Defence Forces Review 2010

Defence Forces Review 2010The third opportunity and perhaps the most justifiable, or at least understandable, occurredon 10 November. An Irish patrol under the command of Lieutenant Condron set out for astaggering round trip of 360kms. His patrol came across a truck loaded with ten Balubassuffering from gunshot wounds. These men had been involved in the Niemba ambush againstthe Irish patrol. They gave an account of the ambush from their perspective and claimed theIrish attacked the Balubas. Perhaps the frightened Balubas made this claim in an attemptto prevent any action being taken against them. They informed the soldiers they intendedto drive to the nearest hospital and the patrol allowed them to proceed. 109 Therefore whenIrish soldiers came into contact with injured members of the ambush party they respondedin a humanitarian manner. The fourth opportunity for a reprisal, and the one that could havebeen labelled as legitimate offensive action, occurred on 11 November thirty miles outside ofNiemba. An Irish unit found itself confronted by a small party of Balubas who demanded Irishpermission to pass. The Irish patrol de-escalated the situation, disarmed the tribesmen and thepatrol passed through without incident. 110 Although the 33rd battalion’s report did not statethis, the incident clearly demonstrated the remarkable level of discipline and integrity of thesoldiers. Rather than choose offensive action the patrol bravely chose to negotiate.On 11 November Colonel Byrne flew to Manono to interview Shebani, the Baluba leaderwho claimed the Irish patrol opened fire first. He refused Colonel Byrne’s request to punishthe responsible Balubas and locate the body of Private Browne. 111 Army files are limitedin relation to what happened next. However at some point the Irish launched ‘OperationShamrock.’ This involved an Irish unit, under the command of Commandant Pearse OC ofB Company, arresting injured Balubas from hospital. 112 Using information extracted fromthese tribesmen, and information given to future Irish contingents, two years later theyfound the location of Private Browne’s body. 113 On 14 November Baluba tribesmen killed 33African mine workers. 114 Throughout November 1960 the situation deteriorated to the extentthat civilians (Belgian and Congolese minority tribes) fled to the nearest town Albertville.However by 22 November civilians evacuated and the Irish contingent drew up defensiveplans to withstand a major Baluba assault. 115 Despite the rapidly deteriorating situation, the33rd battalion continued with its de-escalation policy if confronted by Balubas. One report inrelation to an Irish patrol on train guard duty which had been confronted by a war party noted‘any discharge of weapons by my men would have led to a massacre of tribesmen and alsosome loss to ourselves. The control and leadership displayed by the Platoon Commandersprevented this.’ 116109 MA, 33 Inf Batt, Chapter 5, Niemba, Section 193.110 Ibid, Section 194.111 Ibid, Section 197. Eight of the nine dead soldiers’ remains had been discovered in the early searches.112 MA, 33 Inf Batt, Chapter 6, Section 207.113 MA, 33 Inf Batt, Chapter 5, Niemba, Section 203.114 Irish Times, 17 Nov. 1960.115 MA, 33 Inf Batt, Chapter 6, Section 204.116 Ibid, Section 205.22