40 years ago, on July 4, 1976, one of the most successful Israeli Special Forces hostage rescue raids took place at Entebbe airport in Uganda. The start of this amazing saga was laid on June 27, 1976, when the Airbus A-300 of Air France, flying from Tel Aviv to Paris, was seized by an international terrorist group, calling itself "Commando Che Guevara", due to negligence. shown by ground services at the transit airport in Greece. Initially, there were only four terrorists - two Islamists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two left-wing extremists from the Revolutionary Marxist Cells (Revolutionare Zellen). 248 passengers and 12 crew members were taken hostage.
The hijackers ordered the pilots to follow to Libyan Benghazi, and the leadership of the countries whose citizens were taken hostage began to urgently seek contacts with the Libyan Jamahiriya government. But the terrorists used a "multi-move" - apparently, in Benghazi, they were joined by two more, who reported that it was dangerous to stay in Libya, and it was necessary to follow a previously developed plan - after refueling, make a flight to Uganda, where to find refuge with the dictator Idi Amin, which was done on June 28, 1976 (the plane landed when there was only 15-20 minutes of fuel left in its tanks).
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
At the Entebbe airport, at least four more terrorists joined 4 or 6 hijackers, and they demanded the release of several dozen extremists from the prisons of Israel, France, Switzerland, Germany and Kenya. If this was not done, the terrorists threatened to blow up the plane with all the hostages on July 1. The governments of several countries immediately began to try to negotiate with Amin, although it turned out that the Ugandan authorities were on the side of the hijackers, but not against the role of intermediaries. As a result, the terrorists decided to release all non-Jewish hostages, and of the 260 people, 103 - 83 Jews remained on board (including 77 Israeli citizens) and 20 non-Jewish hostages (of which 12 were members of the Airbus crew who decided to stay until the end, and several others who offered to release children and women instead of themselves or were considered terrorists as Jews).
Immediately after this decision, Air France sent another plane on which the people freed by the hijackers were evacuated. It is worth noting that the governments of Israel and France primarily wanted to solve the problem through diplomatic negotiations, but almost immediately, in parallel, a plan of military release began to be developed. It was for these purposes that aerial photography of the area and an inspection of the airport area was made from the plane that arrived to evacuate the released persons. But the path of negotiations was considered decisive at this stage, especially France and Israel tried to influence Idi Amin. In particular, his personal friend, IDF officer Baruch Bar-Lev tried to persuade the Ugandan dictator to influence terrorists, however, although Amin promised to help, he did nothing.
The only important success that was achieved through negotiations was that the terrorists agreed to move the date for the bombing of the hostage airliner from July 1 to July 4 and, finally, to place people at least in the airport building. This gave people at least minimal convenience and made the assault easier. This is what allowed the Israeli special services not only to prepare for an operation to free the hostages by force, but also to carry it out successfully.
Flight diagram of Operation Lightning.
In preparation for the operation, an analysis was made of the level of tactical capabilities of the Ugandan army and possible scenarios were calculated. After the hijacked plane landed in Entebbe, agents of the Israeli special service "Mossad" were urgently sent to Kenya and Uganda, thanks to which information was obtained on the forces of terrorists and units of the Ugandan army in the Kampala region. These data were not very favorable - a close relationship was established between the international hijackers and the military authorities of Uganda, and about 20,000 soldiers and more than 260 pieces of equipment were stationed in the Entebbe zone. However, this was, albeit a big, but not the main problem - the more serious danger was posed by about 50 Ugandan MiG-17 and MiG-21, which could stop the operation even before it began or prevent it from successfully completing.
The transfer of large air forces to neutralize this threat, firstly, would be immediately noticed on radars, and secondly, it would be perceived by the international community as another alleged Israeli aggression against another country. In this regard, a less risky plan was developed: a unit of Israeli combat swimmers was to be parachuted into Lake Victoria, reach the shore, go through the swamps and exterminate the terrorists and free the hostages with an unexpected blow, demanding that Amin have free passage home after that.
However, for a number of reasons, it was decided to abandon this plan. it became clear to the Israeli government that the Ugandan dictator was not in the mood for help and was overwhelmingly supportive of the hijackers. As a result, a much more risky, literally "on the verge of a foul" plan was chosen with the landing of a strike group from a single transport C-130 "Hercules" right at the Entebbe airport.
Scheme of actions of the Israeli special forces at the Entebbe airport.
Despite the fact that the Israelis managed to scout the area around Entebbe well enough, information about what was happening inside the airliner and inside the airport building was very scarce. Then it was decided to create a tactical layout of the terminal, which worked out various options for action, which was greatly helped by the fact that the airport building was being built by an Israeli firm that provided its plans. The freed hostages also rendered great help, providing information on the number of terrorists, their personalities and the approximate placement of Ugandan soldiers.
Another problem was a very long distance (~ 4000 km.), Which made it difficult for the Israeli aviation, and, in addition, any option required coordination of actions with at least one of the African countries in the region to obtain an air corridor. As a result, the Israeli government managed to obtain the consent of the President of Kenya, neighboring Uganda, Jomo Kenyatta, to cross the airspace and, a little later, to refuel.
Military transport aircraft "Hercules" over the sea.
As a result, a group of Israeli planes, which were based on 4 transport Lokheed C-130 "Hercules", accompanied by several Mc-Donnel Douglas F-4 "Phantom" flew into their incredible raid. In addition to these aircraft, the group included two Boeing 707s, one of which was the flying headquarters and coordinated the entire operation, and the other was a flying hospital and landed at Nairobi airport. The planes sailed south along the Red Sea at ultra-low altitudes to avoid Egyptian and Saudi radars, and late at night the first Hercules with a strike team landed on the runway at Entebbe airport.
A Mercedes, which was assigned an important role in the operation, is being loaded aboard the Hercules.
Ugandan ground services mistook the landing board for the liner, which was actually supposed to arrive soon, but a little later. In the darkness of the night, a black Mercedes, accompanied by Land Rovers, rolled out of the belly of the plane and rushed to the airport building. The vehicles, which were supposed to simulate the arrival of a high official or Amin himself (who just flew out of the country), was an attacking group of 29 Israeli commandos. It was based on the soldiers of the Sayeret Matkal unit, the Israeli counterpart to the British SAS, led by Lieutenant Colonel Yonathan Netanyahu.
Chevron of the Sayeret Matkal Special Operations Unit.
Following the first transporter, three more Hercules successfully landed, from which support and reserve groups were parachuted, which consisted of about 60 fighters selected from a special company of the Golani brigade and from the 35th Tsakhanim airborne brigade. The aim of the strike group was to break into the airport building and eliminate the terrorists. The objectives of the support and reserve groups were to create an external perimeter to protect the landing craft, prevent attempts to help terrorists by the Ugandan army, as well as, if necessary, provide assistance to the strike group and refuel landed aircraft (if Kenya refuses to provide an airport on its territory).
Chevron of the special operations unit "35th Airborne Brigade"
In general, we can say that the operation was a success - despite the fact that the motorcade was stopped by a security checkpoint, less than 2 minutes passed from the moment the first shots from the silent weapon were fired and until the moment the terrorists guarding the hostages were eliminated. As important components of success, it is worth noting that all the hostages were accommodated in the main lobby of the airport, adjacent directly to the runway, and also that this lobby was not mined. Moreover, only one terrorist was directly among the hostages - the Marxist extremist Wilfried Böse, who, moreover, did not shoot the people around him, but joined the battle with the special forces. The other three terrorists were in the adjacent room and were also unable to harm the hostages.
Scheme of the Israeli special forces attack on the airport terminal.
As a result, during the battle, according to various sources, from 4 to 7 terrorists out of 8 or 10 who participated in the seizure were killed. Unfortunately, during the liberation, two hostages were killed by crossfire, and another hostage was shot by a riot policeman. remained standing after the order "Fall to the floor!" (either being in a state of shock, or not understanding the meaning of what was said, since the order was pronounced in Hebrew and in English, and he was a French Jew who did not know either language).
After that, the soldiers of the special forces began to take out the hostages and lead them to the transport planes. At this time, the Ugandan soldiers realized what was happening and opened fire, calling for reinforcements. As a result of this skirmish, the commander of the strike group was killed, while the Ugandans lost 20 to 45 people and were forced to retreat. In addition to the above victims, 5 hostages and 4 special forces soldiers were injured (one of whom became a paralyzed invalid). At the same time, to neutralize the threat from the Ugandan Air Force, Israel's special forces destroyed from 11 to 30 combat aircraft located at the air base (which was a significant proportion of all aircraft at the disposal of Idi Amin).
Meeting rescued hostages at Ben-Gurion Airport.
In total, the operation to free the hostages took a little less than 2 hours: the first Hercules flew to Nairobi 53 minutes after the fighters landed, and the last Israeli plane took off from Entebbe Airport in 1 hour and 42 minutes. Refueling on site was not required. the President of Kenya nevertheless agreed in the end not only to the air corridor, but also to the use of the Nairobi airport, which undoubtedly contributed to the success of the plan.
The last victim from the hijacked flight Tel Aviv - Paris was 75-year-old Dora Bloch, who died at the hands of Amin's guards, and was hospitalized before the operation due to a critical condition. According to some reports, several nurses and doctors who tried to thwart the killers were also shot dead. However, the greatest casualties as a result of Operation Lightning were incurred by representatives of the peoples of Kenya who lived in Uganda (which Amin accused of helping Israel). The exact number of these victims is still unknown, but at least we are talking about hundreds of killed Kenyans, both killed at the hands of Ugandan soldiers and at the hands of hostile tribes who received "carte blanche" for pogroms and murders from the Ugandan dictator.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the grave of his brother Jonathan.
In Israel, the original plan for the operation was called "Thunderbolt" ("Kadur hara`am"), in English - "Thunderbolt" ("Lightning"); subsequently, in honor of the deceased commander of the special forces, the actions in Entebbe became known as "Operation Yonatan" ("Mivtsa Yonatan"). It should also be added that after the incident, African, Arab and socialist countries convened a special UN session on the violation of the sovereignty of Uganda, but most countries in the world considered Israel's actions "forced and quite tolerant." The very same operation "Thunderclap" has long become a model of incredible success, based on accurate calculation and faith in victory.
Well, in conclusion, as a curiosity, we can say that the French crew of the "Airbus", who voluntarily remained with the hostages, immediately upon returning to France received a reprimand from the management of the airline "Air France" and was suspended from flights. However, soon they were all declared national heroes, awarded the "Ordre National du Merite", and the commander of the aircraft, Michel Baco, also became a knight of the "Order of the Legion of Honor", and, of course, all the crew members were reinstated. …
