Description
In June 1961, the Men of A Company, 35th Irish Infantry Battalion, arrived in the Congo as part of a United States peacekeeping force.nnnnSome of the troops were teenagers, their army issue hobnail boots still unbroken. Others were experienced soldiers but still unprepared fighting that would take place.nnnnLed by commandant Pat Quinlan, A Company were sent to protect the people of Jadotville, a small mining town in the southern Congolese province of Katanga. It was here on the morning of September 13, that the sound of automatic gunfire gunfire erupted as thousands of Katangan soldiers led by European mercenaries launched an attack on the small contingent of Irish troops.nnnnOutgunned, outnumbered and cut off from supplies and reinforcements, A Company held their ground. This is their story.
