Soldiers of La Plata, the first to say the truths of the Malvinas

By MARCELO ORTALE

[email protected]

A well known Argentinean politician who visited Patagonia during the Falklands war found that almost everything was wrong, but he did not want to say it publicly while two journalists had invited him to do so in the Southern hotel cafe in Comodoro Rivadavia, one of El Día and another of Clarin. "If you speak, they will not be able to censor you," he said. He preferred to remain silent and replied: "We are at war and at war, the first victim is the truth …".

It was exactly like this: much of the truth had died from April 2 until, a few days after the surrender of June 14, 1982, the 7th regiment soldiers returned to La Plata, gave their version. They were the first to tell what had happened to them, what they had experienced in their skin, because the country was almost fasting compared to what had really happened on the islands. It should be recalled that, in the theater of operations at the time, the military government did not allow the presence of independent journalists.

After the war, in the issue of El Día on June 22, we read these words of Private Jorge: "It's true, I was cold, I was hungry and I was even scared. But I am proud to have defended the homeland … "The entire city was turned towards the night of the 21st to receive them as heroes. The military authorities sent them late at night. They had left by bus from Puerto Madryn, landed by the English. The Argentinean army buses took 48 hours to reach La Plata, traveling almost incognito and making eternal stops in the depopulated areas.

Jorge Argañaraz, of Berisso, a soldier who came to fight, exclaimed while getting off the bus: "I can not say anything … I was in front and I fought face to face with the British. .. "to get lost in the arms of his family. The truth began to emerge from significant silences.

On June 23, 1982, El Día published a feature article titled "Pathetic Stories of Soldiers Involved in the Battle". Ex-combatants had to be protected by initials: "After all," said soldier A, "the biggest problem was anarchy, which continues to this day." Critics have already alluded to the lack of food they have suffered, as well as the lack of appropriate weapons and technical means. The fighter J. graficó: "At night, we went out to steal food, even during the battle.They had it in our warehouses and it was not easy to go there, but do you know what's the hunger? "

Lack of heavy artillery to answer the islands to the permanent bombing of the British fleet; use of short-range FAL rifles or pistols to fight on the ground; concentration of resources in the "city" (Puerto Argentino) and almost total abandonment of the logistics of Argentine troops in the mountains; iced clothes for the islands, the denunciations began to be felt from the testimonies of soldiers of the platforms and the Argentine population could know these truths through them.

You must understand the anonymity. The soldiers were still under banners and the military government – despite the imminent collapse – remained firm. But in the issue of El Día of June 24, 1982, the complaints of the fighters of the plateau exploded: "There was no wood to heat the food, we could not heat the water because in the Malvinas it does not There were no branches … "the kitchens worked with quebracho.

"We had 30 days to take the cannonade with an aguachenta meal.The wounded had to be evacuated on a stretcher, on the back of a man, for several kilometers … The English ships approached the distance that They wanted and only left when our planes arrived … ". But planes, of course, could not always arrive from the mainland 700 kilometers from the islands.

Hunger obsessed them: "From time to time, we received cold rations and mixed them with stew, but it was not enough, so we decided to kill the kelp sheep, even if it was forbidden. went out with the FAL and killed some sheep, we opened them, we saw that they were not sick, we cut them and we ate them … "

"Going into town was going crazy when we saw the differences, we went to bathe and dry our clothes that we had always wet." Well, when our withdrawal took place and the last battle of Puerto Argentino broke out, the following events happened after the surrender: near a house, there were about ten containers containing food, then with the British soldiers, shoulder to shoulder, we searched the containers, and we shared our food and our cigarettes. "

Everything is hurt in the words of the returning soldiers. But heroism remained

Everything is hurt in the words of returning fighters. But the same heroism was left standing, very safe. They also saved the courage of many of their leaders and officers, some of whom threw themselves on their soldiers to protect them from the iron rains beluga bombs were spreading.

Our soldiers lacked adequate weapons: "Maybe the quantity was not lacking, but the quality, there were people who fought with PAM machine guns, firing between 50 and 100 meters." Some soldiers had to change Five FAL rifles during a single shootout because they were stuck … Another thing that was missing to the soldiers in the mountain was the lubrilina and the antioxide to clean the rifles.We cleaned up the FAL with the Care packages, but that's not the way to beat us … And what was missing was artillery, they threw boom, boom, boom, like ten cannon shots, and just l & rsquo; One of us answered, boom, and they immediately: boom, boom, boom.They looked like machine guns, not guns, and the English ships for days cannonades and guns without any response, except our planes have made it impossible "

Private R, a platinum player who played his part in the war, who led three bloody battles on the islands – who lives today in the south of the city – ended up telling this newspaper in June 1982: "On the mountain We were bad, officers and soldiers, we all live the same life and suffer the same problems.The problem, the fault, was in the city, where everything was left and not shared."

The truth was finally known by the mouths of platinum fighters and the military dictatorship would fall soon afterwards to give way to democracy.