Ride to OP: DRAGON ROUGE OP DATE: Sat 21Nov2009

[rockettravis]

I MAY be going to the Cimmerians event Nov 21.If anyone in Reno needs a ride I can pick you up Friday and I will bring you back Saturday Night.

OP: DRAGON ROUGE
OP DATE: Sat 21Nov2009

OP SCENARIO:
By early August 1964 Congolese government forces, with the help of groups of white mercenaries under their own command, were making headway against the Simba rebellion. Fearing defeat, the rebels started taking hostages of the local white population in areas under their control. Several hundred hostages were taken to Stanleyville and placed them under guard in the Victoria Hotel. The Congolese government turned to Belgium and the United States for help. In response, the Belgian army sent a task force to Leopoldville, airlifted by the 322nd Air Division United States Air Force. Washington and Brussels tried to come up with a rescue plan. Several ideas were considered and discarded, while attempts at negotiating with the Simbas failed. The task force was led by the Belgian colonel Charles Laurent. On 24 November 1964, five US Air Force C-130 transports dropped 350 Belgian paratroopers of the Para-Commando Regiment onto the airfield at Stanleyville. Once the paratroopers had secured the airfield and cleared the runway they made their way to the Victoria Hotel, prevented Simbas from killing all but some 80 of the hostages, and evacuated them via the airfield. Over the next two days over 1,800 American and Europeans were evacuated as well as around 400 Congolese. The operation coincided with the arrival of ANC and the 5 Commando (Congo) mercenaries, under the command of Col. "Mad" Mike Hoare, who worked in concert with the Belgian paratroopers, Cuban exile pilots, and CIA hired mercenaries so that Stanleyville was quickly captured. It took until the end of the year to completely put down the remaining areas of rebellion. Tshombe's prestige was damaged by the joint Belgian-US operation which saw white mercenaries and western forces intervene once again in the Congo.