Heroes of Jadotville

In this new and updated edition of Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story, Rose Doyle uses interviews, reports, journals and letters to bring answers and clarity to an episode long ignored. In 1961, during the United Nations intervention in the Katangan conflict in the Congo, central Africa, a company of Irish peacekeeping troops was forced to surrender to soldiers loyal to Katanga's prime minister, Moise Tshombe. They were isolated, without water, supplies or support when they were attacked and forced to defend themselves in a brutal and bloody five- day battle. Shamefully neglected by their superiors, they were portrayed as cowards upon their return home. In this new and updated edition of Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story, Rose Doyle uses interviews, reports, journals and letters to bring answers and clarity to an episode long ignored. She blows the lid on the real story of what happened in Africa, exposing how Irish peacekeeping soldiers became pawns in an international struggle for control of Katanga and its mineral wealth. Doyle seeks to grant these soldiers the recognition their bravery deserves. This is their story.

Rose Doyle is a writer and journalist. Her novels include Fate and Tomorrow (set in the Congo in 1902) and Shadows Will Fall, both international bestsellers. Trade Names, the book of her long-running series in the Irish Times, was published by New Island in 2004. In 2005 she contributed to New Island's successful Open Door series with The Story of Joe Brown. Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story was published in September 2006. Comdt Patrick Quinlan, who led the Irish UN troops at Jadotville, was her uncle.