Mercenaries in Africa, an impression construction

[Ace of Spades©]

A few weeks ago, I started studying colonial history of Africa after touching on the subject during a lecture in one of my class'. Being of Rhodesian decent, it instantly spurred interest and I spend half a day at RMC's library looking through history books.

I decided that I would build myself a kit based on ether the civil wars of Congo or Angola. The thread on african mers over on Arnies has a great plethora of information that I used to base myself.

If people would like me to post up some more information of these wars, I will be more then happy to do so.

I hope this thread sparks the interest of others. African history is not very well know and is not really taught in our Western Centric schools.

Anyway, on to pictures!

Here are some pictures that I will be using to build my impression:






Not the easiest impression to build, compared to my last SEALs one.

I will post more pictures as I update my kit list:

Oct 24, 2009:



Portuguese Lizard Pattern top, 1954 vintage
British GS (General Service) Combat pants, 1963 issued

Oct 26, 2009



Chicom arrived. First time that I have owned one, its nice, but probably not going to be on my final look, but can use when want to go lighter.




Sexy time =D Two smocks and two pairs of pants. Both on their way. My teammate is buying the set so that I have two partners!

Soon to arrive:
Full British Pattern 58 webbing
Belgian Moon and Balls pattern Denison smock (or could be a Brushstroke one, have to verify with my Belgian contact)
Portuguese Lizard tops, smock, bush cap and pants

[Skladfin]

This is a great thread! I'm very interested in the Angolan war with South Africa. Maybe some info on the recces and South African mercs would be great.

Do you have the link to the arnies thread?

Thanks!

[Ace of Spades©]

I will take a look into the Angolan war with SA, I have a bunch of pics of what I think are the SA Recces'.

Here is the link to the arnies thread:

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forum...owtopic=131619

[scottyfox]

Nothing makes an instructor happier than hearing when the subject matter has spurred intrest outside the classroom. Be sure to let them know that you're into it. And they will have ideas, or even contacts for further info. Also a great opportunity to build a relationship with the prof.

Now that thats out of the way. Walk over to Indigo and buy Singer's Corporate Warriors.

[Metternich]

Being of Portuguese decent myself I would love to find a set of Portuguese lizzard pattern. Let me know if you find a good source of the stuff. Have an uncle that served in Guinea Bissau, and African history in general has always been an interest of mine. I'm glad to see this thread exists, it's an interesting topic.

[Frozen Tex]

I'd love to get some old-school "rhodesian" camo; I think it'd work well with our local terrain.

Try reading "Soldier of Fortune" magazine; they started up covering these wars, and still occasionally run an article or interview/book excerpt concerning past (and current) conficts in Africa and elsewhere.

What sort of guns are you thinking of for this impression? FN FAL? G3? South African Galil-style? Uzi carbine?

For some movie fun in a related vein, check out "The Dogs of War" and "The Wild Geese".

[Ace of Spades©]

Originally Posted by scottyfox

Nothing makes an instructor happier than hearing when the subject matter has spurred intrest outside the classroom. Be sure to let them know that you're into it. And they will have ideas, or even contacts for further info. Also a great opportunity to build a relationship with the prof.

Now that thats out of the way. Walk over to Indigo and buy Singer's Corporate Warriors.

Haha, my prof was excited when I popped by his office to talk about Congo 1960-1967. I dropped by the Indigo on Friday and was saddened by their lack of books on the subject. I may pick up Corporate Warriors though, or at least order it.

Originally Posted by Metternich

Being of Portuguese decent myself I would love to find a set of Portuguese lizzard pattern. Let me know if you find a good source of the stuff. Have an uncle that served in Guinea Bissau, and African history in general has always been an interest of mine. I'm glad to see this thread exists, it's an interesting topic.

Getting Portuguese stuff is harder then getting my hands on some Dig2 stuff -_- But I'm gonna keep looking around for a good source. African history is much more interesting then what most people think it to be.

Originally Posted by Frozen Tex

I'd love to get some old-school "rhodesian" camo; I think it'd work well with our local terrain.

Try reading "Soldier of Fortune" magazine; they started up covering these wars, and still occasionally run an article or interview/book excerpt concerning past (and current) conficts in Africa and elsewhere.

What sort of guns are you thinking of for this impression? FN FAL? G3? South African Galil-style? Uzi carbine?

For some movie fun in a related vein, check out "The Dogs of War" and "The Wild Geese".

Rhoddy camo is awesome, I just cant get my hands on some without it destroying my wallet permanently. Apparently some dudes in Russia managed to make their own, but ran out of material.

Militaryphotos.net has an awesome thread with scans of some SOF articles from the 70's and 80's. Read most of them, and will probably save them for later reading.

Weapon is gonna be FN FAL (as long as I can get one lol). G3 can work and will be my fall back plan, same with the AK. Most of these where captured from Communist rebels or smuggled in by ex SS or Wehrmarcht dudes. UZI would be pimping, but I have not seen one sell here in ages.

Gonna try to get my hands on The Wild Geese and The Dogs of War. Apparently there is a really good Rhodesian one on their Fire Force commando's.

[MrEvolution]

Paging Lawdog, your expertise is needed.

[Frozen Tex]

If you can ever find an Uzi, to make it even more difficult, get it with a long barrel and wood stock.

[Ace of Spades©]

Lots more pictures!

Congo 1960's

















Katanga, breakaway Congolese province 1960-1961

[ex]

Try this SITE.

I have been secretly working on a very similar load out...guess the cats out of the bag now LOL.

[Ace of Spades©]

Originally Posted by ex

Try this SITE.

I have been secretly working on a very similar load out...guess the cats out of the bag now LOL.

When ever Trident gets Rhoddy stuff instock, it only is around long enough for some one to click your mouse button.

Haha, awesome to find someone else working on this time frame. The only other personal I know that did something similar was Porkchop.

[Panzerfaust]

Gents,
Looks like a few of us have similar interests , I caught "Africa Bug" after living there for over 7 years.

Merc gear depended on area they opereted in. Varied greatly especially in Congo.
With Katanga being the most "uniformed" of the areas.
Weapons-wise Fals and G3s were the weapon of choice with an eclectic collection of side-arms and SMGs. Supportweapons were mostly .30 and .50 cals with FN Mags showing up in larger numbers in the 70's and mortars.

Here is some rare footage from Congo
YouTube - Mike Hoare's The 5th Commando

Film "Dark of the Sun" is loosely based on situation in Congo as well.

As for Uzi's.... I have not seen any photographic evidence of them being used in Congo.
Seen a few in pics from Biafra (70's), Rhodesia and Angola.

If you are looking for photos from a specific AO drop me a line I may have it ;o)

[Frozen Tex]

Originally Posted by Panzerfaust

As for Uzi's.... I have not seen any photographic evidence of them being used in Congo.
Seen a few in pics from Biafra (70's), Rhodesia and Angola.

I was probably thinking of a movie; in the book "The Dogs of War", they reject Uzis as being too expensive, and decide on MP40s, but I think they used Uzis in the movie... maybe.

[Ace of Spades©]

The Soviets, Chinese and Cubans equipped the communist rebels (Simbas) in Congo with a lot of WW2 german weapons, so its possible for MP40's to have been captured and used by mercenaries.

Actually, in Panzerfaust's vid you can see MP40's.

EDIT:

OK, so did not want to post again, so gonna add a quick update on this post.

Won a bunch of Portuguese stuff on ebay and also purchased some stuff from my only contact in Portugal, and now have enough stuff for more then one impression. Metternich gets dibs since his Uncle was in Guinee Bissau, which instantly makes him cool. Not cheap though, not cheap.

FN FAL is gonna be my weapon as long as everything goes fine (found one =D)

I'm really aiming to have this done for the Toronto Airsoft Convention