Battle of Jinja 1979
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Jinja was a battle of the Uganda–Tanzania War that took place on 22 April 1979 near and in the city of Jinja, Uganda between Tanzanian and allied Uganda National Liberation Front forces on the one hand, and Ugandan troops loyal to Idi Amin on the other. The Tanzanians and the UNLF men met slight resistance and captured Owen Falls Dam and the town of Jinja.
Idi Amin had seized power in Uganda in 1971 and established a brutal dictatorship. Seven years later he attempted to invade neighbouring Tanzania to the south. The attack was repulsed, and the Tanzanians launched a counter-attack into Ugandan territory. After a number of battles, Amin's regime and military largely collapsed, and Kampala, the capital, was seized by the Tanzanians and the UNLF. Ugandan troops fled to the eastern city of Jinja, whose capture was entrusted to a force consisting of the Tanzanian 208th Brigade and members of the UNLF.
The Tanzanian-UNLF force moved east out from Kampala on 15 April. Early in the morning on 22 April, the Tanzanians bombarded Jinja with artillery, and under the cover of darkness advanced towards the two bridges that crossed the Nile river west of the city.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Jinja (revision 1370444300), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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Browse more: battles in Uganda · Africa · Post-1945 battles