What emerges is a compelling and complex portrait of genuine adventurers, "a breed of men which," writes Hoare, "has almost vanished from the face of the earth. Score: 4. A member of 'Mad Mike' Hoare's 5 Commando Group he and his companions were nominally soldiers but there was little in the way of campaigns, tactics and discipline.
Of conventional warfare there was none. Loyalty to country or unit did not exist and the fear of death was the only commander. Many more mercenaries died from an accidental discharge, in a drunken shoot-out or from a bullet in the back than were ever killed in action by Simba rebels. Nearly half a century later, Ivan Smith re-lives the nightmare that was the Congo.
In this follow-up account of those war-torn days spent fighting the Simba rebels, Colonel Hoare focuses on the courage and ambitions, the lives and deaths of those men under his command. In an exclusive new foreword and epilogue for this Paladin reprint, which the author has described as his favorite of all the books he has written, Colonel Hoare provides an unparalleled understanding of mercenary action in Africa, the involvement of the CIA in such activities and new insight into the minds and hearts of mercenary soldiers.
What emerges is a compelling and complex portrait of genuine adventurers, "a breed of men which," writes Hoare, "has almost vanished from the face of the earth. In July , after four years of uneasy independence, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was engulfed by an armed rebellion that spread throughout the country like a bush fire.
The rebel soldiers struck terror into the hearts of civilians and National Army soldiers alike. Faced with this situation, the Congolese government hired legendary mercenary leader Mike Hoare to quell the uprising and bring order to the country.
In Congo Mercenary, Mike Hoare tells the true story of his resolute band of mercenaries during the Congo war. In fascinating detail, Hoare describes how the mercenaries were recruited and trained, and then recounts their adventures through four combat campaigns over an month period during which they liberated Stanleyville, fought rebels in the hinterland, freed hundreds of European hostages and restored law and order to the Congo. Originally published in , and now including a new foreword by Mike Hoare, Congo Mercenary is a well-written and historically important account of one of the most brutal rebellions in Africa, as well as an accurate and gritty depiction of the mercenary life.
During that long, hot summer of , Ivan Smith, a mercenary volunteer in the Arme Nationale Congolais, came to witness and understand fear, the law of the jungle and the lust for killing that permeates Africa. A member of 'Mad Mike' Hoare's 5 Commando Group he and his companions were nominally soldiers but there was little in the way of campaigns, tactics and discipline. Of conventional warfare there was none. Loyalty to country or unit did not exist and the fear of death was the only commander.
Many more mercenaries died from an accidental discharge, in a drunken shoot-out or from a bullet in the back than were ever killed in action by Simba rebels. Nearly half a century later, Ivan Smith re-lives the nightmare that was the Congo. Post-independence events in the Republic of the Congo are a veritable Gordian knot.
The ambitions of Congolese political leaders, Cold War rivalry, Pan-Africanism, Belgium's continued economic interests in the country's mineral wealth, and the strategic perceptions of other southern African states all conspired to wrack Africa's second largest country with uprisings, rebellions and military interventions for almost a decade. Congo Unravelled solves the intractable complexity of this violent period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political and military events that took place in the troubled country.
Originally published in , and now including a new foreword by Mike Hoare, Congo Mercenary is a well-written and historically important account of one of the most brutal rebellions in Africa, as well as an accurate and gritty depiction of the mercenary life.
The ambitions of Congolese political leaders, Cold War rivalry, Pan-Africanism, Belgium's continued economic interests in the country's mineral wealth, and the strategic perceptions of other southern African states all conspired to wrack Africa's second largest country with uprisings, rebellions and military interventions for almost a decade.
Congo Unravelled solves the intractable complexity of this violent period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political and military events that took place in the troubled country. Finally, the mercenary revolt-an event that tainted the reputation of the modern mercenary in Africa-is described. Show description.
Growing to be up through the moment global warfare, Mike Reynolds grew to become so attracted to soldiering that he determined to make the military his existence. On September eleven, , the British submarine "Porpoise" slipped quietly from Fremantle Harbour, certain for Indonesia. The coming of the Simbas struck terror into the hearts of the Congolese villagers and whole garrisons of the A.
In a number of cases, all that was necessary was a telephone call, warning that the Simbas were on their way! In Leopoldville, the vast civilian population, swollen to three times its normal size, grew uneasy at the approach of the rebel army.
Hour by hour reports reached the Commander-in-Chief at his headquarters in Leo Deux of the rebel advance. One day the B. It was high time the National Army acted. The General's only reserve was 5 Commando, now in formation at Kamina, as yet unequipped and untrained.
Nevertheless, I was ordered to send forty men immediately to Gemena to support the hard pressed A. I formed 51 Commando at once and under 2nd Lieutenant Gary Wilson they took off for Leopoldville with a flourish, regardless of the fact that they had absolutely no training, and many of them were still dressed in civilian clothes.
On arrival. Wilson decided not to wait for the enemy to attack Gemena and, with a bold show of initiative, pushed down to meet them at Lisala. With a company of A. It was a walk-over. Wilson's men went through the Simbas like a scythe through grass, leaving one hundred and sixty dead in the streets. One man in 51 Commando was slightly wounded, when a bullet parted his hair.
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