The Siege of Jadotville took place in September 1961, during the United Nations intervention in the Katanga conflict in the Congo, central Africa, when a company of Irish UN troops were attacked by troops loyal to the Katangese Prime Minister Moise Tshombe. The lightly armed and equipped Irish soldiers fiercely resisted Katangese assaults for six days as a force of Irish and Swedish troops attempted to fight their way through the siege.
Although the outnumbered Irish company was eventually forced to surrender after ammunition and supplies were exhausted, and were held prisoner for almost a month, none were killed, while the Katangese and their mercenaries suffered heavy losses. The siege marked the first time since the creation of the Irish State that an Irish Army unit went into battle against another nation's army.
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Famous quotes containing the words siege of and/or siege:
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)