AFRICA’S MOST FAMOUS MERC DOCUMENTS HIS WILD RIDE IN THE UNTAMED DARK CONTINENT

by Capt. Joseph Columbus Smith, 1st Bn, Rhodesian African Rifles (Ret.)

(www.paladin- rescue hundreds of white mis - press.com ). sionaries, priests and nuns from The biggest “the chop” of machetes and un - treat is that Col. speakably worse. Sometimes Mike Hoare has they arrived just a few minutes penned, at age late and Hoare’s compassionate 87, crisp and descriptions of those dead and witty new for - dying scenes will leave you wards to: weeping. Congo Merce - His “volunteers”—as he calls nary (1967), them —were shock troops , and The Road To took many casualties perform - Kalamata ing these rescues , but killed (1986), The thousands of marauding sav - Af - ages in the process, restoring fair (1989), order to the Congo. More im - and Congo portant to this audience are Warriors Hoare’s leadership hints, ladled (1991). throughout these volumes and These books chart not only spiced with humor. Hoare’s personal history as a Because I was a “” ( First of three reviews of mercenary leader in the infantry officer in for Hoare books by Capt. Joseph Congo’s savage post-indepen - three years , SOF publisher Columbus Smith, 1st Bn, dence maelstrom (1960-1965) Lt.Col. Robert K. Brown has Rhodesian African Rifles (Ret.) ) but also detail the heavy com - asked me to review the books munist hand behind the terror from the perspective of another MAD MIKE REBOOTS in Africa, then and now. mercenary’s experience. “Mad Mike” Hoare, Africa’s After reading the four books, most famous “mercenary ,“ is HOARE AND HIS I admit up front I feel a kinship very much alive and just “re- COMMANDOS RACE with Mike Hoare and the booted ,“ with the re-printing of AGAINST TIME warmth of another comrade in his four famous books by Pal - Hoare and his 4 Commando arms. His words in these four adin Press, out of Boulder, Col - of “mercs” and later 5 Com - books simply hold water and orado mando raced against time to are a soldier’s primer to boot.

4 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS AN IRISH MERC IS While Katanga never BORN IN achieved permanent state - Col. Hoare, born of Irish parents in hood, and Tsombe was India in 1920, joined the British forced into exile, he never Army and served in WWII in India forgot the protection Hoare and the Burma campaign . He re - and his 4 Commando pro - signed after the war as a major with vided his fledgling nation. seven years ’ service. Via a typical African twist In 1960, just two weeks after the of fate , Tsombe was called back to Democratic Republic of Congo Leopoldville in 1964, this time as the (DRC) was declared independent, Prime Minister of the DRC. The gov - mineral rich Katanga Province de - ernment had taken a decidedly anti- clared itself an independent country, communist stance, angering the a new breakaway state, divorcing it - Communist block to the degree that self from the DRC. they launched a terror campaign , the size and savagery of which had TSOMBE RECRUITS HOARE never been seen before or since. Moise Tsombe was elected its first Prime Minister and declared THE CHINESE-BACKED PAL Top left: Moise Tsombe, the leader of the The Chinese armed, paid, and independent Katanga and later prime min - Katanga would maintain diplomatic ister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ties with Belgium (the colonial par - launched the Popular Army of Liber - U.S. Air Force photo. Top right: A victim of ent) and a strong anti-communist ation, a.k.a. the “Simbas” (lions) the civil war, who has been subjected to movement , and in just a few cannibalism. U.S. Army photograph by Stig stance. He brought in then von Bayer. Above: Belgian paras loading Maj. Hoare and commis - months these savages up for Stanleyville from Kamina airfield. sioned him to recruit had terrorized two U.S. Air Force photo white (“ 4 thirds of the Congo, including Commando” ) to defend “...an all out attempt by the Commu - the Congo’s own Katanga against ram - nist block to seize power in the pathetic national paging tribesmen and Congo, overthrow law and order, army. the communist-led and establish a communist presence In just one case ,a government in the in the heart of Africa.” 14- year -old male Congo capi - The commies had more than just “Simba” ‘officer’ and tal of ideology in mind. The Congo, partic - his ‘aides’ held daily ularly Katanga, is mineral rich be - public kangaroo yond belief. The uranium used to courts in Stan - Leopoldville. build the USA’s first atomic bomb leyville, raping, Concurrently (mid- came from Katanga ( Hey, the late This map chopping, September 1960), Saddam Hussein did send a party to shows the spearing, and DRC Prime Minister territorial the Congo for uranium ). control of the Congo shooting hun - was unloading arms, in 1960 –1961. The yellow rep - dreds. Those HOARE RECRUITS A ammunition, and resents the area controlled by the not yet killed WHITE ARMY government in Leopoldville. The red rep - (and whites, troop trucks from 19 resents a rival government formed in Tsombe immediately recalled huge Russian Stanleyville. Green represents Katanga, particularly Hoare and ordered him to recruit Ilyushin cargo planes and blue represents the mining state of Americans, 1000 white mercenaries and quickly . Map made by Wikipedia were preferred in Leopoldville, deliv - user Acntx, used under the GNU Free bring them to the Congo. ered compliments of Documentation License, Version 1.2 victims) were In his books, Hoare repeatedly ap - Moscow . The Kremlin held prisoner plauds Tsombe for having the moral was responding to waiting their courage to import white mercenaries Lumumba’s plea for assistance in turn on the square. This gruesome to save the Congo. The global re - squashing breakaway provinces scenario was re-played simultane - sponse was damning and the black (Congo Warriors ). ously all over the Congo , now para - states were particularly outraged for lyzed by terror. FEROCIOUS AGRESSION two reasons: Captured Simba documents ex - 1. It exposed the worthlessness of AGAINST THE COMMIES posed classic commie terror tactics: all post-colonial national armies Hoare earned the tag “Mad Mike” target village chiefs, schools, hospi - which were too incompetent to assist from the communist press for his fe - tals, and the intelligentsia. Create an Tsombe , and 2. It particularly irked rocious aggression against the com - atmosphere of terror (we saw all of all commie-leaning black states who munist rebels who overran the this in Rhodesia) . knew that the communist Simbas Democratic Republic of Congo in According to Hoare, Prime Minis - could be smashed by the white units. 1964–65. ter Tsombe saw the Simbas ’ threat as But Tsombe never looked back,

SOFMAG.COM NOVEMBER 2008 5 Mad Mike Hoare Continued

took Hoare aside and told him to toss his beloved and dog-eared British field manuals into Lake Tan - ganyika. Congo’s savage rebels, hopped-up on a witch doctor’s po - tion, convinced they were impervi - ous to bullets, would charge fearlessly en masse. Rotten shots they may have been , but they usu - ally did inflict casualties on the ad - vancing troops. “Here it is not a question of count - ing your rounds and firing when you see the whites of their eyes,” said Hoare in The Road to Kalamata , but about laying down an immediate Platoon O/C Joe C. Smith in front of troops of B Company, 1 Rhodesian African Rifles maximum volume of firepower on (1RAR). the enemy. He was told that “great noise is associated with great power never second-guessed his decision to jeeps and torn apart. Crucifixion and in the African mind and serves to in - save the Congo and, of course, was castration were the norm. Only those timidate the enemy.” never forgiven. who were there would understand In his new FN (Fabrique Na - Hoare and his new “5 Com - what I am writing of. I believe this tionale) rifles , his “volunteers” had mando,” plus a battalion of Belgian information was never made avail - both noise and power. Hoare was , some odds and sods able to the public because the United amazed at the devastating effect of other “mercs” and a half dozen U.S. Nations pulling out gave the the 7.62mm NATO round on the Air Force Hercules C-130s and Simbas carte blanch to do whatever enemy (who now seemed not so im - crews, raced all over saving lives , al - they wanted to the population.” pervious to bullets ). With an FN, though sometimes arriving a few TREACHEROUS BASTARDS Hoare observed, even just four men heartbreaking seconds late. 5 Com - could produce a withering base of mando killed thousands of Simbas Smith didn’t hesitate to say he and fire . It was as if, he said, each man and saved and helped liberate the other mercs practiced reciprocity on was a light machine gunner. (The FN Congo, period. But they suffered the Simbas when they got the chance was the weapon of Rhodesia and I many deaths with their shock troop (we have no evidence Col. Hoare couldn’t concur more.) tactics. was aware of this ). Smith described “Reconnaissance by fire” (empty a the Simbas as “bare-chested, bare - THE SAVAGES BRUTALIZE magazine of 7.62mm into a suspi - foot, marked with mud , and with an - cious area) was added to his lexicon, BELGIAN NUNS imal skins draped over their bodies. as was the terrifying practice of rac - After liberating just one of many They were between 14 and 16 years ing down roads certain an ambush Belgian and American missions, old. They were treacherous bastards, awaited. But with lives ticking away , Hoare related how he arrived to find who got their strength from Madame Hoare had no choice, nor would he naked Belgian nuns cowering in a Orena, a witch doctor, who had them have wanted one. small room, black and blue with believing they were invincible.” “Mercenary soldiers are by defini - bruises. Several nuns had teeth Hoare’s “5 Commando” raided tion assault troops,” said Hoare in knocked out. this mission so quickly the Simbas Congo Mercenary , and when he was About this remote mission , Hoare didn’t have time to kill. His books recruiting in , South said in Congo Mercenary , the Simbas are full of clues into his productive Africa and Salisbury, Rhodesia , he (Lions) carried out “rapings in pub - military mind that forged an unstop - was looking for a specific type. lic, slow torture, and other bestiali - pable force. He told his recruiters, “in my view ties, some of them too frightful and OLD DOG HOARE LEANS the right type was young, fit, and shameful to record . . . for the amuse - with a sense of adventure. Military ment of the rebel guards. “ NEW TRICKS Hoare was an old-school British in - experience was desirable but not ab - One of Hoare’s “Wild Geese”— solutely essential. I would give them Harry G. Smith—wasn’t reticent to fantry officer when he touched down in the Congo. The format was pretty the training I knew would be re - tell Soldier of Fortune about the hor - quired in the Congo.” rors he witnessed, nor his revenge. SOP: Send out a recce, plan the ad - vance to the objective carefully, plan I suspect Hoare very much ap - “Their favorite method of killing was proves of the concept of the USA’s to make a nun drink gasoline and the attack, and make each shot count! all-volunteer Army. He declared that then cut her open and set her afire. a volunteer (he called all of his sol - Children were tied between two But when Hoare arrived in Katanga (1960) , this old Congo hand diers “volunteers”) can learn in a

6 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS twentieth of the time it would take a Lessons learned. conscript/draftee and is ten times more effective a soldier than a FIELD JUSTICE draftee. Military justice can be just a trigger pull away and not without its hu - RAGTAG RECRUITS morous side. A mercenary not in Hoare wanted his soldiers to look Hoare’s 5 Commando—but under like soldiers. He wanted them to his command umbrella—raped and “meet regular army standards...not then murdered a young local woman for us the sloppy dress and three (not funny). Hoare’s officers were so days ’ growth of beard almost outraged they dragged Hoare out of mandatory for a Belgian merce - bed at 2 a.m. to convene a summary This photo of USNS General W. H. Gordon nary...with us to be unshaven was a court martial. They had the “perp” (T-AP-117) was probably taken from the bridge of USNS General R. M. Blatchford crime...a decent soldierly appearance and witnesses in tow and were hope - during that ship’s return to New York on 11 my foremost demand.” ful a quick execution would follow a August 1963. General R. M. Blatchford had His standard for officers was much speedy trail. been deployed since February 1961 trans - higher and he was disappointed Within minutes, the sobbing per - porting United Nations troops to and from their home countries in support of United with the first batch sent to the petrator had confessed to the rape Nations operations in the Congo. On the Congo. “Very few who had been and shooting of the girl on the river right is SS San Angelo Victory of the Pru - given the rank had ever received any bank. Begging for mercy, he volun - dential Lines (renamed from Prudential Steamship Co. circa May 1962). Photograph formal training as officers and fewer teered that he was a bit of soccer sen - by Journalist J. J. Sarver, USN, who covered still understood the art of leadership sation in Europe and a bright future the return of General R. M. Blatchford . and man management. Their main and moral redemption awaited him concern seemed more to do with the if he would just get out of the the was about to launch a small patrol to privileges and the pay that went Congo. “track down” my trackers when all with their appointment than with After a brief closed-door delibera - three exited the mud hut and began their responsibilities toward their tion, a sentence was arrived at and walking back to camp across the men.” the blubbering soccer star was plowed field. In an hour they were He illustrated their selfish blind - marched to the exact spot on the standing before me “on orders.” I ness via a touching story about a river bank where he had killed the asked the first tracker, “Did you good and enthusiastic soldier who girl. leave the base last night and poke suddenly went quiet and seemed to Hoare’s staff held the man tied up the nannies?” wither over a few days. The soldier’s while their leader unholstered his “Yes, Eishe!” was his two-word re - platoon leader —a lieutenant —had Army Colt .45, carefully took aim, sponse. missed low morale indicators alto - and blew off one of the man’s big The second tracker’s response was gether , but Major Hoare detected the toes and then shot off the other. The identical. metamorphosis and sat the worried toeless one was tossed into the back But when I asked the final tracker soldier down to find out “why. ” of a jeep and dropped on the steps of if he, too, had “poked the nannies,” Since his recruitment in Salisbury, a hospital. (Hoare concluded he he responded indignantly, “No Sir! I Rhodesia a few months earlier, the hadn’t the authority to execute.) stood guard!” young soldier had not received a sin - Company Sergeant Major gle letter from his young wife and POKING THE NANNIES Chitereka burst out laughing and it was devastated. He had written On a lighter note, I can relate a took supreme effort on my part to often and still no response from his case of “field justice” that I presided keep a “stiff upper lip.” wife at home. over while commanding an African Punishment was swift. I had all Hoare immediately called the Red company in the Rhodesian African three kitted up with steel pots and Cross, gave them the soldier’s home Rifles (circa 1979). When my 13-truck full gear and turned them over to the address, and asked them to untangle convoy rolled into base camp, two tender mercies of a new corporal. the mystery. It turned out the young young African ladies (a.k.a. “nan - The close order drill went on all day . wife was still crazy about her hus - nies”) stepped out of their kia ( mud Great theater for all . Only in Africa. band but harbored a big secret . She hut with thatched roof) and waved Next month we’ll review the still had never learned to read or write shyly as my handsome soldiers, in controversial The Seychelles Affair . and somehow had hidden her secret their fresh, starched Rhodesian cam - The following month, we will revisit from her husband. ouflage, stood tall in the moving the issue of communist influence in Hoare informed the young soldier, transports. Southern Africa and a seeming whose morale was instantly restored. Just before dawn, a sentry reported strange reversal of course by the CIA A few phone calls, a display of hu - that our three trackers were missing. in the mid 1970s that Col. Hoare says manity, and that platoon was Just as the mist lifted, I spotted deep in Congo Warriors happened “almost brought back to full strength via a footprints leading from the back of overnight.” boost in morale to a single soldier. the tracker’s tent straight to the mud hut where the young ladies lived. I

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