Losing a football match caused the war. Football and other shortest wars in world history & nbsp

Ilya Kramnik, military columnist for RIA Novosti.

June 14, 2009 marks the fortyth anniversary of the beginning of one of the most curious military conflicts of the 20th century - the "Football War" between El Salvador and Honduras, which lasted exactly one week - from July 14 to 20, 1969. The immediate cause of the outbreak of conflict was the loss of the Honduras team to the El Salvador team in the playoffs of the qualifying stage of the 1970 FIFA World Cup.

Despite the "frivolous" reason, the conflict had rather deep reasons. Among them are the issues of demarcation state border- El Salvador and Honduras challenged each other for certain territories and trade advantages that the more developed El Salvador had within the framework of the organization of the Central American Common Market. In addition, the military juntas that ruled both countries saw the search for an external enemy as a way to distract the population from pressing internal problems.

The escalation of the conflict was due to the "settler issue" - Salvadoran peasants, from 30 to 100 thousand of whom (according to various sources) lived in sparsely populated areas of Honduras. In April 1969, the Honduran government of Oswald Arellano announced its intention to deprive property and expel from the country those who acquired land under agrarian reform without providing proof of citizenship. In funds mass media a campaign was launched to explain rising unemployment and falling wages as an influx of migrant workers from El Salvador.

In late May 1969, landless migrants began returning from Honduras to El Salvador, which sharply increased social tensions in the country. El Salvador's leadership began to prepare for a war against its neighbor, seeing this as the only way to regain the support of the population.

Three meetings of the national teams of El Salvador and Honduras on football in the framework of qualifying round World Cup-70. The first game, held in the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, on June 8, 1969, was won by the home team 1-0. After the match, local fans reported to the police that there were numerous attacks by fans of the visiting team.

On June 15, at a stadium in San Salvador, the hosts took revenge by defeating the Honduras national team 3-0. According to the rules, to find out the winner, the third match was to take place, which took place in Mexico City. It was won by the national team of El Salvador with a score of 3: 2, however, after the match on the streets of the Mexican capital, bloody clashes began between the fans of both teams.

After losing in the third match, Honduras severed diplomatic relations with El Salvador. In Honduras, attacks on the Salvadorans began. The government of El Salvador responded by declaring a state of emergency and began mobilizing reservists, increasing the size of the army from 11 to 60 thousand people. Honduras, which also began to prepare for war, did not remain in debt. It should be noted that the armed forces of both countries were equipped with mostly outdated American weapons and trained by American instructors.

On July 14, El Salvador began fighting, in which he was successful at the first stage - the army of this country was more numerous and better prepared. However, the offensive soon slowed down, which was facilitated by the actions of the Honduran Air Force, in turn, superior to the Salvadoran. Their main contribution to the war was the destruction of oil depots, which deprived the Salvadorian army of the fuel needed for a further offensive, as well as the transfer of Honduran troops to the front with the help of transport aircraft.

On July 15, the Organization of American States called for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Salvadoran troops from Honduras. At first, El Salvador ignored these calls, demanding that Honduras agree to pay reparations for attacks on Salvadoran citizens and guarantee the safety of Salvadorans who remain in Honduras. On July 18, an agreement was reached on a ceasefire, but the hostilities ceased completely only on July 20.

In early August, Salvadoran troops were withdrawn from Honduras. El Salvador took this step under the influence of the "carrot and stick". The carrot was the threat of economic sanctions, and the carrot was the OAS proposal to station in Honduras special representatives to oversee the security of El Salvador's citizens. A peace treaty between the two countries was concluded only ten years later.

There were no special military innovations during the conflict, and there could not be, however, a certain interest for amateurs military history "Football war"represents by the fact that this is the last conflict, when both participants used aircraft of the Second World War.

During the battles, such American aircraft as the P-51 Mustang, F4U4 Corsair, and DC-3 Dakota transport aircraft converted into bombers were used. The only jet aircraft available in the theater of operations - the T-33, a training version of the F-80 Shooting Star of the 1944 model, owned by the Honduran Air Force, had no weapons, and was used only for reconnaissance purposes, as well as for psychological influence on the Salvadoran troops, which could not intercept him.

The consequences of the war were sad for both sides. The conflict killed about 2,000 civilians. About 100,000 El Salvadorians fled Honduras. Trade between the countries ceased and the border was closed, damaging both economies.

The Central American Common Market has become a paper-only organization.

The national team of El Salvador at the World Cup did not achieve success, having lost all matches “dry”, and took the last place in the tournament.

So it is quite officially called a short (fortunately) time military conflict between the neighboring countries of Central America - El Salvador and Honduras. The war lasted only six days (from July 14 to 20, 1969) and the immediate reason for it was the loss of the Honduras team to the El Salvador team in the matches of the qualifying stage of the World Cup. Despite the transience, the war turned out to be quite bloody (up to 5,000 dead, including civilians), and most importantly, it “buried” the integration project of the “Central American Common Market” and for a long time doomed all countries in the region to a period of instability. The peace treaty between El Salvador and Honduras was signed only 10 years after the end of the war, and then in the conditions of the offensive of the communist rebels who had already taken power in one of the countries of Central America (Nicaragua) and seriously threatened to repeat the scenario in El Salvador, and then, possibly, in Honduras ...

The pretext ("Shot of Principle") for the "soccer war" between El Salvador and Honduras was the 1970 World Cup qualifiers. According to the results of three games, the Salvadorans won.

The real reasons were deeper - economic problems and "distraction therapy" of the heads of these countries. The victims of the six-day war (July 14-20, 1969) between these "banana republics" were from 2 to 6 thousand people. The peace treaty between the countries was signed only in 1979.

In fact, both sides lost the war. From 60 to 130 thousand Salvadorans were expelled or fled from Honduras.

The Football War was also the last military conflict in which piston-powered propeller-driven aircraft fought against each other. Both sides used American aircraft from World War II. The state of the Salvadoran Air Force was so dire that the bombs had to be dropped manually.

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Surely, all people who, in one way or another, are fond of football, realize its importance and influence on a person's mood, and indeed, on all spheres of his life. However, few people know that such matches happened in world history, which were later the reason for the most real hostilities between whole countries! As, for example, happened back in 1969 ...

An ordinary, at first glance, football match between two Latin American teams marked the beginning of the so-called "Football War", during which several thousand people died. July 14, 1969 is the official date of the beginning of the military conflict, which lasted 6 days. The pretext for the military conflict was the qualifying matches for the World Cup between the football teams of El Salvador and Honduras.

Qualifying matches consisted of two matches on the field of each of the opponents. When each side won, an additional match was assigned to determine the winner, without taking into account the goal difference in the first two games. The first match took place in the capital of Honduras Tegucigalpa on June 8 and ended with a score of 1: 0 in favor of the hosts.

The heads of both states were present at the match, so the teams did their best on full force... The opponents, in fact, were equal, it was very difficult to give the dominant role to one of the teams in the match. But despite this, Honduran striker Roberto Cardona managed to score a goal for last minutes... The match was also watched by a fan of the El Salvador national team, eighteen-year-old Emilia Balagnos, in the city of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. At the end of the match, Emilia took out her father's pistol and shot herself in the heart. The next morning in El Salvador, another issue of the newspaper El Nacional was published with the headline "She could not stand the shame of her country" (thereby adding fuel to the fire). After the match, local fans reported to the police that there were numerous attacks by fans of the visiting team.

The return match took place in the capital of El Salvador on 15 June. On the night before the match, the Honduran players remained practically in their underpants on the street due to a fire in their hotel. The team of guests who did not sleep well lost to the hosts 3: 0. After the game, riots broke out on the streets of the capital: hundreds of cars were set on fire, only empty spaces remained from shop windows, local hospitals set a record for attendance. Honduran fans were beaten, Honduran flags were burned.

A backlash of attacks on Salvadorans, including two vice-consuls, swept across Honduras. An unspecified number of Salvadorans have died or been injured in the attacks, and tens of thousands have fled the country. The third match took place on a neutral field in the capital of Mexico - Mexico City. The victory in extra time was celebrated by the national team of El Salvador with a score of 3: 2. Immediately after the match, bloody clashes broke out between the fans of both teams on the streets of the Mexican capital.

After losing in the third match, Honduras severed diplomatic relations with El Salvador. In Honduras, attacks began on the Salvadorans. The El Salvadorian government responded by declaring a state of emergency and mobilizing reservists. On July 14, El Salvador began hostilities, in which he was successful at the first stage - the army of this country was more numerous and better prepared. However, the offensive soon slowed down, which was facilitated by the actions of the Honduran Air Force, in turn, superior to the Salvadoran. Their main contribution to the war was the destruction of oil depots, which deprived the Salvadorian army of the fuel necessary for a further offensive, as well as the transfer of Honduran troops to the front with the help of transport aircraft.

On July 15, the Organization of American States called for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Salvadoran troops from Honduras. At first, El Salvador ignored these calls, demanding that Honduras agree to pay reparations for attacks on Salvadoran citizens and guarantee the safety of Salvadorans who remain in Honduras. On July 18, an agreement was reached on a ceasefire, but the hostilities ceased completely only on July 20.

In practice, both sides lost the war. From 60 to 130 thousand Salvadorans were expelled or fled from Honduras, which led to economic collapse in some areas. The conflict killed about 2,000 people, mostly civilians ( There are estimates - and up to 5000, - approx. ed.). Bilateral trade ceased completely and the border was closed, damaging both economies.

The war, which did not reveal a winner, became "fatal" for the rich El Salvador. A ten-year frozen trade relationship with a neighbor, as well as the insecurity of thousands of Salvadoran peasants who returned from Honduras, led to an economic crisis and civil war in the 1980s. An interesting fact - the national team of El Salvador, who made it to the world championship for the first time, did not achieve success, losing all matches on a dry sheet, and took the last place in the tournament.

In 1969, a war took place in Latin America, which in history has received the name "football". In this armed conflict, aviation played a special role, although on both sides it was very small in number and armed with piston aircraft.

C-47 "Dakota" Honduran Air Force

In early June 1969, about 30 thousand Salvadoran peasants crossed the border of neighboring Honduras and began to develop the sparsely populated south of this country. Although the authorities managed to close the border after a while, however, the tension between the aliens and the local population increased every day.

However, the official reason for the war was, oddly enough, a football match that took place between the national teams of these countries in the Jules Rimet Cup. During the first match, which took place in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on June 8, 1969, there were clashes between the fans of both teams, but the conflict was settled by joint efforts. The next game took place a week later in San Salvador, this time the Salvadorans won. Almost immediately, an anti-Salvadoran press campaign began in Honduras.

For the period under review, the air forces of both sides were a very miserable sight: almost all piston (and this is already the end of the 60s!) Aircraft from the Second World War of these "banana" republics were purchased from the United States. Thus, the Salvadorian Air Force initially consisted of 37 aircraft: five U-17A, 13 Cavalier Mustang, five FG-1D, two SNJ, T-34, a pair of Cessn 180 and four C-47.

At the same time, only 34 trained pilots were on the payroll. Moreover, seven flew on airliners of the only local airline TASA, two more were engaged in the treatment of banana plantations with pesticides. Finally, two pilots made up the crew of the only DC-4M-1, which made regular flights to Miami with a load of lobsters for American restaurants. Hondurans could count on their S-47s, "shock" T-6s and all the same "Corsairs".

From the beginning of July, open preparations for war began. On 12 July, the Honduran Air Force began an operation to transfer all combat-ready aircraft to border air bases, primarily at La Mesa in San Pedro Sula, and the Northern Command of the Air Force was formed, which was to coordinate actions in the upcoming war. The Salvadorans also did not sit idly by and began purchasing aircraft in the United States, and in order not to attract much attention and facilitate various legal procedures, the aircraft began to be purchased by private individuals and re-equipped already on the spot. All available Mustangs were scattered one by one or in pairs to various field sites near the border.

The Salvadoran campaign to seize Honduran territory began on July 14, when army units numbering 12,000 people in two columns attacked the enemy's main border posts near the cities of Nueva, Ocotepequa, Grazias a Dios and Santa Rosa de Copan. On the same day, the El Salvadorian Air Force began bombing concentrations of Honduran troops, using converted Dakot transport vehicles as bombers. On the same day, Tegucigalpa was bombed. However, due to the lack of sighting equipment, they had a clean psychological significance... A pair of F4U-5N climbed to intercept them, but due to bad weather they did not find the target.

On July 15, the Honduran Air Force was able to organize retaliatory actions: so a group of C-47 dropped 18 bombs on Ilopango, and then, at 16:22, a trio of Corsairs F4U-5N and F4U-4 under the command of Major Oscar Colindergs approached the base with landing gear and flaps, simulating the landing position.

Salvadoran Mustang © by Rafael Colindres

The Salvadoran anti-aircraft gunners mistook them for their returning FG-1Ds, and paid dearly for this when the attackers fired at them with NURs and dropped bombs. True, most of the bombs did not explode. The only success was hitting a 500-pound bomb in the hangar. On the same day, Hondurans attacked the oil development in La Union. One F4U-4 was damaged by ground fire but was able to land on San Pedro Sulu. And the plane of Captain Walter Lopez, due to technical problems, made an emergency landing in Bananer (Guatemala), where the pilot and the plane were interned.

On the same day, the first long-range mission of the Salvadorian Air Force took place - "Corsairs" attacked the Toncontin air base in Tegucigalpa. Several hangars were damaged. A lone F4U-5N was able to take off, but due to a malfunction, the interception did not take place. -28 for patrolling over the capital.

On July 17, the Salvadorans took Ocotepequa by storm. This was the most intense day for the Air Force on both sides. First, a pair of Captain Fernando Soto intercepted a pair of Mustangs stormed the ground forces. In the ensuing battle, Captain Soto shot down one of the enemy planes. According to the author, this was the last Mustang shot down in aerial combat. The fate of the pilot - Captain Reinaldo Cortez - is interpreted differently in different sources. Some say that the captain successfully parachuted and died already on the ground, while others say that he died immediately.

Later - on his fourth flight that day - the lucky captain, along with the same wingman, attacked the San Miguel airfield. They dropped their bombs and immediately began to move away. They were followed by a pair of FG-1Ds of the Salvadorian Air Force. However, the Hondurans, having an excess in height, fully used it: Captain Soto shot down both "Corsairs" and the pilots were killed. Thus, Soto became the best pilot in this conflict, having chalked up three downed enemy aircraft.

The Salvadorian Air Force made extensive use of its Corsairs and Mustangs to support its advance, but soon the lack of pilots began to affect and they resorted to a tried and tested method: they brought in five mercenary pilots, including the Americans Jerry de Larma and Red Gray.

On July 18, the Organization of American States put forward a demand for an end to the aggression against El Salvador and the withdrawal of troops, which by that time had advanced 65 km into the interior of the neighboring state. El Salvador rejected these demands and was declared an aggressor country. Tough economic sanctions were applied against this small state. Aviation almost did not fly - only a few T-33s of the Honduran Air Force flew over the territory of El Salvador.

On July 27, a turning point occurred in the hostilities: with a surprise blow, Honduran troops attacked and captured 5 Salvadoran border points through which the invading contingent was supplied. Here the fighting continued until the 29th.

However, the sanctions did their job: on August 5, El Salvador began to withdraw its troops from the occupied territories. So this little 25-day war ended. The losses of the Honduran Air Force are estimated by experts at 8 aircraft, but it is worth considering that these include several faulty T-6 and VT-13, destroyed at the airbase parking. The Salvadorian Air Force has lost at least three aircraft shot down in aerial combat.

June 14, 2016 marks the forty-seven years since the beginning of one of the most curious military conflicts of the 20th century - the "Football War" between El Salvador and Honduras, which lasted exactly one week - from July 14 to 20, 1969. The immediate cause of the outbreak of conflict was the loss of the Honduras team to the El Salvador team in the playoffs of the qualifying stage of the 1970 FIFA World Cup.

Despite the "frivolous" reason, the conflict had rather deep reasons. Among them, one can single out the issues of demarcation of the state border - El Salvador and Honduras disputed certain territories from each other, and the trade advantages that the more developed El Salvador had within the framework of the organization of the Central American Common Market. In addition, the military juntas that ruled both countries saw the search for an external enemy as a way to distract the population from pressing internal problems.

Let's find out the details of this conflict ...

It is common knowledge that football in Latin America has always stood and stands on special place... However, considering the history of the development of this conflict, it should be noted that the football confrontation was not in itself the true cause of the outbreak of the tragedy. Many previous events slowly but inevitably led to the sad end of relations between the two Central American states, but it was the final qualifying match between the teams of these countries that became the last straw that filled the burning cup.

There are a number of theories regarding the appearance of the name of the state of Honduras, but none of them has been scientifically confirmed to date. According to one legend, the name of the country comes from the phrase of Columbus uttered in 1502 during his fourth and last voyage to New World... His ship managed to survive in a violent storm, and the famous navigator said: “I thank God for giving us a chance to get out of these depths” (Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de estas honduras). This statement gave the name to the nearby Cape Gracias a Dios and the area to the west of it - the country of Honduras.

El Salvador, being a small in area, but the most densely populated Central American state, had a developed economy in the second half of the last century, but experienced a shortage of suitable land for cultivation. Most of the land in the country was controlled by a narrow circle of landowners, which led to a "land hunger" and the resettlement of peasants to the neighboring country - Honduras. Honduras was territorially much larger, less densely populated and less developed economically.

Relations between neighbors began to escalate in the early sixties, when numerous immigrants from El Salvador began to occupy and cultivate neighboring lands, illegally crossing the border in different places and actually taking away work from the country's indigenous people, thereby causing their well-founded dissatisfaction. By January 1969, the number of such defectors, seekers better life on the territory of Honduras, according to various estimates, from one hundred to three hundred thousand people. The prospect of domination in the economy and the dominance of the Salvadorans gave rise to strong public irritation, fearing for a possible territorial redistribution of the lands illegally seized by the Salvadorans, nationalist organizations of Honduras since 1967 tried in every possible way to draw the attention of the authorities to the current situation by organizing strikes and rallies, as well as holding mass civil actions. ... In parallel, the peasant population of Honduras demanded more and more urgently the reform of agriculture and the redistribution of land throughout the country. It seemed to the dictator of the classical type - Osvaldo Lopez Arellano, who came to power through a coup - to look for the extreme in the person of immigrants from El Salvador who were unwanted by the majority of the country's inhabitants.

After a couple of years, Arellano, with his mediocre management, finally drove the country's economy into a corner. The main reason all economic problems in Honduras, declining wages and high level unemployment became again uninvited neighbors from El Salvador. In 1969, the authorities refused to renew the 1967 immigration agreement, and in April of the same year, the government of the country passed a law according to which all immigrants who cultivated land without legal documentary evidence of ownership were deprived of their property and could be expelled from the country to any moment. It should be noted that at the same time, this legislative act bypassed the oligarchs and foreign companies, among which one of the largest at that time was the American corporation "United Fruit Company".

The United Fruit Company, or United Fruit Company, was a powerful American corporation that brought tropical fruits from Third World countries to the United States and Europe. The company was founded on March 30, 1899, and was supported by the ruling circles of the United States. It flourished at the beginning and middle of the last century, when it controlled many agricultural areas and transport networks in Central America, West Indies, Ecuador and Colombia. The main patrons are the Dulles brothers (CIA Director Allen Dulles and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles) and President Eisenhower. The company has had a strong influence on the political and economic development a number of states Latin America and was typical example the impact of a transnational corporation on the life of the "banana republics".

The current successor to United Fruit Company is Chiquita Brands International. On March 14, 2007, the company was fined $ 25 million by the US Department of Justice on charges of collaborating with Colombian military groups listed as terrorist organizations.

Honduran printed editions, which constantly featured articles about immigrants depicting them as cruel, illiterate, humiliating the local population of illegal immigrants. At the same time, seeing a serious threat to the quiet life of wealthy Salvadorans in the return of homeless and unemployed compatriots to their homeland, the El Salvadorian media published articles about the disenfranchised position of their immigrants in Honduras, their mistreatment and the increased frequency of killings in the neighboring territory. As a result, relations between the two border states became extremely strained, with suspicion and hatred growing.

Fearing for their own lives, deprived of income from the cultivation of land, the Salvadorans began to return back to their homeland. Screenings of refugees and their frightening stories filled TV screens and the pages of Salvadoran newspapers. Rumors about the violence of the Honduran military expelling immigrants were circulating everywhere. By June 1969, the number of returnees had reached sixty thousand, and the mass exodus created a tense situation on the Salvador-Honduran border, where things sometimes reached the point of armed clashes.

At the same time, Salvadoran public services turned out to be not ready for the arrival of such a number of refugees, at the same time the political situation deteriorated sharply, discontent increased in society, which threatened to lead to a social explosion. In order to regain the support of the population, the government needed success in the confrontation with the Republic of Honduras.

Soon the political elite of the country announced that the lands that Salvadorian immigrants owned in Honduras would become part of El Salvador, thus increasing its territory by one and a half times. Local print media immediately began to present the resettlement of their "deceived by the government of Honduras" compatriots as expulsion from their legitimate lands.

The conflict came to its climax when the teams of two warring neighbors came together on the results of the draw in the qualifying stage of the world football championship. A special love, a kind of religion with which every inhabitant of Latin America, from the courtyard to political leaders, relates to football, contributed to the fact that the mood of the fans at any moment could develop into both a stormy celebration and a dangerous brawl. In addition, on the eve of the start of the World Cup qualifiers, the print media of both countries fueled the growing political conflict in every possible way, not hesitating in expressions and adding fuel to the heated to the limit the situation between the ruling circles and the population of El Salvador and Honduras.

When on June 8, 1969 in Tegucigalpa (the capital and at the same time largest city Honduras) in the first qualifying match, the Honduran national team won with the only ball that hit the Salvadorans goal in the extra time appointed by the referee, the ire of the fans of the losing team turned into a serious clash. As a result of the conflict that seized the stands and the playing field, a local landmark, the central stadium of the capital of Honduras, almost burned down.

After the first match on June 15, a return leg took place at the opponent's stadium in San Salvador (respectively, the capital of El Salvador). And although the hosts won a convincing victory, defeating the Honduras national team and scoring three unanswered goals in its gates, this revenge could not be called clean. On the eve of the match, the Honduran athletes, according to their own stories, did not sleep because of the noise and unrest on the street. Moreover, that night they had to leave their own rooms, practically in their underwear, and go out into the street. The hotel was on one side engulfed in flames. It is not surprising that in the morning the sleepy athletes were completely unprepared to fight on the field.

The riots that began after the match forced the losing team of Honduras, who rightly feared for their lives, under the increased protection of the military in armored personnel carriers, hastily carried off their feet. A whole wave of pogroms and arson swept across San Salvador, and hundreds of victims turned to hospitals in the capital in those days. Not only ordinary citizens of El Salvador were attacked, but even two vice-consuls of the country. The death toll on that day could not be accurately established. Of course, the events that have taken place have further complicated relations between the countries. A few hours after the end of the match in San Salvador, the President of Honduras filed an official note of protest, and the border between the states was closed. On June 24, 1969, the mobilization of reservists was announced in El Salvador, and on the 26th a decree was issued declaring a state of emergency in the country.

However, football was not over yet. The “draw” formed after the first two matches, according to the existing rules, required an additional third fight, which it was decided to hold on neutral territory, namely, in Mexico. It is worth adding that the print media of both countries at that time had already openly called on their compatriots to take military action. It is quite logical that the largest stadium in Mexico City on June 27, the day of the last and decisive match, turned into a real field of not a sporting battle. Many hoped that this football match could put an end to the perennial conflict of neighbors. But, alas, everything turned out quite the opposite. After the end of the first half, the Honduran team was in the lead with a score of 2: 1, but during the second forty-five minutes the Salvadorans managed to catch up with their rivals. As a result, extra time again decided the fate of the fight.

Emotions of the fans at that time reached extreme emotional stress, and when the striker of El Salvador scored the decisive goal, as a result of which his team reached the next qualifying stage of the championship, leaving the Hondurans behind, events in the stadium and beyond began to develop rapidly and resembled a broken dam ... Unimaginable chaos reigned everywhere, they beat everyone and everything. Instead of hopes for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, the match completely eliminated such an opportunity. On the same day, the rival countries of the competition broke off diplomatic relations, mutually blaming each other. Politicians once again skillfully used football battles in their own interests.

After the mobilization announced in El Salvador in the shortest possible time from the peasants trained and armed by the anti-communist organization called ORDEN, about sixty thousand people were put under arms. They were led by eleven thousand men (along with the National Guard) of the regular army of El Salvador. It is worth noting that these troops were well equipped and trained. They were trained by instructors from the CIA with the aim of fighting left-wing rebels. Against the background of a really powerful "mother infantry", Salvador's aviation - FAS (Fuerza Aegea Salvadorena) looked weak. There were only thirty-seven aircraft that Honduras received from the United States, and there were even fewer trained pilots - thirty-four people. They tried to solve the problem of the shortage of pilots by recruiting mercenaries, but only five people were found. There were huge problems with materiel, since all aircraft were rather outdated.

On July 14, 1969, at 5:50 am, real hostilities began, during which Salvadoran aircraft, consisting of eleven propeller-driven aircraft and five twin-engine bombers, attacked several targets at once along the border with Honduras. Panic began in the country: shops were closed en masse, and residents, having collected the necessary belongings, were looking for bomb shelters and any basements, fearing to get under fire. The Salvadoran army advanced successfully along the main roads connecting the countries and towards the Honduras-owned islands in the Gulf of Fonseca. At 23:00, the Honduran military forces were ordered to retaliate.

An interesting fact is that by the time the hostilities began, the aviation of both sides consisted of American aircraft from the Second World War, half of which had long been out of order for technical reasons. The Football War was the last battle in which piston-engine propeller-driven aircraft took part. F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang, T-28 Troyan, and even converted into Douglas DC-3 bombers made air sorties. State aircraft was very deplorable, these models did not have mechanisms for dropping bombs and they were thrown manually directly from the windows. Accuracy was out of the question, shells rarely hit the intended targets.

The Honduran command was well aware that the swiftly launched offensive of El Salvador, the blocking of the main highways and the rapid advance of enemy troops into the interior of the country could lead to their complete defeat. And then it was decided to organize a series of air raids on the main oil terminals and the enemy's oil refinery. The calculation was correct, going eight kilometers deep into the territory of the neighbor and capturing the capitals of two departments by the evening of July 15, the Salvadoran troops had to stop the offensive, because they simply ran out of fuel, and new supplies became impossible due to thoughtful bombing.

According to some reports, the final goal of the advancement of the Salvadoran troops was the very stadium in Tegucigalpa, where the first qualifying match between the teams of the warring countries was held.

The very next day after the outbreak of hostilities, the Organization of American States tried to intervene in the conflict, calling on the belligerents to reconcile, end the war and withdraw Salvadoran troops from Honduras. El Salvador initially responded with a categorical refusal, demanding from the opposite side an apology and reparations for the damage caused to its citizens, as well as further security guarantees for Salvadorans living in neighboring, now hostile, territory. However, on July 18, due to the impossibility of further advancement of the Salvadoran troops and the creation of a stalemate, an armistice was nevertheless reached, the sides, under the threat of economic sanctions, made concessions, and two days later the fire was completely stopped. Until the 29th, El Salvador was stubborn and refused to withdraw troops. The withdrawal of troops took place only after serious threats from the Organization of American States to impose economic sanctions and a decision to place special representatives in Honduras to monitor the safety of Salvadoran citizens. With the onset of August, the Salvadorans began to withdraw their troops from the territory of the neighboring state, which lasted almost until the middle of the month. And tension in relations between the countries remained until 1979, when, finally, a peace agreement was signed by the heads of El Salvador and Honduras.

The Football War was also the last military conflict in which piston-powered propeller-driven aircraft fought against each other. Both sides used American aircraft from World War II. The state of the Salvadoran Air Force was so dire that the bombs had to be dropped manually.

The resolution of the dispute over the border lands was transferred to an international court, but the process proceeded extremely slowly with periodic unfriendly gestures from both sides. The International Court of Justice delivered its judgment only thirteen years after the war. Two-thirds of the land disputed land was awarded to Honduras. The territories in the Gulf of Fonseca were finished to be distributed only in 1992: the island of El Tigre went to the Hondurans, and Meangerita and Meanger went to El Salvador.

Despite the agreements reached that the further presence of the Salvadorans in Honduran territory will take place in order to avoid repression under the vigilant control of international observers, there is no need to talk about the victory of El Salvador in this incomprehensible and senseless war. In fact, the war was lost on both sides. According to various sources, the death toll of citizens of both sides ranged from two to six thousand people, but at the same time hundreds of thousands of residents were left in the open and without any means of subsistence. The consequences, despite the transience and short duration of the military confrontation, turned out to be extremely difficult not only for these countries, but also for the whole of Central America. The border became closed, bilateral trade ceased, and the Central American Common Market became a paper-only organization. It is clear that this further exacerbated the already difficult economic situation Honduras and El Salvador. The already awful economies of both countries were almost completely destroyed.

However, the end of the fighting triggered an arms race across the region. In particular, the Salvadorans in 1975 acquired a batch of jet Hurricanes in Israel, and Honduras embarked on a strategic partnership with the United States, receiving enormous military assistance from the latter. Among other things, their Air Force acquired F-86 Saber jet fighters and T-37 Dragonfly attack aircraft.

On May 31, 1970, when the World Football Championship kicked off in Mexico, El Salvador's team, which won the playoffs, was accompanied by a large crowd of fans, including participants in the Hundred Hour War. The Salvadoran team fell into the same group with the USSR and, ironically, performed extremely unsuccessfully. They suffered three devastating defeats, failed to score a single goal, but conceded nine goals, two of which were hammered by Anatoly Fedorovich Byshovets. Soon after the start of the championship, the El Salvador team was driving home - to a new hot spot on the planet.

The consequences of its own aggressive actions, which caused the termination of trade relations with Honduras, the collapse of the economy, an increase in spending on reforming the army, as well as the return of thousands of refugees from neighboring territory, backfired on El Salvador on a large-scale civil war that erupted in the country in the eighties. Honduras has escaped a similar fate, but the country remains one of the poorest in the entire region, for example, in 1993, over seventy percent of the population was below the official poverty level. In the eighties, several groups of the "left" direction "started working" in the country to the fullest, committing many terrorist attacks against the Americans and odious figures of the regime. http://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/sixflags/48226.html
http://ria.ru/analytics/20090714/177373106.html
http://www.airwar.ru/history/locwar/lamerica/football/football.html
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Another strange war - and here. Let us also recall