The Falklands War: The Untold Story
“A grenade exploded near us and lifted this soldier up in the air. There was shouting and screaming and explosions and bullets flying. Complete chaos. Anyway, he stood up and shouted ‘I’m hit! I’m hit!” He was swearing and screaming at the top of his voice but he could still walk. He turned to me and said, “Here. Take my rifle.” He handed over his ammunition to another soldier and then he started shouting “I’m leaving! I’m leaving!” I suppose he meant it was over for him. That he had had enough. This was all happening with the British troops right in front of us. Very close by. It was all so crazy. Its hard to explain now. Anyway, he started walking away and they threw a phosphorus grenade at him and he actually caught fire and started screaming. He was like a human torch. But what really bothered us was that he was lighting up our position so that the enemy could see us. We started waving him away. At that point, we really didn’t care whether he lived or died.”
Pvt. Horacio Benitez, Argentine conscript
“Well, you can always tell when if you are close to someone when they’ve been hit. Because you hear the crack of the bullet, but you also hear this sort of horrible sort-of ‘thwack’ as the bullet hits solid flesh and bone, and its pretty unpleasant. Its an extraordinary noise I suppose. Very grim. Even if you have never heard that sort of thing before, you just instinctively know exactly what’s happened. One of my soldiers who had a night sight suddenly saw one of them. And we heard the crack, and we heard the thump as it hit the Argentinian. There was a moment of silence and then there was the most terrible screaming from this Argentinian and he was screaming for his mother. And there was complete silence from both sides at this point and both of us listened to it. And I am sure we, in way, were just as horrified as the Argentinians. It really was an awful noise and it went on and on and on.”
Lt. Alistair Mitchell, Scotts Guards
The Falklands War: The Untold Story
“A grenade exploded near us and lifted this soldier up in the air. There was shouting and screaming and explosions and bullets flying. Complete chaos. Anyway, he stood up and shouted ‘I’m hit! I’m hit!” He was swearing and screaming at the top of his voice but he could still walk. He turned to me and said, “Here. Take my rifle.” He handed over his ammunition to another soldier and then he started shouting “I’m leaving! I’m leaving!” I suppose he meant it was over for him. That he had had enough. This was all happening with the British troops right in front of us. Very close by. It was all so crazy. Its hard to explain now. Anyway, he started walking away and they threw a phosphorus grenade at him and he actually caught fire and started screaming. He was like a human torch. But what really bothered us was that he was lighting up our position so that the enemy could see us. We started waving him away. At that point, we really didn’t care whether he lived or died.”
Pvt. Horacio Benitez, Argentine conscript
“Well, you can always tell when if you are close to someone when they’ve been hit. Because you hear the crack of the bullet, but you also hear this sort of horrible sort-of ‘thwack’ as the bullet hits solid flesh and bone, and its pretty unpleasant. Its an extraordinary noise I suppose. Very grim. Even if you have never heard that sort of thing before, you just instinctively know exactly what’s happened. One of my soldiers who had a night sight suddenly saw one of them. And we heard the crack, and we heard the thump as it hit the Argentinian. There was a moment of silence and then there was the most terrible screaming from this Argentinian and he was screaming for his mother. And there was complete silence from both sides at this point and both of us listened to it. And I am sure we, in way, were just as horrified as the Argentinians. It really was an awful noise and it went on and on and on.”
Lt. Alistair Mitchell, Scotts Guards
