Congo Crisis Vehicles

Here are some links to the vehicles I have found for my Simba Rebellion and Congo Crisis project.

 

 

This is really just a quick placeholder for now.  I wanted to share some picks for this thread on LAF, so I thought I would add a post.  I might add more detail here or future posts later.

 

 

The Mercenaries, Simbas, Congolese army and other factions used a great mix of vehicles from Jeeps, Land Rovers, military trucks, civilian trucks and some armoured vehicles like M8 Greyhounds or M3 White Scout Cars.

 

This truck is Citroen U23 from the later 50s or early 60s.  I don't know for definite they were used but it looks the part.  Well hopefully will when painted olive drab.

 

Here is a 1:50 GMC like truck.  I have one on order but it hasn't arrived yet.  

 

Additional Note: Carlos on LAF has now informed me this is a Soviet Ural 4320 made by Technopark.  So, widely used up to the modern day but too late for the Congo.

Carlos also suggested, as an alternative, that Solido do make 1/50 GMC trucks.

 

Here is the cheap plastic 1:48 Willys Jeep kit I have used.

I'll investigate more into the armoured vehicles later.  I know Empress, Warlord and Rubicon do some suitable models.  Brigade miniatures in the US do too I think.  I got some crew figures from them, as well as some from Empress and some from Dixon.

Here is a link to Swedish site with come good Congo pictures.

Congo Progress 1 The Mercs

I have finally made some small progress on my 1960s Congo forces.  First here are some mercenaries.  The figures are the old Mongrel Miniatures line, still available from Badger Games in the US.

These will be ideal for 5 Commando & 6 Commando of the ANC who spearheaded the fight against the Simbas.  While these sculpts are spot on, there are few such good source figures available.  I therefore can't be too pedantic and don't intend to worry about the small details.  A reasonable overall impression will have to be good enough. 

The mercenaries are largely as cast but with a few head swaps.  One at the back in the picture below has another Empress Indochina head and the TAG figure on the right will be my not-yet-headless Roland.

These last few are more based on the slightly earlier Katangese Succession era of the Congo Crisis but can be used for later as well.  They are Mongrel Cold War British with head swaps from Empress Miniatures French Indochina range.  I'll paint them in camouflage jackets and they can serve as Belgian troops too.  I'm going to get some more Mongrel Mercs to mix with more of these Brits and paint them up as Belgian Paras. 

These WW2 14th Army Brits from TAG will serve as Katangese Gendarmes.  I have removed the bayonets and some of the kit to better match the lightly equipped Gendarmes.

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.