The Congo Crisis

I have made a start on a new project to build some armies based on the extended 1960s Congo Crisis including the 1964 Simba Rebellion and the 1966-7 Stanleyville Mutinies. There are a host of factions and events to model, plus lots of interesting forces and characters.  There are presidential assassinations, post-colonial tyrants, UN peacekeepers, white mercenaries, Marxist rebels, witch doctors, Cuban exiles, Belgian paratroopers, the CIA and even Ernesto "Che" Guevara.  

The events surrounding the independence of the former Belgian Congo are a horrific human tradegy that has led to decades of civil war across the region but are surprisingly little known about today.  Nevertheless, these 'interesting times', while a nightmare for those involved, make a suitable backdrop for wargames. 

Independence saw a very rapid breakdown of order.  An army mutiny and an attempted succession by the province of Katanga resulted in widespread Belgian intervention, the overthrow and execution of the first elected president, Patrice Lumumba, and ultimately the deployment of large numbers of UN peacekeepers.   

Significant fighting occurred, especially between the UN forces and the mercenary backed Katanganese gendarmerie.  The most famous incident from this period was the siege and controversial surrender of the Irish UN garrison at Jodotville.

By 1964 the Katanganese independence movement had been defeated and the UN mission was over.  The focus then moved to the north east of the country where Lumumbist forces had seized control, declaring the "Free Republic of the Congo" (République Libre du Congo).  These rebels, known as the Simbas, combined a mix of marxism and mysticism to motivate their troops and would certainly make for a very interesting and unique wargames army.

The Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) under the command of general Joseph-Désiré Mobutu made extensive use of Mercenary forces to spearhead their repression of the Simba rebellion.  Most famously 'Mad Mike' Hoare's 'Wild Geese' of 5 Commando, seen here advancing north to Stanleyville in late 1964.

Belgian Paratroopers simultaneously seized Stanleyville airfield in Operation Dragon Rouge to rescue and evacuate the settlers held by the rebels.

Two brief mutinies by Katanganese and mercenary forces in 1966 and 1967 end the period with their withdrawl into Rawanda,  This left Mobotu firmly in control of the country, which he reanmed Zaire and ruled until deposed in 1997 by forces loyal to the former Simba, Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

I'm going to use 28mm figures and in that scale the only truly suitable figures for this period are the old Mongrel miniatures Wild Geese, now available from Badger Games in the US.  Although, being Paul Hicks' sculpts they have stood the test of time.  There will however, have to be quite a bit of conversion and artistic licence to give an impression of the forces involved.