|
Re: Friendly fire WWII
In today's Washington Post newspaper (12/8/05) is an Obituary for Lt. Gen. William Yarborough (92 years old) and it comments that he was a battilion commander who encountered one of war's grimmest task, friendly fire. During the invasion of Sicily on the night of July 10, 1943 at least 23 Air Transport planes (C-47s) loaded with airborne troops were shot down by US Navy ships and land AA fire who had been firing at retreating Lutftwaffe aircraft. I've done a little research and seen varying reports of up to 37 total Allied aircraft downed that night by friendly fire, with up to 400 troops as casaulties. Some of the previous posts in this thread do have an individual aircraft being taken down that night by friendly fire, but I've never heard of this many at once.
|