Red-faced Royal Marines have been forced to beat a hasty retreat after storming a Spanish beach resort instead of the fortress rock of Gibraltar.

A map-reading glitch sent the 20-strong invasion force onto the beach at La Linea, the town on the frontier with the British colony, to the surprise of Spanish locals.

The marines were greeted by two local policeman who watched in amazement as the heavily armed troops rushed ashore from two launches on Sunday morning.



We managed to hold them on the beach

Juan Carlos Juarez

Spanish mayor

The mayor of La Linea, Juan Carlos Juarez, said: "They landed on our coast to confront a supposed enemy with typical Commando tactics. "But we managed to hold them on the beach." Dominique Searle, editor of the Rock's daily newspaper, The Gibraltar Chronicle said: "What a boob." "We don't know who was in command of the invasion force but the feeling is he should brush-up on his map reading. "But to be fair he was only a couple of hundred yards from the right spot." Spain and Britain are Nato allies but are locked in a long-running dispute about the sovereignty of Gibraltar. Spain magnanimously spared Britain's blushes by accepting the landing had been a genuine mistake.