MehMan 0 Posted April 4, 2008 With blue on blue, does anybody know of any cases in 1991 or 2003+/2001+ where the UK troops made a mistake? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-Snafu- 77 Posted April 4, 2008 With blue on blue, does anybody know of any cases in 1991 or 2003+/2001+ where the UK troops made a mistake? One off the top of my head was a blue on blue against the Danes in Afghanistan last year. According to Wiki the Danes were from (the strangely named) Royal Life Guards. Gaurdian Article An RM patrol boat was hit by a British checkpoint when it was wrongly identified as an enemy vessel. (Iraq 2003, Al-Faw Peninsula) Another one here Gaurdian article Doesn't seem to be any blue on blue incidents by the British in 1991. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-ZG-BUZZARD 0 Posted April 4, 2008 No, I'm not arguing that soviet and U.S. forces had received training in "allied" recognition - since I had no knowledge on this I was asking and was rather amazed that that aspect had been overlooked. As for engagements between U.S. and soviet forces back then being intentional or not, that could be subject of speculation, due to the plans of General Patton - at least of him is known that he wanted to "contain" the Soviet Union's advance further east than it had been agreed to at Yalta. I wonder if there was any soviet officer with similar thoughts but in the opposite direction - though of course the limit would be the german border, I guess... then again, maybe not... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-Snafu- 77 Posted April 4, 2008 BUZZARD @ April 04 2008,15:36)]No, I'm not arguing that soviet and U.S. forces had received training in "allied" recognition - since I had no knowledge on this I was asking and was rather amazed that that aspect had been overlooked. As for engagements between U.S. and soviet forces back then being intentional or not, that could be subject of speculation, due to the plans of General Patton - at least of him is known that he wanted to "contain" the Soviet Union's advance further east than it had been agreed to at Yalta. I wonder if there was any soviet officer with similar thoughts but in the opposite direction - though of course the limit would be the german border, I guess... then again, maybe not... Right, didn't mean to sound grouchy towards you. Vehicle/Aircraft recognition may have been overlooked because there Aircraft would have been in contact with each other for a short period of time before the war ended. Once the ground troops linked up the firing would cease. Whether ground forces went over their designated lines intentionally is debatable. I doubt it, I'm not so sure if the soldiers on both sides would have been up for more fighting than was needed. It was probably just map reading gone FUBAR. You know that saying, 'Most dangerous thing is an Officer and a map.' I remember reading about Patton and how he wanted to 'push them back to the Asiatic steppes where they belong.' I don't think he was stupid enough to intentionally send his forces farther than they were supposed to be. He landed up dying in a car crash anyway so I suppose they didn't have to worry about him. If he tried to escape his leash he would have been sacked. Wasn't MacArthur sacked when he wanted to move into China? Or am I just imagining that? @ Second: Thank you for answering my question in such depth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
da12thMonkey 1943 Posted April 4, 2008 With blue on blue, does anybody know of any cases in 1991 or 2003+/2001+ where the UK troops made a mistake? Off the top of my head I can think of two incidents: A Challenger fired on a Warrior in Op Granby (1991) resulting in relatively minor injuries to the infantry blokes in the back. The round was prevented from penetration of the Warrior's hull by the Chobham plates on the side of the vehicle. I haven't got any online references for this, it was in some material on Warrior I came across at work. During Op Telic (2003) a Challenger 2 fired HESH on two idle CR2s having mistaken one for a bunker. The first round landed nearby injuring dismounted personnel moving around on top of the tanks. A second round entered through the open commander's hatch of one of the tanks, killing the two crew members inside: http://www.mod.uk/NR....r03.pdf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MehMan 0 Posted April 4, 2008 Ah, just what I was looking for. I keep getting some stuffed up people going: those yanks keep bombing our boys! And then I have a hard time explaining to them that in wars mistakes happen and that the US Airforce does a good job at bombing the enemy and doesn't concentrate on bombing the brit and that mistakes happen on all sides. I just couldn't recall anything off the top of my head about blue on blue from brits. But then again I guess the overall smaller presence in big warzones does mean a smaller ammount of blue on blue incidents. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
