►5 Reasons why The First Casualty (Falklands War book) by Ricky D. Phillips is wrong⛔️

The 5 major faults with The First Casualty by Ricky D. Phillips, a book about the Argentine landing in the Falklands on April 2nd, 1982

In the book The First Casualty, self-published in 2017 and financed through a Kickstarter campaign, Ricky D. Phillips, a History enthusiast with no formal qualifications, affirms that up to 100 Argentine soldiers were killed in three different incidents during the Argentine landing in the Falklands:

Around 40 soldiers lost in a WWII style Higgins Landing Craft sunk at the entrance to Stanley Harbour, named locally as The Narrows; 28 troopers killed in a LVTP-7 Amphibian Personal Carrier destroyed in the eastern outskirts of the town, a place also known as White City; and at least 5 more casualties around Government House. These bodies were then transported to an islet north of Cape Pembroke called Tussac Island, tossed from helicopters and set ablaze with napalm to eliminate any proof of their existence.

Click on pictures to enlarge

 

 

But there's so many flaws in his hypothesis (here you'll find long articles explaining them), that I decided to write this summary to provide a simple list, concentrating on the most important and blatant problems. I was able to obtain pictures and videos of the vehicles supposedly destroyed, the Landing Craft abandoned in Stanley, and the Amphibian APC exposed in Quequén, and it's clear that they weren't damaged in combat, so let's start:

There's 5 capital flaws in The First Casualty theory about dozens of hidden Argentine casualties:

1.  There's no sign of battle damage on the LCVP supposedly sunk on April 2nd, 1982.
   
   
2. There's pictures showing that same LCVP captured by British forces, in good condition, moored in Stanley.
   
   
3. The hole in the commander's cuppola of the Amtrac supposedly hit by the Royal Marines, is actually the mounting point of a removed auxiliary viewport.
   
   
4. The Amtrac's rear light cluster shown as proof of impact, is a falsified piece made of a different material.
   
   
5. The damage in the Amtrac's nose section doesn't match with an impact of HEAT ammunition. The Amtrac internal layout makes impossible to affect the crew with an impact in that point.
   

1. The LCVP is not damaged.

These are the only LCVP pictures published by Phillips, either in his book, the web or social media:

Phillips claims that there's a "welded and riveted plate.... put over the 84 mm hole in an attempt to repair the LCVP". But there are two problems:

First, there's another patch at the other side of the boat, exactly at the same spot:

Second, that's because it's not a patch, it's s structural feature present in many other LCVPs around the world:

2. The LCVP was captured intact by the British forces in June 14th, 1982.

Despite the heavy weathering has erased the ID numbers, a singular feature of this boat has allowed to identify it, there's two panels in the forward section, something not present in other boats, like the ones in the pictures posted above:

That feature is seen in this picture of LCVPs #9 being deployed from ARA Cabo San Antonio, note #23 in the back:

Both LCs, #23 and #9 were captured in good condition after the cease fire, you can see them moored in Stanley harbor right next to a RFA transport:

 A Post Wat Picture of the LCVP

A previously unseen picture of the LCVP surfaced in this Facebook group (picture is the 38th of that large collection) called 'Falklands History, The Facts', showing two British soldiers posing next to it. It is undoubtedly our LCVP in question, showing the 'double panel' distinctive feature discussed in the main article.
[The picture disappeared from the collection, coincidentally, Ricky D. Phillips is one of the administrators of that group]

The distinctive beret of the second soldier is a Tam o' Shanter, used only by a limited number of Scottish regiments. One of those regiments were the Queen's Own Highlanders who arrived on July 1st, 1982. They were too late to participate in combat, so they ended up relieving the troops that fought on Operation Corporate. I asked in several Facebook QO HLDR groups, and one of the Sergeants of D Company helped me to obtain precise information:

"[We arrived on]1 Jul to 20 Jul 82. We were sent to take West Falkland but the garrison there surrendered before we got there so we ended up being the 'clean up' garrison who reburied the dead (both sides) and cleared as much of the debris of war that we could until Dec 82, when we were relieved by the Royal Hampshire Regiment [1 R HAMPS].

Soldier at rear of photo is nicknamed 'Geordie' and the front soldier is called Sammy. Location confirmed as East Beach by Stanley Airport. i.e. if you look at Whalebone Cove then go NORTH there is a very wide beach (called Yorke Bay) which is where Sammy recalls there being the LCVP and a destroyed Panhard armoured vehicle. Locals in the Falklands have confirmed it and the vehicle are no longer there but unsure when they were removed/scrapped. This is all we can recall - sorry. [Picture was taken in] Mid July, 1982."

From this picture and the information kindly provided, we can conclude that:

The double panel is present and the lack of ID number match with the one pictured in The First Casualty. If its LCVP #9 with the ID number erased, or a third landing craft previously unaccounted for, it's subject to further investigation.

It clearly shows that there's no damage or reparation signs on its side, and that 'welded and soldered patch' claimed by Phillips is just a structural feature of the boat.

It’s not unreasonable to conclude that this abandoned boat doesn’t show combat damage and it can be identified as one of the two boats captured by British forces, specifically #9.

 

UPDATE FEB 23:

I found another picture of the LCVP in the Facebook Group called "Comando Xma Brigada" (picture number 30 of the 'Moody Brook' album), uploaded in May 2012. The boat is clearly more weathered, suggesting it was photographed a few years after the war. The wider shot also permits to situate the LCVP in the vicinity of Moody Brook, as some islanders like Taff Davies and Gavin Short have commented in reaction to my posts in Facebook Groups.

I asked my contact in the QO HLDR about the discrepancy with his account:

"The Jocks said they were certain it was York Bay but that could be Moody Brooke in the background left side.. after 40 years all our memories are going I think. Could it have been moved for target practice or to tidy up the barracks area?"

Despite the location issue, the conclusions still stand: there's no sign of impact, the craft is the same pictured in The First Casualty, and the 'patch' is an integral structural feature.

Here's a much longer and detailed article about the LCVP, including their role in the Landing, it's current location in Stanley, and other details.

3. The LVTP-7 VAO 17 wasn't hit in the cuppola.

Phiilps' stance is that the LVTP-7 exposed in the Monument in Quequén was impacted by multiple HEAT ammunition shot by the Royal Marines at the eastern entrance to Stanley:

A "neat little 66 hole" indeed, but it's not an impact hole, is the mounting point of a auxiliary vision periscope that was removed or stolen:

Close up pictures of VAO 17 confirms there's no signs of impact inside or outside the vehicle:

The next picture is from an M-113 APC hit by HEAT RPGs, and it’s relevant because it’s made with an aluminum alloy similar to the LVTP-7, and is 38 mm thick in the sides, while the Amtrac sides are 35 mm. As it can be seen, apart from the obvious penetration holes, the superficial damage is considerable, something similar should be present in VAO 17:

Such damage is product of the HEAT round exploding on contact with the surface, as shown in this slow motion video:

Definitely, there's no indication of battle damage behind the cuppola.

A more detailed analysis is available in this article.

4. The rear light cluster shown as proof is false.

During the presentation of the book, a rear light cluster was proudly shown as purportedly the one ripped from the LVTP-7 with a LAW 66 impact:

Here's some more detailed pics of the piece:

The main problem with this relic is simple: while it seems to be made of rusty steel, the real shroud is made of aluminium, like the rest of the vehicle.

Not only welding steel to aluminium is expensive and impractical for just a shroud, the shape of the piece doesn't match, because the real one doesn't have a rectangular piece at the bottom, and it's welded to the hull; the light housing goes in the middle of it, bolted and connected to the hull through those three holes.

In the picture below, you can see a USMC AAV-7 in restoration, to the left are visible the three connection holes, and to the right is the light housing bolted to the hull, without the cylindrical cover around it:

And this is the same rear light without the light housing:

A friend made this video, showing how a magnet doesn't stick to the cluster or the hull, but it does stick to the steel bolts and small bits of the rear light:

Also notice how the cover isn't rusty at all, despite being exposed out in the open for decades, not even where the paint is chipped.

A more detailed analysis is available in this article.

5. The damage in the nose section doesn't match with an impact of HEAT ammunition.

As Phillips explains here, VAO 17 was supposedly hit with a Carl Gustav 84 mm. round in the nose, with an exit "blast scab" to the side:

This would be the angle of impact:

My friend shot a video from inside VAO 17, the nose has an airtight bulkhead, that cavity helps the bouyancy of the vehicle:

Instead of an exit hole in the side, there's an entry hole. It certainly looks like a penetration, but the lack of spalling/pitting damage in the surroundings, no burnt or melted surface in the hole itself and the bent aluminum sheet suggest a low velocity blunt force impact with another rigid object, maybe another vehicle or the Cabo San Antonio’s ramp when reembarking from the water. The bulkhead right behind it also looks undamaged, so whatever happened, it didn’t compromise the crew section either.

Not only that's an airtight section, behind it is the engine and transmission compartment, so the shell wouldn't penetrate the crew section, as shown in this hobbyist model:

Here's pictures of a real LVTP-7 with the rear ramp open, showing the crew compartment and engine section:

In this report, "Marine Corps Assault Amphibious Vehicle Survivability Upgrade" of the Inspector General U.S. Department of Defense, (Report No. DODIG-2018-060, Page 18), we can confirm the internal disposition of the vehicle, showing the troop compartment, power pack section, and the flotation cavity in the nose:

It's rational to conclude that such an impact would have resulted in a mobility kill at best. In fact, the real cause of the nose patches is an impact with the Tank Landing Ship's frontal ramp doors during a practice in 1987. A more detailed analysis is available in this article.

 

Conclusions:

To sum it up, we have an LCVP without any battle damage, captured intact by British forces, an APC with a hole behind the cuppola that's there by design, a falsified rear light, and damage in its nose that not only doesn't match with Phillips' account, but it also wouldn't affect the crew inside it, even if it was effectively hit by enemy fire.

In fact, VAO 17 was the only vehicle that wasn't in service when the Landing occured, despite Phillips' misquoting Argentine books "admitting" that it went to the Falklands.

I'm still working in other aspects of the supposed hidden casualties, however, there's no denying that The First Casualty has serious methodologic and corroboration issues. Nonetheless, reading the personal renditions of the people and soldiers involved in that fateful day is still a very valuable trait.

However, I strongly advise to take the book's conclusions with a grain of salt, just about the size of VAO 17.