Bloodstained Angel
14 Jan 2002, 07:59
Special Forces and Commando Operations - The Raid on Entebbe Airport, 4 July 1976
During the 1970's the propserous, fertile and peaceful central African country of Uganda came under the rule of former Field Marshall Idi Amin. At the time Amin's regime was a source of ridicule and humour in the West. A pop song at the time satirising Amin as a jolly fat clown was hugely popular and more or less encapsulated how he was popularly percieved in the West.
All the fun and ridicule hid a far more sinister reality however. His dictatorship in Uganda was as ruthless and brutal as any other grubby little military dicatorship. His army and secret police is thought to have 'liquidated' as many as 300,000 ordinary Ugandan citizens, basic human and political rights were non existant, foreign journalists were severly restricted in their movements and actions, Of course organised political opposition was dealt with severly.
Amins' regime was also noted for its racism and bigotry. Entire communities that had lived peacefully in Uganda for hundreds of years such as the Indian Community and the white European (mostly the descendants of British Colonialists) community were 'ethnically cleansed' - basically that means they were told to leave the country or be killed.
Amin was also notable for his virulent anti-Semitism. He forced the entire Ugandan Jewish community to emigrate to Isreal. He also cultivated links with some of the more rogue elements of the International Arab Community. In 1972 Amin broke off diplomatic ties with Isreal, before long that PLO terrorists were being trained at secret bases in Uganda. The Ugandan capital, Kampala, was crawling with Libyan 'advisors' and gun-toting militant Arabs were everywhere. By 1976 Uganda was virtually a frontline state in the Middle Eastern conflict : training, funding, planning and execution of international terrorism was carried out from Uganda.
No surpsrises then, when on the evening of June 27 1976, Air France Flight 139 from Athens to Tel Aviv was hijacked by a group of terrorists including Palestiaians who were masquerading as Latin American tourists. As well as the Palestinians, the terroprist cell also included two memebers of the German Bader Meinhoff gang.
The plane was diverted to Uganda and landed at Entebbe Airport on June 29. The terrorists demanded the release of 53 convicted terrorits, mostly imprisoned in Isreal, if there demands were not met, the hostages would start executing the 258 passengers one by one.
Frantic attempts at mediation and negotiation were only partly successful, On 1 July, under extreme pressure from the international community, Idi Amin, in a truly shameful display of racist bigotry, asked the terrorists to release all those hostages who "didn't look like Isrealis". The terrorists themselves, obviously not as skilled in Eugenics as Amin was :rolleyes: released all hostages not carrying an Israeli passport, this left some 105 passengers on board. The hijackers offered to release the air crew, but they bravely chose to stay with the aircraft.
Isreal decided almost immediatey to stage a rescue mission at the same time as keeping up a pretense of negotiation. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin authorised a secret rescue mission. Operation Thunderbolt was on ...
It was, by any standards, a remarkable achievement. 4 C-130 Hercules aircraft flew 4000 kms in darkness, with radio silence and at low altitude (under the Radar Defences) straight to Entebbe Airport where they arrived shortlky after midnight and took the hijackers and their Ugandan collaborators compleletly by surprise.
The gun battle in the Airport Terminal building lasted less than 2 minutes. All the hijackers and about 20 other Ugandan soldiers were killed. Less than an 1 hour after it started, the Israelis and all the 105 hostages were back on board the aircraft and safely bound for Israel. The Israeli commandos also destroyed the entire Ugandan Air Force (comprising 25 Soviet MiG21 fighters) on the ground at the same time.
Israeli casualties were light. One of the commanding officers of the Isreali force, Col. Jonathon "Yonni" Netanyahu was killed. Yonni was the brother of future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One hostage, a 75 yo grandmother Dora Bloch was in hospital at the time of the raid and was not rescued. Her subsequent whereabouts were never established and it seems she was an extremely unfortunate fatality.
For Idi Amin and his dicatorship, the humilation was complete. The regime never was never able to regain its power and influence throughout the rest of the African community. By 1979, after a debilitating war with Tanzania, his regime collapsed when Ugandan exiles backed by Tanzanian regular army occupied Kampala.
For the Isrealis, Entebbe was, and still is a source of great pride and cemented the already formidable reputation of Isreali Special Forces as one of the best commando outfits anywhere. To fly a 10,000 km round trip, rescue 105 hostages from a well secured Terminal building, destroy the Ugandan Air Force on the ground, and kill all the terrorists and their Ugandan collaborators, all with only 1 casulaty themselves, was a remarkable achievement by any standard.
cheers
During the 1970's the propserous, fertile and peaceful central African country of Uganda came under the rule of former Field Marshall Idi Amin. At the time Amin's regime was a source of ridicule and humour in the West. A pop song at the time satirising Amin as a jolly fat clown was hugely popular and more or less encapsulated how he was popularly percieved in the West.
All the fun and ridicule hid a far more sinister reality however. His dictatorship in Uganda was as ruthless and brutal as any other grubby little military dicatorship. His army and secret police is thought to have 'liquidated' as many as 300,000 ordinary Ugandan citizens, basic human and political rights were non existant, foreign journalists were severly restricted in their movements and actions, Of course organised political opposition was dealt with severly.
Amins' regime was also noted for its racism and bigotry. Entire communities that had lived peacefully in Uganda for hundreds of years such as the Indian Community and the white European (mostly the descendants of British Colonialists) community were 'ethnically cleansed' - basically that means they were told to leave the country or be killed.
Amin was also notable for his virulent anti-Semitism. He forced the entire Ugandan Jewish community to emigrate to Isreal. He also cultivated links with some of the more rogue elements of the International Arab Community. In 1972 Amin broke off diplomatic ties with Isreal, before long that PLO terrorists were being trained at secret bases in Uganda. The Ugandan capital, Kampala, was crawling with Libyan 'advisors' and gun-toting militant Arabs were everywhere. By 1976 Uganda was virtually a frontline state in the Middle Eastern conflict : training, funding, planning and execution of international terrorism was carried out from Uganda.
No surpsrises then, when on the evening of June 27 1976, Air France Flight 139 from Athens to Tel Aviv was hijacked by a group of terrorists including Palestiaians who were masquerading as Latin American tourists. As well as the Palestinians, the terroprist cell also included two memebers of the German Bader Meinhoff gang.
The plane was diverted to Uganda and landed at Entebbe Airport on June 29. The terrorists demanded the release of 53 convicted terrorits, mostly imprisoned in Isreal, if there demands were not met, the hostages would start executing the 258 passengers one by one.
Frantic attempts at mediation and negotiation were only partly successful, On 1 July, under extreme pressure from the international community, Idi Amin, in a truly shameful display of racist bigotry, asked the terrorists to release all those hostages who "didn't look like Isrealis". The terrorists themselves, obviously not as skilled in Eugenics as Amin was :rolleyes: released all hostages not carrying an Israeli passport, this left some 105 passengers on board. The hijackers offered to release the air crew, but they bravely chose to stay with the aircraft.
Isreal decided almost immediatey to stage a rescue mission at the same time as keeping up a pretense of negotiation. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin authorised a secret rescue mission. Operation Thunderbolt was on ...
It was, by any standards, a remarkable achievement. 4 C-130 Hercules aircraft flew 4000 kms in darkness, with radio silence and at low altitude (under the Radar Defences) straight to Entebbe Airport where they arrived shortlky after midnight and took the hijackers and their Ugandan collaborators compleletly by surprise.
The gun battle in the Airport Terminal building lasted less than 2 minutes. All the hijackers and about 20 other Ugandan soldiers were killed. Less than an 1 hour after it started, the Israelis and all the 105 hostages were back on board the aircraft and safely bound for Israel. The Israeli commandos also destroyed the entire Ugandan Air Force (comprising 25 Soviet MiG21 fighters) on the ground at the same time.
Israeli casualties were light. One of the commanding officers of the Isreali force, Col. Jonathon "Yonni" Netanyahu was killed. Yonni was the brother of future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One hostage, a 75 yo grandmother Dora Bloch was in hospital at the time of the raid and was not rescued. Her subsequent whereabouts were never established and it seems she was an extremely unfortunate fatality.
For Idi Amin and his dicatorship, the humilation was complete. The regime never was never able to regain its power and influence throughout the rest of the African community. By 1979, after a debilitating war with Tanzania, his regime collapsed when Ugandan exiles backed by Tanzanian regular army occupied Kampala.
For the Isrealis, Entebbe was, and still is a source of great pride and cemented the already formidable reputation of Isreali Special Forces as one of the best commando outfits anywhere. To fly a 10,000 km round trip, rescue 105 hostages from a well secured Terminal building, destroy the Ugandan Air Force on the ground, and kill all the terrorists and their Ugandan collaborators, all with only 1 casulaty themselves, was a remarkable achievement by any standard.
cheers