5 Commando Part Two

5 Commando was tasked with saving European hostages such as priests and nuns, alongside any Congolese civilians that survived the Simba occupation of their towns and villages. One of the most famous would be Operation Dragon Rouge, 5 Commando, Belgian paratroopers, CIA-hired mercs, and Cuban Exiles all came together to liberate Stanleyville from Simba control and free over 2,000 Europeans held by the Simbas.

Mike wrote about Stanleyville and said "Taking Stanleyville was the greatest achievement of the Wild Geese. There is only so much 300 men can do, but here we were, part of a very big push and clearing the rebels out of Stan was a major victory for our side." Though Hoare did not stop his men from sacking Stanleyville he told his men if he caught them personally, it would be the last thing they ever did. Men in 5 Commando and various others blew up the vaults of every bank and cleared out the alcohol in every bar in Stanleyville.

In roughly 20 months, Col. Hoare estimated that 5 Commando had killed between 5,000-10,000 Simbas. The Simbas had been advised by Cuban officers, and one of them was the Argentine Communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, which led to Hoare to claim he was the first man to have defeated Che Guevara. Speaking on the Congo Crisis, Col. 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".