Battle of Fada

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Battle of Fada
Part of Libyan-Chadian War
Date January 2, 1987 Location Fada Result Chadian victory
Combatants
Libya	Chad
Commanders
Unknown	Hassane Djamous
Strength
1,200 Libyans 300–400 CDR militians	Almost 3,000 Chadians
Casualties
781 Libyans	18 Chadians

The battle of Fada took place in northern Chad in 1987, and was a turning point of the Libyan-Chadian War.

At the beginning of 1986 the Libyans controlled all Chad north of the 16th parallel. However, when the French intervened in the country in Operation Sparrowhawk and Goukouni Oueddei's and his People's Armed Forces rebelled against his former supporter Qaddafi, Libya's President, the situation became critical for the Libyan army and promising for Chad's President Hissène Habré.

Certain that the French would protect Chad south of the 16th parallel, Habré started assembling his army, the Chadian National Armed Forces (FANT), at Kalaït, a logistic deposit built by France exactly at the 16th parallel, and which it had stocked with munitions, weapons and fuel. France and the United States had equipped the FANT with a large number of Toyota Pickup, and antitank and antiaircraft missile launchers, such as MILAN ATGWs. The FANT assault under the command of Hassane Djamous deployed almost 3000 soldiers for the coming battle.

This powerful force invested Fada, the capital of the Ennedi and a Libyan stronghold, on January 2. Hassane Djamous took the 1,000 Libyan soldiers and the 300–400 members of the Revolutionary Democratic Council (CDR) militia by surprise. In a short but brutal engagement the FANT almost annihilated the Libyan armoured brigade that defended Fada: 784 Libyans died, 92 T-55 and 33 BMP-1 tanks were destroyed, and 13 T-55 and 18 BMP-1 captured, together with 81 Libyan soldiers. Chadian losses were mininimal: only 18 soldiers died and three Toyotas were destroyed.

Although the Chadian commander's tactical ability played an important role in the victory, the anti-tank missiles were decisive. When combined with the superior maneuverability of the Toyotas, they proved their efficacy against the Libyan tanks.

On January 3 and 4 the Libyan Air Force sent several waves of bombers to Fada in an attempt to destroy the captured equipment and ammunition. Still, these could not change the essential fact that Libya had suffered a major defeat that was to prove the beginning of the end of the Chadian-Libyan War.

[edit] External links

• Operation Epervier (in French)
• Libyan Wars