Whoops! British Marines lose bearings, 'invade' Spain

South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | February 18 2002

[nickcarraway]

GIBRALTAR -- The British military apologized Monday for invading Spain over the weekend -- by mistake.

About 20 Royal Marines went slightly off course in an amphibious exercise and stormed a Spanish beach Sunday morning near the British colony of Gibraltar, a British Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Residents of the Spanish border town of La Linea watched in astonishment as the beach filled with combat-ready troops wielding mortar launchers and SA 80 assault rifles, according to Spanish press reports, which said at least 30 troops were involved.

[Illbay]

Lo Siento! Lo Siento!

[Illbay]

LOL!

"I didn't want to surrender, but they captured my horse and made him surrender!" -- Chief Dan George, The Outlaw Josie Wales.

[Godel]

Anyone here wanna imagine the reaction if the US had done this? The Europeans would be having a hissy fit.

[E4E]

Somewhere in all this,is a Royal Navy Leftenant choking on his piping! This kinda thing happens every day,but fortunately,someones boarders aren't violated most of the time. I dunno how many times I have screamed "Check fire" into a PRC-77 cuz some dumb butterbar from Canoe-U,took his platoon into an Impact area. Deadliest thing in the U.S. Military is a Second Looie with a compass! I suspect HMRM are little different. PerMare,PerTerrum E4E

[tracer]

Did you take the harrowing bus ride to the top of the Rock? The perspective is a bit different from up there.

The Brits may well have inadvertantly avoided being decimated by troops of ferocious baboons who inhabit it. Remember them??

[tracer]

Tut, tut. This all was just a Monty Python sketch.....

[nickcarraway]

The v-sign? I had heard on story that English longbowman would give it to the French. (They would cut those fingers off captured English soldiers) I wasn't sure if it was definitive.

[nickcarraway]

Don Quixote Rides Again

[bigdog]

Whoops! British Marines lose bearings, 'invade' Spain

France announces immediate surrender!

[tomakaze]

RE:The v-sign? I had heard on story that English longbowman would give it to the French. (They would cut those fingers off captured English soldiers) I wasn't sure if it was definitive.

At last! a chance to use one of my geek links in combat!
Plucking The Yew (various attempts at explaining how that came about)

[Wright is right!]

"Did you take the harrowing bus ride to the top of the Rock? The perspective is a bit different from up there. The Brits may well have inadvertantly avoided being decimated by troops of ferocious baboons who inhabit it. Remember them??"

We'd heard about the baboons (tour guide actually called them "bassoons," then got it right). Nothing like a horde of ferocious bassoons to ruin your day.

As for the bus ride, nope, we were simply passing by on the ferry back to Algeciras from close to a week in Morocco. When we left FOR Morocco earlier, you couldn't see the Rock at ALL. Visibility had been about a mile in fog, and that's not very far on open water.

Michael

[Wright is right!]

BTW, tracer, speaking of harrowing bus rides, we're thinking of compiling a list of some of the world's best bus rides, to be published by the No Guard Rail Press. One of the best is on the Greek isle of Santorini from the capital of Fira town up to Oeia on the northern end. It's a 1.5-lane roadway which carries large motor coaches and city-style buses simultaneously in both directions. There are sheer drops of thousands of feet and not one guard rail in sight. The Amalfi Coast of Italy has a lot to recommend it as well.

Michael

[Wright is right!]

BTW, tracer, speaking of harrowing bus rides, we're thinking of compiling a list of some of the world's best bus rides, to be published by the No Guard Rail Press. One of the best is on the Greek isle of Santorini from the capital of Fira town up to Oeia on the northern end. It's a 1.5-lane roadway which carries large motor coaches and city-style buses simultaneously in both directions. There are sheer drops of thousands of feet and not one guard rail in sight. The Amalfi Coast of Italy has a lot to recommend it as well.

Michael

[Jay W]

The Brits may well have inadvertantly avoided being decimated by troops of ferocious baboons who inhabit it. Remember them??

Are you saying that in an all-out battle between the Gibralter apes and the British Marines that the apes would stand a good chance of winning? ;-)

So much for the new world order! Bring on the new ape order!

[archy]

Are you saying that in an all-out battle between the Gibralter apes and the British Marines that the apes would stand a good chance of winning? ;-)

I would suggest that if the Gibralter apes were to dress up in Royal Marine DPM camoflage and infiltrate the Marine units, there's a fair chance that most of the Marine squaddies would never spot the difference....

[Focault's Pendulum]

No one is mentioning that the Spanish military did not see them coming

We have fresh GPS Batteries...all you need to do is answer some easy questions at the castle!

[nickcarraway]

One Moor time.

[Consort]

The Mouse that Roared II.