Mercenaries in The Congo Crisis 1964 - Mad Mike Hoare’s 5 commando ANC

Simba rebellion In 1964, Congolese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe, his employer in Katanga, hired Major Hoare to lead a military unit called 5 Commando, Armée Nationale Congolaise (5 Commando ANC) (later led by John Peters; not to be confused with No.5 Commando, the British Second World War commando force) made up of about 300 men most of whom were from South Africa. His second-in-command was a fellow ex-British Army officer, Commandant Alistair Wicks. The unit’s mission was to fight a revolt known as the Simba rebellion. Speaking on the conflict, Hoare said, “I had wanted nothing so much as to have 5 Commando known as an integral part of the ANC, a 5 Commando destined to strike a blow to rid the Congo of the greatest cancer the world has ever known—the creeping, insidious disease of communism.” Song used: