The Siege of Jadotville

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radic202
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The Siege of Jadotville

Post by radic202 »


I just finished watching this film which is based on a true event and I tough that the mix of International Politics and War theme was really well done. I had never even heard of this event, I knew about the Congolese province of Katanga and how it tired to secede from The Congo back in the early 60s but that there was a Peacekeeping Irish force that had come under attack was completely new to me.

Plus, the way the soldiers were treated as cowards upon their return was so disrespectful of what they had to endure

I do know that they were finally recognized in 2005.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/co ... 57503.html

Anyone here know about this UN failure before this film came out?


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zakblood
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RE: The Siege of Jadotville

Post by zakblood »

also watched it last night and can honestly say i've never heard of it, but it's a great story and been very well done, was surprised as i wasn't expecting much if i was honest and was really happy to be wrong, a good film, well written and very well played out, a good story, for me 9 out of 10 for a unknown story and war / battle.
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Ranger33
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RE: The Siege of Jadotville

Post by Ranger33 »

I had seen it mentioned somewhere and had a vague notion of it, but didn't know the details.

I thought it was a pretty good movie, especially for being Netflix's first attempt at a war movie. I was also very shocked by the ending when it was revealed that they were treated like disgraced cowards on their return, despite having fought one of the more lopsided battles in history and only "lost" because they ran out of ammunition and had virtually no support. Especially impressive since none of them had ever been in combat before.
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zakblood
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RE: The Siege of Jadotville

Post by zakblood »

158 Irish soliders against the attackers had a strength of 3,000 to as many as 5,000 men, mostly bands of Luba warriors, but also many Belgian, French, and Rhodesian mercenaries armed with a mix of light and heavy armament. They also had air support in the form of a Fouga Magister trainer jet fitted with underwing bombs and machine guns. The Irish UN soldiers had, for the most part, only light personal weapons, a small number of water-cooled Vickers machine guns.

quotes from the battle,

The besieged Irish radioed to their headquarters:
"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jadotville

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Orm
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RE: The Siege of Jadotville

Post by Orm »

I liked the movie. But it had trouble explaining the context. Maybe that was intentional. It would have been nice to get a explanation on how the water supply was contaminated. I also thought that the relief effort could have played a greater part in the movie.

I had a general knowledge of the conflict but didn't know much about the siege. I still find it a very confusing conflict.

Maybe some of my knowledge about this is because there have been several documentaries here about it. And I met a couple of Swedish veterans from this 'campaign'.

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Saint Ruth
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RE: The Siege of Jadotville

Post by Saint Ruth »

No surprise not many people have heard about it as it wasn't even well known about in Ireland until recently (after all, the book upon which the film was based was called "The Siege at Jadotville: The Irish Army's Forgotten Battle")
There's been several books about it recently and it's good that there is (belated) recognition which many of the soldiers are still alive.
Good description of the shameful treatment of the veterans in the "Aftermath" section here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jadotville
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RE: The Siege of Jadotville

Post by wings7 »

A bump to get rid of the spam bot name.
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