A rchive Date
[ 08-12-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/macadam.html
Shot by both sides
Being assaulted by the enemy during wartime is bad enough, but there's another danger - when the 'fog of war' obscures soldiers' identities, their own side may attack them
By PAT MacADAM - For the Ottawa Sun
December 8, 2002
A great misnomer of war is the phrase "friendly fire." Incoming rounds with your name on them are never "friendly." Their objective is to terminate you with extreme prejudice.
General George Washington's diaries report 400 casualties during the French and Indian War of the mid-1750s when soldiers panicked and fired volley after volley of musket fire at their own lines.
Confederate Army General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was fatally wounded by "friendly fire" in the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville in May, 1863. The West Point graduate and legendary military strategist was galloping on horseback towards his own lines after a brilliant maneuver when his own troops opened fire on him.
"Stonewall" Jackson was hit by three musket balls from a fusillade by the 18th North Carolina Regiment. One ball hit him in the shoulder; a second one severed an artery in his arm and the third shattered his hand. His arm was amputated and he died eight days later.
Some historians argue that the death of General Robert E. Lee's boldest and best general may have affected the outcome of the Civil War.
Glenn Miller was probably killed by bomb disposal tactics of friendly bombers. On December 15, 1944, the popular American bandleader took off from an airbase in southeast England in a small single-engine Noorduyn Norseman. He was en route to Paris to entertain U.S. troops.
At the same time, 139 Lancaster bombers were returning from an aborted raid over Germany. They were jettisoning their bomb loads in the English Channel just as Miller's plane was flying under them.
What might have been one of the worst disasters of World War II was only averted by good luck and good seamanship. HMS Sheffield was shadowing the German pocket battleship Bismarck when there was a major breakdown in British communications. Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was not advised Sheffield had been ordered to change course to shadow Bismarck.
A squadron of "Swordfish" torpedo planes flew off Ark Royal and mistook Sheffield for Bismarck. The planes, nicknamed "Stringbags," launched 11 torpedoes with magnetic detonators. Six exploded on impact with the sea and Sheffield's skilled helmsman danced the Southampton-type cruiser around the other five.
Canadian destroyers HMCS Athabascan and HMCS Haida were patrolling off the coast of France, cleansing the area of German warships before the D-Day Invasion. Who sent the Tribal Class destroyer Athabascan to the bottom - six-inch guns of a German warship or a "friendly fire" torpedo from a British torpedo boat?
These are not just isolated incidents. Military historians estimate that 15% of all the casualties in World War II were caused by "friendly fire." The percentages for Korea and Vietnam are even higher. The numbers for the Gulf War are higher still. Forty five percent (165) of 367 battle fatalities during Desert Storm were caused by "friendly fire."
During Desert Storm, the United States lost eight Bradley tanks and crews - seven of them from "friendly fire."
Obviously, Allied military commanders try to sweep their miscues under carpets but, sometimes, the magnitude of the blunders was too great to cover them up forever.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, U.S. soldiers dug trenches every 50 feet along the beaches and armed them with .30-calibre machineguns. Seven fighter planes were going around to land at an island airstrip. The gunners thought they were Japanese, opened fire and shot down all seven. The planes were U.S. planes from carriers at sea.
On D-Day, 40 Dakotas crossed the Channel loaded with 116 tons of ammunition, spares and aviation fuel. Trigger-happy gunners on board ships below opened fire. Two planes turned back, one ditched in the sea and five were shot down.
Only 25 tons of materiel got through.
On July 11, 1943, over an American held airfield at Farello in Sicily, U.S. paratroopers were met with a hail of American machinegun fire. The gunners shot down 23 planes and killed 167 of their fellow servicemen. General Matthew Ridgeway looked on in horror as his replacement troops were being slaughtered.
Unlucky regiment
The Scottish Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders had to be one of war's unluckiest regiments. Doug Fisher and I took in a lecture on the Falaise Pocket by Professor Terry Copps at the War Museum. Professor Copps said that during the bloody battle, the Argylls were advancing from the northwest and were strafed 52 times by Typhoons of the RAF.
In Korea, September 22, 1950, on Hill 282, the Argylls were attacked by U.S. P-51 Mustangs firing 20-mm cannons and dropping napalm; 17 Highlanders were killed instantly and 76 others received horrific burns.
Also in Korea, American King and Love Companies approached Pork Chop Hill from opposite directions and opened fire on one another.
The most senior American general to be killed in World War II was General Lesley J. McNair, commanding general of U.S. Army Ground Forces.
He was killed when 300 U.S. bombers dropped 550 tons of bombs on the St. Lo front in Normandy. Some of the bombs fell on the U.S. 30th Infantry Division killing 25 and wounding 131. The very next day, U.S. artillery lobbed 140,000 shells at St. Lo and bombers dropped 3,300 tons of bombs; another 111 U.S. soldiers were killed and 490 wounded.
In April, 1945, a column of American prisoners of war was being led out of a camp near Nuremberg when they were strafed by American planes; 22 were killed and 100 were wounded.
Later that same week, 2,000 Allied airmen were being evacuated from a camp ahead of the advancing Russians. Six RAF Typhoons appeared overhead and began strafing the prisoners; 30 Allied airmen and eight German guards were killed and 60 were wounded.
In Afghanistan, U.S. planes dropped laser-directed "smart" bombs and destroyed Red Cross warehouses and a UN convoy.
In Northern Iraq in April, 1994, two American fighters shot down two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters, killing 26 peacekeepers.
'Smart' bombs
"Smart" bombs keep getting smarter but they are only as smart as the intelligence fed into their guidance systems or the pilots who guide them in. Four Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by "friendly fire" from U.S. fighter planes. Could it be that the Canadians were the authors of their own misfortunes?
What other course of action did the U.S. pilots have when they saw tracer bullets coming up at them from the ground? Even though it was only a "training exercise," why were the Canadian soldiers firing tracers into the air?
Pat MacAdam's column runs Sundays. He can be emailed at pat.macadam@ott.sunpub.com.
Letters to the editor should be sent to oped@sunpub.com.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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