CONGO CRISIS 1960 THE CONGO
Irish troops first overseas deployments
Some sixty years ago (July 1960) the first contingent of Irish troops departed from Baldonnel Airport for service in the Congo. This was the first of 12 deployments to the Congo from 1960 to 1964.
Two battalions would depart from Ireland for the Congo in 1960. A detachment of troops from the 1st Motor Squadron in Fermoy would deploy with each unit serving as infantry.
This was a historic occasion for Fermoy 1st Motor Squadron. Military association goes back a long way in the town. By the time the 1st Motor Squadron were transferred to Collins Barracks Cork in 1998, the town had had a military presence for 200 years. Soldiers from Fermoy were mustered for many campaigns overseas, including Waterloo and World War I serving as soldiers of the British Empire.
This time it would be different, in that it was the first-time troops from Fermoy deployed overseas since gaining our independence from Great Britain in 1921.
Ireland having left the British Commonwealth and declared itself an independent republic in 1949, joined the U.N. in 1955 and had sent some officers to the Middle East as observers in 1958. Now, for the first time, Irish troops were to deploy in battalion strength on an United Nations peacekeeping mission.
The Irish defence forces would learn many lessons during this period that would be the foundation for the modern army we have today.
Ireland had been neutral during World War II, which is often referred to as ‘The Emergency’. While the army augmented by members of the Local Defence Force (LDF) stood ready to repel an invasion that never came, the war in Ireland passed off without any military engagement taking place, except for some bombs dropped in Dublin and Wexford by German pilots mistakenly thinking they were over Britain or Northern Ireland.
The army in 1960 therefore had not seen active service since the end of the civil war in 1923. The equipment used was very much out of date and the thinking tended to be backward looking. Overseas service would change all that in the years ahead.
The United Nations came into existence on 24th October, 1945 when the charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24th October each year.
The idea was coined by President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1941 and was first used in the Declaration by the United Nations of January 1st, 1942 when representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. This idea was followed up at various conferences during the war, including the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in October 1944 which was the first important step to carry out paragraph four of the Moscow Declaration (signed in 1943 by the governments of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, the United States and China) which recognised the need for a post war international organisation to succeed the League of Nations. Its priority was to preserve peace in the world.
Its predecessor, the League of Nations, founded after World War I, failed to achieve what it was set up to do.
America had not joined the League of Nations despite President Woodrow Wilson being a party to the treaty of Versailles. Wilson was supportive of the league but Americans were wary of becoming involved in any more European conflicts and despite the president’s best efforts, Congress voted against joining the new organisation.
This in effect weakened the League’s influence considerably on the world stage. For example, they were powerless to stop Hitler from building up his forces in contravention of the Versailles Treaty in the 1930s.
Hitler took full advantage of what he perceived as the weakness of Britian and her allies, thus starting a chain of events leading up to the Second World War.
The Congo had been under Belgian rule from 1908 until it gained independence in 1960. Belgium had granted independence but had left the country totally unprepared for self-government and unsurprisingly, chaos ensued.
First Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (who was later murdered), was deposed by Kasa-Vubu who declared himself president.
Katanga, the southernmost province, seceded from the rest of the Congo under the leadership of Moise Tshombe with Belgian support. This province contained most of the mineral wealth of the country.
This created a situation where there were two opposing forces. The Congolese National Army and the Katangese Army, who were prepared to go to war with each other to solve the succession crisis.
The UN forces were deployed to keep the two sides apart and maintain law and order where needed, until a successful and hopefully peaceful outcome could be negotiated.
Ireland was one of the countries asked to send peacekeeping troops in July 1960 to which the government led by Sean Lemass and Frank Aiken, Minister for External Affairs, agreed.
This was Ireland’s first real military contribution to a UN peacekeeping role. Ireland, being a small country, was one of several smaller nations that was acceptable to all sides, the big powers had no wish to become directly involved. This request began the country’s first big involvement in overseas missions.
Before 1960 few people in Ireland had heard of the Belgian Congo, let alone travel there. Now, suddenly, the Irish Army was tasked with getting a battalion together to travel 6,000 miles to keep the peace in an African country. This was an exciting time to be in the army.
IN TRAINING
The author of this article was doing recruit training in Collins Barracks at this time, having joined up in May 1960 a couple of months before the Congo operation began.
The 32nd battalion which was formed, consisted of 4 companies A, B, C and Headquarters Company (HQ). About 685 men in all. B company was mostly mustered from Collins Barracks, Cork with a detachment of 13 troops from the 1st Motor Squadron in Fermoy who would deploy as infantry. The following comprised the 1st Motor Squadron contingent - Cmdt T. Ryan, Troopers J. Nolan, D. Barry, T. Mockler, J. Curry, D. Lehane, J. Carey, D. Roche, W. Mulcahy, W. Nolan, O’Regan, D. McManus and P. Power.
The rest of the battalion would be made up of troops from the Curragh, Dublin and Galway. Those of us recruits in basic training in Collins Barracks watched with great interest as preparations were made to get the Cork contingent ready for deployment. Perhaps our turn would come the following year when we would be fully trained.
The last two weeks of July were busy as the 32nd battalion was formed, there was much to be done, from appointing a commanding officer (Lt/Col M.J. Buckley) and senior staff, also the selection process of who was to travel (many more had volunteered than were required), to medical inspections, to ensure all personnel were fit for active service abroad. Weapons and ammunition, stores and a host of other things too numerous to mention had to be organised in a short space of time. This was a major task for a force that had never served overseas before and was a tribute to all involved that the battalion was ready to depart in the allotted timeframe.
Starting July 27th elements of the deployment were flown from Baldonnel Aerodrome, Dublin in huge Globemaster Aircraft by the United States Airforce, with stopovers in France, Libya, Kano (Nigeria) and on to Leopoldville in the Congo. From there, the battalion was flown to Goma in the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern part of the Congo, where the battalion served in Kindu and Bukava as well as Goma.
The battalion returned home in January 1961 after a 6 months tour of duty.
The 32nd Battalion had a successful mission by and large and while tensions did arise from time to time, quick thinking and diplomacy won the day. There was no major conflict and no loss of life. The same could not be said for some of the future deployments.
HARSH REALITY
The 32nd had hardly left Ireland for the Congo when another UN request was received for a second battalion to deploy. This was again readily agreed by the government and the 33rd Battalion was formed hurriedly with much the same formation as the previous battalion, with B Company again being drawn from Cork, which again included a detachment of 13 troops from the 1st Motor Squadron, Fermoy. The Fermoy contingent was made up as follows: Cpl R. Barry, Troopers D. Keegan, T. O’Keeffe, T. Enright, J.J. O’Connor, P. Doody, B. O’Callaghan, J.J. O’Sullivan, J. Kealy (DSM), D. Pierce, T. Mulhern, P. Ryan and J. Harris. The 33rd was commanded by Lt/Col Richard Bunworth.
The transport was the same as for the 32nd Battalion, with much the same stopovers. The troops left from Baldonnel again on August 17 and on arrival in Congo, were deployed to a number of locations including Albertville, Manono, Kamina and Niemba. The 33rd were the first battalion to serve in the breakaway province of Katanga.
The first fatalities to Irish troops occurred during this mission and was a rude awakening from peace time in Ireland to the harsh realities of active service in a foreign country.
The Niemba ambush resulted in an 11-man patrol of the 33rd being ambushed by Baluba tribesmen while attempting to repair a bridge near Niemba in Katanga Province. The patrol were under the command of Lieutenant Kevin Gleeson and were vastly outnumbered. Nine members died while two managed to survive, though severely injured.
The battalion would lose thirteen members including two from accidental shootings, one a traffic accident and one a death following an operation. The 33rd returned home in January 1961.
This marked the end of the army’s first two deployments overseas. This period was in many respects a baptism of fire for the defence forces and many lessons were learned in those early years.
The Irish served alongside many other countries including troops from Tunisia, Sweden, India (Gurkhas) and Malaya to name but a few, not to mention the United States Airforce personnel involved in the transport to and from the Congo with stopovers and accommodation in the US airbase in Tripoli (Libya).
King Idris ruled Libya at this time and maintained a close alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom. Both countries maintained military base rights in Libya. Originally called Mellaha Air Base, it was used by the German Luftwaffe during the North African campaign in World War II.
The United States began using the base in 1943 to bomb targets in Italy and southern Germany. It was renamed Wheelus Army Airfield on 17 May, 1945 in honour of USAAF Lieutenant Richard Wheelus, who had died earlier that year in a plane crash in Iran.
In September 1969, King Idris I was overthrown by a group of military officers led by Muammar Gaddafi. Before the revolution, the US and Libya had already reached agreement on US withdrawal from Wheelus. This proceeded according to plan, and the facility was turned over to the new Libyan authorities on 11 June, 1970. Today the former military airbase is known as Mitiga International Airport.
PROUD SERVICE
This early Irish peacekeeping deployment was a tremendous experience for a force that had never served overseas before in battalion strength and helped in no small way to open up new thinking on how future missions should be planned and carried out.
Active service is quite different from army life in peace time, especially when carried out thousands of miles from home. However, it has to be said, training and discipline kicked in and the performance of the two battalions while serving abroad reflected well on the officer’s NCO’s and men.
Ten more deployments took place before the Irish troops left the Congo for good in 1964. Each of those missions would bring its own challenges, including further casualties as the situation in the Congo continued to change. But that is another story...