Greetings,
Tatu
I had actually discussed with Mundandi the possibility of my going along, and—on the face of it, at least—he had been in agreement. But he stressed that he would have to send the men without waiting for Kabila’s reply, and this made me suspect that it would be negative.
The reply arrived a few days later and was not negative but evasive as usual. Still I had time to write a second letter, urging him to give me a frank “yes” or “no.” This allowed for no beating around the bush, and he simply did not answer it. So I didn’t go to Front de Force.
The men left on the appointed day, numbering 36 rather than the 40 I had mentioned. But shortly afterwards we sent another seven, making a total of 43. We received reports that all were well, but that the attack had been delayed. Mundandi had not yet showed up. The men sent a request to have a doctor on hand, and we were able to grant this because just then a group of 39 more compañeros had arrived, including three doctors (a surgeon, an orthopedist and a general practitioner).
The first battle report stated:
Tatu or Kumi, the attack began at 5:00 a.m. today, June 29, 1965. We are doing well. Apparently Katenga is under attack. Five of our compañeros, Nane as group leader and two Rwandan compañeros are there.
Patria o Muerte! [Homeland or death!]
Moja
And later:
It’s 7:30 [a.m.]. Things are going well. The men are very content and conducting themselves well. Everything started at the appointed time. We opened fire with a cannon shell and a mortar round. I’ll send more information later.
At the same time as this note, however, there was alarming news of scores of dead, Cubans killed, men wounded, which made me think that all was not well. Shortly before they set out, I had received a note:
On the 29th we will do it at Front de Force. It was not possible to convince the man. We’ll report after the event.
Compañeros Mbili and Moja had long discussions trying to persuade Commander Mundandi not to attack in the way he had planned, but he did not shift his position, claiming to have orders from Kabila. Later, Kabila would say he had given no such orders.
At Front de Force or Front Bendera, there is a hydroelectric power station on the banks of the Kimbi River; its water source is almost in the mountains controlled by the Rwandans, while the electricity lines pass across level ground (as the mountains fall sharply down to the high plain of the Congo Basin). The village is divided in two: an old part, before one reaches the power station, and a newer part close to the turbines, where there is a military quarter with more than 80 houses. The Kimbi River, one of its natural defenses, was suitably reinforced with trenches that had been very superficially reconnoitered before the attack. There was also a landing field for light aircraft. It was thought that an enemy battalion of 500 to 700 men might be there, plus a concentration of special troops four kilometers away, at the junction with the Albertville road where there was said to be a cadet school or a military training college.
All we were able to achieve with Mundandi was that Cubans were put as commanders in charge of the main combat zones. The attached diagram1 gives a rough idea of the disposition of forces only on the northern side, with ambushes on both sides of the Lulimba to Albertville road. The plan was as follows:
A small group led by Ishirini would attack the so-called chariot, the source supplying water to the hydro-electric turbine; below, across the Kimbi River, a group of men under Lieutenant Azi would attack the fortified positions closest to the mountain; and in the center, Lieutenant Azima and a group of Rwandans would capture the airfield and advance to link up with Azi; meanwhile Lieutenant Maffu would have another group preventing movement from Lulimba and Lieutenant Nne, who was in the strongest position with a 75 mm. cannon and other heavy weapons, would lay ambushes on the road from Albertville. The command post, where Moja and Mundandi would remain, would be on the other side of the Kimbi River at the base of the mountain foothills. Mundandi originally proposed having two command posts, but he was persuaded that it would be best for them to be united.
This plan had some serious drawbacks. Nne had to march to an unfamiliar area that had not been reconnoitered. Maffu knew something about the area, as did Azi, and Azima had made a superficial examination with binoculars from the mountains. But as we were expecting reinforcements to be sent from Albertville, we should have had a very well-laid ambush; instead we were setting one up blindly. There was a lot of discussion with Mundandi for the main effort to be directed at Katenga, and in the end he agreed to send an order to Captain Salumu to attack there. But, as became clear later, the order was given for the 30th, whereas Mundandi went ahead on the 29th.
At Front de Force, things did not go remotely as well as the first indications had led us to expect.
Ishirini, along with two other Cubans and seven Rwandans armed with rocket launchers and rifles, had the task of attacking the chariot to silence a machine-gun nest and to cause some damage to the plant; but all that happened was that the lights went out for a few minutes. The Rwandan combatants remained a couple of kilometers away from the scene of the action, which was carried out by the Cubans alone. To give some idea of the confusion, I will transcribe in full the report by Lieutenant Azi, whose mission was to attack across the Kimbi River:
When I set off on the mission, I positioned the mortar, the cannon, the antiaircraft and terrestrial machine guns so they had a direct line of fire at the enemy from a distance of 300 meters, except for the mortar that was at 500 meters, and followed up with 49 Rwandans and five Cubans. We crossed the river that was 150 to 200 meters from the enemy mortars. Then, at 100 meters from the enemy position, one of the Rwandans accidentally fired a shot; the troop became disorganized and we lost five, leaving 44. I organized the men into three groups, with two Cubans in mine and one in each of the others. By 3:00 a.m. on the 29th we had occupied the positions, some at 25 meters from the enemy, others further away. We could hear several bursts of enemy machine-gun fire. At 5:00 a.m. as planned, the cannon, the mortars, the antiaircraft and other machine guns opened fire and we continued shooting at the infantry. All the weapons hit the mark; firing went on uninterrupted until 6:00, by which time I had three wounded men on my front. At 7:00, I couldn’t hear firing to my left from our troops. I moved around a little and saw that many Rwandans were missing. Then I armed three Cubans with machine guns instead of FALs: these were Achali, Angalia and myself, plus a Rwandan captain. At 8:45 two Rwandans were killed; I went off to the left to look for Tano to send a message to Moja; the men in the center and the group on the left, including the Rwandan officers, had withdrawn on their own initiative. I was left with 14 Rwandans, and I had one Cuban missing (Tano, in the center group). I sent Angalia with the first message to Moja. By 10:00 I had four Rwandans left, including one officer. I held out until 12:00 and then withdrew 25 meters with two dead and three wounded. I sent another message to Moja, held on there until 12:30, and then withdrew to the mortar and cannon position, passing the river. Before withdrawing, I looked for the position where Tano and Sita were, but I could see neither. Sita turned up later. At the mortar position, I received orders from Moja to withdraw the mortar, the machine guns and the cannon and to leave an ambush in case the enemy guardsmen crossed the river. I maintained this position until 6:00 a.m. on June 30, when I received an order to withdraw from that place completely. Only Cubans were left at the ambush: Anzali, Achali, Ahiri, Abdallah, Almari and Azi; there was not one Rwandan. The Rwandans were ordered by the command post to occupy the positions, and they went over the mountain to the camp. The Rwandans abandoned their weapons and ammunition, and did not collect their dead. Compañero Azima was under my orders, carrying out the mission of occupying the other side (right bank of the river, some 500 meters from our positions) along with Alakre, Arobo and 40 Rwandans. On the night when they moved to occupy the positions, the Rwandans heard a noise and said it was a tembo (elephant), and then left the two Cubans alone on the mountain; thus the Cubans had to return to the command post at 7:00 on the 29th.
This was more or less the theme of the whole operation. It began with a lot of bravado—even though men were missing at many of the positions