The Battle of Fada took place in northern Chad in 1987, and was a turning point of the Chadian–Libyan conflict.

Prelude

At the beginning of 1986 the Libyans controlled all Chad north of the 16th parallel. However, when France intervened in the country in

Operation Sparrowhawk Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Operation (game), ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * Operations (magazine ...

and

Goukouni Oueddei Goukouni Oueddei ( ar, كوكوني عويدي '; born 1944 in Zouar) is a Chadian politician who served as President of Chad from 1979 to 1982. A northerner, Goukouni commanded FROLINAT rebels with Libyan support during the first Chadian Civ ...

's and his

People's Armed Forces The People's Armed Forces (''Forces Armées Populaires'' or FAP) was a Chadian insurgent group composed of followers of Goukouni Oueddei after the schism with Hissène Habré in 1976. With an ethnic base in the Teda clan of the Toubou from the ...

rebelled against his former supporter Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's President, the situation became critical for the

Libyan army The Libyan Army ( ar, الجيش الليبي) is the brand for a number of separate military forces in Libya, which are under the command of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). Since December 2015 the groups of t ...

and promising for Chad's

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Hissène Habré Hissène Habré (Arabic: ''Ḥusaīn Ḥabrī'', Chadian Arabic: ; ; 13 August 1942 – 24 August 2021), also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 u ...

. Certain that the French would protect Chad south of the 16th parallel, Habré started assembling his army, the

Chadian National Armed Forces The Chadian National Armed Forces (''Forces Armées Nationales Tchadiennes'' or FANT) was the army of the central government of Chad from January 1983, when the President Hissène Habré's forces, in first place his personal Armed Forces of the Nort ...

(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 pickups, and antitank and antiaircraft missile launchers, such as

MILAN Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

ATGWs. The FANT assault under the command of

Hassan Djamous Hassan Djamous ( ar, حسن جاموس, died April 1989) was a Commander-in-Chief of the military of Chad and a cousin of Chadian President Idriss Déby. He led Chadian forces during the Chadian–Libyan conflict, such as the victory in the Ba ...

deployed almost 3000 soldiers for the coming battle.

Battle

This powerful force attacked Fada, the capital of the

Ennedi The Ennedi Plateau is located in the northeast of Chad, in the regions of Ennedi-Ouest and Ennedi-Est. It is considered a part of the group of mountains known as the Ennedi Massif found in Chad, which is one of the nine countries that make up t ...

and a Libyan stronghold, on 2 January 1987. Hassan Djamous took the 1,000 Libyan soldiers and the 300–400 members of the

Democratic Revolutionary Council The Democratic Revolutionary Council (french: Conseil démocratique révolutionnaire or ''CDR''), active in Chad, was a faction of FROLINAT founded by Ahmat AcylT-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tank ...

tanks and 33

BMP-1 The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, in service 1966–present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (russian: link=no, Боевая Машина Пехоты 1; БМП-1), meaning "infantry fighting ve ...

infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed, and 13 T-55s and 18 BMP-1s captured, together with 81 Libyan soldiers. Chadian losses were minimal: only 18 soldiers died and three Toyotas were destroyed. This was one of the first major combat victories employing the tactic of using light trucks armed with machine guns or rockets, later known as "

technicals Technicals may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle often used in civil conflict * TECHNICALS, a clothing brand owned by Blacks Leisure Group See also * Technical (disambiguation) * Cambridge Technicals Cambridge Tech ...

." This tactic mirrored the actions of the raids conducted by the

Long Range Desert Group The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Originally called the Long Range Patrol (LRP), the unit was founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph Alger Bagnold, acti ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, but on a slightly smaller scale theater, against slightly less numerous enemies, but with more modern weaponry and equipment. 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.

Aftermath

On 3 and 4 January the

Libyan Air Force The Libyan Air Force ( ar, القوات الجوية الليبية) is the branch of the Libyan Armed Forces responsible for aerial warfare. In 2010, before the Libyan Civil War, the Libyan Air Force personnel strength was estimated at 18,00 ...

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.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Operation Epervier
(in French)
Libyan Wars
{{Coord, 17, 11, N, 21, 35, E, display=title Fada Fada 1987 in Libya 1987 in Chad Fada January 1987 events in Africa