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  • #16
    Thanks for posting that article. Never had a real understanding of the incident. Does anyone know why they attacked that day?

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    • #17
      The patrol was not a trained infantry unit.It was made up of lads from all the different corps.The officer was an engineer perhaps a direct entry not having passed through the cadet college.The 2i/c was a cavalry man.
      A dedicated infantry unit with proper leadership would not have been caught like this patrol was.

      When the patrol was halted by the destroyed bridge they dismounted from the two vehicles.Lt.Gleeson and Pte Kenny went forward to examine the bridge.The rest of the patrol stood around like Brown's cows having left the brens in the vehicles.The patrol was not deployed in a defensive position and the brens were not positioned to cover the patrol.

      When the Balubas advanced on the patrol they over ran the vehicles.The Patrol was now without their main fire power and three of the patrol were now unarmed.
      Lt. Gleeson went forward alone to confront the balubas and immediatly became a casuality.Sargent Gaynor went to his assistance and suffered the same fate.The patrol was now leaderless with three of its members unarmed.

      There was no organised defence, it was everyman for himself.Pte Fitzpatrick describes how he hid on the opposite side of the road to his comrades.This saved his life and probably because he did not fire his weapon.He was eighteen at the time and describes how he shit himself in terror.

      Tpr.Browne probably gave a very good account of himself and the powers that be needed a hero thus the story of him saving Kenny.
      Lt. Gleeson never got a medal because he made too many errors.

      I have made these observations based on what Kenny and Fitzpatrick have said in interviews.I do not question the courage and sacrifice of Lt.Gleeson and the lads who gave their lives that day.

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      • #18
        what would you have done in this situation??

        even to me, it would have seemed to make sense to leave at least a gunner in each of the two vehicles, if not 1 gunner and a driver in each??

        he even says that lately theyd noticed the locals getting more hostile.

        They probably should have deployed off each side of the road, half the platoon keeping a perimeter while the rest worked on the bridge. that way they couldve defended the vehicles from the main assault and used them for cover considering the locals used knives and arrows.

        all in all, hindsight is a great thing, but surely this mustve crossed some of their minds that day before they were attacked??
        "He is an enemy officer taken in battle and entitled to fair treatment."
        "No, sir. He's a sergeant, and they don't deserve no respect at all, sir. I should know. They're cunning and artful, if they're any good. I wouldn't mind if he was an officer, sir. But sergeants are clever."

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        • #19
          I belive they were badly trained,poorly armed[the lee enfield--a manually opperated musket] and above all poorly briefed.I believe they thought they were a cross between the boy scouts and missioneries.I have always felt that someone here should have charged with their manslaughter.

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          • #20
            After the tragic events, how did it change the Irish mission ?

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            • #21
              I don't think that the mission was ever changed but I feel that Niemba was a wake up call.I can recall seeing headlines in the press describing the 34th batt which was about to take over from the 33rd as crack troops so perhaps the training had improved and the FN had been issued to this unit.

              It has always surprised me how little has been written by old Congo vets about their experiences in the Congo

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              • #22
                Thats true. I work with a former member of the 33rd,he has lots of stories to tell.


                Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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                • #23
                  Thats true. I work with a former member of the 33rd,he has lots of stories to tell
                  Would he like to join up and post some of his stories?

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                  • #24
                    An amazing story. How did the 34Batt & there on fair out.

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                    • #25
                      A dedicated infantry unit with proper leadership would not have been caught like this patrol was.

                      They probably would have been for the simple reason that Irish soldiers had not been on anything like a war footing since 1945. Certainly they received no training before the mission. Any account I've read described a series of parades and inspections. Nobody in AHQ apparently even gave thought to weather conditions in central Africa. We're lucky not to have lost a lot more troops.
                      sigpic
                      Say NO to violence against Women

                      Originally posted by hedgehog
                      My favourite moment was when the
                      Originally posted by hedgehog
                      red headed old dear got a smack on her ginger head

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                      • #26
                        Where there any books wrote about this or does anyone know of any sites I can check out.......Cheers

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                        • #27
                          Conor Cruise O'Brien wrote what many conside a definitive account of the UNs mission in the congo. Certainly go and read it but personally I find it hard to believe anything that man says.

                          Another book.
                          Borts, L.H., "United Nations Medals and Missions - The Medals and Ribbons of the United Nations", Medals of America Press, 1998.

                          "Its tough at the bottom" is another book written by a retired DF officer who wasn't in the congo but gives an account of some of the DF operations in the Congo.

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                          • #28
                            link one Link two

                            The Second Battle for the Tunnel Elisabethville, Congo.

                            On the morning of Saturday, l6th Dec. 1961 the Tunnel was stormed by Irish UN Troops in Elizabethville, one Irish Officer was killed and another Irish soldier died in the assault. The Achievement of the 36th Bn in capturing this vital communications link controlling the railway running north to Jadotville and the road to the Swedish and Irish Camps was undoubtedly, the outstanding feat of the renewed fighting in Elizabethville. It meant that the Katangans had no hope of bringing in re-enforcement's from the north by rail.

                            Following a Mortar Barrage, the Irish troops of A and B Coys launched their assault. B Coy were under Comdt Bill O'Callaghan (this Officer served in Ennis for over 12 years) The 36th Battalion were commanded by Lieut.Colonel Mick Hogan (this officer was a frequent visitor to Ennis before the l960s.) The Irish soldiers were going against two companies of Katangans, who were in the tunnel itself, firmly entrenched in both sides of it and also concealed in carriages of the train standing on the line. The tunnel was a complete bombproof shelter. An infantry assault was called for and the brunt of this assault was now to fall on the shoulders of the unseasoned troops of the 36th Bn., who found themselves pitched into a major battle almost before they found their feet in the Congo.

                            They went on towards their objective, knowing in their hearts that it would be death or glory for them on this grey, murky morning. They were young men and they were filled with that strange feeling of tension that comes just before the guns begin to blaze. Deep down they might wonder what was the purpose of it all, why they were fighting Katangans when there was no clash of ideologies as in the Korean War, no personal hatreds - why blood should flow in the quelching mud of that morning. And their hates, their loves and their fears were the same as the ordinary soldiers on any side in any war down the centuries. And like all good soldiers on any side in any battle they might ponder but they knew it was not for them to weigh the big issues but to take their commands without question and fight the battle unflinchingly.

                            They were in the open ground now and it was sodden, saturated ground. They sank low in it and even crawled on their bellies in it as they picked their way onwards. The driving rain had soaked them through to the skin but their eyes were narrowed and set on the strong point ahead and they forgot their discomfort and thought only of the victory that must be theirs.

                            The leading Platoon was now in full cry and did not falter even as they saw their leader (Lt.O'Riordan) fall mortally wounded. The drove the Katangans out of the railway carriages. The Katangans now re-grouped their forces and launched a counter attack but the Irish knew that the Tunnel was now theirs and they did not intend to relinquish it. They stood firm against all attacks.

                            Meanwhile fighting was raging fiercely at other points in Elizabethville-The Swedes spearheaded by armoured cars, advanced on Camp Massart, the gendarmerie stronghold, like the Irish they too were hampered by the rain, which turned the Kampemba river into a raging torrent and bogged down the armoured vehicles. The Katangan gunners tried hard to halt the advance but by 10.30 hours the first Swedish troops smashed thro the gates. The Swedes also broke into the camp at other points and bitter hand to hand fighting followed, the gendarmerie, lead by white officers, defended with great courage as they retreated inch by inch. In the end they had to be smoked out of some of the buildings. Five Swedes were wounded two seriously.

                            The Gurkhas in the fourth phase cleared the airport road and when moving into the suburbs of the city, clashed with Katangans near the stadium, knocking out an armoured car.

                            As the fighting neared the presidential palace, Mr.Tshombe fled the capital and arrived at the mining town of Kipushia, near the Rhodesian border. The Federal Prime Minister had offered Mr.Tshombe and his Ministers refuge. By nightfall on Saturday, December, 16th the Katanganise forces were beaten and demoralised and the United Nations had restored the freedom of movement the needed and were more or less in control of the city.

                            On Sunday, December 17th, Mr.Tshombe returned to the capital and sent a radio message to President Kennedy that he was ready to hold discussions with Mr. Adoula. " Please arrange an immediate end to hostilities" he appealed. Fighting still continued for some days yet as UN Armoured cars patrolled the debris-strewn city but on the 19th December Mr.Tshombe and the American Ambassador arrived at the UN Air Base in Kitona for vital talks, in the meantime U Thant ordered his Commanders in the Congo to agree to a temporary cease-fire.

                            42 years is a long time to look back but even to day I still remember most of those who took part, some are still with us and some are not.

                            "Do not weep because they left us,
                            Do not murmur cause they are gone,
                            For they bravely did their duty,
                            And their spirit will live on."

                            "Lest we forget" is not a motto that applies only to the last century Wars. It is as relevant and appropriate today, as it was at any time in the past.

                            Editor's note :- The author served in the Irish Defence Force in the Congo and elsewhere for many years.

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                            • #29
                              Not sure about the 34th I think they had an uneventful tour.It was the 35th and 36th saw all the action.I think the 35th actually landed under fire going on to take part in the battle of the tunnell and the defence of Kamina airbase but I should leave this to the Congo vets as I'm only trying to remember press reports of the time.

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                              • #30
                                IDF amoured cars in the congo

                                Lads, this may interest ye.

                                Click here!

                                During World War II Thompsons built armoured cars for the Irish Army, as well as a fleet of canal barges for the government, to cope with the wartime fuel emergency by carrying turf to Dublin. These “G Boats”, as they were classed by the Grand Canal Company, were built on bogies in the Thompson shops and launched on the Barrow river. Of timber construction without engines, they brought back, for the duration, the era of the horse-drawn barge. Plodding up and down between Dublin and the great midland bogs, they built up that large stockpile of fuel which those of use who are over forty can remember seeing in the Phoenix Park. Those were the days when you went visiting with your sod of turf under your oxter. But the end of the “Emergency” did not bring the end of the association of Thompsons with the bogs, for they also pioneered the manufacture of those remarkable machines used for harvesting turf by Bord na Mona, who now produce four million tones of industrial pear every year and make a valuable contribution to our supplies of electric power.

                                Those armoured cars built for the army by Thompsons were marvels of do-it-yourself ingenuity. Patterned generally after the Rolls Royce armoured car, they consisted of plated superstructure mounted on an ordinary Ford or Dodge lorry chassis, which had to be shortened. Because proper armour plate was not obtainable at the time, Thompsons used commercial half-inch mild steel plate. The most interesting part of the car was the rotating turret with its slung seat for the gunner and its heavy Vickers gun, ball-mounted to swivel in all directions, including upwards against air attack and steeply downwards to repel boarders. This ball-mounting was subsequently adopted by the British for their Ferret scout car.

                                Thompsons turned our 46 of these vehicles, and during the war they had a quiet time of it. In my own recollection I see them filing sedately past the G.P.P. in Dublin at military parades in the post-war years. But some of them saw action during the battle of Elisabethville and in other parts of the Congo in 1961, when they formed part of the equipment of the United Nations force. Never designed with an African war in mind, their cramped cabins became ovens under the tropical sun, despite the installation of an air-blower; and their high silhouette, reminiscent of an elderly lady on an upstairs bicycle, must have presented an excellent target to the snipers of the Katangese gendarmerie. Even when the Katangese did not possess the means to penetrate Thompsons’ mild steel plate, the smack of a high-velocity bullet on the outside released a lacerating shower of tiny steel splinters within the cab, But despite these drawbacks the cars gave noble service, and when the Irish U.N. contingent left the Congo they were taken over by the U.N. and ended their days in General Mobutu’s army. After the Congo affair a legend spread among gullible non-military types that these products of County Carlow’s Ruhr had no reverse gear, because it had never been contemplated that the Irish army might have to retreat!

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