Niš incident

The Niš incident was a friendly fire incident during World War II involving United States and Soviet forces. Taking place on 7 November 1944, the incident began when United States Army Air Forces fighters strafed a Red Army vehicle column near Niš, Yugoslavia, which resulted in an air battle over the area between American and responding Soviet Air Force fighters. More than thirty Red Army soldiers were killed on the ground. Two American P-38 Lightning and two Soviet Yak-9 fighters were shot down in the air battle, and a third Yak-9 fell to Soviet antiaircraft fire. Due to the death of Red Army general Grigory Kotov in the American attack, the incident caused diplomatic uproar, which was resolved when Soviet officials accepted the American explanation that the attack was a mistake caused by navigational error. Despite the official Soviet conclusion, postwar memoirs claimed that the American attack was intentional.