An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | Kamina Air Base, Congo by DR JAMES MCCAFFERTy DSM, BA (HONS), PHD 1 st (Irish) Infantry Group (1 Inf Gp) began service with oNUC at Kamina Air base, Katanga, Congo on 28th May 1961. Less than two weeks later, it was posted to South Kasai province, remain- ing there until it was redeployed to Kamina Air base in August 1961. When UN operation Morthor began in Katanga on 13th September, 1 Inf Gp became embroiled in one of the more sustained, prolonged actions fought by Irish troops in the Congo. This action, of defending and holding Kamina Air Base, has been over- shadowed in Irish military historiography by the Niemba Ambush, the Battle of the Tunnel, and the Siege of Jadotville. And yet, the defence of this air base was strategically critical to UN operations in Katanga. Prior to its handover to UN control, Kamina was used by Belgian military forces as an air logistics base and a base for training para- troops. They also had helicopters, a fighter-wing and an advanced flying school located there. The airfield (Base 1) - with its 5,000-foot- long main runway - was protected by a conjoined military barracks (Base 2). Both bases were linked by a spur-line to Katanga's main railway network at Kaminaville rail junction. Kamina was the superior posting in Katanga, enjoying permanent barrack accommodation, messes, athletics facilities, swimming pools and a cinema. When 1 Inf Gp returned to Kamina Air Base in mid-August 1961, OC 1 Inf Gp was appointed Base Commander. The Irish unit, of about 310 all ranks, carried Gustaf 9mm SMGs or FN SL 7.62mm rifles as their personal weapons and were aslo equipped with 25 Bren .303 LMGs, four Vickers .303 MMGs, six Carl Gustaf 84mm shoulder-fired anti-tank recoilless rifles, and six 60mm mortars. They had no armoured ve- hicles but were supported by a half-troop of two Malay- sian-manned Ferret scout cars, each armed with a single .300 Browning MMG. Other UN forces under command of the Base Commander included a Swedish infantry company and two Indian in- fantry companies. Overall strength was about that of a full infantry battalion, and although tasked with the defence of an air base the force had no anti-aircraft weapons. UN intelligence assessed the strength of Katangese forces in the Kamina area at some 5,000, and the first signs of the approaching hostilities appeared when, as part of a Katanga-wide UN operation, officers of 1 Inf Gp made unsuccessful attempts to arrest mercenaries of the Katang- ese Gendarmerie at nearby Kaminaville on 28th August. The following day, on the route from Kamina Air Base to Kaminaville, Katangese forces placed a roadblock, manned Will no one tell me what she sings?— Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago The Solitary Reaper, by William Wordsworth. Moise Tshombe's foreign mercenaries in Katanga 1961. September 1961

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