An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir Dec 2014/Jan 2015 www.dfmagazine.ie 26 | the niemba Ambush – 8th november 1960 A three-hour drive west from Kalemie (formerly known as Albertville) on what is little more than a dirt track, lies the village of Niemba. After crossing the Lukuga River on a rickety ferry boat a few meters downstream from the remains of the former road bridge that would have carried Irish troops during their deployment, our apprehension, as well as muted excitement, began to rise. Driving up the main (and only) street of Niemba it became clear that this village was once relatively prosperous and developed. Houses dating back to colonial times were still standing, many inhabited. However, over 50 years of deterioration and no refurbishment has taken its toll. It was in some of these very buildings that Lt Kevin Gleeson from Gorsebridge in Kilkenny housed his platoon in November 1960. Tom McCaughren's book The Peacemakers of Niemba sets the scene of a platoon of soldiers obviously aware of the dangers that existed around them, having already experi- enced some tense encounters with the local tribe, the Balubakat, referred to by the Irish as 'Balubas' or 'the Cats'. Detailed by Battalion HQ to continue south on the Manono road in an attempt to push past a bridge sabotaged by the Balubas, Lt Gleeson set out with 10 members of his platoon on the morning of 8th November. On the same road, 54 years later, as we slowly made our way south from Niemba to the ambush site, passing mud hut villages that have remained unchanged since that day, I got a distinct feeling of vulnerability and isolation, something which Gleeson must have felt on that fateful morning. Lightly armed, driving two soft-skin vehicles, and without commu- nications, Gleeson's patrol were two hours from the remainder of his platoon in Niemba and a further three-and-a-half hours' drive from Coy HQ in Albertville. The site of the ambush is marked by a weathered stone cross, where we laid a wreath and remembered our fallen comrades. The simple task of fashioning the wreath from the local vegetation under the midday sun proved to be energy sapping and reminded us of the difficulties Gleeson and his men faced operating in such a harsh environment. With the help of the transcript of the two sur- viving members of the patrol from McCaughren's book, we were able to retrace the steps of the Irish soldiers that afternoon. The entire incident occurred within a few hundred metres radius and as we eventually stood on the spot where five of the nine soldiers died overlooking the bridge, I could not help but think that this was a watershed moment in the history of our organisation. Many lessons have been learned and sacrifices made by our members in the intervening years. the Siege of Jadotville – September 1961 Our drive from Lubumbashi to Likasi (formally Elisabethville and Jadotville respec- tively) was a different experience. A tarred road ferrying fleets of heavy trucks laden with cargo from this mining rich area connected the two towns. There was a distinct lack of UN or NGO vehicles to be seen, indicating the relative wealth that exists in this southern part of Katanga compared to the rest of the country. After an hour's drive, we came to the bridge over the River Lufira, the bottleneck that ultimately prevented the reinforcement of the Irish soldiers under attack in Jadotville. A Chinese engineering company is now in the process of building a large modern bridge a few hundred metres downstream from the remains of what must have been the Lufira Bridge in 1961. Even by today's standards the Lufira would constitute a significant obstacle to troops with modern equipment, so it is not dif- ficult to imagine how the challenge of securing this strongly defended bridge, under fire from a well-armed enemy, impeded both attempts made to reinforce the Irish soldiers. A fact that is often overlooked when remembering this episode is that four Indian soldiers were to lose their lives in the reinforcement operation, while six Irish soldiers received injuries. Fifteen minutes later and 20km further, we entered the town of Likasi. While not mod- ern by western standards, the town displays obvious signs of prosperity. Encountering the ambush site in Niemba on the previous day had evoked sombre emotions, however locat- ing the building used for Comdt Pat Quinlan's headquarters during the siege, proved to be an exciting experience. Detailed sketch maps drawn by the Irish soldiers and portrayed in Declan Power's excellent book, The Siege of Jadotville, allowed us to plot A Coy's defensive positions. Walking the ground, we were able to appreciate some sense of how Quinlan and his men must have felt during that week-long battle. Power highlights the fact that the unsuit- able deployment location, which was imposed on A Company by the UN, contributed to the near impossible task of repelling a sustained

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