[Note: This manuscript was prepared by Lieutenant William H. Glasgow of the 9th Military History Detachment, which supported the Historical Office of United States Army, Europe in Heidelberg, Germany. It was subsequently deposited at the Office of the Chief of Military History (OCMH; now US Army Center of Military History) for reference use by historians preparing the official history of the Army. It is typical of the kinds of detailed tactical studies of combat and contingency operations routinely carried out by the Army's uniformed and civilian historians to enhance the Army's ability to improve performance (somtimes called "lesson-learning"), particularly through the use of oral history techniques pioneered during World War II. The original is on file in the Historical Manuscripts Collection (HMC) under file number 8-3.1 CW 4, which should be cited in footnotes, along with the title. It is reproduced here with only those limited modifications required to adapt to the World Wide Web; spelling, punctuation, and slang usage have not been altered from the original. Where modern explanatory notes were required, they have been inserted as italicized text in square brackets. This item originally carried a SECRET security classification, but is now unclassified; all references to that past classification have been omitted.]

On 18 February 1965 Colonel C. Laurent, Commander of the Belgian Para Commando Regiment, briefed USAREUR officers on Operations DRAGON ROUGE and DRAGON NOIR, during which his regiment had rescued hundreds of hostages in the Republic of Congo. The contents of Colonel Laurent's talk were considered to be so significant that a special historical study covering these unique operations was prepared. It is believed that this study will be of interest to all USAREUR officers who may be called upon to plan or execute contingency operations.

The study was written by Lieutenant Colonel William M. Glasgow, Commanding Officer of the 9th Military History Detachment. He attended Colonel Laurent's briefing, researched pertinent USAREUR and USAFE files, and interviewed knowledgeable USAREUR action officers. He was assisted by the staff of the Historical Section, Operations Division, Headquarters USAREUR.