friendly fire

 

Friendly fire or non-hostile fire, a term originally adopted by the United States military, is fire from allied or friendly forces, as opposed to fire coming from enemy forces or enemy fire. A friendly fire incident (fratricide), is when friendly forces or materiel are attacked and damaged by friendly fire ^[1] which may be deliberate (e.g. incorrectly identifying the target as the enemy), or accidental (e.g. missing the enemy and hitting "friendlies"). Friendly fire is one kind of collateral damage. The term friendly fire is also a classic oxymoron and a military euphemism.

The British military refer to these incidents as blue on blue,^[2] which derives from military exercises where NATO forces were identified by blue pennants, hence "blue", and Warsaw Pact forces were identified by orange pennants.

Fratricide versus Friendly Fire

Some prefer the term fratricide over friendly fire, because they deem the latter to be an unfitting euphemism exemplified by the aphorism "there's nothing friendly about getting shot by your own side."^[1] However, the origin and purpose of the term is as a simple distinction to enemy fire. Both terms serve only to identify the source of an attack as coming from enemy (hostile) or friendly forces and not the nature of an attack.

The term amicicide (killing of a friend) has also been used in the same manner as fratricide (Shrader 1982).

Classification

Friendly fire incidents fall roughly into two categories. The first classification is fog of war which generically describes friendly fire incidents in unintentional circumstances due to the confusion inherent in warfare. The second classification is murder where friendly fire incidents are premeditated. During the Vietnam War, this was known as “fragging.”^[1]

Fog of war incidents fall roughly into two classes:^[1]

Errors of position

Where fire aimed at enemy forces accidentally ends up hitting one's own. Such incidents were relatively common during the First and Second World Wars, where troops fought in proximity to each other and targeting was relatively inaccurate. As weapons have become more accurate in recent times, this class of incidents has become less common but still occurs, the most recent and highly publicized example being Operation Enduring Freedom, wherein a laser-guided bomb was mistakenly called in on friendly forces, causing heavy casualties.

Errors of identification

Where friendly troops are mistakenly attacked in the belief that they are enemy. Highly mobile battles, and battles involving troops from many nations are more likely to cause this kind of incident as evidenced by incidents in the first Gulf War, or the shooting down of a British aircraft by a U.S. Patriot battery during the Invasion of Iraq.^[3] According to CNN, the best-known case of such an accident was the death of Pat Tillman^[4]

History

Two French regiments accidentally attacking each other during the Battle of Fleurus led to the habit of attaching a white scarf to the flags of the regiments from 1690 - white being the colour of the kings of France.^{[citation needed]}

Friendly fire in the U.S. military

Pentagon estimates of U.S. friendly fire deaths, as a percentage of total U.S. deaths:

• American Civil War
  • Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died as a result of friendly fire, most likely due to an error of identification.
• World War II: 21,000 (16%) ^{[citation needed]} Figures have run anywhere from 2% to 12% depending upon the source.
  • Highest-ranking U.S. loss of the war, Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair
  • Sinking of the submarine FS Surcouf. This was initially attributed to a collision with the U.S. freighter Thompson Lykes, but a later report stated that the Surcouf was mistaken for a U-boat and destroyed by U.S. planes. Historians differ on which account is true.
  • Sinking of the submarine USS Dorado by U.S. planes.
  • Damage to the light cruiser USS Atlanta by the cruiser USS San Francisco.
  • Near damage of the battleship USS Iowa (with President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard) by the destroyer USS William D. Porter. This incident led to the “Willie D.” being greeted with the hail, “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!”
• Vietnam War: 8,000 (14%)
• Operation Desert Storm (1991: 35 (23%)
• Invasion of Afghanistan (2002 -): 6 Canadian (8.5 % of Canadian fatalities); 2 American
  • In the Tarnak Farm incident, (2002) 4 fatalities were Canadian soldiers.[2]
  • Pat Tillman, (2004) famous American football player killed by friendly fire.
  • Operation Medusa (2006): 1 - Two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts accidentally strafed NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, killing Canadian Private Mark Anthony Graham.
  • Canadian Pvt. Robert Costall and Vermont National Guard Sgt. John Thomas (2006) accidentally shot (from behind) and killed by a U.S. machine gunner near Kandahar, in Afghanistan.

Use in British culture

Due to the number of UK personnel killed by U.S. forces, in Britain the term 'friendly fire' is used in a semi-ironic way to imply U.S. Military incompetence [3] [4] [5][6] It is a frequent source of satirical humour. Examples include

• The third (2005) series of Monkey Dust, in which a British military vehicle in Afghanistan is targeted by an American pilot, despite a large Union Flag on its roof (the sole surviving soldier then runs through a series of British stereotypes, such as pouring a cup of tea and donning a bowler hat, but is bombed again, anyway)
• 19 October 2006 edition of Mock the Week, host Dara Ó Briain noted that British soldiers in Iraq were being, "shot at on a daily basis, although obviously it'll get much safer when the Americans leave and it's only the Iraqis firing at them."
• In a 2007 edition of the motoring programme Top Gear, presenter Jeremy Clarkson said he was quite safe during a simulated "duel" between a Lotus Exige and a Westland WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter because the pilots, "being British, not American, don't shoot their allies."
• A "joke" in the dialogue of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - developed by Rockstar North, based in Scotland - the main character, CJ, is assigned by a government agent Mike Toreno to steal a military jet off an aircraft carrier. The player is soon pursued by other jet planes, aimed at shooting him down. Mike Toreno hearing this mocks the remark that the enemy pilots make and tries to reassure that they will not shoot CJ down, remarking you're not a British tank.

In Iraq, many friendly Iraqis have also been killed and injured in a similar manner, but the US military has stated that it collects no statistics on these outcomes.

Incidents and persons

• 1461 – War of the Roses: At the Battle of Towton, wind conditions often resulted in arrows falling amongst friendly troops as well as the enemy.
• 1471 - Battle of Barnet: The ‘radiant star’ battle standard used by the troops commanded by the Earl of Oxford was misidentified as an enemy standard (which depicted a ‘brilliant sun’) and were fired on by their own archers.
• 1809 - Battle of Wagram: French troops mistakenly fired on their allies from the Kingdom of Saxony. The uniforms of the Saxon’s were grey and misidentified as white, the colour of uniform worn by their Austrian enemy.
• 1815 – Battle of Waterloo: Famously, Marshal Blücher’s Prussians came to the aid of the British, and defeated Napoleon decisively. Lesser known is that Prussian artillery mistakenly fired on British artillery causing many casualties, and British artillery returned fire at the Prussians.
• 1863 - Lt. Gen. T. J. “Stonewall” Jackson, famous Confederate Civil War general accidentally mortally wounded by his own troops at Chancellorsville, VA.
• 1914-1918 – World War I: The French have estimated that more than 75,000 French soldiers were casualties of friendly artillery in the four years of World War I^[5].
• 1939 (10 September - early World War II) – British submarine HMS Triton sank another British submarine, HMS Oxley, mistaking it for a German U-boat and having received no responses to challenges. Oxley was the first Royal Navy vessel to be sunk and also the first vessel to be sunk by a British vessel in the war.
• 1940
  • Italian Air Marshal Italo Balbo shot down by his own side.
  • Operation Wikinger: German destroyer sunk by Luftwaffe bombs, another sunk by mines during confusion^[7]
• 1941
  • Fleet Air Arm torpedo attack on HMS Sheffield during the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck
  • RAF fighter ace Wing Commander Douglas Bader shot down in what recent research suggests was a friendly fire incident [8].
• 1942 - Polish submarine ORP Jastrząb was mistakenly sunk by British destroyer HMS St. Albans and minesweeper HMS Seagull.
• 1943 – Operation Husky (Allied Invasion of Sicily): 144 C-47 transport planes passed over Allied lines shortly after a German air raid, and were mistakenly fired upon by ground and naval forces, 33 planes were shot down and 37 damaged, resulting in 318 casualties.
• 1944
  • British flotilla attacked by RAF Hawker Typhoons, off Cap d'Antifer, Le Havre. HMS Britomart and HMS Hussar sunk. HMS Salamander damaged beyond repair and scrapped. HMS Jason escaped major damage.
  • Operation Wintergewitter (Winter Storm) - Italian Front: American forward observer John R. Fox called down fire on his own position to stop a German advance on the town of Sommocolonia, Italy. In 1997 he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for this action.
  • In October 1944 Soviet troops with help of Yugoslav partisan's movement has oust German Nazi forces from city of Nis, in southern Serbia. While in Nis liberation celebration was underway, Soviet troops consisted of tanks were gaining toward Serbian capital Belgrade. In the same time about 50 km west, American air force were bombing German-Albanian unit which were entraining from Kosovo. Somehow, US air-forces probably uninformed about fast gaining of Soviet army have identified them as Germans and attack them. Soviet troops unable to defend, has called up for help, and soon from Nis airport has arrived Soviet air planes. Fight between US air forces and Red army airplanes took places above Nis itself, and last only 5 minutes, when both Russian and US command has ordered to their own plains to retreat.^{[citation needed]}
• 1945 – Operation Bodenplatte (Baseplate): 900 German fighters and fighter-bombers launched a surprise attack on Allied airfields, approximately 300 aircraft were lost, 237 pilots killed, missing, or captured, and 18 pilots wounded - the largest single-day loss for the Luftwaffe, many losses were due to friendly anti-aircraft guns.
• 1956 - Suez: Attacks from British Royal Navy carrier-borne aircraft caused heavy casualties to UK 45 Commando and HQ.
• 1968 - USS Boston, USS Edson, USCGC Point Dume, HMAS Hobart and two U.S. Swift Boats, PCF-12 and PCF-19 are attacked by US aircraft on June 17 in the Vietnam War.[9] Several sailors were killed and PCF-19 was sunk. [10]
• 1969 - U.S. Helicopters attack U.S. 3/187th Infantry Battalion CP during the Battle of Hamburger Hill, killing two and wounding thirty-five, including Lt. Col. Weldon Honeycutt.
• 1974 - Turkish Destroyer Kocatepe was sunk by Turkish aircraft during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
• 1982
  • HMS Cardiff shoots down AAC Gazelle (UK) in the Falklands Islands.
  • 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, British Army (UK) Companies A and C engage each other in an hour-long firefight in the Falkland Islands involving heavy weapons and artillery strikes. At least 8 UK casualties.
  • United Kingdom UK Special Boat Service Commando killed in firefight with UK Special Air Service Commandos. Falkland Islands.
• 1991 - American A-10 during Operation Desert Storm attacks British armoured personnel carriers killing nine British soldiers (the same number as were killed by enemy fire in the whole war).
• 1992 - USS Saratoga during a no-notice exercise that included a simulated RIM-7 launch; confusion ensued, and a sailor launched into the bridge of the Turkish destroyer Muavenet killing 5.
• 1994 - In the Black Hawk Incident, two U.S. Air Force F-15Cs involved with Operation Provide Comfort shot down two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawks over northern Iraq, killing 29 military and civilian personnel.
• 2001 - American F/A-18 dropped 3 Mk-82 bombs on a friendly observation post killing six and wounding 11 at Al Udairi Range, Kuwait.
• 2002 - American F-16 pilot dropped a 500 lb (228 kg) bomb on Canadian soldiers performing a live-fire exercise, killing four and injuring another 8 in the Tarnak Farm incident.
• 2003
  • American aircraft attacked a friendly Kurdish & U.S. Special Forces convoy, killing 15. BBC translator Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed was killed and BBC reporter Tom Giles and World Affairs Editor John Simpson were injured. The incident was filmed. [11]
  • American Patriot missile shot down in error F/A-18C Block 46 Hornet 164974 of VFA-195 50 mi from Karbala, Iraq, killing the pilot.
  • American Patriot missile shot down a British Panavia Tornado GR.4A ZG710 'D' of 13 Squadron killing the pilot and navigator, Flight Lieutenant David Rhys Williams and Flight Lieutenant Kevin Barry Main, both from 9 Squadron
  • British Royal Marine Christopher Maddison killed when his river patrol boat was hit by missiles after being wrongly identified as an enemy vessel approaching a Royal Engineers checkpoint on the Al-Faw Peninsula, Iraq.^[6]
  • British Challenger 2 tank came under fire from another British tank in a nighttime firefight, blowing off the turret and killing two crew members, Corporal Stephen John Allbutt and Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke [12]
  • 190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident - March 28, 2003 when a pair of American A-10s from the 190th Fighter Squadron attack four British armoured reconnaissance vehicles of the Blues and Royals, killing Lance-Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, during the invasion of Iraq.
• 2004 - Pat Tillman, famous American football player and friendly fire victim in Afghanistan.
• 2005
  • American soldier Mario Lozano is suspected of killing Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari and wounding Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Baghdad. Sgrena had been kidnapped and subsequently rescued by Calipari; however, it is claimed that the car they were escaping in failed to stop at an American checkpoint, and U.S. soldiers opened fire.
  • American troops opened fire on a Bulgarian convoy. Junior Sergeant Gardi Gardev was killed.
• 2006
  • During Operation Medusa, two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt IIs strafed their own NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, killing Canadian Private Mark Anthony Graham, and seriously wounding five others when soldiers were trying to seize a Taliban stronghold along the Arghandab River. Graham was a former Canadian Olympic athlete who competed on the Canadian 4x400 Men's Relay Team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
  • A U.S. machine gunner accidentally shot (from behind) and killed Canadian Pvt. Robert Costall and Vermont National Guard Sgt. John Thomas near Kandahar, in Afghanistan.
  • British Marine Jonathan Wigley, 21, is killed during an intense battle in Helmand province by American fire. ^[7]
• 2007
  • An American airstrike kills eight Kurdish Iraqi soldiers. [13]
  • U.S. forces kill seven Afghan police officers. [14]
  • An USAF F-15s called in to support British ground forces in Afganistan drops a bomb on those forces, killing Privates Aaron McClure and Robert Foster, both 19, and John Thrumble, 21, of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, and severely injuring two others.^[8]

Distinction

Friendly fire is fire that was intended to do harm to the enemy: a death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered "friendly fire".

See also

• Fragging, the intentional killing of a friendly soldier.
• Identification Friend or Foe
• Collateral damage
• Teamkilling, a computer-game term for often-intentional, friendly fire.

Notes

References

• Shrader, Charles R. Amicicide: the problem of friendly fire in modern war, University Press of the Pacific, 2005. ISBN 1-4102-1991-7
• Regan, G. More Military Blunders. Carlton Books, 2004.

External links

• Shock: U.S. Friendly Fire - A-10 Thunderbolt II Gunfire Video Leaked
• Friendly Fire Notebook, List of U.S. friendly fire incidents
• ALLC Dispatches Vol 11, No 1 Fratricide, Canadian Army Lessons Learned on Fratricide
• Firefight in Sangin: The Death of Pte. Robert Costall, Media Summary Report, MILNEWS.ca, updated 15 Sept 07.

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