ATLAS 1765

The Claim: Argentine Super Étendard and A-4C Skyhawks attacked and crippled aircraft carrier HMS Invincible on 30 May 1982. Britain allegedly concealed the damage by towing it secretly, fabricating a decoy, or sealing files under a mythical "secret 90-year law."

Archival & Physical Reality: British Admiralty logs (TNA ADM 101/676, ADM 202/924) confirm the Argentine strike attacked radar decoys around the smoking hulk of the *Atlantic Conveyor*. HMS Avenger engaged the incoming Exocet with 4.5-inch naval gunfire, and HMS Exeter downed two Skyhawks (1st Lt. Vázquez and Lt. Castillo). HMS Invincible suffered 0 hits, 0 damage, and 0 casualties, maintaining combat flight operations throughout June before returning to Portsmouth on 17 September 1982 in full public view. Under the UK Public Records Act, Falklands operational records were subject to standard 30-year declassification and were fully unsealed in 2012; no "90-year secret law" exists.

The Claim: Kasanzew publicized rumors depicting the 1/7 Gurkha Rifles as ruthless "Asian mercenaries" and drugged headhunters who decapitated conscripts with kukri blades.

Archival & Legal Reality: Under Geneva Protocol I, Article 47(2)(e), members of regular armed forces are explicitly excluded from the definition of mercenaries. The 1/7 Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles were incorporated into the regular British Army under the 1947 Tripartite Agreement between the UK, India, and Nepal. At Mount William, 1/7 GR suffered 1 KIA (Lance Corporal Budhaparsad Limbu); Red Cross inspections and medical records record zero mutilations or war crimes. Kasanzew used this slur to delegitimize Britain under international law and shield Argentine tactical pride from admitting infantry defeat.

The Claim: Kasanzew insists the British Special Air Service (SAS) was "solo una unidad de comandos más" (just another commando unit) without tactical superiority, claiming Argentine Commandos consistently outmatched them.

Operational & Political Reality: 22 SAS executed decisive strategic missions, including the Pebble Island raid (destroying 11 Argentine aircraft with 0 British fatalities) and forward observation on Mount Kent. At Many Branch Point (10 June 1982), Captain Gavin Hamilton sacrificed his life covering his signaller's escape, earning the Military Cross; Argentine First Lieutenant José Duarte praised Hamilton's supreme gallantry. Kasanzew's motive is political: demystifying the SAS allows him to glorify Argentine Commando Companies 601 and 602—whose commanders (Aldo Rico, Mohamed Alí Seineldín, Horacio Losito, Eduardo Villarruel) later led the anti-democratic Carapintada mutinies—and advance the "stab-in-the-back" myth that Argentine commandos were invincible and betrayed only by high command generals.

The Claim: Kasanzew claims British commanders admitted Britain was "ten minutes away from losing the entire war" at Mount Kent.

Archival & Operational Reality: 3 Commando Brigade combat logs confirm this refers solely to a localized helicopter landing delay on 30 May 1982 caused by blizzard conditions and rotor icing, where K Company 42 Commando faced an exposed wait before reinforcement. It was an isolated tactical delay, not a strategic threat to the Task Force. Kasanzew cropped British documentary footage to fabricate a confession of near-total defeat.

The Claim: Kasanzew alleges the British Task Force suffered hundreds of hidden, unacknowledged fatalities during the Battle of Mount Longdon.

Archival & Regimental Reality: The 3 PARA Roll of Honour and National Archives records (TNA DEFE 24/2165) account for every single casualty: 23 British paratroopers killed and 47 wounded during the night battle on 11–12 June 1982. Kasanzew seized upon a British veteran's remark that his forward platoon suffered over 50% casualties, falsely extrapolating that percentage across the entire Task Force to invent hundreds of phantom casualties.

The Claim: In interviews with convicted Dirty War criminal Horacio Losito, Kasanzew asserts that three British Royal Marines were killed and concealed in body bags at Top Malo House.

Archival & Medical Reality: Royal Marines Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre (M&AWC) combat logs and the surgical logbooks of the British Red Cross field hospital at Ajax Bay confirm: 0 British personnel died at Top Malo House (4 were wounded: Lt. Stewart, Cpl. Stone, Cpl. Groves, Mne. Morrison; 2 Argentine commandos were killed: 1st Lt. Espinosa and Sgt. Sbert). The "body bags" observed by Losito contained thermal survival bivouac gear and equipment, not corpses.

The Claim: Kasanzew claims Britain was helpless and that the United States military directly planned, fought, and won the conflict on Britain's behalf.

Archival & Diplomatic Reality: US State Department archives and Lawrence Freedman's Official History document that while the US provided aviation fuel access at Ascension Island, satellite weather imagery, and 200 AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, zero US combat forces participated. The British Task Force planned and executed all naval operations, amphibious landings, and ground assaults autonomously over an 8,000-mile supply line.

The Claim: Kasanzew denies that Argentine officers systematically tortured conscripts, dismissing field punishments (estaqueamientos) and starvation as leftist "desmalvinización" hoaxes.

Judicial & Military Reality: In Argentine Federal Criminal Court (Causa N° 1777/07, Río Grande), over 100 Argentine conscripts provided sworn testimony documenting beatings, burial in freezing mud, and staking to the ground for scavenging food. The official military Informe Rattenbach confirmed severe command dysfunction, malnutrition, and logistical failure while supply depots in Stanley remained locked.

The Claim: Kasanzew labels British presence in the Falklands as "piracy" based on an alleged 1833 civilian expulsion, denying the inhabitants the right to self-determination as an "implanted population."

Archival & Treaty Reality: The 1833 historical record (HMS Clio logbooks and Argentine commander Pinedo's report) proves only the mutinous military garrison was repatriated, while civilian residents were encouraged to stay. Under the 1849 Arana-Southern Peace Convention, Argentina settled all disputes with Great Britain and maintained 35 consecutive years of total diplomatic silence. Under UN Charter Chapter XI, Article 73, the democratic will of the inhabitants is paramount.