The Congo, Cannibals And Wild Geese

[pawpaw]

In the 1960's the death of colonialism in African produced 16 new nations in 1960 alone. The " poster child " for developing african countries was the former Belgium Congo. If you had a problem, the Congo had it first and in spades. Revolts, leadership ( or lack of ) tribalism, education, wars--the Congo had them all.

On June 30th 1960 the former Belgium Congo became The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Belgium idea was a " puppet " nation under their political and economic thumb. But once the idea of freedom and independence was raised it snowballed out of Belgiums control. A 30 year plan of gradual independence was condenced into 1 year. The Congonese wanted nothing less than total seperation. Nothing highlighted this more plainly than prime minister Patrice Lumumba's actions at the independence ceremony. Telling king Baudoun that " we are no longer your monkeys " he taunted and heckeled them till they left. The Congo in 1960 is a country of 14million--with 16 people with a college degree and 196 with a high school degree, virtually no doctors, teachers, government officals or army officers. It was a country literually jerked out of the middle ages into the modern world in 1 generation.

Within a week the ANC--"armee nationale congonese" revolted against its white officers, refusing to take orders from Belgiums again. With no organized police or military force available, riots break out in every city or town, old tribal scores are being settled in the interior. In this chaos the Katanga providence decides to sucede from the Congo. Moise Tshombe, leader of the Katagana saw the relative calmness of his lands compared to the rest of the Congo and made a choice, also playing a part was wealth. The Katanga provided 60% of the wealth of the Congo by itself. Rich copper, uranium and cobalt ( Katanga prduced 65% of the worlds cobalt ) mines staffed by union miniere ( Belgiums ) were open and prosperious. On July 9th 1960 with pledges of Belgium support the Katanga suceded. The same day the nearby Kasai providence also suceded ( with its many diamond mines ) as the " Independent Mining State of Kasai ". Within hours, Belgium paratroopers were flew in to " put down rioting " in the Congo--what they really did was disarm any ANC troops in Katanga and Kasai and help the 2 breakaway states. As the Belgiums were uninvited, president Joseph Kasavubu and prime minister Patrice Lumumba appealed to the U.N. and security Dag Hammarskjold, who agreed and in 6 days U.N. troops began to arrive in the Congo.

The Belgiums under U.N. and international pressure agree to leave, however they do it in a backhanded way. They withdraw through Katanga leaving officers and nco's to retake their old places in the Katanganese Gendarmerie. The ones who do leave also leave their equipment behind. The Belgium air force "abandons" its planes ( plus all spare parts, fuel,ect ). Katanga now has a small air force of armed T-6 trainers to which union miniere adds 3 Fouge Majester and 2 Vampire jet fighters--far superior to anything the Congo has. Meantime the ANC has managed to retake the Kasai providence forcing Albert Kalonji ( seperatist leader ) into exile. A similar attempt to invade Katanga is beaten off. With the Belgiums gone the U.N. forces provide a buffer between the Congo and Katanga. The U.N. is unwilling to forcefully make Katanga rejoin the Congo. Lumumba grows impatiant and begins to court soviet support, soon eastern bloc small arms and vechicles begin to pour into the Congo. Afraid of full scale soviet intervention, plots abound against Lumumba's government. It is neither the Belgiums or Americans ( CIA ) but a coup from within that takes him down. Lumumba's own chief of staff of the army colonel Joseph Mobutu arrest Lumumba in September of 1960. Mobutu expells the Czech advisors that Lumumba let in. Lumumba manages to escape and heads toward Stanleyville where a rival "pro Lumumba " government is set up under a Lumumba supporter Antoine Gizenga. But Lumumba is recaptured in December and during his transfer to the Katanga is beaten to death by his guards ( certainly with Tshombe's knowledge ).

As the new year ( 1961 ) begins there are 4 Congo's:
1] The legitament Kasavuba government in Leopoldville
2] Gizenga in Stanleyville
3] Tshombe and the Katanga
4] Kasai where Kolonji has returned and re-established control

In the Katanga Tshombe continues to stregthens his hand and has done the unthinkable--he has hired white mercanaries for his army. Mike Hoare has raised commando 4 and joined the Katanganese gendamerie. Hoare has gone down in history as " mad mike " Hoare, the most famous of the african " Lex Affreux "--the frightful ones or the wild geese. The original wild geese were irish mercanaries fleeing english rule in the 16th and 17th centuries and served throughout europe. Hoare ( an irishmen ) was typical of the modern wild geese, a member of the chindits in Burma during WW II he was now a car dealer in South Africa when the Congo acheived independence. His men were hard professionals--French legionaries from the troubles in Algeria, former German wehrmacht and his British majesties armed forces. The officers and nco's were all combat vets--far superior to anything the ANC could put in the field.

By August of 1961 the U.N. tired of fruitless talks with Tshombe ( he was a clever leader, he would accept deals under the table than denounce them in public, frustating the U.N. and the hero of the black Africans for "standing up " to the white imperialist.) mobolized for action. On August 28, 1961 Operation Rum Punch was launched, U.N. forces achieved suprise and seized radio stations, post offices and several mercanary leaders in suprise raids. This was followed by operation morthen on September 13,1961, here failure to suprise the Katanaganese lead to bitter gunbattles between U.N. and Katanganese forces. U.N. secratary Hammarskjold agrees to meet with Tshombe and flys to africa but his jets suffers failure and crashes killing all. A further U.N. advance from Kasai is routed by the Katanganese who have total control of the air ( the U.N. has no planes attached to its forces ). After its planes roam unopposed strafing and bombing U.N. postions at will a ceasefire is declared. The U.N. forces go back to seperating Congonese and Katanganese forces from each other.

During 1962 the status quo is broken when international pressure has forced the Belgiums to remove their officers from the Katanga gendamerie--seriously cutting its effectiveness. Fearing his eroding support, Tshombe resorts to harrassment tactics against the U.N.--roads sabatoged, snipers, kidnapping,ect... The shooting down of a U.N. helecopter goes to far and the U.N. retaliates. Operation Grand Slam in December 1962 begins with jets fighters ( the Swedish continant has new Saab jets ) bombing Katanganese air fields destroying their air force on the ground. The gendamerie without its Belgium officers is out classed and crumbles. They fall back on the union minerie mines and threaten to destroy them. The U.N. advances and surrounds their positions. Negiations begin between Tshombe and the U.N. leading to Tshombe's amnesty and exile in may of 1963. Hoare and his commando are rounded up and expelled from the country. At the same time an U.N. offensive had seized Stanlyville and crushed Gizenga's pro Lumumba government. For the first time sense the first week of independence all of the Congo was under control of the legitament government--it would not last.

Patrice Lumumba

 

[pawpaw]

In July of 1963 Pierre Mulule ( former minister of education under Lumumba ) began stirring up trouble in the Kwilu providence and by January of 1964 open revolt breaks out. At the same time Laurent Kibla in Fizi and Christopher Gbenye in Kiva--former Lumumban's too--led uprisings. The ANC was incapable of containing of it. In June Nicholas Olenga and the " Peoples Army of Liberation" or simba's took Stanlyville ( a city of 150,000 people ) with 300 men. Kasongo and Kindu soon follow, at each town companies of ANC are routed by simba's--at Stanlyville 1500 ANC with armoured cars and motars are defeated by the 40 man advance guard of Olgena's army. For you see, the simba's are invincable--they have dawa. Witch docters would place cuts on the face and chest of simba's, place " magic dust " on the wounds, place animal skins ( goat, monkey, lion ) on them, close their eyes and fire guns in the arm--telling them it was aimed AT THEM and had no effect. They were now unkillable as long as they were loyal, pure and had no contact with uninitated--whitemen,educated,ect.... if you died it was because they broke the code, not because it was fake. ANC troops with modern weapons fled from simba's led by witch doctors waving palm branches at them.

On June 26, 1964 prime minister Cyrille Adoula's government fell and president Kasavuba recalled Moise Tshombe ( of all people ) from exile to head a new government to rally the country against the simba's. Tshombe had some hard choices to make, although the ANC was 30,000 strong it was not capable of stopping the rebellion. In July word began to leak out that "Mad Mike" Hoare was in Leopoldville meeting with Tshombe. Hoare left with a commision in the ANC and $ to recruit men with. In all 3 wild geese commando's were raised, Hoares commando 5, Bob Denards commando 6 and " black jack " Schramanes commando 10 ( these men were not of the quality of the first commando's in the Katanga in 1961 ). Neogations with American president Johnson also went well, CIA cuban pilots began arriving in the Congo followed by T-28 armed trainers and B-26k light bombers. There was still hope if only the ANC could hold out a little longer.

On August 19,1964 Olenga attacked Bukava, but the commander of Bukava was colonel Leonard Mulamba ( one of the few capable ANC officers ) who with a force stiffened by Katanganese gendameries fights house to house and throws the simba's back with the aid of air support ( a seperate Congonese air force with Italian supplied T-6's under Jermiah Puren -commander of the old Katanganese air force ). Olenga blames the defeat on American atomic bombs and warns of retaliation against european hostages if it happans again. During the same time the first of Hoares men were arriving ( he had kept a training staff of officers and nco's ready since leaving the Katanga ) urged by Tshombe for immediate action, they hastetly attack Albertville and are repulsed, a second attack with ANC support sucedes on August 30th.

On September 5,1964 The Peoples Republic of the Congo is declared with its capital at Stanlyville and Christopher Gbenye as president, Gaston Soumialot as defense minister and Nicholas Olenga as general of the armies. It is the highwater point of the rebellion. The simba's control a chunk of the Congo the size of France, but there is no " real " government. The various factions are united only by their hatred of the government, not love for each other. As the simba armires leap foward the administation of the captured cities and towns is left to the " jeinessee " ( youth gangs ) who are anti white, anti western. In Stanlyville during the 3 months in their hands they would kill up to 3000 people at the foot of the Lumumba monument ( poured gasoline on them and lit ) for no real reasons but they were unlucky enough to be caught in Stanlyville when it fell.

With Tshombe back in power, Belgium aid for the Congo begins to pour in, including colonel Vandewalle ( Tshombe advisor during the Katanga sucession 1961-1963 ) to cordinate the ending of the rebellion. The ANC and mercanary commando's are divided into 4 mobile flying coluhms--each having both mercanaries/ANC/ some armoured cars and as many transports and trucks as could be scrouged up. All had air support from the CIA/Cuban air force which was up to 12 T-28's and 8 B-26k's. In September commando unit 51 ( 100 katanganese and 42 mercanaries ) take the town of lisala, killing 160 simba's and wounding 300 more who are taken prisoners all at the cost of 1 wounded. On September 18th they take Bumba-the pattern of sucess is formed, massive air strikes scatter simba defenders while armoured vechicles rush in before they can recover. Most important to the ANC is the simba's are no longer invinicable--they can die. A simba or 2 killed by rifle fire can be explained by failure to follow the rules of dawa, seeing dozens blown apart by machine guns and rockets from above can not be denied. ANC morales goes up, simba morale falls rapidly. Olenga musters his forces for one last big strike, again the target is Bukava and it ends in disaster with huge loses and quanities of Czech and East German small arms and ammo left on the battle field.
October 24th--Boende falls
November 2nd-Samba falls
November 4th-Kimbomba falls
November 6th-Kindu falls
1 by 1 the towns on the route nationale to Stanlyville fall as the flying coluhm under direct command of colonel Liegeois coverge on Stanlyville.

As the government forces close in on Stanllyville, the most radical elements of the rebels come to the front as panic begins to set in. At Kindu 125 european hostages were in the town square to be executed as the ANC had arrived just in time to prevent it. An American doctor paul Carson is put on trial as a CIA spy and sentanced to death. Now there it is no longer " if " the rebellion will be put down but at " what " cost? Each advance brings new threats of mass executions of european hostages, there are @ estimated 900 hostages in Stanlyville alone ( actually 1600 ) During October- November Belgium and American planners begin to work on an operation to raid Stanlyville and rescue the hostages. As Vandewelle inches closer and closer, November 24th is chosen for Operation Dragon Rouge. American c-130's would drop 545 members of the Belgium paratroopers of the 1st battalion of the para-commando regiment.

The night November 23, 1964 Vandewelle with Hoares men, 1000 ANC, ferret armoured cars and 100 vechicles loaded with gasoline and ammo made the final leap to Stanlyville. They are ambushed 3 times during the night and stop just short of the city and regroup. At 6:00 am the next morning Belgium paratroopers jump over Stanlyville airport. By 6:40am they have secured the airfield and begin removing the destroyed cars, oil drums and what ever the simba's had placed there to prevent the landing of planes. Recon teams entered the city to search for hostages, infromation that 750 were at the Royal Victorian hotel leads a strike team there to rescue them. As the para's reach the hotel, automatic fire breaks out--simba's were marching the hostages towards the airfield to prevent the para's from landing, seeing they were too late they turned their guns on the hostages, killing 18 and wounding 40. This was the sence as the para's rounded the corner to the hotel, the para's kill or chase off the guards and at 8:30am the first hostages board the transports and leave Stanlyville.

At 9:00am Vandewelle enters the city and makes contact with the para's. His men seize the Tshupo bridge and camp Ketele--all exits out of the city are blocked. The arrival of the ANC/ mercanaries allows colonel Laurent of the para's to expand his operations in Stanlyville. The hostages are scattered throughout the city in small groups, before Vandewelles arrival they were hard pressed to hold both the airfield and to search the city. now search teams comb the city, by nightfall 1400 hostages have been rescued, eventually it would reach 1600.

Additional drops at Paulis, Bunia and Watsa were planned. On November 25th the para's loaded up and were dropped at Paulis. Here the simba's were ready and resisted, 375 hostages were saved but 20 killed. With great international pressure from the world the drops at Bunia and Watsa were canceled. The 104 hostagres there would be executed. The para's board their c-130's and returned to Belgium. Stanlyville broke the back of the rebellion in the north, Gbenye and Soumialot fled to Eygpt and exile. Mopping up took till March 29,1965 when Hoares men took Watsa on the sudan boarder. Only the Simba's in Kiva remained in revolt.

Moise Tshombe

 

[pawpaw]

On April 24,1965 a thin, shaven white man arrived in Kimbanda with 73 men and weapons to aid Laurant Kibila-his name in Swahili was Tatu ( # 3 ) to the rest of the world he was Che Guevara. Since Dragon Rouge Kabila had been openly receiving soviet aid via Tanzania and Burunda. The african countries were outraged by the act of " colonialism " by the Congo government and its white friends. Che's arrive was not a secret, american listening posts had been tracking him sense he had left Cuba. The CIA air force routinely bombed shipments of weapons crossing lake Tanganyiki into the Congo sinking vital weapons and ammo. A coluhm of reinforcements for Che is intercepted by ANC ( with green beret advisors ) near Kamina. All 82 men are killed in the gun fire or executed by the Congonese as " armed foreign nationals ". Without his new men or supplies, Che decides he needs a great victory to inspire his forces. He picks the hydro eclectric plant at Bendra ( guarded by 100 of Hoares men and 300 ANC ) and attacks on June 29th. Warned by intercepted signals, they are ready for Che and he is routed. Another reinforcement coluhn is sent to Che, but as the last one it is intercepted by waiting ANC/ green beret forces and again all not killed in the battle are executed--197 in all. With few men and no supplies Guevara and Kibila can achieve little but their own suvivial. On November 4th, Castro sends a signal to Che --Do everything possable but nothing foolhardy, if you feel it hopeless consider withdrawning. We will support whatever you decide. Che desided to leave and before the month is over the last simba's are pushed over the boarder. After 5 years the Congo has peace-or does it?

After 2 years in the Congo the mercanaries are laws upon themselves, they answer to no one. They collect taxes, run mines,ect... With the simba threat over they are ordered to demobilize--they refuse. What they get is a taste of their own medicine, the CIA air force attacks with no mercy and they have little defense against it. Slowly the ANC pushes out of the country, the execution of 30 mercanaries of commando 6 is the last straw, after that the break and flee for the boarder and safty.

In November of 1965 Tshombe is re elected prime minister but now he is a liability, white africa ( South african/rhodisia ) hates him for the slaughter of their mercanaries, black africa see's him as a white puppet, the western countries ( Belgium/ U.S.A. ) see the man who betrayed their mineral and other interests and the eastern bloc hated him for killing their " freedom foghters ". Once again its the Congo kingmaker, colonel Mobutu who leads the coup. This time he will not be the power behind the throne, he declares himself president and will rule the Congo for 27 more years.

There were several constants during the course of the civil wars, the main one was brutality. Because of the tribal nature of the country, the winners always looked to take revenge on the losers. But revenge with machine guns took it to a scale unheard of by their ancestors. The Congonese had a custom ratissage --it was ritualistic revenge followed by cannibalism. It was the main reason for the poor showing by both the ANC and simba's, one did not fight to the last bullet if you would become the main course at dinner. Most battles ended when one side got the upper hand, the losers would break and run to fight another day. Before 1959 there were no political parties in the Congo so most of the parties in 1960 were tribal in nature--they had no following outside their own home area ( this dates to Belgium policy of playing tribes against tribes ) There were 200 differant tribes in the Congo, it was almost impossable to think any kind of united Congo could of come out of the 1960 independence.

 

[pawpaw]

Mike Hoare
Joseph Mobutu

 

[~Corsair#01~]

Very interesting. A good read. Poor people those Congolese, almost as badly off as the Russians, historically.

 

[Adler17]

The Congolese are worse off than the Russians. The Belgish reign was a reign of terror. Even the other colonial powers, which were also not very harmless, were angry of the Belgish terror. Many times they nearly delared war in the Congo area. The Belgish policy was for long years using the blacks as nearly slaves and establishing their power on a cruel way. They chobbed arms and legs, they killed and indeed there were only 3 people in 1960 which had a doctor degree. The whole nation had so HUGE problems. Problems which are existing even now.

Adler

 

[privatehudson]

Good article, I've read about this in th epast in a number of books about mercenaries, but their information on the government and political aspects of the topic is usually scarce. I do have some pretty good piccies lying around though

 

[pawpaw]

Good article, I've read about this in th epast in a number of books about mercenaries

I used to have a paperback of Hoares book on his Congo adventures many,many moons ago--wish I knew what ever happened to it

 

[pawpaw]

The Belgish reign was a reign of terror. Even the other colonial powers, which were also not very harmless, were angry of the Belgish terror. Many times they nearly delared war in the Congo area. The Belgish policy was for long years using the blacks as nearly slaves and establishing their power on a cruel way.

it wasn't " so bad " when it was a Belgium colony but when it was the personal colony of leopold of Belgium they were down right brutal.

 

[privatehudson]

I used to have a paperback of Hoares book on his Congo adventures many,many moons ago--wish I knew what ever happened to it

I have two main ones, a general one covering mercenaries from the "outside looking in" talking about mercenaries across the globe, giving an overall look at the topic with the feel that it's written by the same kind of people that write normal military books. I like it because it's much less biased about the mercenary way of life and much clearer about what most of them are like and what they mostly fight for.

The another one is a kind of Soldier of Fortune magazine book. That's quite interesting as it dates to the mid 1980s and is very right wing in outlook. The "good guys" of the book include Afghans, Rhodesians, South Africans and just about anybody with a grudge against communism. The "bad guys" are communist terrorists, cubans and of course the hated Soviet agressor...

I find it an interesting insight into mercenaries as it's written by them, with a very biased outlook of course. In the back there's genuine "dead or alive" posters for Idi Amin and Gadafi, and even a poster promising a hefty sum for any Russian who will fly a helicopter out of Afghanistan into Pakistan, or any Russian providing genuine proof of Soviet use of chemical weapons in Afghanistan. It's kind of a window into the mercenary world as most of it's topics are articles written by mercenaries who were there.

 

[Kafka2]

It is neither the Belgiums or Americans ( CIA ) but a coup from within that takes him down. Lumumba's own chief of staff of the army colonel Joseph Mobutu arrest Lumumba in September of 1960. Mobutu expells the Czech advisors that Lumumba let in. Lumumba manages to escape and heads toward Stanleyville where a rival "pro Lumumba " government is set up under a Lumumba supporter Antoine Gizenga. But Lumumba is recaptured in December and during his transfer to the Katanga is beaten to death by his guards ( certainly with Tshombe's knowledge ).

Here's more on the death of Lumumba.

Lumumba was placed under informal house arrest at the prime minister's residence.

On October 6th, the Belgian Minister for African Affairs, Count d'Aspremont Lynden, sent a cable to Katanga's capital, Elizabethville, stating clearly that policy was now directed at the "definitive elimination" of Patrice Lumumba.



"He was chained in the back of a truck. He was bleeding, his hair was dishevelled, he'd lost his glasses. But we could not intervene."

Brigadier Indarjit Rikye
In London's Whitehall, analysts at the British Foreign Office were considering reports from the UK's ambassador in Leopoldville. One desk man, later to become head of the internal security service MI5, opined I see only two possible solutions to the problem. The first is the simple one of ensuring Lumumba's removal from the scene by killing him. This should, in fact, solve the problem."

Larry Devlin, the CIA station chief in Leopoldville received orders from Washington to await the arrival of "Joe from Paris".

"I recognised him as he walked towards my car, but when he told me what they wanted done I was totally, totally taken aback", says Devlin now. "Joe from Paris" was better known as the CIA's chief technical officer, Dr Sidney Gottlieb. He had brought with him a special tube of poisoned toothpaste. Devlin's job was to get the toothpaste into Lumumba's bathroom.

"It would put the man away", recalls Devlin, who was aghast at the plan. "I had never suggested assassination, nor did I believe that it was advisable," he says now. The toothpaste never made it into Lumumba's bathroom. "I threw it in the Congo River when its usefulness had expired."

Devlin says he suspected, but didn't know for sure, that the order to assassinate Lumumba must have come from President Eisenhower himself. In August this year, however, Devlin's suspicion was confirmed officially by Washington - the order had come from the President.

Lumumba now made perhaps the worst decision of his life. He decided to escape. Smuggled out of his residence at night in a visiting diplomat's car he began a long journey towards Stanleyville. Mobutu's troops were in hot pursuit. Finally trapped on the banks of the impassable Sankuru River, he was captured by soldiers loyal to Colonel Mobutu.

He appealed to local UN troops to save him. The UN refused on direct orders from headquarters in New York. He was flown first to Leopoldville, where he appeared beaten and humiliated before journalists and diplomats.


Gerard Soete, Comissioner of the Katangese Police, disposed of the evidence.

"He was chained in the back of a truck. He was bleeding, his hair was dishevelled, he'd lost his glasses", says Rikhye. "But we could not intervene."

Further humiliation followed at Mobutu's villa, where delighted young soldiers whooped with joy as they beat the elected prime minister in full view of television cameras. Lumumba was despatched first to Thysville military barracks, one hundred miles from Leopoldville.

The Belgians demanded a more decisive ending - they wanted Lumumba delivered into the hands of his most sworn enemy, President Tschombe of Katanga. On January 15th 1961, the Belgian Minister for African Affairs wrote to his apparachiks in Elizabthville instructing them to inform Tschombe that he must accept Lumumba without delay. It was in effect a death warrant. After a moment's hesitation Tschombe agreed.



"He said 'You destroy them, you make them disappear. How you do it doesn't interest me,"

Gerard Soete
Lumumba was beaten again on the flight to Elizabethville on January 17th. He was seized by Katangese soldiers commanded by Belgians and driven to Villa Brouwe. He was guarded and brutalized still further by both Belgian and Katangese troops while President Tschombe and his cabinet decided what to do with him.

That same night it is said Lumumba was bundled into another convoy that headed into the bush. It drew up beside a large tree. Three firing squads had been assembled, commanded by a Belgian. Another Belgian had overall command of the execution site. Lumumba and two other comrades from the government were lined up against a large tree. President Tschombe and two other ministers were present for the executions, which took place one at a time.

The following day Katang'as interior minister called a senior Belgian policeman to his office with orders to conceal the killings. "He said 'You destroy them, you make them disappear. How you do it doesn't interest me," says Gerard Soerte. Soete and a companion exhumed the bodies from shallow graves, hacked them into pieces and dissolved them in acid from the Belgian-run mines nearby.

"We were there for two days," says Soete. "We did things an animal wouldn't do. That's why we were drunk. Stone drunk." When they ran out of acid, they made a fire for the last remains. When they had finished, there was no trace of human remains.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/correspondent/974745.stm