The war ceasefire occurred due to the football match. What kind of war was July 11, 1969?

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El Salvador

Honduras

We all know that football is the most warlike modern sport. Of course, this does not only refer to the physical trauma suffered by players in football, but also represents the excitement, tension, pain and hatred generated by fans watching the game. In England, you will have a deeper understanding of this.

In the most recent incident of violence, a South African referee shot and killed a player who disobeyed a decision, which was certainly a bit unusual. But what is even more unusual is that football brings a war, a bloody war with real swords and guns.

This happened after the 1969 World Cup qualifying match between Honduras and El Salvador, two neighboring countries in Central America. Richard Kapuscinski recorded this event in detail in his masterpiece "Football Wars".

On the night before the game, fans in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, "carnivaled" all night in front of the hotel where the El Salvador team stayed. Of course, the members of the El Salvador team also had a sleepless night. In the second day of the game, the Honduras team defeated the red-eyed El Salvador team with a score of 1:0. In El Salvador, an 18-year-old female fan shot herself in front of the TV because she was so sad.

The funeral of this female fan became a national funeral. Even the president and the army attended the funeral ceremony, and her coffin was painted in the colors of the national flag. A local newspaper wrote: "This young girl cannot bear to see her motherland kneeling in front of others."

Of course, when the Honduras team came to the away game, El Salvador had already It has completely turned into a living hell. Fans threw prepared rotten eggs and dead rats into the Honduran players' room. The next day, when the Honduran team's bus arrived at the stadium, the Honduran flag was not hoisted on the field. Instead, there was a dirty rag.

What suspense can there be in the football match? El Salvador won 3-0. The Honduran players will be thankful if they make it out of the stadium alive. Of course, the fate of the two Honduran fans who came with the team to watch the game is self-evident.

In return, the Salvadorans living in Honduras began to be massacred. Newspapers on both sides began to abuse each other, and finally Honduras suspended diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On July 14, a month after the second game, El Salvador dropped a bomb on Tegucigalpa. Salvadoran troops also crossed the border into Honduras.

However, due to insufficient supplies of fuel and arms, their invasion was limited to within five miles of the Honduras border. Honduras began to fight back, and their air force blew up several oil depots in El Salvador.

Within a few days, the U.S. government intervened and the two sides signed an armistice agreement. Of course, it took a long time for sporadic fighting to disappear. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people died in this war, mostly civilians.

When Gao Qiu played football with Song Huizong, he probably never dreamed that a thousand years later, football could trigger an all-military war, and this war would leave a mark in the history of world wars. The best in the world - the last air battle between piston fighters.

El Salvador and Honduras are two banana-growing countries in Central America. On weekdays, apart from bananas and football, it is difficult for people to remember that there are two countries in the world. In July 1969, the two countries actually fought the largest war in the history of Central American countries over bananas and footballs, known as the "Football War" in history.

El Salvador has a more developed economy and a larger population; Honduras has a slightly smaller population than El Salvador, but its area is six times larger. The United Fruit Company and Standard Fruit Company of the United States have large banana plantations in Honduras. Many Salvadorans immigrated to Honduras legally or illegally for job opportunities and settled down there.

By 1969, El Salvador, with a population of only 3 million, actually had 270,000 people living in Honduras. Some Salvadorans who got rich first also liked to show off, which caused a lot of social pressure in Honduras, which had a population of only 2.7 million. . The land reform in Honduras intentionally or unintentionally ignored the Salvadoran immigrants who were already cultivating the land in Honduras, while El Salvador intentionally or unintentionally showed its territorial ambition to include the territory of Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras. Relations between the two countries are already tense over border disputes and illegal immigration. In the qualifying match for the 1970 World Cup, the Honduras team won the first game at home. El Salvadoran fans complained about being treated roughly in Honduras. In the second game in El Salvador, the El Salvador team won. This time, the Salvadoran fans were also rude to the Honduran fans. The Honduran flag and national anthem were also mocked. The decisive game finally brought the already great anger between the two sides to the breaking point. The decider was held in neutral Mexico City and El Salvador emerged victorious. The Honduran authorities and civilian anti-immigration militias immediately began a violent campaign of beatings, deportations of Salvadoran immigrants, and looting of property, triggering a strong response in El Salvador. After the failure of OAS mediation, El Salvador launched a lightning surprise attack at dusk on July 14, 1969, intending to seize some important towns on the border and the main transportation routes leading to the interior, forcing Honduras to agree to an agreement that was beneficial to El Salvador. , and even supported a pro-El Salvador government, and the football war started.

El Salvador’s ground forces have four infantry battalions and one artillery battalion. Honduran ground forces include three infantry battalions, six border defense battalions, one engineer battalion, and two 75mm field artillery batteries. The main combat aircraft of both air forces are antiques from the Second World War. The main force of the Salvadoran Air Force is 12 Mustang fighters and 6 Corsair FG-1D fighters, one B-26 bomber, and 4 C-47 transport aircraft that also serve as bombers. The main force in Honduras is 14 Corsair F4U fighters and 6 C-47s. After all, the Corsair fighter is the basis of carrier-based fighter jets. It has better performance, firepower, reliability and flexibility of use than the Mustang. It is suitable for both air combat and ground attack. Not to mention that the Honduran Air Force is all Corsair fighter jets, the El Salvadoran Air Force also attaches great importance to the few Corsairs it has. El Salvador's Corsair is an early model, equipped only with machine guns, with low engine power and mostly unusable superchargers, which greatly affects its high-altitude and high-speed (relative to piston engines) performance. The Honduran pirates are late models with larger engines and some are equipped with aerial cannons, and their performance is better than that of the El Salvador pirates. In comparison, the Mustang and Corsair fighter jets from both sides are the main force in ground attacks, while the C-47 is used as the main force in "strategic bombing" due to its better navigation and night flying capabilities. The bombs are dropped from the floor of the aircraft. The rollers used to move cargo are moved to the cabin door and pushed out directly. The hit rate can be imagined. For one reason or another, the only B-26 of the Salvadoran Air Force did not see much combat action. Both sides used armed training aircraft to make up for the lack of fighter jets. Cessna ("Duqiu Aircraft") and agricultural aircraft have also been put into combat, used for unarmed liaison, observation, rescue, harassment and other tasks. Interestingly, some Salvadoran trainer aircraft are equipped with 60mm and 81mm mortars for ground attack. Mortars flying into the sky must be unique in the history of world wars. El Salvador does not have an advantage in terms of military strength and weapons, but the Salvadoran army is better trained and has the initiative to strike preemptively. Neither side has a radar warning and command system. The air battle is basically a ground observation post warning, and the fighter jets visually search and attack after taking off, just like their predecessors in World War II.

In order to avoid an immediate counterattack by the Honduran Air Force, the Salvadoran Air Force chose to conduct its first battle at dusk. At the beginning of the war, El Salvador tried to destroy the main force of the Honduran Air Force on the ground in one fell swoop. All its air forces were mobilized, including more than a dozen pesticide-spraying agricultural aircraft and a training aircraft from the El Salvador Aero Club. The mission of these civilian aircraft is to harass.

When the commander of the Honduras Northern Military Region called the air force base under his jurisdiction to prepare for combat to prevent possible air attacks by the Salvadoran Air Force, the answer on the phone was: "Mr. Colonel, bombs are falling on our heads!". Fortunately, the Honduran Air Force was prepared and evacuated aircraft on the ground in advance, and the air attack did not cause much damage.

Despite the hasty response, the Honduran Air Force immediately counterattacked and dispatched a C-47 to bomb the Ilopango Airport, the main air force base in El Salvador. The C-47 first flew to the Pacific coast, then blindly navigated to the target using a compass and map, dropped 14 50-kilogram bombs, and claimed to have received heavy fire from ground anti-aircraft fire. However, the Salvadoran military said no one at the Ilopango airport heard any planes flying over and no bombs were dropped around the airport. In the Zapotitan Valley, 55 kilometers away from the airport, some people heard the noise. It seems that the C-47 flew in a different direction, and all the bombs were dropped into the tropical jungle and "heard a noise", but almost no one heard it. [cchere.net Xixihe Chenfeng]

The El Salvadoran Air Force could not escape the first day of the new year, but it could not escape the fifteenth day. In the early morning of the next day, the Honduran Air Force began a larger-scale counterattack. Major Colin Dres led four Corsair fighter jets, hung bombs, lowered their landing gear, pretended to be Salvadoran Corsair fighter jets, and approached the runway of Ilopango Airport just as the sun was rising. The trick worked. However, the quality or luck of the Honduran pilots was too bad. Only one of the major's bombs hit a water truck and damaged a parking shack. The other bombs either did not go off or were thrown to unknown places. Fortunately, they did not return immediately after the attack. Instead, they used aircraft guns and rockets to attack oil storage facilities and refineries on the seaside 200 kilometers away, causing multiple fires and seriously affecting the fuel supply of the Salvadoran army. It would play a large role in hindering the continued advancement of the Salvadoran Army in the future.

Of course, the Salvadoran Air Force did not stop its attacks. Four of the Corsair fighter jets were preparing to leave after attacking Tocontin Airport near Tegucipalga, the capital of Honduras. Colonel Hernandez of Honduras flew a Corsair fighter jet. He took off, flew into the formation alone, and decisively attacked the last two lone Salvadoran Mustang fighter jets. After successfully entering a favorable shooting position behind Captain Curtez, the colonel regretfully found that the cannons could not fire, so he had no choice but to regret it. Hatefully quit the fight. On the one hand, this shows the bravery and skill of the colonel. On the other hand, it also exposes the incompetence of the Salvadoran pilots. There is no basic mutual protection between the two planes, and there is a lack of quick response after a sudden attack. Otherwise, the colonel would not be so easy to want to fight. Just fight and run away if you want. As for Captain Curtez, his bad luck had not yet passed and before he had time to escape, two Honduran T-28 trainer aircraft temporarily equipped with 7.62mm machine guns arrived and wounded Curtez's pirates. Curtez's leg was also injured. Injured. According to Salvador, Cortez suppressed the lingering fear in his heart, resolutely got rid of the enemy planes, ignored the lagging behind, and turned to attack the Honduras Presidential Palace. He heroically dropped a bomb, but unfortunately it did not go off. After being injured by fierce ground fire, , bravely and tactfully flew the people's valuable property safely back to the great motherland.

The Salvadoran Air Force also continues to use C-47s for "strategic bombing" and adds 12.7 mm heavy machine guns to the C-47s for ground fire suppression and close air support. When two Salvadoran C-47s arrived at the war zone, they happened to encounter four Honduran Corsair fighter jets that were already patrolling in the air. They were immediately attacked. One of the left wings was injured and the left engine was also hit and caught fire. Fortunately, these few The Honduran pilot's shooting skills were not very good, and even though he ran out of ammunition, he could not shoot down the Salvadoran C-47. The latter luckily escaped with his life. He abandoned all unnecessary weight in a hurry and managed to return to the base on the right engine. It made a 180-degree turn during the landing, but luckily there was no fire. This C-47 was really strong and repaired, and later it took to the sky again, but this was already after the war.

On this day, the Honduran Air Force claimed to have shot down a C47 and a Mustang. El Salvador denied it. The results of the post-war inventory also showed that Honduras was too optimistic about its results.

Captain Santos of El Salvador was not so lucky. Due to the shortage of fuel, the battlefield is not far away, and the Mustang's maneuverability is insufficient. Salvador's Mustang fighters generally do not take off with fuel, but take off with less fuel. This is to avoid having to dump excess fuel when landing, and secondly to improve maneuverability. . However, during an air raid on the Port of Acajulta, Captain Santos' Mustang ran out of fuel and was forced to land in neutral neighboring Guatemala. It was detained along with the aircraft in accordance with international practice and was not returned until after the war.

On the ground, the Honduran army was unable to do anything. They fired a few shots at several places on the border and then fled. The Salvadoran army marched straight in and occupied several important border towns and along the Pan-American Highway leading to the interior. . However, the advance of the Salvadoran army was forced to stop soon, as fuel, ammunition, and supplies could not keep up.

On July 16, the Salvadoran Air Force continued to attack, but early in the morning, two Mustangs preparing to take off collided on the runway, their wings rubbed against their wings, and the two planes spun on the spot. In less than half a circle, there was a mouth to mouth, and the wings, propellers and engine cylinders were all damaged. Although they were repaired later, it was already after the war.

At the same time, some of the border strongholds in Honduras have not been lost. Honduras airlifted more than a thousand people from the "Honor Guard Battalion" in using C-47s, but in the end they still could not hold it. The Honduran Air Force claimed as usual that it had dealt a decisive blow to the Salvadoran Air Force, but the El Salvadoran Air Force denied it as usual. The post-war inventory also proved that the Salvadoran Air Force did not suffer any losses on this day.

The Honduran Air Force was a bright spot throughout the war. After being suddenly attacked, they quickly counterattacked and basically controlled the air superiority in the theater. July 17 is a day that the Honduran Air Force will remember forever, because on this day, Captain Fernando Soto shot down three enemy planes, becoming the first and only pilot in the history of the Central American country to have shot down an enemy plane. . Captain Soto, who had been seconded to civil aviation and retired to the reserves, became a national hero in Honduras for downing three enemy planes. Decades later, he was still chattering about his heroic deeds on television. The first aircraft Captain Soto shot down was a Mustang, which was the last Mustang fighter to be shot down in actual combat in the history of the war. There are different accounts of how the pilot Captain Valera died. Some say he was seriously injured while parachuting and died, some say he was shot dead after parachuting and landed, and some say he died when his plane crashed. The second enemy aircraft shot down by Capt. Soto was a Corsair fighter, and the pilot, Capt. Amaya, ejected safely. In his fourth sortie of the day, Captain Soto knocked the pirates of the brave but hapless Captain Curtes into the air, killing Curtes on the spot. This was the last piston fighter to be shot down in actual combat in the history of warfare.

The pilots in El Salvador are actually very skilled, and some of them have a background in aerobatic performance, but actual combat is not a stunt, and fancy flying movements may lead to death. In the language of Baodao, it is " "Status" is wrong.

At this time, the Salvadoran Air Force only had 2 Corsairs, 5 Mustangs (the sixth was detained in Guatemala) and one B-26 ready for combat. El Salvador urgently sought additional Mustang fighter jets internationally because Mustangs were easier to obtain than pirates. However, five Mustangs did not arrive until the 19th, and the sixth one was detained by U.S. Customs on the grounds of incomplete documents. While there was a serious shortage of fighter jets, El Salvador was also in dire need of pilots, so some mercenary pilots were temporarily recruited from overseas. However, it is said that these mercenary pilots are not productive on duty. When they encounter danger, they will use the Mustang-like climbing performance to fly high into the clouds to avoid fighting and leave the escorting aircraft to their opponents. They have a very bad reputation.

On the ground, the Honduran troops also ambushed an advancing Salvadoran army and successfully blocked the opponent's advance, but in the end they ran out of ammunition and were unable to drive the opponent back.

On July 18, the situation finally began to favor Honduras.

The Honduran army began to advance into El Salvador, outflanking the Salvadoran army's retreat. The Honduran troops encountered little resistance, but soon after their rapid advance, OAS mediation came into effect, and the Honduran troops quickly retreated to this side of the border. However, the Salvadoran army refused to leave the 1,600 square kilometers of Honduran land it occupied and did not withdraw from Honduras until August 5.

Honduras purchased 4 F-86K fighter jets from Venezuela immediately after the war. In the 1970s, it purchased 18 Cessna A-37s for use as trainers and ground attack aircraft. Purchased 21 Dassault Super Mysterious B2 fighter jets. The Honduran Mustangs and Corsairs remained in service until the mid-1970s, when they were finally replaced by 12 Fulga Teacher trainers and 18 Dassault MD-45 Storm fighters. At this point, the air forces of both countries have entered the jet age. El Salvador’s remaining Mustangs and Corsairs were also sold to private collectors in the United States, finally ending up happily.

The result of this chronological war between Don Quixote was the death of more than two thousand people, most of them Honduran civilians. Hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran immigrants left their homes and returned to El Salvador with the Salvadoran army, exacerbating employment and social problems in El Salvador. The Salvadoran military took power in the recent general election, taking the first step toward future dictatorship and human rights tragedies. It would be more than a decade before El Salvador and Honduras returned to normal relations.

Today, El Salvador and Honduras still grow bananas and play football. Apart from that, people still don’t remember these two countries that once fought over bananas and football