List of friendly fire incidents

• 1471 – During the Battle of Barnet a Lancastrian force under the Earl of Oxford was fired on by the Lancastrian centre while returning from a pursuit; their banner, Oxford's “star with rays” had been mistaken for the Yorkist “sun in splendour”. This gave rise to cries of treachery, (always a possibility in that chaotic period), Lancastrian morale collapsed, and the battle was lost.

• 1643 – Following the fall of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Roundhead forces, captured Royalist commander, the Earl of Kingston, was killed by Royalist cannon fire when the boat transporting him to Hull was fired on from the banks of the River Trent.[3]

• 1690 – Two French regiments accidentally attacked each other during the Battle of Fleurus, which led to the practice of attaching a white scarf to the flags of the regiments.[4]

• July 9, 1755 – Two main phases of friendly fire occurred during the Battle of the Monongahela, which halted the Braddock Expedition after French regulars, French militia and Indians joined battle with them before Fort Duquesne. In the obscuring woodland conditions and confusion caused by the French musket fire and the Native Americans' war cries, several British platoons fired at each other. Later in the battle many British soldiers fled from more exposed ground and into woods, where redcoats fired on them mistaking them for advancing French infantry.[5]

• In the Battle of Germantown in 1777, a combination of late arrival, poor navigation and overpursuit resulted in Major General Adam Stephen's men colliding with General Anthony Wayne's troops. The two Continental Army brigades opened fire on each other, became badly disorganized, and fled.
• In the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, after several volleys of musket and cannon fire broke out, smoke began to obscure soldiers' view of the battlefield. In a pitched battle, smoke not only limited visibility but irritated soldiers' eyes and could make breathing difficult. In the confusion, British Lieutenant John Macleod, in command of two British three-pounders, was directed by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis to fire on the Americans who were in close combat with the British. Many British soldiers died as a result of friendly artillery bombardment.

• 1796 – Battle of Fombio: In a night of confused fighting when Austrian units had stumbled into his army's position, French general Amadee Laharpe was shot dead by his own men while returning from reconnaissance.
• 1801 – Battle of Algeciras Bay: Spanish ships Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo mistakenly engaged each other in the dark after the HMS Superb sailed between them and fired at both. 1,700 were killed when the two ships exploded.
• 1806 – On 30 November, at 10pm, HMS Dart and Wolverine came upon a ship that they suspected was a French privateer and that kept up a running fight until morning, only surrendering after her captain and several of her crew had been wounded, of whom six later died. The vessel turned out to be the British merchant ship Mary.[6]
• 1809 – Battle of Wagram: French troops mistakenly fired on their allies from the Kingdom of Saxony. The grey uniforms of the Saxons were misidentified as white, the colour of uniform worn by their Austrian enemy.
• 1815 – :*Battle of Quatre Bras: Soldiers of the Dutch 3rd Light Cavalry Brigade disengaging and retiring from a skirmish against the French were fired on by Scottish highlanders who mistook their uniforms for those of French chasseurs a cheval.[7]

• Battle of Waterloo: Prussian artillery mistakenly fired on British artillery causing many casualties, and British artillery returned fire at the Prussians.

• Both sides, Texians and Mexicans, in the Siege of the Alamo in 1836, had friendly fire incidents:

• In early hours of 1 March, a mounted party of Texian volunteers arriving at gallop to reinforce the Alamo garrison were fired at by defenders who mistook them in the dark for attacking Mexican horsemen, wounding one of them, before the sentries were called to open the gates for them.[8]
• At the Mexicans' final mass assault (overnight 5–6 March), some of the veteran troops leading it were wounded or killed when shot by untrained recruits in the ranks behind who "blindly fir[ed] their guns", and when all the defenders had been killed, Mexicans continued to shoot Mexicans in mistake during the darkness.[9]

• During the Battle of Shiloh on 6 April 1862, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was fatally wounded by a bullet that hit the back of his right knee when riding in advance of his troops. There were no Union troops observed to have got behind him and the bullet was identified by his surgeon as from a Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle, which was standard issue in the Confederate Army but not the Union troops present.[10]
• Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded as a result of friendly fire in the Battle of Chancellorsville on 2 May 1863, and died eight days later. He and some of his men had been returning, under the cover of night, from an intelligence-gathering mission when Confederate troops of the 18th North Carolina Infantry misidentified them as a Union cavalry scout team; as a result, the North Carolina troops opened fire.[11]
• In the Battle of the Wilderness on 6 May 1864, Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet was wounded when his mounted column from the First Corps was mistaken for Federal troops. As a result of this, he did not return to command until October of that year. In the same incident, Brigadier General Micah Jenkins was mortally wounded after being struck in the head.[11]
• In the early hours of 6 March 1865, the Union vessel USS Peterhoff was en route to blockade Wilmington, North Carolina when she was rammed and sunk by USS Monticello after being mistaken for a blockade runner. All hands were rescued before she sank.

• Dogger Bank Incident (overnight 21/22 October 1904) – In what can be classified literally as a case of fog of war,[12] battleships of the Imperial Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet en route to reinforce in the Far East, fired on a fleet of British fishing trawlers in the North Sea, mistaking them for Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo boats after misunderstanding signals. One vessel was sunk, four were damaged, and two fishermen were killed and six wounded. In the general chaos that ensued, the cruisers Aurora and Dmitrii Donskoi were also taken for Japanese warships in the fog and bombarded by seven battleships sailing in formation, damaging both ships and killing at least one Russian sailor and severely wounding another, and fatally wounding a naval chaplain. During the pandemonium, several Russian ships signalled that torpedoes had hit them, and on board the battleship Borodino, rumours spread that the ship was being boarded by the Japanese, with some crew members donning life vests and lying prone on the deck and others drawing cutlasses to repel a boarding before a ceasefire was signalled.

• Battle of Dinant 21–23 August 1914 – It is believed that some parties of German infantry entering the Belgian city of Dinant in a nighttime assault, fired at each other in the darkness of the night while under fire from French troops. The Germans mistakenly believed that hostile Belgian civilians had fired on them, contributing to a conviction among the German soldiers that Belgian civilians were actively fighting them.[13] This led to arrests and massacres of local civilians when the town was invested and occupied. On the 23rd, German artillery mistakenly fired on infantry who were occupying and barricading a street; the latter units were temporarily forced to withdraw, having shot a man held as human shield accused of having been a franc-tireur in earlier fighting.[14]
• Battle of Bolimow 31 January 1915 – The German Ninth Army launched the first large scale poison tear gas attack on the Russian Second Army in Poland, firing 18,000 gas shells. However the wind blew the gas back onto the German lines, causing a few casualties which could have been higher had the winter cold not frozen the ingredient xylyl bromide. The attack was called off, the counter-attacking Russians being successfully repelled by conventional artillery shellfire.[15]
• 25 September 1915 – In the first gas attack launched by British forces prior to their infantry attack that opened the Battle of Loos, about 140 long tons (140,000 kg) of chlorine gas was released, aimed at the German Sixth Army's positions on the Hohenzollern Redoubt but in places the gas was blown back by wind onto the trenches of the British First Army. Due to the inefficiency of the contemporary gas masks, many soldiers removed them as they could not see through the fogged-up talc eyepieces or could barely breathe with them on. This led to some being affected by their own gas, as it blew back across their lines or lingered in no man's land,[16] immediately causing the death of 10 and injury to about 2,000 British soldiers. It was made worse when German artillery fire blew up some of the cylinders.[17]
• 8 May 1916 – During the Battle of Verdun, when the French outpost Fort Douaumont was occupied by German infantry, a careless cooking fire detonated grenades, flamethrower fuel and an ammunition cache. Hundreds of soldiers were killed instantly in the firestorm, including the entire 12th Grenadiers regimental staff. Worse, some of the 1,800 wounded and soot blackened survivors attempting to escape the inferno were mistaken for attacking French Colonial African infantry and were fired upon by their comrades. In all 679 German soldiers perished in this fire.[18]
• 2 June 1916 - On the opening of the Battle of Mount Sorrel in the Ypres Salient of Belgium, the commanding officer of the 3rd Canadian Division, Major General Malcolm Mercer, and his aide Captain Lynam Gooderham, were wounded and trapped when German artillery opened fire on divisional trenches they were inspecting. They ran into rifle crossfire when attempting to evade advancing German infantry, Mercer receiving a bullet in a leg, then remained overnight unhelped until 2 am next day when Mercer was killed by an exploding shell and Gooderham was taken prisoner by the Germans. A staff officer later claimed the fatal shell was British and Mercer is upheld as the most senior Canadian officer killed in combat and by friendly fire.[19]
• On the night of 4–5 August 1916, during the First Battle of the Somme, the 13th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry were fired on by Australian Artillery while in process of capturing and holding onto a German communication trench called Munster Alley.
• 17 September 1916 – During the same Battle of the Somme, a company of the 1st/7th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment waiting to charge a German trench south of Thiepval, France, were strafed from behind by Stokes mortar fire, the most loss of life caused when their hand grenade store was hit, detonating its contents. The mortars had been issued their battalion only a few weeks before and inexperienced firers had set too short a range aiming at enemy lines. Despite this, company commander Captain Basil Lupton rallied the survivors and led a successful taking of the opposite trench.[20]
• At night in foul weather on 16 September 1917, the British submarine HMS G9 mistook the destroyer HMS Pasley for a German U-boat and attacked with torpedoes. Pasley, not recognising G9 as British until too late, responded to the attack by ramming G9. Nearly cut in two, the G9 sank. Only one of the G9's crew members survived.
• 23 January 1918 – Major William Robert Gregory, Royal Flying Corps, was shot down by mistake by an Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare pilot at Monastiero near Grossa, Padua, Italy. He inspired the poem, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, by family friend W.B. Yeats.[21]
• 15 April 1918 – Two British soldiers from the Somerset Light Infantry were killed and C.S. Lewis was wounded after being hit by a shrapnel from a British shell that had fallen short of its target in Mont-Bernanchon, France.[22]
• 24/25 April 1918 – During the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, soldiers of the Australian 50th Infantry Battalion, advancing in the dark under German machine fire, attacked what they believed was an enemy trench. They found out that the trench was instead occupied by British troops of the 2nd Devon and 1st Worcester Battalions who had not been informed of the Australian counterattack and "thought the Germans were attacking them from the rear".[23]
• During the attack on the main wagon bridge over the Marne at Château-Thierry, American machine gunners described a night attack on 1 June 1918 of massed German troops, who were singing gutturally as they made a suicidal charge, some linked arm in arm. The victims were soldiers of the French 10th Colonial division from Senegal, who had been trying to get back across the river. Although reports of the incident were suppressed, it was discussed by American and French soldiers. There are no German records of any attack on the wagon bridge.[24]
• 16 June 1918 – During Spring Offensive, the British 4th Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (4th KSLI), with reinforcing elements of North Staffordshires and Cheshires, were shelled by British artillery who were unaware the position had changed hands, within 30 minutes of successfully taking a hill, Montagne de Bligny, from the Germans and capturing prisoners. The bombardment reduced the units' effective strength to 100 men but their commander, Captain Geoffrey Bright, insisted on retaining the hill and sending out for reinforcements from British units until help arrived before nightfall. For the overall action the 4th KSLI received a unit award of the French Croix de Guerre.[25]
• 13 July 1918 – British army officer and poet Siegfried Sassoon was wounded after being shot in the head by a fellow British soldier who had mistaken him for a German near Arras, France. As a result, he spent the remainder of the war in Britain.
• 16 July 1918 – British flying ace Major Awdry Vaucour was killed[26] in the vicinity of Monastier di Treviso, Italy when he was accidentally shot down by an Italian pilot.
• 28 July 1918 – Canadian flying ace and future spymaster William Stephenson, then posted with No. 73 Squadron RAF, was shot down and crashed his Sopwith Camel biplane behind enemy lines in France. During the incident, he later claimed, Stephenson was injured by fire not only from German ace pilot, Justus Grassmann,[27] but also by friendly fire from a French observer.[28] He was subsequently captured and held as a prisoner of war until he escaped in October 1918.[28]
• 4 October 1918 - The nine companies from the US Army's 77th Infantry Division which had pushed into a salient at Charlevaux, France and became known as the "Lost Battalion" after being surrounded by the Germans, were subjected to friendly artillery fire for several hours, either due to the artillery fire being inaccurate or the coordinates, delivered by carrier pigeon, being inaccurate. The overall commander, Major Charles Whittlesey, used his last carrier pigeon, named Cher Ami, to send a second message for the artillery to cease fire.
• 15 October 1918 – British submarine HMS J6 was sunk by British Q-ship Cymric in the Northumberland Coast. Cymric's captain, Lieutenant F. Peterson RNR, mistook the identity lettering on the conning tower of J6 for U6. Assuming U6 to indicate a German U-boat, Peterson raised the White ensign and opened fire on J6. After a number of direct hits, J6 sank. It was only after the survivors were seen in the water that Peterson and the crew of Cymric realised their mistake and recovered the survivors. Of the crew of J6, 15 were lost; a subsequent court of enquiry found that no action should be taken against Peterson.

• 6 March 1919 - Colonel Oskars Kalpaks was killed in command of his 1st Latvian Independent Battalion, when his unit had a mistaken skirmish with a German Freikorps party near Airītes in Saldus District. Both parties were allied in a counterattack on the Soviet Army occupying Latvia.

• In 1937, the Nationalist Irish Brigade was fired upon by a Falangist unit, and the hour-long firefight resulted in 17 deaths. Neither unit had any battle experience.

• It was rumoured that on one occasion during the revolts, Afghan aircraft accidentally bombed and machine gunned government troops or allied tribal levies, causing 40 casualties.[116]

• In 1946, Lieutenant (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Colin Campbell Mitchell of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was deployed with his battalion in a crackdown on Jewish militants. On one personal reconnaissance mission he was shot and wounded by one of his own Bren gunners when he was mistaken for a guerilla, but subsequently recovered.[117]
• During the Acre Prison break, a 1947 raid on Acre Prison by the Irgun to free imprisoned Irgun and Lehi members, Lehi fighter and escaped prisoner Shimshon Vilner was accidentally killed by Bren gun fire from the Irgun commander of the operation, Dov Cohen, during a firefight with British troops.[118]

• 10 June 1948: Mickey Marcus, the Israel Defense Forces' first general, was shot and killed by a sentry while returning at night to his headquarters.

• 3 July 1950 – Eight F-51 Mustangs of No. 77 Squadron RAAF strafed and destroyed a train carrying thousands of American and South Korean soldiers who were mistaken for a North Korean convoy in the main highway between Suwon and P'yongtaek, resulting more than 700 casualties. Before the attack, the Australian pilots had been assured by the United States 5th Air Force Tactical Control Centre that the area under attack was in North Korean hands. However, 20 minutes prior to an attack, the 5th Air Force Tactical Control Centre received intelligence that the area might be under American hands and told the Australian pilots to hold their fire. One Australian pilot ignored the order, believing the train was indeed carrying North Korean forces. The pilot then strafed the train and his squadron followed the lead as well.[119][120]
• 23 September 1950 – Hill 282 was attacked by 1st Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, part of the British 27th Infantry Brigade in the United Nations Command. Having captured it and facing strong Korean People's Army counter-attacks, the Argylls, devoid of artillery support, called in a UN air-strike. A group of United States Air Force F-51 Mustangs of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing circled the hill. The Argylls had laid down white air-recognition panels, but the North Koreans imitated similar panels on their own positions in white as well. It was later found out that several British air controllers mistakenly did not inform the pilots of proper air-recognition panels and the Argylls Captain was unable to contact the F-51s due to his defective radio. As a result, the planes mistakenly napalm-bombed and strafed the Argylls' hill-top positions. Despite a desperate counter-attack by the Argylls to regain the hill, for which Major Kenneth Muir was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the Argylls, much reduced in numbers, were forced to relinquish the position. Over 60 of the Argylls' casualties were caused by friendly air-strike.[121]
• During the Battle of Wawon, fleeing soldiers of the Republic of Korea Army II Corps were mistaken by the Turkish Brigade as Chinese which led to an exchange of fire. As a result, 20 South Korean soldiers were killed and four others wounded with 14 Turkish deaths and six wounded.[122]
• 5 December 1952 - RCAF Squadron Leader Andy MacKenzie (a World War II ace) was shot down by his own squadron mate during a dogfight. Captured by Chinese forces, he was kept prisoner for two years, being released in December 1954.[123]

• 12 December 1955: On the Troodos mountains near the village of Spilia during the Battle of Spilia, British units from the north and ones from the south, unable to see in the fog and in the belief that they were surrounded by EOKA fighters, engaged each other in an eight-hour firefight involving airstrikes, artillery bombardments, and heavy weapons. This firefight caused 250 casualties, including 127 deaths, 102 injuries, and 21 missing, making it the deadliest friendly fire incident of the war.[124][125]
• On 15 October 1958, 23 British soldiers of 1st Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles, were killed and 35 others injured while walking near the Kyrenia Mountains when two British machine gunners mistook them for EOKA fighters and opened fire on them for at least 15 minutes. Some British soldiers yelled multiple times at the machine gunners that they were friendlies and the group they belonged to, but the gunners kept on firing.[124]

Aft view of the bridge of USCGC Point Welcome after the friendly fire incident of 11 August 1966.[126]

It has been estimated that there may have been as many as 8,000 friendly fire incidents in the Vietnam War;[127][128][129][130] one was the inspiration for the book and film Friendly Fire.

• 2 January 1966, in Bao Trai in the Mekong Delta during joint Australian/American forces fighting the Viet Cong, a USAF Cessna O-1 Bird Dog flying at low level accidentally flew through Australian and New Zealand artillery fire. The aircraft tail was blown off and the aircraft dived into the ground, killing the pilot instantly.[131]
• 3 January 1966, near Bao Trai, at midnight, Sergeant Jerry Morton from 'C' Company, the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment had called in marker white phosphorus rounds ahead of the company from the supporting New Zealand gun battery on a suspected enemy position. However, due to the bad coordinates given by Morton, the rounds instead landed on the Australian forces. Morton along with another Australian soldier were killed and several others wounded.[131]
• 3 January 1966, two rounds fired by 161 Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery accidentally landed on C Company, 2/503rd Regiment, US 173rd Airborne Brigade, killing three paratroopers and wounding seven during Operation Marauder.[131][132] The short rounds were found to have happened due to damp powder.[133]
• 11 August 1966, while supporting Operation Market Time, USCGC Point Welcome was attacked by USAF aircraft, resulting in the deaths of two Coast Guardsmen.[134]
• 29 December 1966, a premature burst of a 105mm round from an LVTH-6 killed five Marines and wounded two more east of Dong Ha in Quang Tri.[135][136]
• 6 February 1967, twelve rounds from New Zealand artillery accidentally landed on the Australian 'D' Company 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, killing four and thirteen injured in west of Song Rai river between Nui Dat and Xuyên Mộc District.[137]
• 3 August 1967, a C-7 Caribou transport plane was approaching the special forces camp at Đức Phổ when it flew into line of fire from a U.S. Army 155 mm howitzer. The tail section separated and the airplane fell down, killing the crew. A cease fire had been issued but failed to reach the gun crew in time. The Caribou was photographed just before it hit the ground.[138]
• 19 November 1967, during the Battle of Dak To a U.S. Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawk aircraft flown by Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taber dropped two 250 lb (110 kg) bombs on the command post of the 2nd Battalion (Airborne) 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade while they were in heavy contact with a numerically superior People's Army of Vietnam force. At least 45 paratroopers were killed and another 45 wounded. Also killed was the Battalion Chaplain Major Charles J. Watters, who was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor.[139]
• 16–17 June 1968, HMAS Hobart, USS Boston and USS Edson were attacked by US aircraft. At 03:09, Hobart's radar picked up an aircraft approaching with no IFF transponder active. At 03:14, the aircraft fired a single missile at the ship which killed one sailor, wounded two others and damaged the ship. Two minutes later, the aircraft made a second pass and fired two missiles which caused further damage, killed another sailor and wounded six others. The aircraft came around for a third attack run, but was scared off when Hobart's forward gun turret, under independent control, fired five rounds at it. At 03:30, USS Edson, in company with Hobart, reported coming under fire, and Hobart's captain ordered both destroyers and USS Theodore E. Chandler to take up anti-aircraft formation. At 05:15, the three destroyers linked up with the cruiser USS Boston (which had been hit by a missile from another aircraft) and the escorting destroyer USS Blandy, and continued anti-aircraft manoeuvring. Debris collected from Hobart and the other ships indicated that the missiles were of United States Air Force (USAF) origin. The attacks on Hobart and the other ships were the capstone of a series of firing incidents between 15 and 17 June, and an inquiry was held by the USN into the incidents, with three RAN personnel attending as technical advisors. The inquiry found that a few hours before the attack on Hobart, Swift boats PCF-12 and PCF-19, along with USCGC Point Dume, were attacked by what they identified at the time as hovering enemy aircraft, but were believed to be friendly planes; PCF-19 was sunk in the attack. F-4 Phantoms of the USAF Seventh Air Force, responding several hours after the attack on the Swift boats, were unable to distinguish between the radar signature of surface ships and airborne helicopters, and instead opened fire on Hobart, Boston, and Edson.
• 11 May 1969, during the Battle of Hamburger Hill, Lieutenant Colonel Weldon Honeycutt directed helicopter gunships, from an Aerial Rocket Artillery (ARA) battery, to support an infantry assault. In the heavy jungle, the helicopters mistook the command post of the 3/187th battalion for a Vietnamese unit and attacked, killing two and wounding thirty-five, including Honeycutt. This incident disrupted battalion command and control and forced 3/187th to withdraw into night defensive positions.
• 1 May 1970, on military operations in Phước Tuy Province a burst of machine gun fire followed by a calls for the medic split the night, an Australian machine gunner opened fire on soldiers of the 8th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment without warning, killing two and wounded two other soldiers.[140]
• 20 July 1970, patrol units of 'D' Company 8th Battalion, 1st Australian Task Force outside the wire at Nui Dat called in a New Zealand battery fire mission as part of a training exercise. However, there was confusion at the gun position about the fire corrections issued by the inexperienced Australian officer with the patrol. The result was two rounds fell upon the patrol, killing two and wounding several others.[141]
• 24 July 1970, New Zealand artillery guns accidentally shelled an Australian platoon, 1 Australian Reinforcement Unit, (1 ARU), killing two and wounding another four soldiers.[142]
• 10 May 1972, a VPAF MiG-21 was shot down in error by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile near Tuyen Quang, killing a pilot.[143]
• 2 June 1972, a VPAF MiG-19 was shot down in error by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile near Kep Province, killing a pilot.[144]

• On the fourth day of the Six-Day War (8 Jun 1967), at about 2 PM Sinai time (then, GMT+2), Israeli defense forces attacked USS Liberty in International waters about 14 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, near El Arish, killing 34 Americans and wounding (naval officers, seamen, two marines, and one civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters. Though controversially disputed by the survivors of the attack, both countries officially consider it to be a case of mistaken identity.[145]

• On 13 September 1969, British Lance Corporal Michael Spurway, of 24 Airportable HQ and Signal Squadron, was accidentally shot dead by a fellow British soldier while he was on the telephone to his wife, shortly after returning to his base at Gosford Castle after manning a rebroadcast station supporting 3 LI rear link communications.[146][147]
• On 3 September 1972, two Royal Marines on patrol in Stratheden Street in New Lodge, Belfast, came into contact from separate directions and in the confusion, shot and killed a fellow Royal Marine, 18 year old Gunner Robert S. Cutting. At the time of Cutting's death, he had been on foot patrol in the New Lodge Road approaching Stratheden Street. A Royal Marine saw whom he thought was an enemy sniper and fired at him, injuring him. However, the Royal Marine shot him a second time as he attempted to crawl away, killing him instantly.[148][149] There was no investigation into his death until 40 years later, when the MoD found out that the soldier who shot him did not observe the correct procedure for engagement. No charges were filed against the soldier who shot him.[150]
• On January 1, 1980, Lieutenant Simon Bates, of 2 PARA, was commanding an ambush at Tullydonnell, near Forkhill. A cardinal principle of ambush orders was to never leave the position. However, for some reason, Bates and his radio operator, Private Gerald Hardy, left the ambush and were mistakenly killed by fellow British paratroopers while returning to their positions.[151]

• The Turkish Naval Forces destroyer Kocatepe was sunk by Turkish Air Force warplanes after being mistaken for a greek ship.
• A fleet of Hellenic Air Force Nord Noratlas transport aircraft carrying reinforcements from Greece (Operation Niki) was mistaken for a flight of Turkish aircraft by Cypriot National Guard anti-aircraft gunners defending Nicosia International Airport, who opened fire. Of the 13 planes that came flew in, 1 was shot down and 3 more written off and later destroyed. Greek casualties were at least 33 dead including both commandos and aircrew and another 10 wounded.
• During the Battle of Pentemili beachhead, Colonel Karaoglanoglu, the commander of the Turkish Army's 50th Infantry Regiment, was killed in a villa near the beachhead. Although the official cause of his death was enemy mortar or artillery fire, another Turkish General claimed that he was actually killed by friendly M20 Super Bazooka fire.[152]

• On November 7, 1976, Canadian spree killer Mathew Charles Lamb was fatally shot by one of his own men in the Rhodesian Special Air Service while carrying out an operation to destroy militants in the Mutema Tribal Trade Lands, Manicaland province, Rhodesia.

• A Dassault Mirage III was shot down by Argentine Anti-Aircraft and small arms fire at Port Stanley while an A-4 Skyhawk was downed by a 35 mm antiaircraft battery near Goose Green. Both aircraft belonged to the Argentine Air Force.
• Companies A and C of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, British Army engaged each other in an hour-long firefight in the Falkland Islands involving heavy weapons and artillery strikes, resulting in eight casualties, including five deaths and three injuries.
• 2 June – A friendly fire incident took place between the SAS and the Special Boat Squadron (SBS). An SBS patrol had apparently strayed into the SAS patrol's designated area and were mistaken for Argentine forces. A brief firefight was initiated during which one of the SBS patrol, Sergeant Ian Hunt, was killed.[153]
• 1982 British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident – Due to a lack of communication between the Army and the Navy, the destroyer HMS Cardiff shot down a British Gazelle helicopter over the Falkland Islands, killing four British soldiers. The MoD immediately covered up the incident, saying that the soldiers were killed by enemy fire. However, four years later, under intense pressure and scrutiny, the MoD finally admitted that they were killed by friendly fire.
• 11 June - Just before the Battle of Two Sisters, British units of 45 Commando Royal Marines on reconnaissance patrol were mistaken for Argentine units in the dark and the British mortar group opened up on them, only to be met with a withering hail of fire from the 45 Commando in return. In the confusion, five British troops died, including the mortar troop sergeant, and two were wounded. Among the dead from 45 Commando were Sergeant Robert Leeming, Corporal Peter Fitton, Corporal Andy Uren, and Royal Marine Keith Phillips.[154]
• 11 June – A British Royal Navy frigate, HMS Avenger (F185), fired a 4.5 inch explosive shell into a house while shelling a port in Stanley, killing three British women and wounding several others. They remained the only British civilian casualties of the war.[155][156]

• During the Battle of Khafji, 11 American Marines were killed in two major incidents when their light armored vehicles (LAV's) were hit by missiles fired by a USAF A-10.
• Two soldiers of the U.S. Army were killed and a further six wounded when an American Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter fired upon and destroyed a U.S. Army Bradley Fighting Vehicle and an M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier (in the same incident) during night operations.
• A British officer was severely injured when his FV510 Warrior vehicle was attacked by a Challenger 1 tank of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
• An U.S. Air Force A-10 during Operation Desert Storm attacked British Warrior MICVs, resulting in nine British dead and numerous casualties.
• During the Battle of Phase Line Bullet, American M1 Abrams tanks in the rear fired in support of American troops facing dug-in Iraqi Army troops. American Infantry Fighting Vehicles were hit by fire from the tanks, resulting in two fatalities.
• Several friendly fire incidents took place during the Battle of 73 Easting, wounding 57 American soldiers, but causing no fatalities.
• One American soldier was killed by friendly fire during the Battle of Medina Ridge.
• Two soldiers from 10 Air Defence Battery, Royal Artillery, were badly injured when two FV103 Spartan from which they had dismounted were fired upon by Challenger 1 tanks from 14th/20th King's Hussars with thermal sights beyond the range of unaided visibility (about 1500 m). The rearmost vehicle was hit and burst into flames. The other vehicle was also damaged in the ensuing fire.
• A large number of friendly fire incidents took place during the Battle of Norfolk, resulting in 5 American casualties.
• A Challenger 1 tank fired several rounds at a British artillery position, resulting in at least 4 casualties.

• In the Tarnak Farm incident of 18 April 2002, four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others injured when U.S. Air National Guard Major Harry Schmidt, dropped a laser-guided 500 lb (230 kg) bomb from his F-16 jet fighter on the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry regiment which was conducting a night firing exercise near Kandahar. Schmidt was charged with negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, and dereliction of duty. He was found guilty of the latter charge. During testimony Schmidt blamed the incident on his use of "go pills" (authorized mild stimulants), combined with the 'fog of war'.[157] The Canadian dead received US medals for bravery, along with an apology.
• Pat Tillman, a former professional American football player, was shot and killed by American fire on 22 April 2004. An Army Special Operations Command investigation was conducted by Brigadier General Jones and the U.S. Department of Defense concluded that Tillman's death was due to friendly fire aggravated by the intensity of the firefight. A more thorough investigation concluded that no hostile forces were involved in the firefight and that two allied groups fired on each other in confusion after a nearby improvised explosive device was detonated.
• On 6 April 2006, a British convoy in Afghanistan wounded 13 Afghan police officers and killed seven, after calling in a US airstrike on what they thought was a Taliban attack.[158]
• In Sangin Province, a RAF Harrier pilot allegedly mistakenly strafed British troops missing the enemy by 200 metres during a firefight with the Taliban on 20 August 2006. This angered British Major James Loden of 3 PARA, who in a leaked email called the RAF, "Completely incompetent and utterly, utterly useless in protecting ground troops in Afghanistan". This allegation is despite the RAF Harrier GR7 not being fitted with guns.
• Canadian soldiers opened fire on a white pickup truck, about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar, killing an Afghan officer with 6 others injured on 26 August 2006.[159]
• Operation Medusa (2006): One–two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts mistakenly strafed NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, killing Canadian Private Mark Anthony Graham.
• On 5 December 2006, an F/A-18C on a Close Air Support mission in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, mistakenly attacked a trench where British Royal Marines were dug-in during a 10-hour battle with Taliban fighters, killing one Royal Marine.[160]
• Lance Corporal Matthew Ford, from Zulu Company of 45 Commando Royal Marines, died after receiving a gunshot wound in Afghanistan on 15 January 2007, which was later found to be due to friendly fire. The final inquest ruled he died from NATO rounds from a fellow Royal Marine's machine gun. The report added there was no "negligence" by the other Marine, who had made a "momentary error of judgment".[161][162]
• Canadian troops mistakenly killed an Afghan National Police officer and a homeless beggar after their convoy was ambushed in Kandahar City.[163]
• Of two helicopters called in to support operations by the British Grenadier Guards and Afghan National Army forces in Helmand, the British Westland WAH-64 Apache engaged enemy forces, while the accompanying American AH-64D Apache opened fire on the Grenadiers and Afghan troops.
• 23 August 2007: A USAF F-15 called in to support British ground forces in Afghanistan dropped a bomb on those forces. Three privates of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, were killed and two others were severely injured. The coroner at the soldiers' inquest stated that the incident was due to "flawed application of procedures" rather than individual errors or "recklessness".[164]
• On 26 September 2007, British soldiers in operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, fired Javelin anti-tank missiles at Danish soldiers from the Royal Life Guards, killing two.[165] It is also confirmed from Danish forces that the British fired a total of 6–8 Javelin missiles, over a ​1 ¹⁄₂ hour period and only after the attack was completed did they realize that the missiles were British, based upon the fragments found after the incident.[166]
• On 12 January 2008, two Dutch soldiers and two allied Afghan soldiers were shot dead by fellow Dutch soldiers in Uruzgan, Afghanistan.[167]
• In the night on 14 January 2008 in Helmand Province, British troops saw a bunch of Afghans "conducting suspicious activities". Visibility was too bad for rifle-fire and they were too far away to call in mortar strikes. The squad decided to use a Javelin anti-tank missile they were carrying. British soldiers fired their missile on the nearby roof but the victims were their own Afghan army sentries. 15 Afghan soldiers were killed.[168]
• Between January 2008 and June 2009, Afghan military, police, and security personnel came under fire by British troops at least 10 times, resulting in seven deaths. The most serious incident occurred in the Lashkargah District of Helmand Province in October 2008, in which British troops opened fire on Afghan National Police officers that killed three and injured another.[169]
• On 9 July 2008, nine British soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment were injured after being fired upon by a British Army Apache helicopter while on patrol in Afghanistan.[170]
• A statement issued jointly by the American and the Afghan military commands said a contingent of Afghan police officers fired on United States forces on 10 December 2008 after the Americans had successfully overrun the hide-out, killing the suspected Taliban commander and detaining another man. The US forces after securing the hideout came under heavy small arms fire and explosive grenades from the Afghan Police forces. "Multiple attempts to deter the engagement were unsuccessful," and the US forces returned fire. Afghan police have stated that they came under fire first and that the initial firing on the US forces came from the building next to the police station. This has led the US forces to conclude that the Afghan police forces might have been compromised. Initial reports indicate that this was a tragic case of mistaken identity on both parts.[171]
• Captain Tom Sawyer, aged 26, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, and Corporal Danny Winter, aged 28, Zulu Company 45 Commando Royal Marines, were killed by an explosion on 14 January 2009 from a Javelin missile fired by British troops acting on the orders of a Danish officer. Both men were taking part in a joint operation with a Danish Battle Group and the Afghan National Army in a location north east of Gereshk in central Helmand Province.[172][173]
• On 9 September 2009, British Special Boat Service forces were sent to rescue New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell and his Afghan translator Sultan Munadi who were kidnapped by Taliban forces in northern Afghanistan near Kunduz four days earlier. During the raid, Farrell was rescued, but Munadi was shot and killed in the firefight between the Taliban and British forces. It is later found out that Munadi was running towards the helicopter when he was shot in the front by a British soldier, in addition to being shot in the back by the Taliban, after the British mistook him for the Taliban. Two Afghan civilians also died from the hail of bullets by British and Taliban forces.
• A British Military Police officer was shot dead by a fellow British soldier while on patrol.[174] It was reported that no charges are to be brought against a British army sniper who killed a British Military Policeman because he was allowed to open fire if he believed that his life was in danger.[175]
• In December 2009, British commanders called upon a U.S. airstrike which killed Lance Corporal Christopher Roney from 3rd Battalion The Rifles who was engaging along with his comrades with the Taliban. The incident happened when a firefight was going on between British soldiers of 3rd Battalion The Rifles and the insurgents in Sangin Province. Senior British officers were watching a drone's grainy images of the fight from Camp Bastion, about 30 miles from the battle at Patrol Base Almas. The officers mistook the soldiers' mud-walled compound for an enemy position and called down a U.S. Apache airstrike on the base. Roney was fatally shot in the head after a helicopter gunship opened fire on the base. He died later the next day after being taken to Camp Bastion. Eleven other British soldiers were wounded in the attack.[176]
• German soldiers killed six Afghan soldiers in a friendly fire incident on their way to attack a group of Taliban. Afghan soldiers were traveling in support of other Afghan troops in the area.
• Sapper Mark Antony Smith, age 26, of the 36 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, was killed by a smoke shell fired upon by British troops in Sangin Province, Afghanistan. The MoD is investigating his death and said a smoke shell, designed to provide cover for soldiers working on the ground, may have fallen short of its intended target.[177][178]
• Friendly fire between ISAF and Pakistan on 26 November 2011. ISAF forces opened fire on Pakistan Army forces killing 24 Pakistani soldiers and causing a great diplomatic standoff between U.S. and Pakistan. ISAF forces argue they were there to hunt down militants at the AF-PAK border. Pakistan had stopped transit of goods through its territory to ISAF in Afghanistan because of the incident. After an official apology by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 3 July 2012 the NATO supply routes were restored.
• Two New Zealand soldiers were wounded by friendly fire from a 25mm gun mounted on an armored New Zealand LAV during a 12-minute firefight with insurgents in Bamyan Province on 4 August 2012.[179]
• A British female soldier and a Royal Marine man were mistakenly killed by another British unit on patrol after her unit opened fire on an Afghan policeman assuming he was a Taliban insurgent. The British unit who killed a female soldier and a Royal Marine assumed they were under attack after the firing happened.[180]
• Five United States Special forces operatives, and an Afghan Army counterpart were killed by friendly fire in Southern Zabul Province on June 9, 2014. Whilst on patrol, and coming under heavy Taliban fire, an air-strike was called in and a B-1 Lancer bomber misdirected its payload killing the six military personnel amongst others.[181]

• In the Battle of Nasiriyah, an American force of Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs) and infantry under intense enemy fire were misidentified as an Iraqi armored column by two U.S. Air Force A-10s who carried out bombing and strafing runs on them. One Marine died as a result.
• A U.S. Patriot missile shot down a British Panavia Tornado GR.4A of No. 13 Squadron RAF, killing the pilot and navigator. Investigations showed that the Tornado's identification friend or foe indicator had malfunctioned and hence it was not identified as a friendly aircraft.[182][183]
• Sgt Steven Roberts, a tank commander of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, was killed when a fellow British soldier manning a tank-mounted machine gun mistakenly hit him while firing at a stone wielding Iraqi protester at a roadblock in Az Zubayr near Basra on 24 March 2003.[184] It was reported that no British soldiers were to be charged for his death.[185]
• A British Challenger 2 tank came under fire from another British tank in a nighttime firefight. The turret was blown off and two of the crewmembers were killed.[186][187]
• 190th Fighter Squadron/Blues and Royals friendly fire incident – 28 March 2003. A pair of American A-10s from the 190th attacked four British armoured reconnaissance vehicles of the Blues and Royals, killing L/CoH. Matty Hull and injuring five others.
• British Royal Marine Christopher Maddison was 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.[188]
• U.S. Patriot missile batteries fired two missiles on a U.S. Navy F/A-18C Hornet 50 mi (80 km) from Karbala, Iraq.[189] One missile hit the aircraft of pilot Lieutenant Nathan Dennis White of VFA-195, Carrier Air Wing Five, killing him. This was the result of the missile design flaw in identifying hostile aircraft.[190]
• 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.[191]
• Fusilier Kelan Turrington, of the 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was killed by machine-gun fire from a British tank.[192]
• American soldier Mario Lozano killed an Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari and is suspected of wounding Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Baghdad. Sgrena was rescued from a kidnapping by Calipari, and it was claimed that the car they were escaping in failed to stop at an American checkpoint, whereupon U.S. soldiers opened fire. Video evidence shows the car was respecting speed limits and proceeding with its headlights on. The shooting commenced well before 50 meters, in contrast with what Lozano and other soldiers testified.[193]
• During a raid on 16 July 2006 to apprehend a key terrorist leader and accomplice in a suburb of North Basra, Cpl John Cosby, of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, was killed by a 5.56 mm round from a British-issued SA80. It was ruled to be a case of friendly fire by the coroner. It was reported that the British forces who shot him were unclear about the rules of engagement.[194][195]
• An American airstrike killed eight Kurdish Iraqi soldiers. Kurdish officials advised U.S. helicopters hit the men who were guarding a branch of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Mosul. The U.S. military said the attack was launched after soldiers identified armed men in a bunker near a building reportedly used for bomb-making, and that American troops called for the men to put down their weapons in Arabic and Kurdish before launching the strike.[196]
• Dave Sharrett, II was shot and killed in a firefight with insurgents near the village of Bichigan, north of Baghdad in January 2008, during Operation Hood Harvest. The incident has since been described as friendly fire.[197]
• [198]SPC Donald Oaks, SGT Todd Robbins,[199] and SFC Randall Rehn[200] of D Battery, 1st Battalion, 39th Field Artillery Regiment (MLRS, M270 A1), 3rd Infantry Division Artillery [201](Previously C Battery 3-13 FA [202]), were killed when a US fighter jet mistook the rocket artillery from US MLRS as enemy targets on 3 April 2003 while 3rd ID DIVARTY conducted a counter fire battle with Iraqi positions along the Euphrates River.[202] The ordnance struck the vehicles of the soldiers killing SFC Rehn instantly, while SGT Robbins[203] and SPC Oaks[204] died shortly after from their wounds. 5 other soldiers were WIA from the event.[205][206]

• On 1 June 2009 an Israeli tank fired on a building in Jabalia occupied by Golani Brigade troops after mistaking them for Hamas fighters, killing three soldiers and wounding 20.[207]
• On 2 June 2009, an Israeli officer was killed when an Israeli tank fired at a building he was positioned in, causing a wall to collapse on him.[208]

• On 14 July 2014, an Israeli soldier, Staff Sergeant Eitan Barak, was killed during operational activity in the northern Gaza Strip, becoming the first Israeli fatality of the war. The Israeli military announced that he had probably been killed by errant Israeli tank fire.[209]

• 1565 – Great Siege of Malta: According to some sources, Ottoman Army general Turgut Reis was mortally wounded by friendly fire from Turkish cannons.[210][211]
• 1788 – Battle of Karánsebes: Drunken soldiers instigate panic in a multi-national army and cause at least one thousand wounded.
• 1956 – Suez Crisis: Attacks from British Royal Navy carrier-borne aircraft caused heavy casualties to 45 Commando and HQ.
• 1994 – 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident: Two USAF F-15s involved with Operation Provide Comfort shot down two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters over northern Iraq, killing 26 Coalition military and civilian personnel.
• 2000 – Grozny OMON fratricide incident. 20 Russian OMON policemen died.
• 2006 – Ingush–Chechen fratricide incident
• 2011 – 2011 Libyan civil war: A MiG-23BN flying for the Free Libyan Air Force was shot down over Benghazi when it was mistaken for a Libyan Air Force fighter. The pilot was killed after he ejected too late.
• 2015 – Operation Impact: A Canadian Special Operations Regiment team returning to an Observation post were mistakenly engaged by Iraqi Kurdish forces, killing sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron and wounding three others.
• 2017 – Syrian Civil War: While fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern Syria, a United States Air Force aircraft was provided with incorrect coordinates, leading to an accidental airstrike on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) troops. 18 SDF soldiers were killed.[212]
• 2017 – On 31 May during the Marawi crisis in the Philippines, the military's SIAI-Marchetti S.211 was on a bombing run over Maute Group positions when one bomb accidentally hit an army position locked in close-range with the ISIS-backed militants, killing 11 soldiers and wounding seven others.
• 2019 – On 27 February 2019, an Indian Mil Mi-17 helicopter was shot down by Indian air defense forces after being misidentified as a Pakistani military jet.[213] Five Indian officers were found guilty of various charges relating to the incident, which killed all six Indian Air Force personnel on board the helicopter.[214]
• 2020 - On 11 May, Iranian support vessel Konarak was hit reportedly by a missile fired from Iranian frigate Jamaran. Officials stated that 19 were killed and 15 others injured.[215][216]

• Pertek, Jerzy (1976) Wielkie dni małej floty, Poznań (in Polish)