An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 37 to land the aircraft. There was no way out for the helicopter, but this was secondary as the Irish direly needed the supplies. It was also heaven sent for Lars as he got two fellow Scandina- vians to talk to during the ensuing month-long imprisonment. By this time, the Irish mortar crews had zeroed in on the Katangese mortars and managed with well-aimed fire to knock out all their guns and gun crews. This was a major blow to the morale of the Katangese soldiers and many tried to desert. By this time, Katangese losses numbered several hundred dead and many more wounded, and the attack- ing force was down to approximately 2,000. On his side Commander Quinlan had managed to keep all his soldiers alive, with only a few wounded. The supplies of food, am- munition and water for the Irish were, however, very low. Unable to breach the steadfast Irish defence of its lines, the Katangese offered a ceasefire on the evening of September 16th. Negotiations for the ceasefire were being conducted, when the Katangese minister of interior, Munongo, suddenly appeared on the scene, intent on meeting the Irish commander. This caused Lars Froberg to come up with a daring, and somewhat reckless, idea to surprise the minister with a hidden pistol. Then, with the minister as hostage, all UN personnel would make their escape. The plan, be it good or foolhardy, never came to fruition, however, as the minister never came close enough to the daring Swedish interpreter and Irish commander for them to spring the trap. As his men were out of ammunition, Commandant Quin- lan accepted Minister Munongo's promise that UN person- nel would not to be harmed, and they surrendered, spending the next month as POWs in Hotel l'Europee in Elisabeth- ville before being released in a prisoner exchange. During the September fighting, Dag Hammarskjöld contin- ued working hard to establish peace. Then, on September 18th while flying to Rhodesia for peace talks with Tshombe his plane disappeared. It was found later crashed in the bush with all of its crew and passengers dead, including Dag Hammarskjöld. The threat posed by the Katangan air force and the death of Dag Hammarskjöld prompted the UN to ask Sweden for air suppor t for ONUC. The Swedish swif tly acceded to the request and by October 4th 1961, J29 Tun- nan fighters and reconnaissance planes had arrived in the Congo from the Swedish F22 Air Force Regiment. These odd-looking Swedish planes wreaked havoc on the Ka- tangese air force and quickly established absolute air superiority. This was welcomed by all the UN forces on the ground and especially by the Swedes and Irish who stood and cheered as the Tunnans roared over the streets of Elisa- bethville. If ONUC had received air support right from the launch of the mission, the outcome of the Siege at Jadotville would undoubtedly have been dif ferent. Aided by the Tunnans, and UN Resolution 169 of Novem- ber of 1961, which gave the UN forces even more author- ity to use force, operations continued. In December 1961, Operation Unokat was conducted, bringing Katangese forces to their knees and ending on December 19th with all of the rebel capital, Elisabethville, under the UN flag. Tshombe signed a peace treaty on December 20th in which he recognised the state of Congo. However, he clearly had no intentions of being held to his word, as the peace was broken several times after the signing. During 1963-1964, the Swedes and the Irish were engaged in intense fighting; just as fierce as during the eventful autumn of 1961. As before, operations and the leadership of the UN force were carried out through cooperation between the Irish and the Swedish contingents. Eventually, when the battle alarms faded and the smoke had cleared in 1964, the Irish and the Swedish soldiers came out the other side of what can arguably be described as one of the toughest UN missions. Not only because the participating UN forces were ill prepared and ill equipped, but because the enemy was not entirely clear and was hard to grasp. Neverthe- less, the Irish and Swedish battalions did their utmost under the direst of circumstances, and they were always there for each other: whenever the Irish were in a hard situation, the KP-cars were not far away and, likewise, the Ford Mk IVs of the Irish were always there when the Swedes asked for assistance. This has formed unbreakable bonds between our two armed forces as well as between individual soldiers from the two nations. The immortal words of William Shakespeare from Henry V echo once again: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he today that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother." And so, it came to be that the Irish and the Swed- ish soldiers fought, bled, and sometimes died, together on the red soils of Africa, thereby became brothers for- ever, bröder för evigt; brothers in blue berets. about the author: Henrik Jansson is a 48-year old freelance writer in the field of military history. His brief military career as a conscript was as an observer for artillery and mortar fire. In recent years, Henrik has worked as an instructor for the voluntary military organisa- tion in Sweden, training, both home guard, regular army and volunteers. His recent work is published in the magazine 'Slag- fjadern' and coming articles are being published in the English magazine 'The Armourer' and the Swedish magazine 'Militar Historia'. You can reach Henrik on: hjhistart@gmail.com Swedish airmen with their Tunnan fighters. UN Photo.

• Cover