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Marines storm ashore - in the
wrong country
By Isambard Wilkinson
in Madrid
(Filed: 19/02/2002)
A DETACHMENT of Royal Marines accidentally invaded
Spain at the weekend, but was repulsed by two policemen.
Using two landing craft, 20 commandos launched an
amphibious attack at La Linea, near the border with Gibraltar,
instead of their intended target a few hundred yards away on British
soil.
Spanish newspapers gloated over the fiasco, which
happened as Spain
and Britain are negotiating an agreement on a form of co-sovereignty
for the British colony.
The Ministry of Defence said the Marines were
involved in a "low-key" exercise but instead of being met by a mock
enemy they were greeted by two Spanish policemen who stopped the
"invasion" with the international "halt" signal of the raised
arm.
"Buenos dias, senores. Que hacen aqui?" ("Good
morning, gentlemen. What are you doing here?") said one of the
bemused officers when he saw the Marines, in full combat gear,
fanning out and adopting firing positions on the beach.
After a brief exchange of words and a glance at the
most obvious point of orientation, the Rock, the young officer in
charge realised his map reading had gone awry and ordered the men of
45 Commando to withdraw.
"It was a much regrettable and embarrassing mistake.
Hopefully nothing of this kind will happen again," said an MoD
spokesman, who blamed the mistake on bad weather. He added: "We were
not trying to take Spain and have no plans to do so."
The Royal Marines display only one battle honour on
their cap badges and that is Gibraltar. It dates from 1704 when
1,800 Marines stormed the Rock, which was ceded to Britain in
perpetuity by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
The Spanish government publicly played down the
incident. "We are not going to protest. From our point of view the
matter is closed," said a spokesman.
The mayor of La Linea, Juan Carlos Juarez, known for
his patriotism, said: "This was just a map reading error and will
not harm relations between two friendly countries.
"They landed on our coast to confront a supposed
enemy with typical commando tactics. But we managed to hold them on
the beach." | 
