Warsap, Alan John (Oral history)

British officer served with Royal Army Medical Corps attached as medical officer to 2nd Bn Scots Guards, 5th Infantry Bde during Falkland Islands War, 1982

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as regimental medical officer with 2nd Bn Scots Guards, 5th Infantry Bde during Falkland War, 1982: background to hearing of crisis; reaction to watching first elements of Task Force leaving Portsmouth, 4/1982; departure of QE2, 2/5/1982; contrast between conditions on board QE2 and later active service; battlefield first aid training; period in waters around Ascension Island; accidents and illnesses on voyage southward; arrival at South Georgia; realisation of nature of conflict; transfer to SS Canberra; importance of BBC World Service; landing at San Carlos Water; weather conditions for 5th Infantry Bde's landings. REEL 2 Continues: medical effects of carrying heavy equipment; problems digging in terrain; abortive attempt of 1st Bn Welsh Guards to march across islands; additional medical support available; problems of cold and wet conditions; embarking on board HMS Intrepid; reaction to briefing on move to Bluff Cove; conditions on board landing craft; under fire from British ships; navigational problems on board ship; weather conditions on disembarkation at Bluff Cove; rotation of companies from hills outside Bluff Cove; opinion of efforts of Falkland islanders to aid exposure cases in unit. REEL 3 Continues: physical condition on night time move by landing craft; Argentinean Air Force attacks at Bluff Cove; unit's opening fire on Argentinean aircraft; Argentinean bombing of ships at Bluff Cove; casualties during patrol to Port Harriet House area; opinion of regimental aid men; question of pipes being played going into action at Mount Tumbledown. REEL 4 Continues: question of strength of unit; Argentinean shelling of unit at Bluff Cove; move to Goat Ridge area, 13/6/1982; plan of attack for Mount Tumbledown; dealing with first casualty prior to attack; casualties during diversionary attack; opposition faced from Argentinean 5th Marine Regt positions on Mount Tumbledown; problems with casualty evacuation; degree of casualties dealt with by regimental aid post; death of NCO who could not be reached; opinion of role of unit in taking Mount Tumbledown; unit casualties; story of guardsman who was missing from unit for 47 days. REEL 5 Continues: reasons for delay in picking up wounded in Westland Sea King helicopter; aiding wounded Gurkhas; question of need to have helicopter evacuation pilot attached to unit and need to train commanding officers in use of medical procedures;; orders of unit not to move into Port Stanley; cases of trenchfoot on Saint Edmund; role as garrison troops on West Falkland; return to GB on board MV Norland.