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Posted By: Capital Kiwi This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/18/02 08:24 PM
Today, the Royal Marines invaded Spain at La Linea. Twenty of them off one landing craft. The invasion was fearlessly repelled by two local policemen, who also pointed out that they should have turned left instead of right before rushing the beaches.

Read all about it ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1827000/1827554.stm



Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/18/02 08:40 PM
hehehe... thanks for the laffs, CapK.

I love this bit of Brit understatement:

The British Ministry of
Defence said it was a
situation it would "rather
not have taken place".



Posted By: wwh Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/18/02 09:19 PM
Dear CK: start a collection to buy the Royal Marines a couple dozen GPS units.

Posted By: Faldage Re: This Muddied Up My Day! - 02/18/02 09:24 PM
"rather not have taken place"

Boy, howdy! I'd sure like to see me the whole quote and not just only this exerp. I'm having me some trouble tryin to figger out how this ain' passive.

Posted By: rkay Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/18/02 10:48 PM
Aaaah, the MOD - always the masters of the glorious British understatement!

So timely as well, seeing as how we're about to start arguing over who owns Gibraltar anyway!

Posted By: Max Quordlepleen . - 02/19/02 12:03 AM
Posted By: belMarduk Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 12:05 AM


>Dominique Searle, editor of the Rock's daily newspaper, The Gibraltar Chronicle said: "What a boob."

Not what you would like your marine officers to be known as I would think



Posted By: Capital Kiwi Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 09:15 AM
According to The Independent, a corporal on the landing craft said "The mistake was caused by the most dangerous thing in the world - an officer with a map."

You just gotta love these squaddies, doncha?

Posted By: Rubrick Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 09:32 AM
Today, the Royal Marines invaded Spain at La Linea. Twenty of them off one landing craft. The invasion was fearlessly repelled by two local policemen, who also pointed out that they should have turned left instead of right before rushing the beaches.

And this is the nation which colonised half the known world?? Explains a lot.

Posted By: Keiva Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 11:01 AM
Kiwi, I'm giggling helplessly. Thank you.

"The mistake was caused by the most dangerous thing in the world - an officer with a map."
Sounds pretty much like cross-county driving tirps in the keiva family.


Posted By: milum Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 12:11 PM
Come on now Guys, it was just a honest mistake. It could happened to anyone, not just the Brits. You know- like the Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges or the Keystone Kops.

(This is the first time I've used this acronym) RITFLMAO

Posted By: Faldage Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 12:15 PM
just a honest mistake

Yeahbutİ, if the Marx Brothers had done it they would have known perfectly well what they were doing.

And if it had been a mistake it wouldn't have been an honest one

Posted By: Angel Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 12:22 PM
Almost as good as the Kiwi trip..."shuffling off to Buffalo!"

Posted By: Keiva Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 12:36 PM
Them brits are navigationally-challenged, it would seem.

Posted By: duncan large Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 02:27 PM
quote from the guardian...........

The marines beat a hasty retreat and went off to find the real Gibraltar. this, locals observed, was easily recognisable because it had a 1,398 ft high rock sticking out of it.


a German officer said after the battle of the Somme in 1916 "the british are Lions, ..........led by Donkeys"
depressingly little has changed the class system is alive and kicking in the British Army.




the Duncster
Posted By: Faldage Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 02:40 PM
it had a 1,398 ft high rock sticking out of it

There's the problem, right there! The Royal Marines, being good Euronators, were thinking in metric and couldn't make the conversion to metres[sic].

Posted By: WhitmanO'Neill Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 05:08 PM
FoxNews just scrolled this across the bottom of the screen:

British Military Apologizes for Accidentally Invading Spain...

Sounds like an old Monty Python or Firesign Theatre routine!

Posted By: Capital Kiwi Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 07:46 PM
Well ... remember the old Monty Python line, "Aha, NO one expects the Spanish Inquisition!". Well, now it's "Aha, NO one expects the British inhibition!".

Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 07:48 PM
Bring on the Malvinas!!

Posted By: Faldage Re: This Brightened Up My Day! - 02/19/02 07:51 PM
Malvinas

At least with Spain they (more or less) agree on the name.

Posted By: Max Quordlepleen . - 02/19/02 11:05 PM
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