Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Battle of Entebbe

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted by Sturmvogel 66 (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 02:20, 22 January 2019 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Battle of Entebbe

Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Indy beetle (talk)

The Battle of Entebbe was one of the more significant moments of the Uganda-Tanzania War, in which Tanzanian forces routed Libyan troops at the Entebbe international airport in Uganda. The defeat was large enough to trigger the withdrawal of Libyan forces in Uganda and end their support of Idi Amin. This is part of a series of improvements being made on articles pertaining to the Uganda-Tanzania War. The article has passed a GA review. -Indy beetle (talk) 09:12, 4 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Source review —pass

Disclosure: I was the GA reviewer. b ui dhe (formerly Catrìona) 02:02, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I can find little information on "Tanzania Publishing House", but it is listed on Google Scholar and seems ok. I can see no reason why the book would be less reliable then the authors' news reports.
Other sources are a) mainstream media, b) mainstream presses, or c) academic publishers, and can be assumed to be reliable.
Some additional English-language sources found:^[1]^[2] I have not accessed the full text, so I couldn't say if these sources would add to the article.
The nominator might consider looking for and/or adding sources in Swahili or other African languages, but I don't think that is necessary for A-class status.
Source checks done on some sources for GA nomination. Additional source checks done on refs 9 and 10 found that they supported the content. b ui dhe (formerly Catrìona) 04:14, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Twaddle, Michael (15 April 2008). "The ousting of IDI Amin". The Round Table. 69 (275): 216–221. doi:10.1080/00358537908453385.
^ U. D. Umozurike and U. O. Umozurike (1982). "Tanzania's Intervention in Uganda". Archiv des Völkerrechts. 20 (3): 301–313. JSTOR 40797989.

Thanks for the source review Buidhe. I'll address these points to offer further clarity:

Avirgan and Honey were freelance journalists (married to one another) and the only foreign reporters who accompanied the TPDF spearhead into Uganda. During the conflict they submitted contributions to The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. They state in their book that they interviewed many different people to write their account (mostly Tanzanian soldiers), and they also had access to Ugandan government documents after the fall of Kampala. Their book is one of the only (if not the only) comprehensive works devoted solely to covering the Uganda-Tanzania War. See a review of their book in Uganda's Daily Monitor here: Lugeba, Henry (24 April 2017). "War in Uganda: Coverage of the 1979 liberation war". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 23 November 2018.. I've noticed that citations to their work have frequently come up in other academic articles that discuss the war, such as here. That journal article also states, "This source is one of the very few complete works on the war. This team of two journalists was one of the few covering the war from start to finish." If you Google Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey, you'll find that they both had relatively distinguished careers in their field.
I can't access the Twaddle article online, but it appears my university library has a print copy, so I will try and access it in the next week. The Umozurike piece had only a brief mention of the Entebbe battle but included a casualty count for the downed Libyan transport, so I've added that to the article.
I did a search in Arabic to see if anything would come up (specifically pertaining to the Libyans) but I could find nothing relevant. Swahili would be the only other relevant language to check, as English and Swahili are the languages that dominate the East African press, though I'm doubtful that I'll find anything new. It's hard to find additional material on this battle, as when one starts inquiring about "Libya", "Entebbe", and "battle" all at once, one may be swamped in articles on Operation Entebbe. -Indy beetle (talk) 06:55, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

- A search in Swahili turned up this news article and this book. The former appears to have nothing new at all. The latter might have something, but I'm not seeing anything specifically new. Either way I'm curious so I'm putting in a request through my university's interlibrary loan system to see if anything might turn up. Could take a week or so. -Indy beetle (talk) 06:16, 11 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  - I've looked at more Mwananchi articles, as they released a series on the war last month. Unfortunately, they're based off of Aviran and Honey's book and have nothing new to say. -Indy beetle (talk) 19:30, 14 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I've checked the Twaddle article, and I've found nothing relevant to add to the article. -Indy beetle (talk) 05:14, 8 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Just got the Swahili book. It's mostly a collection of photos and has nothing new. -Indy beetle (talk) 01:20, 22 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

CommentsSupport by CPA-5

Let's see how I can help you. CPA-5 (talk) 22:49, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The Tanzanians occupied the area, killed hundreds of Libyans, and ended the Libyan airlift in support of the Ugandan government. Please capitalise the Ugandan Government.
The Tanzanian government also felt that the northern border would not be secure unless the threat presented by Amin was eliminated.Please capitalise the Tanzanian Government.
Nyerere rejected the threat in a radio broadcast, announcing that Libya's entry into the war did not change the Tanzanian government's view of Amin. Please capitalise the Tanzanian Government's part.
According to Ugandan journalist Timothy Kalyegira, the Ugandan army bused out the town's residents who wished to evacuate. Please capitalise the Ugandan Army.
The TPDF set up 130mm M-46 emplacements and subjected the town to a light (several shells a day), three-day bombardment How much is 130 mm?
Two Ugandan platoons equipped with 106mm recoilless rifles and 81mm mortars put up opposition at Kitubulu, but were defeated. How much is 106 mm and 81 mm?
Eight kilometres down the road where the thoroughfare cut through a hill How much is 8 km?
as was a battery of Ugandan 122mm guns. How much is 122 mm?
leaving the last remaining Ugandan Air Force commander-in-chief, Andrew Mukooza, Shouln't the commander-in-chief part not be capitalised?
- I didn't think "government" had to be capitalised in these instances
- @CPA-5: All other changes effected. -Indy beetle (talk) 05:14, 8 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Indy beetle: First you forgot a spot in the "how much is 130mm" part. Second may I ask you why not "government" shouldn't be capitalised. I thought it should be, because of the orginisation's "name". Like in an example the Ugandan Army or the parlement or the senate of a country? Can I get some explanations? CPA-5 (talk) 21:12, 8 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@CPA-5: Fixed the 130mm. I've ultimately got no objections on the government thing—it can certainly be posed as a proper noun—but I've seen plenty of non-capitalisation of it on Wikipedia. Maybe we should get some clarification from MOS folks at some point, but as you're insistent and it makes sense I've made the change. -Indy beetle (talk) 23:49, 8 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@CPA-5: Any further concerns? -Indy beetle (talk) 06:16, 11 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Indy beetle: No I'm good, I'll give you my support. This is great written article. Cheers. CPA-5 (talk) 07:15, 11 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from AustralianRupert

~~Comments~~Support: G'day, Indy, nice work. I have a few suggestions: AustralianRupert (talk) 22:39, 9 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

are the 208th Brigade and 20th Division notable enough for redlinks to be added?
- While they played prominent roles in the Uganda-Tanzania War and would qualify under WP:MILUNIT #2, it appears that they were ad hoc formations assembled soley for the purpose of invading Uganda and only Avirgan & Honey really give them much of an operational history. I think if enough of the articles related to the war were fleshed out you would basically have all the information about them. That, combined with the fact that I've only found the one source that covers them in detail, leads me to conclude that its best to not redlink them or give them their own articles.
Entebbe is overliked in the lead
- Corrected.
suggest linking Fall of Kampala in the lead
- Done.
suggest linking Coup d'état in the Background
- Linked to 1971 Ugandan coup d'état.
In 1971 Idi Amin launched: intro comma after "1971"? If you do add this, there would be other examples of places this would be required for consistency (suggestion only)
- I typically do not include any commas with the dates, and I think MOS agrees that as long as this is consistent its fine.
  - No worries. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 08:07, 10 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Much of the supplies and military hardware was stockpiled there --> "Much of the supplies and military hardware were stockpiled there"
- Done.
suggest linking platoon and battalion in the Battle section
- Done.
leave the eastern road from the city leading to Jinja be left clear --> "leave the eastern road from the city leading to Jinja ~~be left~~ clear"?
- Done.
in the References, the ISBN for Decker is missing hyphens, although the others have them

@AustralianRupert: Done. I've addressed your comments. -Indy beetle (talk) 02:44, 10 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Harry

I enjoyed reading Fall of Kampala. This is another excellent article.

Due to the approaching Tanzanian force, Amin's family did not reside there perhaps change to "had been evacuated"? "Did not reside there" sounds like they never had
- Done.
where there was a heavy amount of Libyan air traffic "heavy amount" seems ungrammatical; suggest "large amount" or "heavy volume" or similar.
- Done; changed to "high volume".
The TPDF set up 130 mm (5.1 in) M-46 emplacements Perhaps include the word "gun" or "artillery" for the benefit of readers not familiar with military terminology?
- Inserted "artillery".

That's all. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 14:27, 10 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@HJ Mitchell: I've responded to your comments. -Indy beetle (talk) 18:08, 10 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Happy to support. Outstanding work. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 19:05, 10 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Image review the image is appropriately licensed. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 23:02, 21 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

[1] Twaddle, Michael (15 April 2008). "The ousting of IDI Amin". The Round Table. 69 (275): 216–221. doi:10.1080/00358537908453385.

[2] U. D. Umozurike and U. O. Umozurike (1982). "Tanzania's Intervention in Uganda". Archiv des Völkerrechts. 20 (3): 301–313. JSTOR 40797989.

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