War - Because Of a Football Game ...!



On July 14, 1969, the so-called "Football War" breaks out between the neighboring Central American states of El Salvador and Honduras, which de jure will not end until October 30, 1980 with a peace agreement.


On June 8, 1969, the Salvadoran football team is in Honduras. It's about qualifying for the World Championship in Mexico. The players are overtired because the Honduranian hosts' fans mistreated the kickers in front of their hotel at night with horns and whistling concerts. El Salvador lost 0-1.

In the second leg in San Salvador, the Honduran players are harassed by fans - and lose 3-0.

A third game on neutral ground - in Mexico City - brings the decision: 3-2 for El Salvador.



The mood between the nations is heating up ominously. As a result, the Government of Honduras deported tens of thousands of El Salvadoran labor migrants.

On July 14, 1969, General Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador, sent ...



... without a declaration of war bombers (former US planes type "Corsair" from World War II) to Honduras ...:



The machines bomb the capital Tegucigalpa...:


In retaliation, Honduras also sends bombers that attack the capital San Salvador and oil refineries...

The Honduranian warplanes are of the same type from the same source...:



At the same time, ground troops from El Salvador invade Honduras ...:






The military strike will last around one hundred hours and will go down in history as the "football war".

The rapid advance of the Salvadoran army and the looming defeat of the Honduran armed forces ...



... causes the Organization of American States (OAS) to act quickly. With threats of sanctions, it will force the fighting to cease after just a few days.

On July 29th, the Salvadoran side will have to agree to the withdrawal of their troops ...:



On August 4th, the last Salvadoran soldiers will leave Honduras - and will be celebrated like heroes in the capital San Salvador:

The war over a football game will cost 3,000 deaths, 6,000 injuries and damage in excess of US $ 50 million.
A formal peace agreement will be eleven years away ...



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July 14, 2021...



This is just a joke, of course ...

Excellent post Martin, I guessed this one might come up today.
Here we go again! I'm gonna have to dig a F4-U Corsair out of the stash and do that El Salvadorian version. For the record, The Atomic Test Hellcat is well under way - I'll post a pic on that thread later.
As for the last photo, yep, that's us....

Some more pics of the "219" of the FAR...:









Cheers