Kolwezi – The Legion Jumps on Katanga

A documented and gripping account of Operation Bonite at Kolwezi in 1978, in which the 2e REP distinguished itself in a lightning rescue operation at the heart of the Zairian chaos — the last great French airborne operation. 

In May 1978, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), then commanded by Colonel Philippe Érulin, was chosen for a mission that very few units could have accomplished: to be parachuted into Kolwezi, at the heart of the Shaba mining region in south-eastern Zaire, where separatist rebels were committing bloody atrocities. The objective was to rescue the thousands of European and African hostages who had fallen into their hands and were facing imminent death.

The operation, codenamed «Bonite», was planned on the spot and relied on boldness and speed of execution to achieve a surprise effect in favour of the attackers. Deployed at very short notice and demonstrating proven expertise, the parachute legionnaires and their commander covered themselves in glory during this brief but intense engagement, which remains to this day the last major airborne operation of the French army.

This book invites you to relive the unfolding of events and to better understand the stakes that crystallised throughout that month of May 1978, in the light of previously unpublished sources and testimonies given by the participants themselves.

Author Paul Villatoux holds a doctorate in the history of international relations and in 2024 defended his habilitation to supervise research (HDR) at the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Military Academy. A member of the Strategy, State and Peace Research Centre of the Department of Political Science at UCO, he is an associate researcher at the Research Centre of the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Schools and at the Mesopolhis laboratory of Sciences Po Aix. Editorial adviser to the magazines Action and Gazette des Armes, he is the author of some thirty works, among them Guerres secrètes. Renseignement et opérations spéciales de la Grande Guerre à l'Afghanistan, published by éditions Memorabilia.