Kolwezi – The Legion Jumps on Katanga

A thoroughly documented, gripping account of Operation Bonite at Kolwezi in 1978, in which the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment distinguished itself in a swift rescue amid the chaos in Zaire—the last major French airborne operation.

In May 1978, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), then commanded by Colonel Philippe Érulin, was selected for a mission few units could have carried out: parachuting into Kolwezi, in the heart of the Shaba mining region in southeastern Zaire, where separatist rebels were committing bloody atrocities. The objective was to rescue the thousands of European and African hostages in their hands who faced imminent death. The operation, code-named “Bonite,” was planned on the ground and relied on boldness and speed of execution to give the assault force the advantage of surprise. Deployed at very short notice, the Legion paratroopers and their commander demonstrated their proven expertise and won distinction in this brief but intense action, which remains the French Army’s last major airborne operation to date.

This book invites you to revisit the course of events and better understand the issues that came to a head throughout May 1978, drawing on previously unpublished sources and firsthand accounts from those involved.

Author Paul Villatoux holds a doctorate in the history of international relations and completed his habilitation to supervise research (HDR) in 2024 at the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Military Academy. A member of the Strategy, State and Peace Research Center in UCO’s Department of Political Science, he is an associate researcher at the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Schools Research Center and Sciences Po Aix’s Mesopolhis laboratory. An editorial adviser to Action and Gazette des Armes magazines, he has written some thirty books, including Guerres secrètes. Renseignement et opérations spéciales de la Grande Guerre à l’Afghanistan