Operation Griffin (Portugal)

Operation Griffin (Operação Grifo) was an ambush organised by a squad of Portuguese paratroopers in southern Guinea to prevent the penetration of guerrillas from Guinea-Conacri into Portuguese controlled areas.

Since the beginning of the war, the PAIGC guerrillas had always been prepared for combat, and in April 1966, in the "Guileje Corridor", one parachutist squad and one guerrilla force confronted each other. At about ten o'clock a group of guerrillas approached. Already very close to the paratroopers, the first men made a reconnaissance fire, slowly entered the "death zone" of the ambush, but soon retreated because they detected the presence of the paras, who opened fire and caused some casualties. From then on, there were revealing facts about the degree of preparation of the guerrillas and the capacity of the paratroopers. According to the report of the operation, "the enemy's reaction was incredibly fast and with great potential for shooting fire".

One of the three surviving guerrillas from the "death zone" opened fire when he reached Captain Tinoco de Faria, who was shot once, as the captain tried to change his position and he was shot again. A few seconds later, the three guerrillas who were trying to flee were shot and killed. However, but the rest of the guerrillas had taken cover near the bush occupied by Portuguese soldiers, and they began to fire at the Portuguese with heavy machine guns.

In a lull in the fighting the platoon tried to transport the wounded captain to a safe location in order to evacuate him via air force helicopters. As the Portuguese did this the guerrillas changed tactics, following the troops and attacking them in the distance from behind cover. On reaching the edge of the Tenhege River, the platoon was further attacked by guerrillas hidden within the woods. However, the captain's state of health worsened irrecoverably, since he died from his wounds at around noon.