Friendly Fire

You'd have to mention the shooting of Stonewall Jackson, which may have affected the outcome (or at least duration and casualities) of the American Civil War.

 

Does the USS LIberty incident (the Israelis attacked the ship during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War; 34 Americans were killed and at least 173 wounded) count?

Friendly-fire casualties were especially prevalent in World War I, when artillery routinely pounded incorrect positions. (The Lost Battalion - units of the 77th Infantry - were hit by "friendly" artillery fire, though I don't know how many of the 400 casualties were due to enemy fire, as opposed to "friendly."

The Pentagon estimates that 16 percent of all casualties in World War II were the result of "friendly fire."

Such episodes are not limited to warfare. Locally, in 1989, an errant artillery shell killed three soldiers and wounded more than two dozen trainees; in 1995, an Air Froce Reserve fighter jet dropped a bomb onto the wrong coordinates, killing one soldier and injuring eight soldiers and Marines. Any time you're using deadly force, things can go wrong.

 

Right. Jackson was killed after Chancellorsville - probably Lee's most brilliant victory (and perhaps planted the seeds of Gettysburg - casualties were higher than Lee could really afford, and perhaps he was lulled into thinking all Union generals were inept as Hooker.)

Anyway, I would refer you to an article, "Integrating Technology to Reduce Fratricide" by Layry Doton, which appeared int he Winter 1996 edition of Acquisition Review Quarterly that contains the following:

-- "In 1758, during the French and Indian War, the commander of a British
detachment and Col. George Washington, then a colonial officer of the British
Army, mistakenly identified each others’ forces as French. In his papers, Washington reported that between 13 and 40 British soldiers died at the hands
of their own forces during the ensuing engagement ... "

-- "Of the five million French casualties in World War I, artillery caused two thirds, regardless of friend or foe. French General Alexandre Percin believed
that French artillery fire caused one million, or 20 percent of French casualties ... "

-- "During the breakout from Normandy in the Second World War, British aircraft inadvertently bombed the 30th Division for over two days, killing, among others, American Lt.Gen. Leslie J. McNair." (McNair was the primary mind behind the training program that prepared millions of American soldiers for combat; the post headquarters at Fort Sill is named in his memory.)

-- "At the Battle of the Bulge, the First Infantry Division became the target of heavy ‘friendly’ bombing. In St. Lo, over 750 casualties occurred as a result of U.S. bombers attacking American ground forces."


-- "Meanwhile, in the Pacific theater, an allied destroyer depth-charged and sank an allied submarine; likewise, in the Caribbean, friendly fire sank the American submarine USS Dorado."

-- " ... a gun crew cut an incorrect powder charge. The ‘long’ round killed one and wounded 37 U.S. soldiers. Compounding the tragedy, the victim’s unit initiated extremely accurate counterbattery fire, resulting in an additional 53 casualties. The entire incident occurred in the short span of 23 minutes."

Doton goes on to say that it appears that fratricide historically has accounted for 15-20 percent of American casualties.

The entire article is at http://www.dau.mil/pubs/arq/94arq/doto.pdf

On another note, I would point out that Boise City, Okla. (far in the wilds of the Oklahoma Panhandle) is one of the few American cities ever hit by aerial bombs. On July 5, 1943, a B-17 dropped six practice bombs on the city, mistaking it for the target some 40 miles away. Luckily, no one was hurt and there was little damage, although the First Baptist Church escaped damage by a whisker.