#1
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Falaise Gap: Friendly fire (not from the air)
Hi,
I think that majority of the MLU users know very well the facts when misdropped Allied bombs hit also Allied troops and AFVs in the Falaise Gap and similarly misfired Allied rockets attacked also Allied ground troops. I propose other and rather rare, in my opinion, subject. I mean all cases of the land battles friendly fire between ground troops in the Falaise Gap where a mix of the international units fought in the closest neighborhood sometimes without good wireless communication. For better thread development let's start from the quotation: Quote:
"… the 1st Polish Armoured Division who did not appear to be particular with whom they fought so long as they fought somebody". Well, do you know the other cases form the Falaise Gap land battles when, for instance, the Canadian tanks or troops attacked the British tanks or troops or vice versa? Or maybe the US GIs or the French Armoured Division attacked somebody in the Falaise Gap by mistake? As always I would be grateful for interesting cases and discussion. Best regards C. |
#2
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Not in the Falaise Gap, but
The Allies were not the only ones to suffer from “friendly fire”. During Operation Goodwood, Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 lost two Tigers to Luftwaffe manned 88’s.
This is from Georges Bernage’s book “The Panzers and the Battles of Normandy” (p. 141-142) “ ‘I was preparing to advance in the direction of Prieure’. But to do so the Tigers had to defile past the Flak battery at Cagny and its crews, who were experts in aircraft recognition but did not know the difference between the various models of tank. They opened up with everything they had and destroyed two of von Rosen's tanks : Sergeant Major Schonrock's was hit and set on fire by an anti-tank shell, and Sergeant Major Muller's received a hit that went straight through.” Oops...! |
#3
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Well, next example. The example in my opinion very sad in common American-Polish military history of the Normandy Campaign period.
Date of action: August 19th, 1944 Time of action: late afternoon Place of action: Chambois Units involved: Polish 10th Mounted Rifles Regiment and 10th Dragoons Regiment (both from the 1st Armoured Division) contra US 2nd Battalion, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division. For a long time I am researching this problem but nobody wants to tell about this incident too much, neither the Americans nor the Poles. I am working with the Falaise Gap veterans but after 60 years their combat emotions still are too high to describe this incident objectively. Most likely, according to several Polish descriptions, the Poles did not recognized the Americans correctly and strafed them in field before they entered Chambois. The Americans approached Chambois to close the Falaise Gap between British 21st Army Group and the US 12th Army Group. According to the Polish veterans strafed US troops showed then white flags like the troops that want to capitulate. The Americans deny this information. The US comment below: Quote:
Imagine that up to this time the Polish and US veterans from Chambois do not like themselves too much between them. To make matters worse the veterans of both Armed Forces accuse between them of various things. If somebody knows the US and/or Polish veterans (living in Canada for example) who fought together in Chambois -- you may invite them to this thread of the MLU Forum to tell us more about this incident. Best regards C. |
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