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. == English Civil War ==

• 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. == Nine Years' War ==

• 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. ==War of the Spanish Succession==

• 1708 - The Battle of Oudenaarde ended in confusion for the Allied victors. The darkness caused their right and left wings to mistake each other for French troops and engage in friendly fire. Eugene of Savoy on the right and the Prince of Orange on the left intervened and put an end to the friendly fire before the Allied army inflicted serious damage on itself. == French and Indian War ==

• 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 provincial troops fled from more exposed ground and into nearby woods, where regular soldiers fired on them mistaking them for advancing French infantry. • November 12, 1758 – Friendly fire occurred near Fort Ligonier, resulting "in the accidental death of many of George Washington's fellow Virginians under his command, while also resulting in the capture of French prisoners who provided intelligence that led to the successful taking of Fort Duquesne by the British army." == American Revolutionary War ==

• 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. == Austro-Turkish War ==

• The Battle of Karánsebes in 1788, which only involved Austrian Imperial Army forces, started with a dispute over schnapps between Hussars and infantry of the Austrian vanguard which escalated into armed combat. The ensuing chaos involved even more Austrian forces, leaving 150 dead and 1200 wounded. The Ottoman Forces arrived only after the Austrians withdrew. == French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars ==

• 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 – Second Battle of Algeciras: Spanish ships Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo mistakenly engaged each other in the dark after HMS Superb sailed between them and fired at both. 1,700 were killed when the two ships exploded. • 1806 – On 30 November, at 10 pm, and 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 . • 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. :*Battle of Waterloo: Prussian artillery mistakenly fired on British artillery causing many casualties, and British artillery returned fire at the Prussians. == Texas Revolution ==

• 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. :*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. == American Civil War ==

• 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. • 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. • 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. == Russo-Japanese War ==

• Dogger Bank Incident (overnight 21/22 October 1904) – In what can be classified literally as a case of fog of war, 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 fishing vessel was sunk, four were damaged, and two fishermen were killed and six wounded. In the general chaos that ensued, the cruisers and 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 , 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. • 13 November 1904 – The Imperial Russian Navy destroyer struck a Russian naval mine and sank in Korea Bay off Port Arthur, China. == World War I ==

1914 • Battle of Dinant 21–23 August – 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 while under fire from French troops. The Germans mistakenly believed that hostile Belgian civilians had fired on them, contributing to a conviction among their troops that Belgian civilians were actively fighting them. This led to arrests and massacres of local civilians when the town was invaded 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 a human shield accused of having been a franc-tireur in earlier fighting. • 28 August – During the Battle of Heligoland Bight, a British submarine mistook the British light cruiser for an Imperial German Navy warship and fired two torpedoes at her, which missed. Assuming the submarine to be German, Southampton attempted to ram her, but she escaped without damage. • 4 November – While attempting to exit the anchorage at Schillig Roads in the Heligoland Bight in fog, the Imperial German Navy armored cruiser entered a German minefield, struck two mines, and quickly sank at with the loss of at least 338 and perhaps as many as 502 lives, according to different sources. 1915 • 21 January – The Imperial German Navy submarine was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea by the German submarine , which had mistaken her for an enemy submarine. Twenty-four of U-7′s crew were killed, and only one survived. • Battle of Bolimów 31 January – 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. • 25 September – In the first gas attack launched by British forces prior to their infantry attack that opened the Battle of Loos, about 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, immediately causing the death of 10 and injury to about 2,000 British soldiers. 1916 • 8 May – 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. • 2 June – 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. • On the night of 4–5 August, 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 – 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. 1917 • 11 March – The Italian destroyer and torpedo boat sighted the Italian submarines and in the Mediterranean Sea off Messina, Sicily, mistook them for Central Powers submarines, and opened gunfire on them. The two submarines submerged and escaped damage. • 17 March – The German submarine sank the British hospital ship in the English Channel when she was ferrying wounded from Le Havre to Southampton. The passengers included 167 German prisoners of war, of whom 18 were killed and 15 wounded in the sinking. • 16 September – At night in foul weather, the British submarine mistook the destroyer 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, G9 sank. Only one of the G9s crew members survived. • 6 October – When the U.S. Navy armed yacht sighted the Italian cargo ship in the Atlantic Ocean approaching Gibraltar at 02:30, she mistook the Italian submarines and , which were escorting Bologna, for Imperial German Navy U-boats. She opened gunfire on H8, firing four rounds before H8 identified herself as friendly. Nahma then approached H6, thought she saw crewmen on H6′s deck running to man H6′s deck gun, and fired one round, which hit H6′s conning tower, killing two men and wounding seven others, two of whom later died of their wounds. Nahma then identified H6 as friendly and ceased fire. At 05:00, the British Royal Navy torpedo boat arrived on the scene and accidentally fired one round at Nahma. Nahma sighted TB 93 at 05:20, mistook her for a German U-boat, and fired two rounds at her before identifying her as friendly. • 23 January – Major William Robert Gregory, Royal Flying Corps, was shot down by mistake and killed 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. • 24 February – The U.S. Navy destroyer sighted the periscope of the Royal Navy submarine in the Atlantic Ocean south of Ireland, opened gunfire on her and dropped two depth charges, forcing L2 to surface. The U.S. Navy destroyer then dropped a depth charge near L2 and Paulding, Davis, and the U.S. Navy destroyer all opened gunfire on her. One round struck L2 before the destroyers ceased fire and Davis escorted her to Berehaven, Ireland. • 24/25 April – 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". • 1 June – During the attack on the main wagon bridge over the Marne at Château-Thierry, American machine gunners described a night attack 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. • 16 June – During German 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. • 18 June – The U.S. Navy submarine chasers and opened gunfire on the British destroyers and in the Strait of Otranto after mistaking them for enemy submarines, SC-94 firing two rounds and SC-151 firing one. One round from SC-94 hit Nymphe, putting one of her steam engines out of commission. in the vicinity of Monastier di Treviso, Italy when he was accidentally shot down by an Italian pilot. • 23 July – During a voyage from New York City to Europe as part of a five-ship convoy, the British armed troop transport opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Atlantic Ocean as she closed with N-3 from a range of to a range of only , scoring one hit (according to different sources) and inflicting considerable damage. One of the convoy′s escorts, the U.S. Navy destroyer , then attempted to ram N-3, missing her by only a few feet. N-3 proceeded to port under her own power. • 28 July – 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, but also by friendly fire from a French observer. He was subsequently captured and held as a prisoner of war until he escaped in October 1918. • 4 October – 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 – British submarine was sunk by British Q-ship in the North Sea off the Northumberland Coast. Cymrics 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. ==Latvian War of Independence==

• 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. ==Spanish Civil War==

• On 19 February 1937, the Nationalist Irish Brigade was fired upon by a Falangist unit, and the hour-long firefight resulted in 11 deaths. Neither unit had had any battle experience. • On 30 April 1937, the Nationalist battleship España hit a Nationalist-laid mine and sank, killing four sailors. ==World War II==

1939 • 6 September – Just five days after the start of the war, in what was dubbed the Battle of Barking Creek, three Royal Air Force Spitfires from 74 Squadron shot down two Hurricanes from the RAF's 56 Squadron, killing one of the pilots. One of the Spitfires was then shot down by British anti-aircraft artillery while returning to base. • 10 September – The British submarine sank another British submarine, . After making challenges which went unanswered Triton assumed she must have located a German U-boat and fired two torpedoes. Oxley was the first Royal Navy vessel to be sunk and also the first vessel to be sunk by a British vessel in the war, killing 52 with only two survivors. Both vessels were patrolling off the coast of Norway (then neutral) at the time. The incident that led to the loss of Oxley was kept in secrecy until the 1950s. • 3 December – British submarine HMS Snapper sustained a direct hit from a British aircraft while returning to Harwich after a patrol in the North Sea, but without taking damage. 1940 • 19 February – During Operation Wikinger the German destroyer Z1 Leberecht Maass was sunk by Luftwaffe bombs while another destroyer, the Z3 Max Schultz, was sunk by mines in the confusion. A total of 606 Kriegsmarine sailors were killed. • 10 April - First Battle of Narvik. During the first British naval sortie into German-held Narvik harbour, HMS Hostile torpedoed merchant ships moored there. As well as eleven German ships, she also sank one British and two Norwegian merchant ships, as well as two (neutral) Swedish vessels. • 14 April – The Dutch submarine was bombed in error off Noordwijk by an RAF aircraft. • 10 May – German Luftwaffe bombers sent to bomb Dijon in France instead bombed the German city of Freiburg due to navigation errors, killing 57 people. • 11 May • During the Battle of Belgium the British 3rd Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General Bernard Law Montgomery were sent to take their pre-arranged position on the River Dyle near Leuven when they were mistaken that night for German paratroopers and fired on by the Belgian 10th Infantry Division who were holding the position. They gave way when, Montgomery claimed, he approached and offered to place himself under Belgian command. • At 23:57, the French submarine fired two torpedoes at what she identified as a German submarine in the North Sea at . Both torpedoes missed. The German submarine and the Royal Navy submarine both reported being attacked by a submarine in that area around that time, and Amazone′s target might have been Shark. • 11–12 May –Battle of the Grebbeberg, The Netherlands: The 2nd Battalion of the Dutch 19th Infantry Regiment, ordered to make a night counterattack against positions newly seized by the Germans on 11 May, were fired on at the stopline by other Dutch troops who had been uninformed of the counterattack, causing it to be called off at dawn when order had been restored. (Fortunately for the Dutch a planned German night attack at that point had been called off because of their deterring supporting artillery fire.) They were ordered to counterattack again, after 1600 hours the following day, when, reaching the frontline, fellow troops again fired on them, causing the counterattack to peter out and be abandoned. • 14 May – At midday German Luftwaffe fighters attacked at French town of Chemery-sur-Bar as the 1st Panzer Division were holding a victory parade following the battle of Bulsen, causing a few casualties. • 20 May – The French Navy submarine mistook the French Navy submarine for a German U-boat and fired three torpedoes at her in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands at at a range of ; the torpedoes passed beneath Sybille. • 21 May – A Royal Air Force Hurricane shot down Bristol Blenheim L9325 of No. 18 Squadron RAF. The Blenheim crashed near Arras, France. Its three crewmen were killed. • 22 May – A Royal Air Force Spitfire shot down Bristol Blenheim L9266 of No. 59 Squadron RAF. The Blenheim crashed near Fricourt, France. Its three crewmen were killed. • 1 June – A Bristol Blenheim piloted by Alastair Panton was shot down by Northumberland Fusiliers while flying low over the beaches of Dunkirk in order to let the soldiers see the RAF was involved. • 28 June – Italian Air Marshal Italo Balbo and his crew were killed when Italian anti-aircraft guns at Tobruk shot down their Savoia-Marchetti SM.79. • 8 July – While the Vichy French submarine was departing Dakar, Senegal, to attack British warships threatening Dakar during Operation Catapult, she suffered light damage when she came under heavy gunfire from three Vichy French warships and was bombed by a Vichy French seaplane, all of which mistook her for a British submarine attempting to infiltrate the harbor. • 8 October – While on patrol in the Mediterranean, the Italian submarine sank the Italian submarine in error. 1941 • 5 January – While flying an Airspeed Oxford for the ATA from Blackpool to RAF Kidlington near Oxford, Amy Johnson went off course in adverse weather conditions. Reportedly out of fuel, she bailed out as her aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary but her body was never recovered. In 1999 it was reported that Tom Mitchell, at the time a RAF fighter pilot, claimed to have shot Johnson down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight. He said: "The reason Amy was shot down was because she gave the wrong colour of the day [a signal to identify aircraft known by all British forces] over radio." Mitchell explained how the aircraft was sighted and contacted by radio. A request was made for the signal. She gave the wrong one twice. "Sixteen rounds of shells were fired and the plane dived into the Thames Estuary. We all thought it was an enemy plane until the next day when we read the papers and discovered it was Amy. The officers told us never to tell anyone what happened." • 4 February 1941 - RAF Flying Officer David Warburton was flying a Wellington bomber from No. 18 Operational Training Unit on a training mission within England with a mixture of Polish and British aircrew. While flying over Crewe, the bomber was hit by friendly fire from a Home Guard anti aircraft unit near the Rolls-Royce factory and subsequently collided with a barrage balloon, crashing and killing all on board. • Bardia raid: On the night of 19/20 April, 450 British commandos conducted an amphibious raid against Axis forces in Bardia, Libya, to destroy an Italian supply dump and a coastal artillery battery (which were successful). While most men were successfully evacuated after the raid, one was killed by friendly fire from an overalert British commando soldier. • 24 April – While laying signal buoys in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Bon, Tunisia, the Italian torpedo boat struck a mine that had just been laid by other Italian ships and sank within three minutes with the loss of over half her crew. • 26 May – Fifteen Fleet Air Arm Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier attempting to carry out a torpedo attack against the German battleship in the Atlantic Ocean mistakenly attacked the British light cruiser instead. They dropped 11 torpedoes, some of which exploded on contact with the water. The rest missed. • 5 July – An Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V bomber aircraft, Z6667 of No. 10 Operational Training Unit RAF based at Abingdon, was on a night training flight when it broke up over Oxfordshire, crashed on Chiselhampton Hill and caught fire on impact. The crash was variously attributed to either interception by a Luftwaffe night fighter or friendly fire by a local anti-aircraft unit. All six crewmen were killed. • 9 August – RAF fighter pilot Wing Commander Douglas Bader was shot down in what recent research suggests was a friendly fire incident. • 29 August – A Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter was shot down in error by a German 8.8 cm antiaircraft gun near the French coast and crashed on the beach south of Dunkirk. Leutnant Heinz Schenk was the first Focke-Wulf 190 pilot to be killed in action. • 26 November – A RAF aircraft bombed the 1st Essex Regiment during Operation Crusader, causing about 40 casualties. • 7 December • During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, confused and inexperienced naval gunners downed several US fighter aircraft that were sent from to bolster the harbor defenses. Army pilot Lieutenant John L. Dains was also killed by friendly fire just after having shot down the first Japanese aircraft of the war. • During the evening, six VF-6 Wildcats attempted to land at Ford Island, but five were accidentally shot down by friendly anti-aircraft fire, killing three pilots and wounding two others. • The U.S. Navy light minelayer opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine as Thesher surfaced so that she could enter Pearl Harbor to seek medical attention for a critically injured crewman. Thresher immediately submerged again. • 8 December – Thresher again attempted to enter Pearl Harbor, but a U.S. Navy patrol plane drove her off with a depth-charge attack. Thresher′s injured crewman died before the submarine finally reached Pearl Harbor later in the day under escort by the seaplane tender . • 20 December – Aircraft from the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier mistakenly bombed the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean bearing 261 degrees True from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and from Johnston Atoll. Pompano suffered damage to her seams and fuel tanks. 1942 • 11 January – During the Battle of Manado, an Aichi E13A (Allied reporting name "Jake") floatplane from the Imperial Japanese Navy seaplane carrier shot down an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Yokosuka L3Y (Allied reporting name "Tina") transport aircraft carrying Special Naval Landing Force paratroopers when the L3Y flew low over a Japanese anchorage near Manado in northern Celebes without responding to recognition signals. • 31 January – The German blockade runner was torpedoed and sunk by the , captained by U-boat ace Peter-Erich Cremer, off Bordeaux. • 20 February – British Commonwealth forces during the Burma Campaign were repeatedly bombed and strafed by Royal Air Force (RAF) Blenheims during a break-out attempt by a battalion surrounded by Japanese troops long the Sittaung River in Burma. More than 170 British Commonwealth lives were lost due to RAF airstrikes. • 21 February – Pilots of the 1st American Volunteer Group (the "Flying Tigers") strafed retreating British Commonwealth forces who were mistaken for an advancing Japanese column during the Burma Campaign, resulting in more than 100 casualties. Around the same day, retreating British Commonwealth forces with 300 vehicles were bombed and strafed by RAF Blenheims near Mokpalin, Burma, resulting in more than 110 casualties and 159 vehicles destroyed. • The U.S. Navy submarine was operating in the Panama Canal area at periscope depth when a United States Marine Corps plane dropped a bomb targeting her periscope. Later in the day, the same or a different Marine Corps plane dropped a bomb that landed within of her while she was on the surface. S-17 suffered no damage or casualties in either incident. • 1 March before dawn – At the naval Battle of Sunda Strait, Japanese cruisers and destroyers fired Long Lance torpedoes against the Allied squadron. Many travelled too far and unexpectedly hit four Japanese auxiliary ships and sank all (one re-floated later). Many soldiers were rescued from the sea, including the 16th Army Commander Hitoshi Imamura. • 4 March – A Royal Australian Air Force Lockheed Hudson patrol bomber mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her at 13:38 while she was on the surface at . As she crash-dived, two bombs exploded as she reached a depth of and lifted her stern out of the water. She went out of control and plunged to a depth of before her crew could stop her dive, then rose rapidly and broached. She again submerged, and a second pair of bombs exploded. One of them detonated over her conning tower as she passed a depth of , destroying the optics in both of her periscopes, damaging her conning tower door, conning tower upper hatch, and most of her lights and gauges, and knocking out all electrical power for 90 seconds. She remained submerged until after nightfall and arrived safely at Fremantle on 5 March 1942. • 23 March – The U.S. Navy TC-class blimp TC-13 mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her with four depth charges while Gato was at periscope depth in the Pacific Ocean off the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Gato suffered extensive damage but no casualties. • Ca. March 1942 – An Allied aircraft attacked the U.S. Navy submarine as she made a transit from the United States East Coast to the Panama Canal. • 8 April – An aircraft identified by the crew of the U.S. Navy submarine as a United States Army Air Forces P-38 Lightning fighter dropped four bombs which straddled Mackerel′s track while Mackerel was conducting exercises with the U.S. Navy patrol vessel south of the Watch Hill buoy off Watch Hill, Rhode Island. The bombs ricocheted off the water and did not explode. Neither Mackerel or Sapphire, which was from Mackerel at the time, suffered damage or casualties. • 14 April • An RAF fighter pilot fired on the audience during a demonstration of ground attack tactics at Imber training ground, Wiltshire, England, after mistaking them for dummy targets in mist. 25 killed and 71 wounded. • After sighting a German U-boat in the Atlantic Ocean about off Cape Charles, Virginia, which had fired two torpedoes at her and one at her escort — the United States Coast Guard cutter , which was about astern of her — the U.S. Navy submarine fired two torpedoes at the U-boat, which disappeared into the darkness. Legare sighted a torpedo headed directly for her which her crew thought Mackerel had fired, and took evasive action. The torpedo passed down Legare′s port side at a distance of only . A subsequent investigation of the incident by the Eastern Sea Frontier concluded that Mackerel had mistakenly fired a torpedo at Legare. • 20 April – A U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft dropped depth charges on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean three days into her voyage from Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Flying Fish submerged and avoided damage. • 21 April – In the aftermath of the Doolittle Raid, the Imperial Japanese Navy seaplane tender opened fire on an approaching Japanese transport plane her crew mistook for a United States Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell medium bomber off Wadamisaki, Kobe, Japan. Splinters from her anti-aircraft shells struck the nearby Japanese passenger ship , prompting Tennyo Maru to transmit a mistaken report that the plane had attacked her with machine-gun fire. • 24–25 April – The Imperial Japanese Army armed transport mistakenly opened gunfire on the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine while I-10 was on an overnight voyage from Singapore to Penang in Japanese-occupied British Malaya. I-10 escaped without damage or casualties. • May–September 1942 – During the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, around 1,700 Japanese troops died out of a total 10,000 Japanese soldiers who fell ill with disease when their own biological weapons attack intended for Chinese civilians and soldiers rebounded on their own forces. • 1 May – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet merchant ship Angarstroi in the East China Sea about west-southwest of Nagasaki, Japan. • 2 May – The Polish submarine was mistakenly sunk by the Royal Norwegian Navy destroyer and minesweeper while on a convoy to Murmansk. She was attacked with depth charges and made to surface, there she was strafed with the loss of five crew and six injured, including the commander, despite lighting yellow recognition smoke candles. The ship was damaged and had to be scuttled. • 4 May – The United States Navy Armed Guard detachment aboard the American tanker El Lago mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a German U-boat and opened gunfire on her off the coast of Rhode Island about south of Watch Hill Light at . Mackerel sustained no damage. • 6 May: Two Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi G4M1 (Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers mistook the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine for an Allied submarine and attacked her off Roi-Namur at Kwajalein Atoll, dropping eight bombs and inflicting damage on I-8 that prevented her from submerging. • 7 May: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, TF 44, a joint Australia–U.S. warship force, was mistakenly bombed by three U.S. Army B-17s, but it sustained no damage. • 30 May – A U.S. Navy OS2U-2 Kingfisher floatplane dropped a depth charge on the U.S. Navy submarine as R-18 crash-dived in the Atlantic Ocean bearing 50 degrees from Bermuda′s Mount Hill Lighthouse. R-18 sustained no damage. • 7 June – Twelve U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress bombers sighted the U.S. Navy submarine while Grayling was on the surface in the vicinity of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and three of them attacked her with a string of twenty bombs dropped from an altitude of more than , all of which missed. Grayling crash-dived, and the crews claimed to have sunk a Japanese heavy cruiser in 15 seconds. • 8 June – The Italian submarine Alagi sank the Italian destroyer Antoniotto Usodimare. • 11 June – A U.S. Navy floatplane mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her in the Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian Islands at , dropping a bomb or depth charge as S-28 crash-dived that inflicted only slight damage and no casualties. • 15 June – In the last stages of the Italian fleet attack on Harpoon convoy, German Ju 88 bombers targeted the Italian squadron without inflicting any damage. • 21 June – The Royal Canadian Navy minesweeper rammed and sank the Royal Navy submarine HMS P.514 in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland after P.514 did not reply to her challenge. P.514 was lost with all hands. • 27 June – A group of RAF Vickers Wellington aircraft bombed the units of 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), British 7th Armoured Division and the British 3rd Hussars during a two-hour raid near Mersa Matruh, Egypt, killing over 359 troops and wounding 560. The aftermath of RAF raids at this time were also seen by the Germans: "... The RAF had bombed their own troops, and with tracer flying in all directions, German units fired on each other. At 0500 hours next morning 28 June, I drove up to the breakout area where we had spent such a disturbed night. There we found a number of lorries filled with the mangled corpses of New Zealanders who had been killed by the British bombs ... • 13 July – The U.S. Navy submarine was patrolling on the surface in the Caribbean Sea off Panama when she suffered damage from bombs accidentally dropped near her by United States Army Air Forces planes attacking the German U-boat . The damage prevented S-16 from diving, and she proceeded to port on the surface. • 3 August – A four-engine United States Army Air Forces bomber approached the U.S. Navy submarine while she was patrolling on the surface in the Gulf of Panama off Balboa, Panama, at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal at and mistakenly attacked her, dropping a number of bombs into the water near her, one of which exploded. S-13 then exchanged recognition signals with the bomber, which departed without further incident. and one source describes it as a U.S. Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol bomber, but an official report on the incident identifies the plane as a U.S. Army Air Forces B-18 Bolo bomber. • 19 August - In the Dieppe Raid, the RAF lost 5 of its bomber/fighter aircraft deployed through being shot down by naval anti-aircraft gunners of their own side, and a Typhoon was shot down by a Spitfire fighter. • 25 August – The United States Coast Guard Cutter opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine near Key West, Florida. R-2 sustained no damage. • 28 August – A U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boat depth-charged the U.S. Navy submarine as S-31 crash-dived to in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Agattu in the Aleutian Islands at . S-31 sustained no damage. • 12 September – In the first of three friendly fire incidents during the Laconia incident, the German submarine sank , a British transport carrying 1,793 Italian prisoners-of-war among its passengers, in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa. Ultimately, 1,420 of the Italians died. Italy was then Germany's ally. • 13 September – Two U.S. Army Air Forces P-38 Lightning fighters — misidentified by S-31′s crew as two Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Allied reporting name "Zeke") fighters — strafed the U.S. Navy submarine as S-31 crash-dived in the Pacific Ocean south of Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands, just west of Kagalaska Strait at . • 16 September – In the second of three friendly fire incidents during the Laconia incident, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator received orders to attack the German submarine during the mass rescue of Laconia′s siurvivors, despite the pilot having earlier received a signal conveyed by a Royal Air Force officer from U-156 that indicated that Allied passengers were on board and despite the submarine flying the Red Cross flag. The B-24 attacked U-156, prompting U-156 to cast off Laconia′s survivors in order to crash-dive to avoid the attack. U-156 abandoned her rescue attempts, and was incorrectly reported sunk in the action. • 17 September – In the third of three friendly fire incidents during the Laconia incident, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bomber attacked the German submarine , which was carrying 151 Laconia survivors. The attack failed to disable U-506. • 28 September – A PBY-5 Catalina flying boat of U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 101 (VP-101) mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her in the Indian Ocean south-southwest of Bali at a position given by Snapper as and by the PBY-5 as . Snapper crash-dived, and the PBY-5 dropped one depth charge that shook her as she passed through a depth of on her way to . Snapper suffered only superficial damage and no casualties. • 12 October – The U.S. Navy destroyer received friendly fire during the Battle of Cape Esperance, a night surface action off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Damged as well by heavy Japanese gunfire, Duncan was abandoned and sank six miles north of Savo Island. • 23 October – During the 2nd Battle of El Alamein, at 2140 hours under the cover of a barrage of 1000 guns, British infantry of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division advanced towards the enemy lines. However, they advanced too fast into the area of fire from British artillery, causing over 60 casualties. • 11 November – British submarine completed Operation Bluestone, landing an agent in Spain near Bayona, then completed her patrol in the Bay of Biscay and was returning to the UK when she went missing. It is believed that she was probably attacked and sunk in error by an RAF Wellington bomber of No. 172 Squadron, Coastal Command in the Bay of Biscay. She was lost with all hands. • During the night attack of 12/13 November in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the already damaged light cruiser was fired on by the cruiser , causing several deaths, including Rear Admiral Norman Scott. • 20 November – Numerous Allied pilots reported being shot at by friendly naval forces during the Torch landings in North Africa. In one such incident, a 202 Squadron Catalina flying boat was shot down with the loss of all 10 aircrew. • 26 November – A U.S. Army Air Forces North American B-25 Mitchell bomber mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her while she was on the surface off Cape Ward Hunt, New Guinea. She crash-dived, and had reached a depth of when four bombs detonated across her stern, inflicting no damage or casualties. • 29 November – At a position in the Pacific Ocean off California which the armed tanker reported as but actually was in the vicinity of , Huguenot opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine . Tunny pulled away at high speed to a range of and avoided damage. • 7 December – The United States Army transport opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Caribbean Sea. R-16 submerged and avoided damage. 1943 • 21 January – German army general Karl Eibl was killed northwest of Stalingrad during a chaotic retreat in the wake of Soviet Operation Little Saturn when Italian soldiers, mistaking his command vehicle for a Soviet armoured car, blew it up with hand grenades. • 4 February – After the United States Navy submarine penetrated between the two columns of a Japanese convoy, Allied aircraft arrived and began bombing the convoy while Grouper was at periscope depth, endangering Grouper and forcing her to go deep. • 6 February – The Imperial Japanese Navy submarine suffered minor damage when an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Aichi E13A1 (Allied reporting name "Jake") floatplane mistakenly bombed her while she was in the Bismarck Sea northwest of Rabaul. • 7 February – A United States Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress bomber mistakenly attacked the U.S. Navy submarine while she was on the surface north-northeast of Kavieng, New Ireland, at . Swordfish′s crew heard machine-gun bullets striking her conning tower as she crash-dived, followed by an explosion, and she descended to a depth of before her crew regained control of her and stabilized her at a depth of . Her damage was significant enough to force her to terminate her patrol early and head to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for repairs. • 16 February – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet merchant ship Kola in the Pacific Ocean. • 13 March – Four U.S. Navy TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers dropped depth charges on the U.S. Navy submarine off the coast of Rhode Island off the southwest corner of Block Island while R-6 was conducting torpedo exercises with the U.S. Navy patrol boat in Block Island Sound. R-6 suffered no damage or casualties. • March – On an unrecorded date in March 1943 while the U.S. Navy submarine was on the surface in the Pacific Ocean at about the midpoint of a voyage from the Panama Canal Zone to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, an Allied merchant ship mistook her for a Japanese submarine and opened gunfire on her. The merchant ship's shells landed wide of Scorpion, and she proceeded with no damage or casualties, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 24 March. • 20 April – The escorts of an Allied convoy opened gunfire on the Free French Naval Forces submarine while she was taking part in an exercise in the Bay of Arzew off Arzew, Algeria. • 2 May – While the U.S. Navy submarine was crossing the Caribbean Sea on the surface bound for the Panama Canal, an approaching U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boat responded to her recognition signals with machine-gun fire, then dropped two bombs, one of which shook Harder as she submerged. • 9 May – The destroyers and , on deployment in the Mediterranean found themselves under air attack by Spitfire aircraft; Bicester sustained extensive damage from a near miss, with the bomb exploding alongside causing major flooding. Bicester was taken in tow to Malta for temporary repairs, and required permanent repairs in the United Kingdom, which were carried out between August and September. • May – During the Battle of Attu (11–30 May), U.S. Army First Sergeant Dick Laird killed an American runner on Attu during a Japanese banzai charge. • 16–17 May – Operation Chastise: Nineteen RAF Lancaster bombers of No. 617 Squadron were dispatched to attack dams in Eder, Möhne and Sorpe (Röhr) rivers near Germany, using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley. According to German historian , at least 1,650 people were killed. Of the bodies found downriver of the Möhne Dam, 1,026 were foreign prisoners of war and forced labourers in different camps, mainly from the Soviet Union. At the city of Neheim (now part of Neheim-Hüsten) at the confluence of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, over 800 people perished, among them at least 493 female forced labourers from the Soviet Union. Some non-German sources cite an earlier total of 749 for all foreigners in all camps in the Möhne and Ruhr valleys as the casualty count at a camp just below the Eder Dam.) • 17 May – A U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boat dropped two depth charges on the U.S. Navy submarine at Longitude 165 degrees East while S-33 was on patrol off the Kuril Islands. S-33 reported the attack as occurring east of the position the PBY reported and that she suffered no damage or casualties. • 19 May – The Royal Navy destroyer mistook the Free French Naval Forces submarine for a German U-boat in darkness in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria and attacked her. La Vestale sustained massive damage to her stern and suffered one killed and several wounded. She was towed into port and repaired. • 22 May – A PBY Catalina flying boat of U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 101 (VP-101) mistakenly dropped a depth charge on the U.S. Navy submarine as Grayling submerged in the Indian Ocean at . The depth charge did not explode. • 5 June – Friendly forces machine-gunned the U.S. Navy submarine at New London Sanctuary, Connecticut. • 31 May – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet survey ship Chukcha • 29 June – United States Army Coast Artillery Corps guns at Fort Zachary Taylor opened fire on the U.S. Navy submarine while R-14 was off Key West. Florida. R-14 suffered no damage. • July – During Operation Husky, Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commander of the U.S. II Corps, recalled that his column was attacked by American A-36 ground-attack aircraft in Sicily. The tanks lit yellow smoke flares to identify themselves to their own aircraft but the attacks continued, forcing the column to return fire which resulted in the downing of one aircraft. A parachuting pilot from the downed A-36 was brought before Bradley. 'You stupid sonofabitch!!' Bradley fumed. 'Didn't you see our yellow recognition signals!?' The pilot replied 'Oh, is that what that was?'. • 9 July – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet oceanographic research ship Seiner No. 20 with gunfire off Kaiba To and west of Todosima Island, killing two people. Permit rescued Seiner No. 20's 12 survivors, seven men and five women. • 29 July – A Royal Australian Air Force Catalina flying boat patrol bomber attacked the U.S. Navy submarine in the Solomon Sea east-northeast of Kiriwina Island and north of Woodlark Island at , dropping four depth charges. After Tuna crash-dived, the depth charges exploded close aboard as she passed a depth between and , and she plunged to a depth of before her crew regained control of her. She surfaced with a port list of 18 degrees. The damage she sustained necessitated 17 days of major repairs. • 30 July – A U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bomber mistakenly attacked the U.S. Navy submarine in the Coral Sea, east of Rossel Island at . Grouper crash-dived to a depth of , but the B-25 dropped two depth charges which exploded as she passed a depth of , inflicting enough damage that Grouper was forced to terminate her patrol. • 12 August – RAF Flight Sergeant Arthur Louis Aaron was fatally wounded when the Short Stirling bomber he piloted during an air raid on Turin was reportedly (according to his posthumous Victoria Cross citation) hit by machine gun fire from an enemy night fighter, which killed his navigator and wounded other crew members, although it is believed it may have been friendly fire from another Stirling. He died, after successfully landing the plane in Algeria, nine hours later. • 13 August – An Allied tanker opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean a day after Porpoise departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bound for New London, Connecticut. Porpoise maneuvered away on the surface and suffered no damage. • 17–18 August – Local German anti-aircraft batteries were ordered to fire on 200 Luftwaffe planes observed flying over Berlin during the night which had been mistaken for British bombers that had become detached from the concurrent major air raid on Peenemunde (Operation Hydra). The responsible Luftwaffe general, Hans Jeschonnek, subsequently committed suicide after the error was revealed. • August – During Operation Cottage, after Allied forces occupied Kiska Island, U.S. and Canadian forces mistook each other for Japanese and engaged each other in a deadly firefight. As a result, 28 Americans and four Canadians were killed, with 50 more wounded. There were no Japanese troops on the island two weeks before U.S. and Canadian forces landed. Meanwhile, thinking they were engaging Americans, Imperial Japanese Navy warships shelled and attempted to torpedo neighbouring Little Kiska Island where Japanese soldiers were waiting to embark. • 30 August – The American Type C1-B cargo ship opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Caribbean Sea at , about north-northwest of Barranquilla, Colombia, and east of the northern entrance to the Panama Canal. Less than three hours later, Alcoa Patriot again sighted Cod and fired on her at , about northwest of Barranquilla and east of the northern entrance to the Panama Canal. Cod suffered no damage in either incident. • 31 August – A U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber attacked the U.S. Navy submarine as she crash-dived in the Solomon Sea west of Buka Island at , dropping three bombs which missed her by . Stingray suffered significant damage but no casualties. • 8 September – A Royal Australian Air Force Catalina flying boat strafed the U.S. Navy submarine in the Timor Sea north of Melville Island. • 9 September – An Allied maritime patrol aircraft attacked the U.S. Navy submarine with a depth charge in the Pacific Ocean north-northeast of Buka on Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands at . The depth charge missed by a wide margin, and Peto submerged to and avoided damage. • 16 September – After the U.S. Navy submarine sighted an Allied Liberty ship in the Coral Sea east of Grafton Passage in the Great Barrier Reef at at 04:05, the ship altered course directly toward Pompon. Pompon submerged. After Pompon returned to the surface, she unsuccessfully attempted to exchange recognition signals with the ship, which opened gunfire on her at a range of at 06:14. Pompon submerged again and suffered no damage. • 10 October – While the Free French Naval Forces submarine was on the surface in the Western Approaches about west of Brest, France, performing repairs on a diesel engine, a Royal Air Force Coastal Command Liberator patrol aircraft mistook her for a German U-boat and attacked her with rockets, killing two members of her crew, wounding two others, and badly damaging her hull. • Late October – A U.S. Navy patrol bomber dropped a string of bombs on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Caribbean Sea northeast of the Panama Canal but did not damage her. • 8 November – A United States Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force plane bombed and strafed the U.S. Navy submarine north-northwest of Mussau Island at . Four bombs landed close alongside Albacore as she submerged to escape the attack. • 10 November – A United States Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force four-engine bomber dropped a string of bombs which straddled the U.S. Navy submarine in the northeastern portion of the St. George's Channel southwest of Kavieng, New Ireland at . Albacore suffered damage which caused her to plunge to a depth of before her crew regained control of her. • 14 November – The destroyer accidentally fired a torpedo at the battleship in the Atlantic Ocean while Iowa was transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt to North Africa on his way to the Cairo Conference and the Tehran Conference. Iowa took evasive action, and the torpedo exploded in her wake astern of her. • 15 November – An Allied tanker opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean between the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Batfish submerged and avoided damage. • 20 November – An Allied patrol bomber dropped a depth charge on the U.S. Navy submarine while Rasher was at a depth of in the Indian Ocean north-northeast of Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia at . Rasher sustained no damage. • 23 November – After the U.S. Navy destroyers and sank the Japanese submarine west of Betio in Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands at and launched boats to recover I-35′s survivors, a U.S. Navy SBD Dauntless dive bomber from the escort aircraft carrier mistook Meade′s boat for a Japanese submarine and attacked it with a bomb. The explosion lifted the boat out of the water and badly damaged it but inflicted no serious injuries on its occupants. Uncertain of the dive bomber′s identity, Meade opened gunfire on it, damaging it and driving it off. The boat reached Meade without further incident, and the Dauntless landed aboard Suwannee with its crew unharmed. • December – An Allied merchant ship opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine on an unrecorded date in December 1943 sometime prior to 20 December, firing 13 rounds before Flier escaped undamaged into a rain squall. 1944 • 1 January – An Allied tanker opened fire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Hawaii at . • 28 January :*A train carrying 800 Allied prisoners of war was bombed when it crossed a bridge on the Ponte Paglia in Allerona, Italy, approximately 400 British, U.S. and South African prisoners being killed. In anticipation of the Allied advance, the POWs had been evacuated from PG Campo 54 at Fara-in-Sabina outside of Rome, and were being transported to Germany in unmarked cattle cars. The prisoners of war had been padlocked in the cars and were crossing the bridge when B-26s of the 320th Bombardment Group arrived to blow up the bridge. The driver stopped the train on the span, leaving the prisoners locked inside to their fate. While many escaped, approximately 400 were killed, according to local records, and witness testimony. The mass graves were later destroyed by subsequent bombardments. :*Early in the morning a U.S. Navy PT boat carrying U.S. Fifth Army commander General Mark Clark to the Anzio beachhead, six days after the Anzio landings, was mistakenly fired on by sister U.S. naval vessels. Several sailors were killed and wounded around him. • 13 February – Four U.S. Navy planes attacked the U.S. Navy submarine while she was on the surface in the Pacific Ocean near Engebi Island in Eniwetok Atoll. Believing that they were Japanese planes, Searaven crash-dived, and her crew heard four depth charges detonate by the time she passed a depth of . She suffered no damage or casualties. • 15 February – During the Battle of Monte Cassino the USAAF, under orders from the Allied commander-in-chief, General Sir Harold Alexander via General Mark Clark, bombed the hilltop Cassino abbey which was suspected to be used as a German observation post. It killed 230 Italian civilians, whose country by then was 'co-belligerent' with the Allies, who had sought shelter in the monastery but no Germans (whose troops subsequently occupied and made the evacuated ruins a stronghold). Bombs that fell short of site killed some Allied troops on ground below, while 16 bombs were mistakenly dropped at the Fifth Army headquarter compound away, exploding yards from General Clark's trailer while he was at his desk inside. • 17 February – As a U.S. Navy task force of battleships and destroyers passed over the U.S. Navy submarine while she was at a depth of , one of the destroyers dropped a depth charge targeting her. She suffered no damage or casualties. • 3 March – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet merchant ship Byelorussia in the Sea of Okhotsk. • 27 March – During the morning, two U.S, Navy motor torpedo boats (PT-121 and PT-353) were destroyed in error by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-40 Kittyhawks of No. 78 Squadron, along with an RAAF Bristol Beaufighter of No. 30 Squadron. A second Beaufighter crew recognized the vessels as PT boats and tried to stop the attack, but not before both boats exploded and sank off the coast of New Britain. Eight American sailors were killed, with 12 others wounded. Survivors were rescued by PT-346, which herself became a friendly fire victim in April 1944. • 29 March – A U.S. Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber attacked the U.S. Navy submarine off Australia, dropping a bomb as she crash-dived. Gunnel suffered no casualties or damage. • 30 March – While the U.S. Navy submarine was in the vicinity of Toagel Mulungui Passage performing lifeguard duty in support of United States Fifth Fleet airstrikes on the Palau Islands, two TBF Avenger torpedo bombers of U.S. Navy Torpedo Squadron 5 (VT-5) from the aircraft carrier mistook her for a Japanese destroyer and dropped two bombs, one of which landed from Tunny. Tunny suffered minor damage. • 11 April – A U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber strafed and bombed the U.S. Navy submarine as she submerged in the western Pacific Ocean about east-northeast of Biak Island. Cero suffered no damage. • 13 April – A U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator patrol bomber bombed the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean west-southwest of Truk Atoll at . Bashaw submerged and avoided damage. • 24 April – An Allied two-engine bomber strafed the U.S. Navy submarine as Billfish submerged in the Timor Sea west of Port Darwin, Australia. • 29 April • The U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat PT-346, which had rescued the survivors of PT-121 and PT-353 after a friendly-fire incident on 27 March, herself became the victim of friendly fire, when sent to the aid of the PT boat PT-347, which had become stuck on a reef during a night patrol to intercept Japanese barges and destroy Japanese shore installations off the coast of Rabaul in Lassul Bay, located off the northwest corner of New Britain Island. At 0700, PT-350 was attempting to dislodge PT-347 from the reef, when two American Marine Corsair planes mistook the PT boats for Japanese gunboats and attacked. Taking heavy fire from the planes, PT-350 shot down one of the two attacking fighters, believing them to be A6M Zeros. With three dead and four wounded and serious mechanical problems, PT-350 headed back to base. PT-347 remained stuck on the reef. When PT-350 could not be boarded because of extensive damage, PT-346 headed out to PT-347 to provide assistance. PT-346 arrived at 1230, and at 1400 was still attempting to dislodge PT-347 from the coral heads when planes appeared. The Corsair plane from the morning run brought back an entire squadron of 21 planes (four Corsairs, six Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, four Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters, and eight Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers). Recognizing the planes as American and thinking they were the air cover he had ordered, the squadron commander ordered the men to keep working; however, the planes attacked the two boats, still mistaking them for Japanese gunboats. PT-346 did not respond defensively until it was too late, and took heavy casualties. The skipper of PT-347, Lieutenant Williams, who had experienced the earlier attack, ordered his men into the water and to stay dispersed, but two men were killed and three wounded. PT-346 and PT-347 were completely destroyed by bombs, and the men were strafed in the water for approximately one hour. • A U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator patrol bomber of Bombing Squadron 109 (VB-109) mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her off Satawan southeast of Truk Atoll while she was performing lifeguard duty in support of U.S. airstrikes. The PB4Y-1 dropped two bombs as Seahorse crash-dived. Seahorse suffered a damaged antenna, but no other damage and no casualties. • 12 May • An Allied Liberty ship opened gunfire at a range of on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Coral Sea at , firing five or six rounds. Bream suffered no damage. • Three British aircraft mistook the Free French Naval Forces submarine for a German U-boat and attacked her in the Mediterranean Sea. She avoided damage by diving to a depth of . • 15 May – An Allied aircraft bombed and strafed the Free French Naval Forces submarine in the Mediterranean Sea, either ignoring or failing to recognize La Sultane′s recognition signals. • 27 May – The U.S. Navy submarine hit the submarine — which she had mistaken for an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine — with two torpedoes in the South China Sea near Dangerous Ground at , denting Raton′s hull. Raton survived, suffering no casualties and no other damage. It is the only confirmed instance of one U.S. submarine firing at another during World War II. • 28 May – A PV-1 Ventura of U.S. Navy Bombing Squadron 148 (VB-148) damaged the submarine with a depth charge in the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of . Permit suffered no casualties. • 5–6 June – Several RAF Avro Lancasters attempting to bomb the German artillery battery at Merville-Franceville-Plage attacked instead friendly positions, killing 186 soldiers of the British Reconnaissance Corps and devastating the town. They also mistakenly bombed Drop Zone 'V ' of the 6th Airborne Division, killing 78 and injuring 65. • 6 June – RAF fighters bombed and strafed the HQ entourage of 3rd Parachute Brigade (British 6th Airborne Division) near Pegasus Bridge after mistaking them for a German column. At least 15 men were killed and many others were wounded. • 8 June – a group of RAF Hawker Typhoons attacked the 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th U.S. Infantry Division on the Isigny Highway, France, causing 24 casualties. • 16 June – After sighting the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine surfacing nearby and mistaking her for an Allied submarine, the Japanese armed cargo ship Toyokawa Maru rammed and sank I-6 in the Pacific Ocean near Yokosuka, Japan. I-6 was lost with all hands. (Alternative accounts have Toyokawa Maru sinking I-6 off Saipan on 30 June 1944 and the U.S. Navy destroyer escort and high-speed transport sinking I-6 west of Tinian at on 19 July 1944. • 24 June - The 6,780 ton Japanese passenger-cargo ship Tamahoko Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the U.S. Navy submarine in the Koshiki Straits 40 miles SW of Nagasaki resulting in the loss of 560 of the 772 Allied POWs on board. • June – During Operation Cobra, the American offensive push south from western Normandy, bombs from the U.S. Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force landed on American troops on two separate occasions. • 6 July – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet ship Ob in the Sea of Okhotsk. • 24 July – Some 1,600 bombers flew in support of the opening bombardment for Cobra. Due to bad weather they were unable to see their targets. Although some were recalled, and others declined to bomb without visibility, a number did, which hit U.S. positions. Twenty-five were killed and 131 wounded in this incident. • The following day, on 25 July, the operation was repeated by 1,800 bombers of the Eighth Air Force. On this occasion, the weather was clear, but despite requests by First Army commander General Omar Bradley to bomb east to west, along the front in order to avoid creepback, the air commanders made their attack north to south, over Allied lines. As more and more bombs fell short, and U.S. positions again were hit, 111 were killed and 490 wounded. Lieutenant General Lesley McNair was among the dead, the highest-ranking victim of American friendly fire. • 26 July – USAAF P-47s mistakenly strafed the US 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion near Perrières, France. 20 men were badly injured, but there were no fatalities. • 27 July – The former was sunk by a British RAF Coastal Command aircraft in the Norwegian Sea during the beginning of its process of being transferred to the Soviet Navy. The Captain, Israel Fisanovich, supposedly had taken her out of her assigned area and was diving the sub when the aircraft came in sight instead of staying on the surface and firing signal flares as instructed. All crew, including the British liaison staff, were lost. Later investigation revealed that the RAF crew were at fault. • 4 August – The crew of a de Havilland Mosquito from 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron, RCAF, mistook a Westland Lysander for a Henschel Hs 126 during a night interception, shooting it down. • 7 August – A RAF Hawker Typhoon strafed a squad from 'F' Company/US 120th Infantry Regiment, near Hill 314, France, killing two men. Around noon on the same day, RAF Hawker Typhoon of the 2TAF was called in to assist the US 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion in stopping an attack by the 2nd SS Panzer Division between Sourdeval and Mortain but instead fired its rockets at two US 3-inch guns near L'Abbaye Blanche, killing one man and wounding several others even after the yellow smoke (which was to identify friendlies) was put out. Two hours later, an RAF Typhoon shot up the Service Company of the 120th Infantry Regiment, US 30th Division, causing several casualties, including Major James Bynum who was killed near Mortain. The officer who replaced him was strafed by another Typhoon a few minutes later and seriously wounded. Around the same time, a Hawker Typhoon attacked the Cannon Company of 120th Infantry Regiment, US 30th Division, near Mortain, killing 15 men. • Two battalions of the 77th Infantry on Guam exchanged prolonged fire on 8 August 1944, the incident possibly started with the firing of mortars for range-finding and angle calibration purposes. Small arms and then armour fire was exchanged. The mistake was realized when both units tried to call in the same artillery battalion to bombard the other. • Near Mortain, France, RAF Hawker Typhoon aircraft attacked two Sherman tanks of 'C' Company, US 743rd Tank Battalion with rockets, killing five tank crewmen and wounding ten soldiers. Later that day, two Shermans from 'A' Company, US 743rd Tank Battalion were destroyed and set ablaze by RAF Typhoons near Mortain. One tank crewman was killed and 12 others wounded. • 9 August – A RAF Hawker Typhoon strafed units of the British Columbia Regiment and the Algonquin Regiment, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, near Quesnay Wood during Operation Totalize, causing several casualties. Later that day, the same units were mistakenly fired upon by tanks and artillery of the 1st Polish Armoured Division, resulting in more casualties. • 12 August – RAF Hawker Typhoons fired rockets at Sherman tanks of 'A' Company, US 743rd Tank Battalion, near Mortain, France, causing damage to one tank and badly injuring two tank crewmen. • 13 August – 12 British soldiers of 'B' Company, 4th Wiltshires, 43rd Wessex Division, were killed and 25 others wounded when they were hit by rockets and machine gun attacks by RAF Typhoons near La Villette, Calvados, France. • 14 August – RAF heavy bombers hit Allied troops in error during Operation Tractable causing about 490 casualties including 112 dead. The bombings also destroyed 265 Allied vehicles, 30 field guns and two tanks. British anti-aircraft guns opened fire on the RAF bombers and some may have been hit. • 16 August 1944 – A U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo bomber from the escort carrier mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine about ahead of the White Plains task unit while S-38 was conducting antisubmarine warfare exercises in the Pacific Ocean near Espiritu Santo with two SBD Dauntless dive bombers and the yard patrol boat . The TBM dropped two depth charges as S-38 crash-dived. The first depth charge detonated close aboard as S-38 passed , causing S-38 to lose all power temporarily. S-38 claimed that the second exploded as she resurfaced, while the TBM pilot reported that it did not detonate. • 17 August – RAF fighters attacked the soldiers of the British 7th Armoured Division, resulting in 20 casualties, including the intelligence officer of 8th Hussars who was badly injured. The colonel riding along was badly shaken when their jeep crashed off the road. • 14–18 August – The South Alberta Regiment of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division came under fire six times by RAF Spitfires, resulting in over 57 casualties. Many vehicles were also set on fire and the yellow smoke used for signalling friendlies was ignored by Spitfire pilots. An officer of the South Alberta demanded that he wanted his Crusader AA tanks to shoot at the Spitfires attacking his Headquarters. • 27 August • A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber strafed the U.S. Navy submarine with machine-gun fire in the Pacific Ocean off Yap in the Caroline Islands in the vicinity of . Pollack suffered no damage or casuatties. • A minesweeping flotilla of Royal Navy ships came under fire near Le Havre. At about noon on 27 August, , Salamander, and came under rocket and cannon attacks by Hawker Typhoon aircraft of No. 263 Squadron RAF and No. 266 Squadron RAF. HMS Britomart and HMS Hussar took direct hits and were sunk. HMS Salamander had her stern blown off and sustained heavy damage. HMS Jason was raked by machine gun fire, killing and wounding several of her crew. Two of the accompanying trawlers were also hit. The total loss of life was 117 sailors killed and 153 wounded. The attack had continued despite the attempts by the ships to signal that they were friendly and radio requests by the commander of the aircraft for clarification of his target. In the aftermath the surviving sailors were told to keep quiet about the attack. The subsequent court of enquiry identified the fault as lying with the Navy, which had requested the attack on what they thought were enemy vessels entering or leaving Le Havre, and three RN officers were put before a court martial. The commander of Jason and his crew were decorated for their part in rescuing their comrades. At the time reporting of the incident was suppressed, with information not fully released until 1994. • 8–9 September – At about midnight on the night of 8–9 September, the Japanese cargo ship Izu Maru rammed the Imperial Japanese Army Type 3 submergence transport vehicle Yu 3001 — a transport submarine — in the Yellow Sea near Kunsan, Korea, after mistaking her for an enemy submarine. The collision ripped a large hole in Yu 3001′s pressure hull and injured one officer on board. Yu 3001 remained afloat. In a second incident later in Yu 3001′s voyage as she headed to port for repairs, an Imperial Japanese Navy ship escorting a passing convoy fired two rounds at her without damaging her. • 9 September – On the third day of the Battle of Arnhem, a German SS battalion's pursuit of landed Allied paratroopers was halted at the village of Wolfheze, Netherlands, when Luftwaffe planes mistakenly strafed it. • 12 September: :*A group of RAF Hawker Typhoon aircraft destroyed two Sherman tanks of the Governor General's Foot Guards, 4th Canadian Armoured Division in the vicinity of Maldegem, Belgium, killing three men and injuring four. One Canadian soldier from the 4th Canadian Armored Division wounded recalled this incident saying "... while so deployed the tanks were suddenly attacked, in mistake, by several Typhoon aircraft. Lt. Middleton-Hope's tank was badly hit, killing the gunner Guardsman Hughes, and the tank was set on fire. Almost immediately Sgt. Jenning's tank was similarly knocked out by Typhoon rockets. Meanwhile the Typhoons continued to press home their attack with machine guns and rockets, and, while trying to extricate the gunner, Lt. Middleton-Hope was killed after his tank was blown off. In this tragic encounter, Guardsman Scott was also killed and Baker, Barter, and Cheal were seriously wounded." :*The Japanese transport ship , carrying 1,317 Australian and British prisoners-of-war in convoy from Singapore to Formosa (Taiwan), was sunk in the Luzon Strait by the submarine , whose commanders were unaware until after the sinking that allied prisoners had been on board. Ultimately 1,159 POWs died, only 50 rescued by the Sealion and sister submarines in her pack lived to make landfall. :*, carrying some 950 Australian and British prisoners-of-war, was travelling in the same convoy when it was sunk by the submarine . 431 prisoners were killed; the remainder were rescued by Japanese destroyers and taken to Japan. • 13 September The U.S. Navy submarine was in the Philippine Sea east of Catanduanes Island at when two U.S. Navy planes mistook her for a Japanese submarine and strafed her as she crash-dived. No rounds struck her. • 18 September – The Japanese cargo ship was packed with 1,377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, and 8 American prisoners of war along with 4,200 Javanese slave labourers (Romushas) bound for work on a railway line being built in Sumatra when she was attacked and sunk by British submarine , whose commander, Lt. Cdr Lynch Maydon, did not know there were Allied prisoners of war on board. At that time it was the world's greatest sea disaster with 5,620 dead as well as the worst single friendly fire loss (surpassed by the Cap Arcona disaster next year) and highest death toll inflicted in a single action by British forces. 680 survivors were rescued, the prisoners of whom went on to their intended destination. • 19 September – RAF Sergeant Bernard McCormack, a gunner in a Lancaster bomber, was returning along with other RAF aircrews from a night time raid over Nazi Germany. As they returned to RAF Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire, Sgt McCormack saw a plane flying in the same formation as he was. Believing that it was a German Junkers Ju 88, he attacked the plane, bringing it down over the Dutch town of Steenbergen. Two of the occupants were killed. It was found out by RAF intelligence officers that it was actually a British Mosquito flown by CO Guy Gibson, who previously took part in Operation Chastise, and his navigator Jim Warwick. Wracked with guilt, McCormack taped a confession, which he entrusted to his wife Eunice when he died in 1992. • 3 October – A U.S. Navy TBF Avenger torpedo bomber from the escort carrier attacked the U.S. Navy submarine as she crash-dived in the Pacific Ocean east-northeast of Morotai at . The TBF crashed during the attack, apparently as Stingray passed a depth of , killing the pilot. • 4 October – A U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator patrol bomber attacked the submarine while Mingo was performing lifeguard duty in support of United States Army Air Forces Thirteenth Air Force strikes on the Philippines and Borneo. The Liberator dropped a bomb which landed from Mingo, inflicting no damage or casualties. • 9 October – The U.S. Navy destroyer depth-charged the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean after Flying Fish submerged as she approached and did not respond to sonar recognition signals. Cogswell halted her attack after Flying Fish responded to the recognition signals. Flying Fish suffered no damage. • 24 October – the Japanese transport was carrying 1,784 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) from Manila to Manchuria when it was sunk by a torpedo from USS Shark. All but nine of the POWs are reported to have died in the incident mainly through the Japanese escort ships not rescuing them when they had all evacuated ship. • 25 October – The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship mistakenly opened gunfire on the Japanese heavy cruiser in Surigao Strait in the Philippine Islands, killing three men in Mogami′s sick bay. • In October, Soviet troops liberated the city of Niš from occupying German forces and advanced on Belgrade. At the same time, the U.S. Army Air Forces was bombing German-Albanian units entering from Kosovo. The U.S. planes mistook the advancing Soviet tanks as enemies (probably due to a lack of communications) and began attacking them, whereupon the Soviets then called in for air support from Niš airport and a five-minute dogfight ensued, ending after both the U.S. and Soviet commanders ordered the planes to retreat. • Late October – The United States Navy Armed Guard detachment aboard an American Liberty ship opened fire with a gun on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, Australia. Crevalle suffered no damage. • 7 November - Niš incident: US P-38 straffed a USSR vehicle column and then engaged in a dogfight with USSR Planes: Over 30 USSR casualties including Red Army general Grigory Kotov; 3 USSR Planes. three US planes were lost (2 killed in action and 1 survived) • 27 November – An Allied PBY Catalina mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese submarine and attacked her in the Celebes Sea southeast of the Sibutu Passage at . Gar crash-dived to a depth of and heard three bombs explode, none of them close. • December – Canadian artillery units were rushed in to support the retreating American forces as a counterattack against the advancing German Army during the early stages of the Ardennes Offensive. When American troops were making a retreat north of the Ardennes, the Canadians mistook them for a German column. The Canadian artillery guns opened fire on them, resulting in 76 American deaths and many as 138 wounded. • 24 December - Royal Air Force mistakenly strafed an unmarked train on a railway that was carrying into Germany American prisoners-of-war captured in the Battle of The Bulge, killing about 150 of them, according to one survivor, Kurt Vonnegut. • 25 December – Major George E. Preddy, commander of the USAAF 328th Fighter Squadron, was the highest-scoring U.S. ace still in combat in the European Theater at the time when he died on Christmas Day near Liege in Belgium. Preddy was chasing a German fighter over an American anti-aircraft battery and was hit by their fire aimed at his intended target. • Operation Wintergewitter (Winter Storm) – Italian Front: American forward observer John R. Fox called down fire on his own position to stop a German advance on the town of Sommocolonia, Italy. In 1997 he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for this action. 1945 • 1 January – Operation Bodenplatte (Baseplate): 900 German fighters and fighter-bombers launched a surprise attack on Allied airfields. Approximately 300 aircraft were lost, 237 pilots killed, missing, or captured, and 18 pilots wounded – the largest single-day loss for the Luftwaffe. Many losses were due to fire from Luftwaffe anti-aircraft batteries, whose crew members had not been informed of the attack. • 6 January – Two United States Marine Corps SBD Dauntless dive bombers of Marine Scouting Squadron 245 (VMSB-245) bombed the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean off Majuro Atoll. Spadefish submerged and survived. • 9 January – Friendly gunfire hit the superstructure of the U.S. Navy battleship in Lingayen Gulf off Luzon in the Philippines, killing 18 and wounding 51. • 12 January • The U.S. Navy destroyer mistook the U.S. Navy submarine for a Japanese sailboat while Rock was on the surface in the South China Sea off Japanese-occupied French Indochina and opened gunfire on her at a range of . Rock crash-dived to and sustained no damage. • Three United States Marine Corps F4U Corsairs of Marine Fighter Squadron 124 (VMF-124) shot down a four-engine bomber over French Indochina that had refused to identify itself and had fired on the planes. The aircraft later was identified as a United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator (serial number 42-73429) of the 374th Bombardment Squadron. • 16 January – During the South China Sea raid, U.S. Navy bombers targeting transport and harbor facilities in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong mistakenly bombed the nearby village of Hung Hom, killing and wounding many civilians, and dropped one bomb in Stanley Internment Camp, killing 14 Allied civilian internees. • 23 January – A group of RAF fighters strafed the assault gun platoon (105mm Sherman tanks) of US 743rd Tank Battalion, near Sart-Lez-St.Vith, Belgium, killing six men and wounding 15. • 24 January – Near Guam, the U.S. Navy submarine mistook the U.S. Navy rescue and salvage ship for a Japanese submarine. She fired a torpedo which struck Extractor's starboard side, causing her to capsize and sink within five minutes at . Six crew were killed and 15 injured. • 10 February • While at periscope depth in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy submarine detected an incoming torpedo apparently dropped by a nearby U.S. Navy flying boat. Batfish went deep and the torpedo passed overhead. • Lieutenant Louis Edward Curdes, a USAAF P-51 pilot, shot down a USAAF C-47 about to land by mistake on a Japanese-held airstrip. All personnel on board the Skytrain survived. • 15 February – The American Liberty ship — which reported her position as — opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine in the Pacific Ocean at a range of , firing eight rounds and claiming two hits. All rounds actually missed, and Crevalle — which reported her own position as — suffered no damage. • 27 February – Calais suffered its last bombing raid by Royal Air Force bombers who mistook the by-now liberated town for Dunkirk, which was at that time still occupied by German forces. • 1 March – Operating on the surface in heavy fog in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy submarine sighted a torpedo at a distance of which passed ahead of her. With strong indications of nearby U.S. SD and SJ submarine radars, she challenged what she presumed was a nearby U.S. submarine for 45 minutes via SJ radar signals before receiving a reply and exchanging recognition signals. The other submarine never identified itself, but the torpedo had come from its direction. Although unable to prove conclusively that they had been either in contact with or fired upon by another U.S. submarine, Guitarro′s crew concluded that they had nearly been the victims of a friendly fire incident. • 3 March – The Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the heavily populated Bezuidenhout quarter of The Hague, Holland. The target was an installation of V-2 rockets in the nearby Haagse Bos park, but because of navigational errors, the bombs all fell more than 500 yards (460 m) short of target. The bombardment wreaked widespread destruction in the area and caused 511 fatalities, • 11 March – A U.S. Navy PBM Mariner flying boat attacked the U.S. Navy submarine in the South China Sea, dropping four bombs. Piranha took evasive action and avoided damage. • 20 March – An Allied aircraft which the crew of the U.S. Navy submarine though was most likely a U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber, bombed Piranha as she maneuvered evasively and submerged in the South China Sea. Piranha sustained no damage. • 21 March – An Allied aircraft mistakenly attacked the U.S. Navy submarine during a war patrol she was making in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, dropping a bomb that exploded as she submerged which exploded as she passed a depth of . She sustained no damage but her crew found bomb fragments on her deck after she surfaced. • 31 March – The U.S. Navy destroyer opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine at a range of while Spot was on the surface in the Philippine Sea southeast of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan at . Case fired fifteen rounds, scoring no hits but straddling Spot′s conning tower with her third salvo as Spot crash-dived, before identifying Spot as a friendly submarine. • 8 April – A U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber dropped three or four bombs on the U.S. Navy submarine as she submerged in the South China Sea southwest of Macao, China.Bullhead suffered no damage. • 9 April – • A United States Marine Corps Reserve pilot of U.S. Navy Bombing Fighter Squadron 83 (VBF-83) from the aircraft carrier testing the guns of his F4U Corsair fighter inadvertently fired toward the U.S. Navy submarine while she was on the surface south of southern Japan. One tracer round almost struck Sea Devil′s officer of the deck. • Battle of Bologna – U.S. air force bombers flying overhead killed 38 troops of the Polish 2nd Corps during the Allied ground troops' opening advance on German-held Bologna that day. • 14 April – The German submarine , en route to Norway, was sunk by a German torpedo boat with no survivors. • 17 April • While flying over Berlin, Soviet air ace Ivan Kozhedub encountered a group of U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses under attack by Luftwaffe aircraft. American escort fighters mistook his aircraft for a Luftwaffe fighter and attacked him. Kozhedub reported that whie defending himself he shot down two U.S. Army Air Forces P-51 Mustangs. U.S. records do not confirm the loss of two P-51s over Berlin that day. • MACR 13919. Pilot Robert Thacker bailed out in German Lines and became POW. 72227 (HQ, 55th FG, 8th AF) shot down by AAA near Dresden, Germany Apr 17, 1945. MACR 13916. Made wheels up belly landing. Pilot Righetti survived although he crashed landed in a Soviet controlled section he is believed killed by German civilians • 19 April • An Allied aircraft — probably a U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber — dropped two depth charges on the U.S. Navy submarine as she submerged in the South China Sea. The depth charges detonated as Bullhead reached . She suffered no damage. • A U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber strafed the U.S. Navy submarine while Pogy was on lifeguard duty in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Honshu, Japan, at . As Pogy submerged, the B-24 dropped a bomb which detonated as she passed through a depth of . The strafing inflicted minor but extensive damage on Pogy, but she suffered no casualties and was able to remain on patrol. • 24 April – The Royal Air Force, carrying out an air raid on Rangoon, Burma, bombed a jail in the belief that it was a command center for the Imperial Japanese Army. The jail actually was the incarceration site of Allied prisoners-of-war. Over 30 Allied POWs were killed. • 29 April – A U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator dropped a bomb on the U.S. Navy submarine in the South China Sea approximately east-northeast of Pulo Cecil de Mer, French Indochina, at . The bomb exploded about ahead of Baya, which suffered no damage. • 3 May – Cap Arcona incident: Although it did not involve troops in combat, this incident has been referred to as "the worst friendly-fire incident in history". On 3 May, the three ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek, and the in Lübeck Harbour were sunk in four separate, but synchronized attacks with bombs, rockets, and cannons by the Royal Air Force, resulting in the death of over 7,000 Jewish concentration camp survivors and Russian prisoners of war, along with POWs from several other allied nations. The British pilots were unaware that these ships carried POWs and concentration camp survivors, although British documents were released in the 1970s that state the Swedish government had informed the RAF command of the risk prior to the attack. • 14 May – Several days after the German surrender, U-boat ace Wolfgang Luth was shot and killed by a sentry while walking after dark at the German naval base at Flensburg-Marwik. • 13 June – The U.S. Navy submarine mistakenly sank the Soviet merchant ship Transbalt in the Sea of Japan at . • 26 June – The U.S. Navy submarine was on the surface in the East China Sea at , about southwest of Aogashima in the Nanpō Islands, on lifeguard duty in support of air raids on Japan by U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers when a full load of bombs a B-29 jettisoned through overcast landed in the sea only from her. She suffered no damage or casualties. • 3 July – While covering the invasion of Balikpapan in Borneo, Australian war correspondents John Elliot and William Smith went ahead of the advancing Australian troops; an Australian Bren gunner, believing them to be Japanese troops, shot and killed them. • 14 July – In the East China Sea, a U.S. aircraft dropped two torpedoes targeting the U.S. Navy submarine . The torpedoes passed ahead of Batfish. • 18 July – The U.S. Navy destroyers and opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine at a range of while Gabilan was on the surface in the Pacific Ocean off the Bōsō Peninsula, Honshu, Japan, at . Gabilan had difficulty diving in heavy seas and broached, and the destroyers' gunfire straddled her an estimated ten times before she finally submerged undamaged to a depth of , and later to as the destroyers approached. • 24 July – The U.S. Navy destroyer opened gunfire on the U.S. Navy submarine at a range of while Toro was on the surface performing lifeguard duty for Allied air strikes south of Shikoku, Japan. Colohan straddled Toro with her first salvo, and Toro crash-dived to a depth of , sustaining no damage or casualties. Colohan was still firing as Toro passed a depth of . • 1 August – An Okinawa-based U.S, Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bomber aircraft dropped five bombs on the U.S. Navy submarine in the East China Sea off the southwest coast of Kyushu, Japan, in the vicinity of . The bombs missed, and Batfish submerged and avoided damage. • 6 and 9 August – 20 Allied POWs died in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. == Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 ==

• 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. ==Palestine Emergency (1945–48)==

• 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 surprised by gunfire and seeing someone moving towards him, but subsequently recovered. • 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. ==1948 Arab–Israeli War==

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

• 3 July 1950 – Eight P-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, causing more than 700 casualties. Before the attack, the Australian pilots had been originally assured by the United States Fifth Air Force Tactical Control Centre that the area under attack was in North Korean hands. However, they were later told to hold fire so that the Fifth Air Force can verify the train's identification. One Australian pilot, believing the train was indeed carrying North Korean forces, ignored the order and strafed the train, with his squadron following the lead as well. • 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. • 26 November 1950 – During the Battle of Wawon, fleeing soldiers of the Republic of Korea Army II Corps were mistaken by the Turkish Brigade for 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. • 25 April 1951 – As infantrymen of the 1st Battalion of the British Gloucestershire Regiment tried to break out of a Chinese encirclement and reach United Nations lines at the end of the Battle of the Imjin River, American tanks mistook them for advancing Chinese soldiers and opened fire, inflicting at least six casualties on the British before realizing their mistake and shifting fire to the Chinese pursuing the British. • 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. ==1956 Suez Crisis==

• 30 October - Israeli Air Force aircraft providing air support for an Israeli assault in the vicinity of Abu Uwayulah repeatedly hit Israeli ground forces by accident. • 3 November – During first phase of Israeli air operations, Israeli Air Force P-51 Mustang and Mystere fighter attacked a British warship, the Black Swan class sloop HMS Crane as it was patrolling the approaches to the Gulf of Aqaba. According to the IDF, Crane had been identified as an Egyptian warship. The ship was attacked with rockets, cannon fire, and napalm bombs. Its captain reported light damage, and three crewmen were lightly injured in the attack. The ship put up heavy anti-aircraft fire, and there are conflicting accounts as to whether it shot down an Israeli aircraft or not. • 6 November – British commandos of No. 45 Commando Royal Marines, assaulting Port Said by helicopter, suffered friendly fire from British carrier-borne Westland Wyvern aircraft which mistakenly hit 45 Commando and HQ. One Marine was killed and 15 wounded when a carrier-based Wyvern mistakenly fired into a concentration of Marines. ==Vietnam War==