Qualla: Siege of Jadotville https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:26 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siege of Jadotville https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville Siege of Jadotville: Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville/ Photo credit Irish Defence Forces from Ireland, CC BY 2.0. During the siege, the Irish radioed their headquarters: "We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey." It was September 1961, and 156 soldiers of A Company, 35th Battalion of the Irish Army -- serving under the United Nations in the newly independent Congo -- were surrounded by between 3,000 and 5,000 Katangese gendarmes, Belgian settlers, and French, German, and Rhodesian mercenaries in the mining town of Jadotville. They held their perimeter for five days without losing a single soldier killed. Then they ran out of ammunition and water, and their commander, Commandant Pat Quinlan, surrendered. What followed was not gratitude but decades of institutional shame.

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Image: Irish Defence Forces from Ireland | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/kw51-siege-of-jadotville-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Jadotville: The Congo's Unraveling https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville/ Photo credit Irish Defence Forces from Ireland, CC BY 2.0. The crisis that brought Irish soldiers to Jadotville had been building since the Congo's independence from Belgium in June 1960. The Belgian Congo's economy was controlled by powerful firms, above all the Union Miniere du Haut Katanga, and when independence came, Belgium supporte...

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Image: Irish Defence Forces from Ireland | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/kw51-siege-of-jadotville-the-congos-unraveling.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Jadotville: Trapped at the End of a Road https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville/ Photo credit Philippe DULAC, CC BY-SA 3.0. A Company arrived in Jadotville on September 3, 1961, ordered there to protect civilians after the Belgian foreign minister reported that settlers feared for their safety. Two previous UN companies -- one Swedish, one Irish -- had already been withdrawn due to the hostility of th...

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Image: Philippe DULAC | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/kw51-siege-of-jadotville-trapped-at-the-end-of-a-road.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Jadotville: The Perimeter Holds https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville/ Photo credit Irish Defence Forces from Ireland, CC BY 2.0. Quinlan's defense became a textbook example. His soldiers dug trenches and fought with Vickers machine guns, 60mm mortars, and two Irish-built Ford Mark VI armored cars that reportedly fired 15,000 rounds over four days. The Irish support platoon knocked out most Katangese mortar...

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Image: Irish Defence Forces from Ireland | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/kw51-siege-of-jadotville-the-perimeter-holds.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Jadotville: Decades of Derision https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville/ Photo credit Irish Defence Forces from Ireland, CC BY 2.0. Although A Company had tactically defeated a force twenty to thirty times its size, inflicting several hundred casualties while suffering none killed, the Irish Defence Forces did not acknowledge the battle. The term "Jadotville Jack" became a slur within the military. Quinlan re...

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Image: Irish Defence Forces from Ireland | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/kw51-siege-of-jadotville-decades-of-derision.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Jadotville: The Day Hammarskjold Died https://qualla.com/siege-of-jadotville/ Photo credit Irish Defence Forces from Ireland, CC BY 2.0. On the same day that Quinlan surrendered to Katangese Minister Godefroid Munongo, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was flying to peace talks with Tshombe. His plane crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, under circumstances that remain disputed decades later. Operation Morth...

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]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/w/5/1/siege-of-jadotville-wp/kw51-siege-of-jadotville-the-day-hammarskjold-died.mp3 0:06 6 full