The Leopards of Zaire in the 1974 World Cup 1974 World Cup, Congo, World Cup, ZaireThe Battle of Kolwezi (Operation Leopard or, in France, Operation Bonite) was an airborne operation launched in May 1978 to rescue over 2,000 European hostages captured and held by Tigers, the Katangese rebels from Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC) in the city of Kolwezi, an important mining center in the Katanga province of southern Zaire (the Democratic Republic of the Congo now), the country located in Central Africa. The operation was successfully carried out by legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) of the French Foreign Legion. The Battle of Kolwezi was part of Second War of Shaba (or Shaba II) between Zaire and FNLC. Shaba was the title of Katanga province at that time. On May 13, 1978, around 1,500 Katangese rebels from FNLC invaded the city of Kolwezi. They took over 2,000 Europeans (mostly of French and Belgian origin) as hostages. Rebels started to loot the city, to rape girls and women and to kill local residents and captured Europeans.

The government of Zaire asked Belgium, France, Morocco and the United States to restore order. May 17 – in Corsica, 2e REP, under the command of Lt Col Philippe Erulin was put on alert at 10h00 (10:00 AM) May 17 – 18 – 2e REP left Corsica and landed in Africa (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) May 19 – 2e REP landed in Kinshasa (the capital of Zaire) at 02h30 (2:30 AM) 11h00 / 11:00 AM – a part of the HQ + 1st + 2nd + 3rd Company boarded the five C-190 Hercules planes of the U.S. Air Force + one French Transall C-160 plane 14h30 / 02:30 PM – the first wave of legionnaires (450 men) jumped over Kolwezi and took the orders: – 1st Company was sent to the Jean XXIII school in the south of the old town of Kolwezi – 2nd Company was sent to liberate the European hostages held in the hospital – 3rd Company was sent to get control of the main bridge, the Impala hotel and a post office – HQ Company moved with the 3rd Company to the Impala hotel to install itself there to co-ordinate the operation

18h00 / 06:00 PM – after the fights, all posts are occupied and the Europeans liberated – in the evening, the second part of the regiment moved from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi, the second largest city in the country (300km south-east of Kolwezi) – the second part was composed of: – Reconnaissance Platoon (Section d’Eclairage et de Reconnaissance, SER) – 81 Mortar Platoon (Section de Mortiers 81, S81) – the rest of the HQ Company – during the night of May 19, the new fights with rebels burst out in Kolwezi again – in Corsica, at the Solenzara airport, during the night of May 19 (and during the day of May 20), a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy of USAF was boarded by 2e REP’s vehicles (AML 60/90, Range Rover/Land Rover etc.), to be directly brought to Lubumbashi on May 20 (the aircraft then continued the flights in, to and out of Libreville, Gabon to support the 2nd REP with re-supply into Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, till May 24) [1] May 20 – transported from Lubumbashi, the second wave of the 2e REP jumped over Kolwezi at 05h00 (05:00 AM)

– SER + S81 + rest of the HQ Company used the same drop zone as the first waveCarhartt Camo Seat Covers – 4th Company dropped over the eastern part of Kolwezi/ul>Balinese Cat Breeders Ny – in the morning, paratroopers from the Belgian Armed Forces landed at the airport of KolweziReplace Roman Tub Faucet Moen – the rest of 2e REP continued its mission: – one legionnaire of the 3rd Company was killed near the Manika district – 15h00 / 03:00 PM – 4th Company was heavily attacked in the nord-east of the city, Sergent-Chef Daniel was killed – 2nd Company, SER and S81 were sent to support the 4th Company; 80 rebels were killed – while returning back, SER and S81 were attacked by rebels again

– legionnaires returned fire with mortars and destroyed cars and tanks of rebels May 21-22 – 2e REP was regrouped to be looking for rebel hideouts May 23 – 16h30 – while searching rebels in northwestern Kolwezi, the 1st Company was attacked – one legionnaire is immediately killed; Caporal Harte was seriously wounded; he will die a few days later May 24 – legionnaires take a short break May 25 – several rebels were killed in the morning May 26 – another two Europeans were rescued May 27 – 3rd Company + S81 stayed in Kolwezi to control the city – the rest of the 2e REP was transported to Lubumbashi June 4 – 2e REP returned to its home base in Calvi, Corsica – more than 2,100 Europeans rescued – about 160 Europeans and 600 local inhabitants were massacred by rebels – 247 rebels killed, 163 captured – 5 legionnaires were killed: 1. An information provided by John “Jack” Legere (Sergeant, 3rd Military Airlift Squadron at the time of the operation), a crewmember of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy aircraft

Képi blanc magazine (1978) More images + more detailed information about the Battle of Kolwezi: CHMP Forum (in French) Para Legion (in French) The page was updated on: May 18, 2016 DR Congo currently play in the CAF confederation and they are most notably known for their sky blue home kits with the historic red sash across their shirts. DR Congo have been ranked as high as 51 in the FIFA Rankings. As Zaire they were the first Sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup and twice won the Africa Cup of Nations. The current roster of players world class athletes including Dieumerci Mbokani and Youssouf Mulumbu. The Democratic Republic of Congo's football team is known as Congo DR or the Leopards (Simbas) to their fans. They were previously known as Zaire from 1971-1997 and it was as Zaire in 1974 that they were the first black African country to play at a World Cup Finals, when they appeared at Germany 1974. They didn't score a goal in the group stages and failed to qualify for the knockout rounds.

DR Congo 2015 O'Neills Home & Away Kits Irish kit supplier O'Neills have supplied DR Congo with their home and away kits for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations [...] Democratic Republic of Congo Home Shirt 2011/13 The national football team of the Congolese Democratic Republic will wear this new home shirt for the upcoming two years starting 2011 [...] Congo DR to wear Errea kits The Democratic Republic of Congo's national football team is presently ranked 111th in the FIFA rankings, and is nicknamed the Leopards [...] Top Selling Congo DR Football Kits Congo DR does have two African Nations Cup victories in 1968 as Congo-Kinshasa and again in 1974 as Zaire. Famous players to have appeared for Congo DR include Roma & Blackburn Rovers striker Shabani Nonda and Newcastle & Portsmouth forward Lomana LuaLua. The team's first international match was against Flag of Mauritania in 1963, they won six nil, the as Zaire they played their first game in 1972 and 1997 they were called Congo DR again and played Djibouti in their first match winning 9-1.