No wonder we won the Falklands
Argentine army lashed rocket launcher to a slide in futile bid to defeat British troops
ARGENTINE soldiers cobbled together extraordinary makeshift weapons and amateur but lethal booby traps during the Falklands War, a new book reveals.
Trapped on the islands and running low on conventional supplies, the Argentinians lashed a rocket launcher to a children’s slide, created a bizarre ‘missile tractor’ and even resorted to medieval stake pits in their attempt to defeat the British task force.
Historian Ricky D. Phillips, 42, who spent years researching the previously untold story about the 1982 conflict, said: ‘These weapons had been spoken of in hushed tones, but it took years of digging to confirm the existence of many of them and to find photographic evidence.
‘The Argentinians have an expression, “atar con alambre”, which means “tied with wires” and dates back to gaucho cowboys in the wild, relying on their wits to fix things.
‘There is a widespread misconception that Argentine soldiers in the Falklands were conscripted kids who gave up easily. There were some, of course, but our forces mostly faced a well-trained army made up of experienced men who were used to thinking on their feet and being hugely resourceful.
‘Weapons were cobbled together using whatever they could find. Some were ingenious. Others, like the booby traps, pure evil.’
The Falkland Islands were a gold mine of farming equipment, vehicles and items that could be transformed into weapons of war.
A rocket launcher was attached to an apple crate with rope and then lashed to the top of a children’s slide on Goose Green. It was powered by a 12-volt car battery.
The ‘missile tractor’ was used as an improvised artillery unit. A Pucara rocket pod was welded to the top of a tractor and launched rockets using the tractor’s own battery, fired via a switch in the cab. The invaders dug stake pits – deep holes filled with wooden spikes pointing up – covered with branches and leaves intended to give way and impale the victim. There are no reports of soldiers or locals being killed or wounded in this way.
The Argentine forces also rigged booby traps in homes and buildings. Coca-Cola cans packed with nails and explosives were one popular ‘bomb’. Live grenades were even hidden under upturned teacups on kitchen tables. One grenade was put inside a hollowed-out book, which had been replaced on a bookshelf. And a mother discovered her daughter’s doll had been booby-trapped with wires leading to a makeshift explosive device.
Pressure mines were found under beds in King Edward Memorial Hospital in the capital, Stanley.
One woman returned home to find that her vegetables had been dug up and anti-personnel mines concealed beneath. Other ‘dirty tricks’ included shipping napalm bombs to the island (they were never used) and concealing two Exocet weapons on a hospital ship, in violation of international rules of war.
In total, 649 Argentinians and 255 British military personnel were killed during the conflict, along with three islanders.
● Tied With Wires, by Ricky D.
Phillips, is available on Amazon at £9.99.