LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER 2

      Company in Defence (Jadotville)

      ‘Enemy attack has commenced, please send strong reinforcements immediately’ was the radio message sent from A Company, 35th Irish Battalion in Jadotville to the battalion headquarters sixty miles away in Élisabethville. Their earlier transmission: ‘Alert on here’, radioed after an initial probing incident, was responded to with: ‘Defend yourself with maximum force.’ Now, the main attack had begun in earnest. The prelude to the ground assault was an intense, unexpected bombardment of mixed mortar bombs, 75mm artillery shells and heavy machine-gun fire onto the Irish positions. Then the onslaught proper began when over 500 infantry charged in waves toward A Company. By their sheer numbers and momentum alone they looked set to overrun the Irish defences, yet the peacekeepers defended themselves with every weapon available and with every fibre of will they possessed. This was a hard place to be, but the Irish were up for the fight. It was now the turn of the Katangans and mercenaries to be surprised, so stiff was the Irish resistance that their surge forward faltered, then eased off, and then the action was over – for now. Sporadic firing continued but the Irish had held out. Dusk began to fall and with it, to their delight, the Irish could hear the thump and thud of mortars exploding and the distinctive rattle of heavy machine gun fire ten miles away at Lufira Bridge. They knew then that reinforcements were on their way and when the firing ceased all they had to do was await their arrival. They waited, and waited and waited.

      Post Operation ‘Rum Punch’, and with the successful capture of Gendarmerie HQ in Élisabethville on the Sunday morning of September 1961, Commandant Pat Quinlan returned from a 35th Irish Battalion conference to where his troops, A Company, were under canvas around the perimeter of Élisabethville airport, securing it to ensure the airport remained operational in the event of an attack. He announced to his company officers, Captain Liam Donnelly, Support Platoon, Lieutenant Joe Leech, No. 1 Platoon, Lieutenant Tom Quinlan (no relation), No. 2 Platoon, Lieutenant Noel Carey, No. 3 Platoon, and Company Sergeant Willie Hegarty, that they were to pack up immediately and be ready to move by 1300 hours to a town called Jadotville, sixty miles away. A Company were to be transported by Swedish trucks, as they had no vehicles of their own, and were to be joined by two armoured cars from the cavalry group under Lieutenant Kevin Knightly. Everything was rushed in order to meet the deadline for the arrival of the Swedish transport and in their haste they were told to leave their 81mm mortars and emergency pack rations. These would be sent on later.

      A week prior to their move, a Swedish force under Major Meade consisting of one Swedish APC company and B Company, 35th Irish Battalion, was sent to Jadotville on the same mission. In addition they were to patrol towards Kamina and observe and report to Brigade HQ in Élisabethville any build-up of Katangan troops. On arrival, Major Meade was ordered out of Jadotville by the town’s Burgermeister (mayor) and, as he found no trouble or rioting in Jadotville, requested to be withdrawn. As B Company were crossing the Lufira Bridge, ten miles from Jadotville in the direction of Élisabethville, they passed their fellow soldiers from A Company, heading towards Jadotville. Naturally, they questioned in their own minds the decision to send A Company to replace two companies who had just decided to withdraw as they saw no rioting in Jadotville. Why was a company being deployed sixty miles from base without adequate transport, logistics or heavy support weapons? It violated every military principle they knew.

      Sent to Jadotville to defend the town and its white European population against possible riotous unrest, the Irish were to be made feel unwelcome from their arrival and ultimately had to defend themselves from those they were sent to protect. Instructed to occupy the area by ONUC headquarters, they had done so to prevent atrocities and a massacre, yet soon it would be A Company themselves who would be beleaguered and under siege. The reasons that caused such a deployment have been much ruminated upon ever since. High-level political manoeuvrings, manipulated by the Belgians as a ruse to entrap UN troops, were considered foremost as a possibility. Simply directed to deploy in Jadotville, A Company had no prerogative where they could select the location of their campsite. They just had to take over an area that had initially sufficed for those before them; chosen for accommodation purposes and convenience for quick access to the town’s European quarter rather than with any regard to thoughts of tactical defence.