started to effect him in his 40s, long after he left due to breaking his back from a bad parachute landing...lovely guy
Up most respect, as Ex British Military, your approach and views are very humble and respectful. Great videos, enjoying them buddy 👍
Love this guy. Can we get him a british passport?
Or send an invite to exchange...and come over to Lympstone 😉👍
chaseybears I think he’s lympstone material. Maybe even Poole
🤣👍
He will always be welcome in the UK!
Oh go on then I'll marry him so he can have dual citizenship 😍
I love how you say “we got you UK” but Reagan literally kinda asked if we could just hand it over 😂
Funnily enough, Thatcher actually agreed when he asked, but the leader of Argentina realised that Britain publicly saying they're handing it over wouldn't help his propaganda, so he refused to negotiate, which is what tilted American neutrality towards the UK, when before their policy was aimed towards rewarding Argentina for their aggression to prevent Soviet influence spreading to South America. Funnily enough, ex-president Obama and nearly-president Hillary Clinton also offered similar sentiments, tilting towards Argentina on the issue and Biden has shown little but disdain for Britain, so I hope CAC's sentiments don't just lie with him.
Reagan also offered GB military support and was criticised by OAS and he replied that GB was their ally, of course he would offer military hardware.
The Seven-years-war was an all out war in Europe between the mayor powers, for us the american theatre was just a sideshow. Thats why it is not called the french-indian war in Europe
There also was also plenty of fighting between colonies in Africa, South America, and Asia. It was a war between European powers, but otherwise it really was an early World War.
You should look at the Battles that happened in The Falklands Islands
The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was like something out of the 19th Century
Bagpipes & Bayonets... literally
1st Battalion Scots Guards
The true story would give you goose bumps
that pg tips box in the background makes me happy
There was quite a long range bombing run that the air force did to take out the Argentinian held runway
The whole mission can be read about in a book entitled 'Vulcan 607'.
Was amazing
@One big eye. One big ear. Well didn't want to sound hyperbolic
My step dad fought in the Falklands as a Royal Marine Commando at age 18/19 .
I'm 35 an looking for a job.
RIP Gus
Did Gus go on to be an Aircrewman on Commando Helo Force?...3 BAS
How did your Dad go.. Seems fairly young
@@Anglo-Brit heart attack . 56 YO. Also had crippling rheumatoid arthritis. Had a hard time but never stopped working etc
The Kiwis were like "You need some shups ma'am? We've got shups."
Regarding the victorious sinking of the ARA General Belgrano... Most of the Argentine sailors died in the liferafts from hypothermia due to poor training. They didn't inflate the floors of the liferafts that would have offered insulation. This type of poor training was typical of a lot of the Argentine military.
I'm a big fan of the box of PG Tips you have on your bedside table. Love these videos too, keep them coming!
holy shit is that a box of pg tips in the background? best cup of tea this side of outer mongolia
It's since been revealed that the Royal Marines' 'small amount of resistance' resulted in over 100 Argentine casualties during the initial invasion.
@David McMullan
Are you talking about the 22 Royal Marines that held off the Argentines first landing?
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- Yeah
According to the book "The First Casualty" by Ricky D Phillips, 57 Royal Marines of Naval Party 1801 caused absolute havoc and carnage using Milan, 66mm LAW, SLRs and GPMG. They destroyed several armoured vehicles and caused over 100 casualties before being ordered to stand down by Governor Rex Hunt.
They laid down their arms as instructed and were generally well treated by those on whom they'd inflicted a spectacular bloody nose. Most of them went back with the RM Commandos who returned to retake the islands 10 weeks later.
It was a story which was suppressed at the time in the interests of fostering international peace efforts. By the time the conflict was fully underway, the story was old news and the myth of the "token resistance" was firmly established.
One can only imagine what a full company strength detachment would have done.
British Army trained in Scotland, perfect for Falklands
Penguins come from the south pole, this is the reason they never get eaten by polar bears. :)
If I remember correctly, one of the British ships was equipped with a boffers AA gun from WWII and managed to shoot down an Argentinian jet with it.
I love this blokes channel , not just because he is clearly tough as old boots but also because of his appreciation military history and he's obviously an intelligent feller not some dead head psycho grunt that just wants blood and guts. Love to see his thoughts on the battles of Isildwana and rourkes drift. Respect.
Dios bendiga Argentina 🇦🇷 ¡viva la patria!
Lucky great britain did not destroy Argentina
@@harrystones2522 They should be grateful we effectively brought down the military junta by beating them in the Falklands
Thank you for the balanced view of the war. Having fought there during the 1982 war I can tell you, yes it was cold (icers as we used to say). Carrying the kit due to the demise of the Atlantic Conveyor (which was bringing down the Chinook helicoptors to carry us forward) was some task. We carried exceedingly heavy loads over freezing rough terrain for over 60 miles. Fighting at Two Sisters with my boss at the time Clive Idris Dytor (look him up) and my brothers in arms was a most interesting experience. Following up on Sapper Hill and finally down in to Stanley leaves me with chills at the thought processes that I went through at the time. If anyone knows Oscar Poltreieri, he will always be welcome over here to share a beer/wine and food and pull up a sandbag and tell a few dits. That man must have balls the size of three! Hit by the 84mm then hit by one of my 66mm and a couple of others he kept firing to the last when we went through. Keep up the good work and the balanced views. Most enjoyable.
Incredible video, as a brit and ex army I've always found this very interesting and yet not enough documentaries on it, I've read a number of books on the Falklands from the SAS, the Air force with the Vulcan bomber missions to the Royal navy and the mighty Sea Harrier. Great stuff
A veteran I sailed with (who also had been in the Field Gun competition for Portsmouth) survived the sinking of HMS Coventry, absolute top bloke and proud to have called him a shipmate, although only for a brief time
I served on board a British Frigate during the Falklands War. One of our last operations before the Argentinian surrender was with the SAS, i was part of our Ships rescue RIB boat crew and remember fishing out the last Soldier from this Regiment in The South Atlantic, the poor lad was green, been in the water for hours!!! we successfully recovered everyone on that day only to loose 18 of these very brave Soldiers in a helicopter accident from another British ship just hours after, a very very sad day. RIP
7:10 another fact, the Belgrano started as a US cruiser that was actually hit at Pearl Harbour.
Worth noting, this was about more than the Falklands, this was about proving that Britain could still stand up for it's self and had international reach without relying on America or Europe.
When did we ever rely on Europe? And the Americans took over two years to get involved in WWII, the British were fighting the Nazis entirely alone for a year, and they watched.
@@truckerfromreno WW2 was a different generation with different technology, you can't rely on it forever to claim "we stood or ground then, so we've still got it". And FYI, we never fought the Nazis alone. That's a misconception.
More importantly, this was about proving it to the world, not too you in hindsight. WW2 wasn't a war between Britain and someone else, it was an allied victory. They hadn't really had a notable independent victory on the world stage since maybe the boer war, and had seen some notable defeats like Vietnam, and multiple losses in minor conflicts like the cod wars. Politically they needed a big independent victory away from home to prove that they still head reach and power.
This channel is so awesome, calm great delivery informative and well balanced.
The Falklands War is my specialisation. I love the fact you did such a short video so well. I doth my cap to you young man. Am now about to watch you P Coy vid
Good video bro, I find it interesting that you see this war between Argentina and England. The truth is that for us Argentines this conflict was something very bad. Greetings from Argentina and as we say here "Sos re fachero" 😎👌 🇦🇷
Hiya Jarhead, I served as a Corporal in this war in A Coy 40 Commando. I had also served in the Falklands the year before as part of Navel Party 8901. And yes it was bloody cold wet and windy. RM are Britain's mountain troops so we were pretty well prepared for the conditions.Most of us suffered with Immersion foot ( trench foot ) which still gives me a bit of jip to this day. I have always enjoyed training with our sister unit the USMC who were always exceptionally hospitable to us. Best Wishes and Semper fi - Rob
A buddy of mine, Tony Bojko, from the Paras, went back a few years ago to visit the old battlefields he had fought on. He also met an Argentinian vet and befriended him.
Tony is a great guy.
There’s a part of the war that wasn’t covered in this, the RAF actually sent the V force to do a bombing run of fort Stanley airbase. It took 12 air to air refuelling tankers (victors) and one bomber (Vulcan) going via assention island for supplies then to the Falklands and back it’s something like single longest bombing run ever done in any war. 100% worth watching the documentary on it!
It’s great that your taking an interest as a marine in tactics and history 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
I was 11 when it kicked off. It all became a thing for me when HMS Sheffield (I lived just outside the City and the Ship was known as the Shiny Sheff ) was his and burned. My mate's big bro was a Royal Marine. He came home safe. I watching the whole thing unfold and I cried at the losses. I'm no supporter of Mrs T, she was a cow 1st Class, but she was so right on this. You have to stand up for the rule of law.
I’m in the falklands atm and we did a 100km walk across the island following the route of 3 parachute regiment
My wife and I were going on holiday to SW England. On the way, we stopped at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeolviton, while we were there we watched the RAF Harriers arriving ready to join the fleet.
They landed only a few hundred feet from the Museum car park.
One of your best, great to see the bond between Marines, Royal and US
Fun fact the Gen Belgrano was a survivor of Pearl Harbour she was previously the USS Phoenix (CL-46). I was 10 when the war started and I remember it like it was yesterday
I worked for a company called Plessey at the time. Part of the site made chaff rockets. They were on strike, the day Thatcher announced the task force the strike was called off for the duration. Living near Portsmouth all the pubs emptied out. It was a surreal time. I worked on radar systems and we had engineers on the carriers as far as Ascension fixing a software glitch on the Harrier radar.