DECLAN POWER Review: "The First Casualty" by Ricky D. Phillips
'As a boy, I remember well the Task Force setting off for the Falklands, all focus was on the coming battles such as Mount Tumbledown and later documentaries such as 'The Raid on Top Malo'. Later, when a developing young soldier and as an officer-cadet in the Irish Defence Forces I recall studying books such as 'No Picnic', Major General Julian Thompson's account of the Falklands War.
But nowhere did I read of the gallant defence of Stanley by the Royal Marines of NP8901. The only story I knew of their plight was that of being outgunned and quickly overwhelmed by a superior force of Argentine troops, including special forces. The only image that sprang to mind was of men in the famous green berets being forced to their knees after being disarmed. The fact that these men put up a heroic and highly proficient defence of the territory they were tasked to defend and were then promptly forgotten about and written out of history is gut-wrenching in its unfairness!
Their story is so strikingly similar to the book I wrote about the small Irish garrison holding out at the siege of Jadotville in the Congo in 1961 that the story is compelling; the men of NP8901 fought and behaved in the highest traditions of the Royal Marines. They did their duty, but were to be ignored by the powers-that-be; much like their brothers-in-arms before them, the Irish at Jadotville.
However, we also look forward to the record being set straight as it was for the men of Jadotville and as this book will undoubtedly do. No matter how long it takes, every serviceman who has seen action or risked himself in the service of his nation is at the very least deserving of their actions being recorded accurately and in this, I can say that the author has done a great job of contextualising this history and bringing it to life. I daresay that The First Casualty is one of the very few to also give a very accessible history of the Falklands and their relevance to both the UK and Argentina as well as a fantastic insight on the Falkland Islanders themselves.
Ricky D Phillips has kept the faith with the Royal Marines of NP8901 and given them a voice. Let us hope that the British people and indeed all people of goodwill will now value the efforts made by this band of brothers in 1982 to defend the democratic rights of Falkland Islanders in the face of overwhelming force, without any guidance or military support whatsoever. In all, a gripping story of action and heroism, denied for political convenience and which, I hope, shall change the face and the history of this fascinating conflict for good.’
Declan Power – Author of ‘Siege at Jadotville’
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