Tag Archives: Mexico

The Football War

Footbaal war

The legendary Dutch Football coach ,Rinus Michels, once said “Professional football is something like war. Whoever behaves too properly, is lost” this quote is often misquoted as “Football is War”.

However nearly 52 years ago, Football actually did cause a war between Honduras and El Salvador.

The Football War was a brief war fought which lasted for 100 hours, between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Existing tensions between the two countries coincided with rioting during a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The war began on 14 July 1969, when the Salvadoran military launched an attack against Honduras.

war

Both countries tried to qualify  for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

There was fighting between fans at the first game in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on June 8, which Honduras won 1–0. The second game, on June 15 in the Salvadoran capital of San Salvador, was won 3–0 by El Salvador; even more violence followed. A play-off match took place in Mexico City on June 27, which El Salvador won 3–2 after extra time.

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On June 26, the day before the deciding match was played in Mexico , El Salvador announced that it was severing diplomatic relations with Honduras. The government justified this action by stating that Honduras had taken no action to punish those who had committed crimes against Salvadoran immigrants.El Salvador dissolved all diplomatic ties with Honduras, stating that in the ten days since the game in El Salvador 11,700 Salvadorans had been forced to flee Honduras.

REFUGEES

The border between the two countries was locked down and border skirmishes began on a regular basis. Anticipating that a conflict was likely, both governments had been actively increasing their militaries. Blocked by a US arms embargo from directly purchasing weapons, they sought alternative means of acquiring equipment. This included purchasing World War II vintage fighters, such as F4U Corsairs and P-51 Mustangs, from private owners. As a result, the Football War was the last conflict to feature piston-engine fighters dueling one another.

CORSAIR

Early on the morning of July 14, the Salvadoran air force began striking targets in Honduras. This was in conjunction with a major ground offensive which centered on the main road between the two countries. Salvadoran troops also moved against several Honduran islands in the Golfo de Fonseca. Though meeting opposition from the smaller Honduran army, the Salvadoran troops advanced steadily and captured the departmental capital of Nueva Ocotepeque. In the skies, the Hondurans fair better as their pilots quickly destroyed much of the Salvadoran air force.

The Organization of American States (OAS) negotiated a cease-fire on the night of 18 July which took full effect on 18 July. Salvadoran troops were withdrawn in early August.

El Salvador lost all 3 matches during the first round of the 1970 world cup and failed to progress to the knock out stages.

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Sources

BBC

Sports International

ThoughtCo

Soccer Politics

The unfortunate career of L. Ron Hubbard

l rON hUBBARD

Most people will associate the name of   L. Ron Hubbard with the Church of Scientology and his work as an author of science fiction books. Although one may not fully understand the concept of the Church of Scientology or agree with its teachings, you would have to agree it is a successful venture, and the same can be said about his work as an author.

blackout

But as the title suggests this blog is about his lesser known career. A career which wasn’t as  fruitful.

During WWII L. Ron Hubbard served in the US Naval and had actually commanded 2 naval vessels, the USS YP-422 and the USS PC-815. It is  the latter one I will be focusing on

The USS PC-815 was a PC-461-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War II.

PC 815

In November 1942, Hubbard was sent to the Submarine Chaser Training Center in Miami, Florida for training on submarine chaser vessels. He then went on a ten-day anti-submarine warfare training course at the Fleet Sound School in Key West .On January 17, 1943 he was posted in Portland, Oregon,where he took command of USS PC-815.

While he was in command of the vessel, Hubbard was involved in two bizarre naval incidents. In May 1943, he reported that his vessel had damaged and sank two Japanese submarines that surfaced off the coast of Oregon.

Over a duration of  68 hours, the ship dropped 37 depth charges in a “sea battle” that also involved the U.S. Navy blimps K-39 and K-33, the United States Coast Guard patrol boats Bonham and 78302, and the sub chasers USS SC-536 and USS SC-537, all were called upon to  to act as reinforcements. PC-815 was finally ordered back to base on 21 May. His superiors couldn’t find proof that any submarines had been sunk anywhere near the place which Hubbard indicated; his claims were dismissed.

In an eighteen-page after-action report, Hubbard stated  to have “definitely sunk, beyond doubt” one submarine and critically damaged another. The  submarine he claimed to have sunk was the I-76.

76

However that submarine was still operational in April 1944.

Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher a decorated Navy officer, was assigned to investigate Hubbard’s sinking of a Japanese submarine.In his report dated June 8, 1943 to the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, Fletcher writes, “An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area.”

Admiral Fletcher’s investigation suggested that Hubbard mistakenly read a magnetic iron ore deposit on the ocean floor as two enemy submarines on their sonar.

report

The second incident nearly caused a diplomatic conflict between the US  and Mexico.In June 1943, the PC-815 traveled to San Diego, which was to be the new home port  for the vessel . She arrived there on the 2nd of  June 1943, and at the end of June was ordered to sea to join an anti-submarine training exercise.The exercise, held on 28 June, ended early and Hubbard took the opportunity to order an unscheduled and improvised gunnery exercise while anchored just off the Mexican territory of South Coronado Island to the south-west of San Diego.He mistakenly believed that the islands were uninhabited and situated within U.S. territory, so he carried out gunnery practice close to the islands.The islands were actually a base to  Mexican Navy personnel during the war.The Mexican government sent an official protest to the U.S. Government, as no gunnery operations had been scheduled.

The Mexican government filed a complaint  and two days later, Hubbard had to appear before a naval Board of Investigation in San Diego. He was found to have disregarded orders by carrying out an unsanctioned gunnery practice and violating Mexican waters. He was reprimanded and removed from command, effective July 7.

mexican report

 

The official incident report stated that he was “unsuitable for independent duties and lacking in the essential qualities of judgment, leadership, and cooperation,” and he was forced to perform administrative tasks for the rest of his years in service.

pc 815 2

 

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Sources

Vintage News

Business Insider

NavSource Online