A beach too far: British marines invade Spain by mistake
news.independent.co.uk
By Kim Sengupta
19 February 2002
After its military successes in Kosovo,
Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, Britain
tried on Sunday to end the continuing
row over Gibraltar by invading Spain.
That, at least, is what it may have looked
like to the inhabitants of the Spanish
town of La Linea de la Concepcion when
they saw waves of Royal Marines hit the
beach wielding mortar launchers and
SA80 assault rifles. Sunbathers sat up
startled, fishermen gawped and children
ran to their mothers as the men of 45
Commando took up battle stations. It
was then that they were approached by
a policeman asking: "Excuse me,
Inglese, but which country do you think
you are in?"
Having realised they were not in
Gibraltar, the marines packed up their
weapons and climbed back into their
landing craft, muttering apologies, to go
further south.
The marines, based at Condor Barracks,
near Arbroath in Scotland, were taking
part in an exercise while sailing to the
Gulf on the helicopter carrier, HMS
Ocean. The wrong landing, a corporal
pointed out, was due to "one of the most
dangerous things in the world – an officer
with a map".
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said:
"We were not trying to take Spain and
have no plans to do so.
"There is much embarrassment, the error
is regretted and lessons have been
learnt. Anyway they spent only about five
minutes on the beach before being told
they were in the wrong country."
The Spaniards were charitable about
what happened. David Iria, a policeman,
said the mistake was understandable as
"it is difficult know exactly where you are
on this coastline". The mayor of La
Linea, Juan Carlos Juarez, hoped the
British would not make a habit of arriving
in that fashion. |
