Netflix re-telling of The Siege of Jadotville reveals strong Kerry links

The Siege of Jadotville, the story of the lightly armed Irish 35th battalion ‘A’ Company peacekeepers who held out against the odds in the Congo in 1961 is beginning to be told.

A film called The Siege of Jadotville, due to be released on Netflix in early October, has been specially screened in Dublin and received star reviews and a standing ovation; there has been a radio documentary; and 55 years after the event, soldiers involved in the heroic standoff have at last been honoured with a presidential citation — most posthumously.

Besieged in the mining town of Jadotville, where they were sent to protect Belgian settlers and locals, 100km from the main UN base, outnumbered by 30 to one when attacked by indigenous Katangese and French and Belgian mercenaries, the 150 Irish soldiers held out for six days and were forced to surrender when a force of Irish and Swedish troops could not reach them.