Does anybody happen to know the statistics regarding Friendly Fire ? for WW1 /WW2 Just lately it seems there has been more information coming out about it ! Heres an example ..... ! CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: WWII soldier found in France ID'd as Toronto man Annie
Annie there is not enough information in one place to collate the total Nos. Just at sea in the Mediterranean in the 11 months Dec 1941 and Nov 1942 there were in the Region of 2,000. That is members of the Commonwealth Forces. Then there were the P.O.W. lost at sea in the Pacific said to be many thousands. Government sources don't like such incidents being brought to attention. It was only in October last year that the Files concerning enquiries into the casualties of such incidents were released. It could have helped that I had asked for their release under F.O.I. Act. The total numbers don't bear thinking about, but wherever there is a War incidents like this will happen. Brian
A difficult one to put numbers on but the actual individual, documented, cases are just a tip of the iceberg: Friendly Fire Notebook Friendly Fire And Brian (Cull) has been compiling a list of such cases in the air war: Friendly fire WWII - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
Thank you Brian for asking for their release under F.O.I. Act ! I suppose nobody will ever know the true numbers .... you're right of course -the numbers don't bear thinking about ! :bad: Sometimes I wonder when grants ( of thousands even millions of pounds and dollars ) are given out for the seemingly useless things - why they can't be given to find out about important things ! Annie :noidea:
Mmmm my post just disappeared!!! This subject always stirs mixed emotions in me. Obviously it is necessary to determine what happened to try to prevent a recurrance, but I'm sure that I would find the loss of my loved one even more unbearable if I knew that it was as a result of "friendly fire". I also have a problem sometimes when people are brought to account. Most of us go through life without any conception of how we would react under similar circumstances. I'm not convinced that, however thorough the training, it is possible to create situations which fully prepare one for the "real thing". I would have thought that their own guilt is mostly burden enough. Very difficult.
Sorry Nana, seems the forum had a temporary shutdown for 5 minutes during which a couple of posts may have not been registered.
