Dragon operations : hostage rescues in the Congo, 1964-1965 / by Thomas P. Odom.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Odom, Thomas P. (Thomas Paul), 1953-

Contributor:

Combat Studies Institute (U.S.)

Series:

Leavenworth papers ; no. 14.

Leavenworth papers ; no. 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hostages--Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Hostages.

Democratic Republic of the Congo--History--Civil War, 1960-1965.

Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 224 pages) : illustrations

Other Title:

Hostage rescues in the Congo, 1964-1965

Place of Publication:

Fort Leavenworth, Kan. : Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, [1988?]

Summary:

For the Belgian Paracommando Regiment, the Congo was a familiar, though often hostile, environment. For most of the officers and sergeants of the regiment, the fields, buildings, and river below were as familiar as the Belgian landscape. But for most of the 340 enlisted men drifting in the sky over the airfield, the Congo was an unknown menace outside their military experience. Most of these paras were young draftees to whom the Congo represented a closed chapter in Belgium's colonial history. Yet even with the experience of its senior leadership, the Belgian Paracommandos faced a severe test on this early spring morning. The young paras and their seasoned leaders were conducting the first international hostage rescue in the post-World War II era. The challenge was enormous, the risks staggering; the Paracommandos were jumping into a perilous den of uncertainty. Stanleyville was at the heart of the Simba Rebellion and the scene of the growing desperation. Faced with a government ground assault, the Simba leaders had taken several thousand non-Congolese hostages to guard against what appeared to be imminent defeat. Keywords: Military operations.

Contents:

1. The birth of a nation

2. An American crisis

3. A Belgian crisis

4. Determination and doubt

5. The dragon roars

6. Last gasp of the dragon

7. Operational postmortem.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Print version record.

Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2019.

Other Format:

Odom, Thomas P. (Thomas Paul), 1953- Dragon operations : hostage rescues in the Congo, 1964-1965

OCLC:

58396475

Access Restriction:

Use copy Restrictions unspecified