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Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020) was a British-Irish military officer and mercenary who fought during the Simba rebellion and was involved in carrying out the 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt.[1][2]

Key Information

Early life and military career

[edit]

Hoare was born on Saint Patrick's Day in India in Calcutta[3] to Irish parents. His father was a river pilot. At the age of eight he was sent to school in England to Margate College and then commenced training for accountancy[4] and, as he was not able to attend Sandhurst, he joined the Territorial Army. Hoare's childhood hero was Sir Francis Drake.[5] Aged 20 he joined the London Irish Rifles at the beginning of the Second World War, later he then joined the 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps as a 2nd lieutenant and fought in the Arakan Campaign in Burma and at the Battle of Kohima in India.[6] He was promoted to the rank of major. In 1945, he married Elizabeth Stott in New Delhi, with whom he had three children.[7]

After the war, he completed his training as a chartered accountant, qualifying in 1948.[8] Hoare found life in London boring and decided to move to South Africa.[7] He quit accountancy and managed a motor car business. He subsequently emigrated to Durban, Natal Province in the Union of South Africa.[9] In Durban, Hoare was restless and sought adventures by marathon walking, riding a motorcycle from Cape Town to Cairo in 1954 and seeking the rumoured Lost City of the Kalahari in the Kalahari desert.[5] In 1959 he established a safari business in the Kalahari and the Okavango delta. A keen sailor, he had a yacht in Durban, then later bought a 23-metre Baltic trader named Sylvia in which he sailed the Western Mediterranean for three years with his family and wrote a book about the travels.[10] By the early 1960s, Hoare was extremely bored with his life as an accountant, and yearned to return to the life of a soldier, resulting in his interest in becoming a mercenary.[5]

Congo Crisis (1961–65)

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Hoare commanded two separate mercenary groups during the Congo Crisis.[11]

Katanga

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Hoare's first mercenary action was in 1961 in Katanga, a province trying to rebel from the newly independent Republic of the Congo. His unit was named "4 Commando".[11] Hoare relished the macho camaraderie of war, telling one journalist "you can't win a war with choirboys".[12]

During this time he married Phyllis Sims, an airline stewardess.[13]

Simba rebellion

[edit]

In 1964, Congolese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe, his employer in Katanga, hired Hoare to command a military unit named 5 Commando, Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) 5 Commando, later commanded by John Peters;[14] composed of about 300 men, most of whom were from South Africa (not to be confused with No.5 Commando, the British Second World War commando force). 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.[15] Tshombe distrusted General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, the commander of the Armée Nationale Congolaise who had already commanded two coups, and preferred to keep the Congolese Army weak even during the Simba rebellion.[16] Hence, Tshombe used mercenaries who had already fought for him in Katanga to provide a professional military force.[16]

"The idea that a racial war by white mercenaries against Africans would be subject to the Geneva Conventions would have been laughed at by Hoare, who casually described war crimes by his forces. Captured rebels were forced to walk across a minefield [...] The mercenaries had no problems burning entire villages to the ground and killing their populations."

Historian Justin Podur, York University[17]

To recruit his force, Hoare placed newspaper advertisements in Johannesburg and Salisbury (modern Harare, Zimbabwe) for physically fit white men capable of marching 20 miles per day who were fond of combat and were "tremendous romantics" to join 5 Commando.[5] The moniker Mad Mike which was given to him by the British press suggested a "wildman" type of commander, but in fact Hoare was very strict and insisted the men of 5 Commando always be clean-shaven, keep their hair cut short, never swear and attend church services every Sunday.[5] The men of 5 Commando were entirely white and consisted of a "ragbag of misfits" upon whom he imposed stern discipline.[5] 5 Commando was a mixture of South Africans, Rhodesians, British, Belgians, Irish and Germans, the last of whom were mostly Second World War veterans who had arrived in the Congo wearing Iron Crosses.[5] Racist views towards blacks were very common in 5 Commando, but in press interviews, Hoare denied allegations of atrocities against the Congolese.[5]

Despite his denials, an observer stated "anything black was killed indiscriminately, blindly" by Hoare's mercenaries.[18] Hoare himself told journalists "Killing communists is like killing vermin. Killing African nationalists is like killing animals. I don’t like either of them. My men and I killed between five and ten thousand Congolese rebels during the twenty months I spent in the Congo".[19]

To the press, Hoare insisted that the 5 Commando were not mercenaries, but rather "volunteers" who were waging an idealistic struggle against Communism in the Congo.[5] Tshombe paid the men of 5 Commando the equivalent of $1,100 U.S dollars per month.[5] Hoare always argued that he was a "romantic" who was fighting in the Congo for martial "glory", and insisted that for him the money was irrelevant.[5] Whatever may have been Hoare's motivation, his men showed rapacious greed in the Congo, being noted for their looting and a tendency to steal equipment from the United Nations forces in the Congo.[5] Due to his pride in his Irish heritage, Hoare adopted a flying goose as the symbol of 5 Commando and called his men the Wild Geese after the famous Irish soldiers who fought for the Stuarts in exile during the 17th and 18th centuries.[5] Hoare was known for coolness and courage under fire as he believed that the best way to inspire his men, some of whom wilted under fire, was to command from the front.[5] He put a stop to a mutiny among his commandoes by pistol-whipping the commander of the mutiny.[5]

Hoare brought his men south and then turned north in a swiftly moving offensive, assisted with aircraft flown by Cuban emigres.[20] A particular specialty for Hoare was hijacking boats to take up the river Congo as he began rescuing hostages from the Simbas.[5] The Simbas were badly disciplined, poorly trained, and often not armed with modern weapons, and for all these reasons, the well-armed, trained and disciplined 5 Commando had a great effect on the Simba rebellion.[20] The British journalist A.J. Venter who covered the Congo crisis wrote as Hoare advanced, "the fighting grew progressively more brutal" with few prisoners taken.[20] Hoare's advance was aided by the roads in the Congo remaining from Belgian colonial rule still being usable in 1964-65.[21] Hoare's men tended to collect the heads of Simbas and stick them to the sides of their jeeps.[5]   

Later Hoare and his mercenaries worked in concert with Belgian paratroopers, Cuban exile pilots, and CIA-hired mercenaries who attempted to save 1,600 civilians (mostly Europeans and missionaries) in Stanleyville (modern Kisangani, Congo) from the Simba rebels in Operation Dragon Rouge.[22] Hoare and the 5 Commando are estimated to have saved the lives of 2,000 Europeans taken hostage by the Simbas, which made him famous around the world.[5] Many of the hostages had been so badly treated as to barely resemble humans, which added to the fame of Hoare, who was presented in the Western press as a hero.[5] He wrote about Stanleyville as occupied by the Simbas: "The mayor of Stanleyville, Sylvere Bondekwe, a greatly respected and powerful man, was forced to stand naked before a frenzied crowd of Simbas while one of them cut out his liver."[23] About Operation Dragon Rouge, he wrote: "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."[23] Hoare did not stop his men from sacking Stanleyville as the 5 Commando blew open the vaults of every bank and confiscated the alcohol in every tavern in the city.[5]

Hoare was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the ANC and 5 Commando expanded into a two-battalion force. Hoare commanded 5 Commando from July 1964 to November 1965.[24] After completing his service, he told the media that he estimated that 5 Commando had killed between 5,000-10,000 Simbas.[5] The Simbas had been advised by Cuban officers, and one of them was the Argentine Communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, which caused Hoare to claim he was the first man to have defeated Che Guevara.[5]   

Speaking on the conflict, he 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".[25]

Later, Hoare wrote his own account of 5 Commando's role in the 1960s Congo mercenary war, originally titled Congo Mercenary[26] and much later repeatedly republished in paperback simply as Mercenary (subtitled "The Classic Account of Mercenary Warfare").[citation needed] The exploits of Hoare and 5 Commando in the Congo were much celebrated for decades afterward and helped contribute significantly to the glorification of the mercenary lifestyle by magazines such as Soldier of Fortune together with many pulp novels that featured heroes clearly modeled after Hoare. The popular image of mercenaries fighting in Africa from the 1960s to the present is that of a macho adventurers defiantly living life on their own terms together with much drinking and womanizing mixed with perilous adventures.[27]

The Wild Geese

[edit]

During the mid-1970s, Hoare was hired as technical adviser for the movie The Wild Geese,[28] the fictional story of a group of mercenary soldiers hired to rescue a deposed African president who resembled Tshombe while the central African nation the story was set in resembled the Congo.[27] The character "Colonel Allen Faulkner" (played by Richard Burton) was modelled on Hoare. At least one of the actors of the movie, Ian Yule, had been a mercenary commanded by Hoare, before which he had served in the British Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service (SAS).[29] Of the actors playing mercenaries, four were born in Africa, two were former POWs, and most had received military training.[citation needed]

In an interview, Hoare praised The Wild Geese as an authentic picture of the mercenary lifestyle in Africa saying: "In a good mercenary outfit, they're all there because they want to be. All right, the motive is probably the high money they earn, but they all want to do it. They're all volunteers".[27] The movie's message that Africa needed pro-Western politicians like Tshombe and that mercenaries who fought for such politicians were heroes seemed to represent Hoare's influence.[27]

Seychelles affair (1981) and subsequent conviction

[edit]
Main article: 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt

Background

[edit]

In 1978, Seychelles exiles in South Africa, acting on behalf of ex-president James Mancham, discussed with South African Government officials the possibility of a coup d'état against the new president France-Albert René, who had "promoted" himself from prime minister while Mancham was out of the country. The idea was considered favourably by some in Washington, D.C., due to the United States' concerns over access to its new military base on Diego Garcia island, the necessity to move operations from the Seychelles to Diego Garcia, and the determination that René was not someone who would be in favour of the United States.[30]

Preparation

[edit]

Associates of Mancham contacted Hoare, then in South Africa as a civilian resident, who eventually raised a force of 43 - 55 men including ex-South African Special Forces (Recces), former Rhodesian soldiers, and ex-Congo mercenaries.[31]

During November 1981, Hoare dubbed them "Ye Ancient Order of Froth Blowers" (AOFB) after a charitable English social club of the 1920s. In order for the plan to work, he disguised the mercenaries as a rugby club, and hid AK-47s in the bottom of their luggage, as he explained in his book The Seychelles Affair:

We were a Johannesburg beer-drinking club. We met formally once a week in our favourite pub in Braamfontein. We played Rugby. Once a year we organised a holiday for our members. We obtained special charter rates. Last year we went to Mauritius. In the best traditions of the original AOFB we collected toys for underprivileged kids and distributed them to orphanages ... I made sure the toys were as bulky as possible and weighed little. Rugger footballs were ideal. These were packed in the special baggage above the false bottom to compensate for the weight of the weapon.[32]

Fighting

[edit]

The fighting started prematurely when one of Hoare's men accidentally got into the "something to declare" line at which the customs officer insisted on searching his bag.[15] The rifles were well-concealed in the false-bottomed kitbags; however, one rifle was found and a customs officer sounded the alarm. One of Hoare's men pulled his own, disassembled AK-47 from the concealed compartment in the luggage, assembled it, loaded it and shot the escaping customs man before he could reach the other side of the building.

The plan for the coup proceeded despite this set-back with one team of Hoare's men attempting to capture a barracks. Fighting ensued at the airport and during the middle of this, an Air India jet (Flight 224) landed at the airport, damaging a flap on one of the trucks strewn on the runway. Hoare managed to negotiate a ceasefire before the aircraft and passengers were caught in the crossfire. After several hours, the mercenaries found themselves in an unfavorable position and some wanted to depart on the aircraft, which needed fuel. Hoare conceded and the captain of the aircraft allowed them aboard after Hoare had found fuel for the aircraft.

On board, Hoare asked the captain why he had landed when he had been informed of the fighting, to which the pilot responded once the aircraft had started to descend he did not have enough fuel to climb the aircraft back to cruising altitude and still make his destination. Hoare's men still had their weapons and Hoare asked the captain if he would allow the door to be opened so they could ditch the weapons over the sea before they returned to South Africa, but the captain laughed at Hoare's out-of-date knowledge on how pressurized aircraft functioned, telling him it would not be at all possible.[33]

Investigation and trial

[edit]

Six of the mercenary soldiers stayed behind on the islands; four were convicted of treason in the Seychelles.[31]

In January 1982 an International Commission, appointed by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 496, inquired into the attempted coup d'état. The UN report concluded that South African defence agencies were involved, including supplying weapons and ammunition.[citation needed]

Being associated with the South African security services, the hijackers were initially charged with kidnapping, which carries no minimum sentence, but this was upgraded to hijacking after international pressure.[31]

Hoare was found guilty of aeroplane hijacking and sentenced to ten years in prison.[34] In total, 42 of the 43 alleged hijackers were convicted. One of the mercenaries, an American veteran of the Vietnam War, was found not guilty of hijacking, as he had been seriously wounded in the firefight and was loaded aboard while sedated.[31] Many of the other mercenaries, including the youngest of the group, Raif St Clair, were quietly released after serving three months of their six-month terms in their own prison wing.[35] Hoare spent 33 months in prison until released after a Christmas Presidential amnesty.[36] During his 33 months in prison, Hoare consoled himself by memorising Shakespeare.[5]

Aftermath

[edit]

Hoare was a chartered accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Previously the Institute had said it could not expel him despite protests from members as he had committed no offence and paid his membership dues. His imprisonment allowed the ICAEW to expel him from membership in 1983.[8]

Hoare's account of the Seychelles operation, The Seychelles Affair, was markedly critical of the South African establishment.[37] In 2013, he published his seventh book, a historical novel entitled The Last Days of the Cathars about the medieval persecution of the Cathars in the south-west of France.[23] During his last decades, Hoare had extensively studied the beliefs of the Cathars.[23]

Personal life

[edit]

Hoare married Elizabeth Stott in New Delhi in 1945 and together they had three children.[34]

After divorcing in 1960, he married airline stewardess Phyllis Sims in 1961 and they had two children.[34]

Hoare was uncle to Irish-South African novelist Bree O'Mara (1968–2010). She wrote an account of Hoare's adventures as a mercenary in the Congo,[38] which remained unpublished at the time of her death on Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771.[39]

Death

[edit]

Hoare died of natural causes at a care facility in Durban, on 2 February 2020.[2][1]

Writing

[edit]
  • Congo Mercenary, London: Hale (1967), ISBN 0-7090-4375-9; Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword), ISBN 978-1-58160-639-3; Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
  • Congo Warriors, London: Hale (1991), ISBN 0-7090-4369-4; Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword, Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019);
  • The Road to Kalamata: a Congo mercenary's personal memoir, Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books (1989), ISBN 0-669-20716-0; Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword, ISBN 978-1-58160-641-6); Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
  • The Seychelles Affair, Bantam, ISBN 0-593-01122-8; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword); Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
  • Three Years with Sylvia, London: Hale, ISBN 0-7091-6194-8; Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press (reissue 2010, with new foreword); Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
  • Mokoro – A Cry for Help! Durban North: Partners in Publishing (2007), ISBN 978-0-620-39365-2
  • Mike Hoare′s Adventures in Africa, Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press (2010), ISBN 978-1-58160-732-1; Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
  • The Last Days of the Cathars, Durban: Partners in Publishing (2012 and 2019)

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Mad Mike Hoare

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from Grokipedia

Thomas Michael Hoare (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020), known as Mad Mike Hoare, was an Irish-born leader who commanded white units during the of the 1960s, fighting rebels backed by Chinese and Cuban advisers. Born in Calcutta, British India, to Irish parents Thomas and Aileen Hoare, he was educated in and trained as a . Hoare served as a in the during , combating Japanese forces in the . After the war, he settled in , operating safaris and guiding expeditions before entering mercenary service in 1960–61, initially leading a European force for in to resist Congolese central government forces. In 1964, hired by Tshombe and Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, he commanded 5 Commando—nicknamed —from bases like , executing operations including the rescue of Belgian hostages in and the joint recapture of Stanleyville () with Belgian paratroopers, liberating over 1,800 American, European, and Congolese civilians from Simba captors. His forces later assaulted Simba strongholds on Lakes Albert and Tanganyika, contributing to the rebels' defeat and prompting Che Guevara's withdrawal from the theater. Hoare's later attempt to seize power in the in 1981 via a small group ended in failure after hijacking an flight for escape, resulting in his arrest and a 10-year prison sentence in , from which he was released in 1985. He resided in thereafter, authoring accounts of his experiences, until his death at age 100 in a nursing home. His exploits influenced films such as (1978), portraying fictionalized interventions in .

Early Life and Education

Birth and Family Background

Thomas Michael Hoare was born on 17 March 1919 in Calcutta, British India, to Irish parents Thomas and Aileen Hoare. His father served as a river pilot on the and later as an assistant dock master, occupations tied to the maritime demands of colonial trade routes. The Hoares originated from and maintained a seafaring lineage spanning generations, with family members engaged in and port operations under British imperial administration. This background placed Hoare in a household steeped in the practical rigors of overseas service, amid the multicultural environment of British India during the .

Pre-War Career and Influences

Thomas Michael Hoare, born on 17 March 1919 in Calcutta, India, to Irish parents of seafaring background, was sent at age eight to boarding school in England, an experience that instilled early self-reliance through separation from family and immersion in a structured colonial educational environment. His education emphasized discipline and practical skills, shaping a mindset geared toward personal initiative amid unfamiliar settings. At school, Hoare drew significant influences from British imperial literature depicting heroic military exploits in chaotic frontiers, such as A.E.W. Mason's , which romanticized duty, courage, and the restoration of order in disordered colonial contexts. These narratives fostered a valuing decisive action and hierarchy to counter anarchy, aligning with his emerging preference for empirical problem-solving over abstract theory. Unable to secure entry to Military Academy Sandhurst—likely due to competitive admissions or familial priorities—he pivoted to professional training in accountancy in during the late , honing analytical skills in financial auditing and business operations that later underscored his logistical acumen. Hoare's pre-war involvement in the Territorial Army, a volunteer reserve force, further cultivated practical military knowledge through drills and small-arms handling, bridging his civilian pursuits with latent martial interests without full-time commitment. This period emphasized self-sufficiency, as he navigated urban independently, developing a pragmatic approach to risk and that prioritized verifiable outcomes over ideological abstraction.

World War II Service

Enlistment and Combat Roles

Hoare enlisted in the Territorial Army as a private with the London Irish Rifles, a unit within the Royal Ulster Rifles, shortly before the outbreak of in September 1939. By April 1940, he had been identified for leadership potential and was commissioned as an officer after completing training at an Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU), where he specialized in small arms expertise. His initial service focused on preparing for active deployment, emphasizing marksmanship and tactical proficiency in anticipation of combat against Axis forces. Hoare's unit was deployed to the India-Burma theater, where he participated in operations against Japanese forces, including and roles. In the region of , he served with elements of the Long Range Penetration Group, known as the , under Major-General , conducting deep-penetration raids behind enemy lines using small, mobile columns for sabotage and disruption. These tactics involved air-supplied units operating in dense jungle terrain, prioritizing speed, surprise, and attrition over conventional engagements to exploit Japanese supply vulnerabilities. In March 1944, Hoare's unit was committed to the , a critical defensive action that halted a Japanese advance toward , followed by further jungle combat in . His roles emphasized patrols and close-quarters fighting, contributing to Allied efforts that inflicted heavy casualties on Japanese troops acclimatized to guerrilla-style resistance. By war's end, Hoare had risen to the rank of , having honed skills in and adaptive tactics that later influenced his military approach.

Post-War Transition to Civilian Life

Following his from service in , Hoare completed his training as a in 1948 before emigrating to that same year, where he settled in and established a career in alongside various small businesses. In , Hoare worked as an accountant while organizing hunting safaris for tourists, which provided both income and opportunities to navigate the African interior over several years. These ventures reflected his adaptation to post-war economic realities, leveraging local demand for adventure in a region recovering from global conflict. Hoare married Elizabeth Stott in 1945, shortly before the war's end, and the couple started a family with three children, which coincided with his professional stabilization and underscored the personal foundations supporting his entrepreneurial shift. This marital and familial structure offered continuity amid his transition from combat roles to commerce. In the , Hoare pursued exploratory travels, including a motorcycle journey across , fostering regional acquaintances through these self-funded expeditions without venturing into organized conflict. Such activities honed practical skills in and terrain familiarization, aligning with his accounting-led financial independence in apartheid-era .

Mercenary Career in the Congo Crisis

Support for Katangan Independence

Following the Democratic Republic of the Congo's independence from on June 30, 1960, the southeastern province of Katanga—rich in and deposits—declared on July 11 under President to shield its economic infrastructure from the post-colonial disorder and ethnic violence plaguing Lumumba's in Léopoldville. Tshombe, aligning with Belgian mining interests like Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, sought foreign expertise to bolster local gendarmes against threats of and Lumumbist incursions, reflecting a pragmatic strategy to maintain stability and resource extraction amid broader continental chaos. In early 1961, Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare, a Natal-based entrepreneur and veteran, was recruited in by Roderick Ian Russell-Cargill for Katanga's anglophone contingent, transitioning from civilian business to commanding irregular forces in support of the breakaway state's defense. Initially operating under Richard Browne's Compagnie Internationale, Hoare assumed leadership of 4 Commando, reorganizing remnants into a disciplined unit of approximately 100 to 300 southern African volunteers, emphasizing tactical mobility, marksmanship, and zero tolerance for indiscipline to counter numerically superior foes. 4 Commando's operations focused on securing supply lines and repelling probes by Lumumbist-aligned forces and contingents deployed to enforce reintegration, including a 1961 mission to transport northward and a subsequent jungle evasion of Malaysian UN troops after ambushes. These efforts yielded empirical tactical successes, such as disrupting enemy advances and retaliatory actions against Baluba militias harboring attackers, which helped safeguard key hubs around Élisabethville from . By preserving operational control over export routes, Hoare's unit contributed to Katanga's interim economic viability, averting collapse from asset grabs and enabling continued mineral revenues that funded the until its negotiated end in January 1963—demonstrating the causal efficacy of professionalized irregulars in asymmetric territorial defense against unstable central authority. The unit disbanded by June 1961 amid internal restructurings, but its short tenure underscored Hoare's alignment with Tshombe's vision of localized governance over federal overreach.

Operations Against Simba Rebels

In July 1964, Thomas Michael Hoare was contracted by Congolese Prime Minister to command 5 Commando, a multinational unit comprising approximately 300 personnel, primarily from , , and , integrated into the Armée Nationale Congolaise to counter the . The unit, equipped with small arms including rifles and supported by limited air and armor assets, conducted mobile operations across eastern Congo, emphasizing rapid maneuvers and ambushes against forces, which were ideologically aligned with Patrice Lumumba's supporters and bolstered by communist advisors from and . Early operations included the recapture of in October 1964, where Hoare's commandos executed a via three boats navigating to assault the port from the rear under cover of night. The assault resulted in the elimination of 28 Simba defenders through concentrated rifle fire, with 5 Commando suffering minimal casualties, highlighting disparities in tactical execution and firepower discipline against numerically superior but disorganized rebel positions. Subsequent advances covered extensive terrain, including over 800 miles of jungle convoys to resupply isolated garrisons, contributing to the disruption of Simba supply lines from and . By November 1964, as rebels held Stanleyville (now ) with over 1,600 European hostages, 5 Commando advanced toward the city in coordination with Belgian paratroopers executing on November 24. Hoare's forces arrived shortly after the airborne assault, securing the perimeter and evacuating survivors amid reports of Simba executions that claimed around 280 lives, including missionaries, prior to the rescue. The operation freed the majority of hostages, though Simba retreats were marked by scorched-earth tactics and civilian reprisals. Into 1965, 5 Commando engaged elements influenced by expeditionary support, including tactical shifts observed in rebel ambushes that Hoare attributed to foreign training, as evidenced by captured documents from Cuban casualties. These clashes, part of broader campaigns clearing northeastern Congo by March, involved rapid pursuits over approximately 1,500 miles of territory, severing rebel logistics and forcing disorganized withdrawals; Hoare's unit reported low attrition rates—fewer than a dozen fatalities across major actions—contrasted with hundreds of losses in encounters demonstrating superior mobility and fire control.

Leadership Style and Disciplinary Measures

Hoare's leadership in 5 Commando during the prioritized disciplined professionalism, drawing on his experience to impose codes prohibiting and mandating daily drills, such as route marches and weapons training, to ensure unit readiness amid the chaos of operations. He led from the front, personally scouting terrain and engaging in combat, which built respect and minimized desertions in a force prone to volatility from unpaid wages and harsh conditions. Recruitment targeted ex-soldiers from , , and , including special forces veterans, supplemented by adventurers seeking fortune, to form a core of approximately 250-300 men capable of cohesive action despite diverse nationalities and motivations. This selective process, emphasizing reliability over numbers, reduced internal fractures compared to less structured groups, enabling sustained campaigns against numerically superior foes. Disciplinary measures were swift and severe to deter misconduct, contrasting sharply with the rampant indiscipline of Congolese national army units and rebels, who engaged in unchecked rapes, mutilations, and mass killings of civilians. In a notable incident, Hoare court-martialed and personally shot off the big toes of a South African mercenary—a soccer enthusiast—who had raped and murdered a young Congolese girl, calibrating the punishment to impair the offender's prized athletic ability while avoiding execution. Such summary , applied without formal trials, maintained order but fueled accusations of brutality; however, it empirically correlated with fewer atrocities by Hoare's force relative to Simba units, whose ideological fervor led to systematic hostage executions and village burnings, facilitating 5 Commando's recapture of key towns like Stanleyville with minimal allied civilian reprisals.

Intervening Years and Public Persona

Business Activities and Writing

Following his departure from the Congo in December 1965, Hoare returned to , where he resumed and sustained his pre-existing enterprises as an accountant and guide, drawing on earnings accumulated during his service to maintain financial independence. These activities, centered in and surrounding regions like Hilton, included organizing hunting expeditions in the Kalahari and , building on contacts from his earlier ventures in the . While specific expansion metrics are undocumented, his reputation from Congo operations reportedly enhanced client interest in his services, providing a stable civilian livelihood distinct from armed pursuits. Hoare's literary efforts began shortly after his return, with the 1967 publication of Congo Mercenary by Robert Hale in , offering a detailed, self-authored of his command of 5 against Simba rebels from 1964 to 1965. This emphasized operational tactics, leadership decisions, and personal reflections, enabling Hoare to directly counter external portrayals of actions and assert control over his public image amid international scrutiny. Subsequent writings, including Congo Warriors, extended this focus on his African experiences, further solidifying his role as a chronicler of prior to later ventures. These publications, grounded in primary accounts rather than secondary interpretations, contributed to his economic self-sufficiency by generating royalties alongside business income.

The Wild Geese: Book and Film Inspiration

In 1967, Michael Hoare published Congo Mercenary, a memoir recounting his command of 5 Commando—nicknamed the ""—during the , with detailed accounts of operations against rebels, including the 1964 push toward Stanleyville to counter threats to European hostages. The book emphasized Hoare's tactical innovations, such as mobile columns and strict discipline, drawn from his direct experiences rather than secondary reports. Hoare's narrative served as a primary inspiration for the 1978 British war film , directed by , in which he acted as technical adviser to ensure authenticity in mercenary tactics and equipment. The film, starring as the Hoare-inspired colonel, loosely adapts elements of the real Stanleyville hostage crisis—part of on November 24, 1964, involving Belgian paratroopers and mercenaries aiding Congolese forces—but fictionalizes the plot around a private contract to extract a deposed African leader, complete with betrayals and exaggerated combat sequences absent from historical records. Actual events featured coordinated airborne assaults and rapid ground advances by Hoare's unit to disrupt rebel holds, without the cinematic double-crosses or sole reliance on mercenaries for the core rescue. Despite these dramatizations, the film amplified the "Wild Geese" archetype in , portraying professional soldiers-for-hire as disciplined adventurers rather than the irregular forces they often were, and achieved box-office success with earnings exceeding $15 million against a modest budget, influencing subsequent depictions of African conflicts. Hoare later noted the portrayal captured the of his command but diverged in specifics, underscoring the media's tendency to prioritize narrative over precise chronology.

Seychelles Coup Attempt

Ideological Motivations Against Socialism

Hoare's opposition to Albert René's regime stemmed from its establishment via a bloodless coup on June 5, 1977, which ousted pro-Western President and installed a socialist government modeled on Marxist-Leninist principles, including of key industries and alignment with Soviet and East German interests. He perceived this shift as a causal pathway to and dependency on communist bloc aid, evidenced by ' growing ties to , including a disproportionately large Soviet embassy and programs for local forces by the mid-1980s. Hoare argued that such ideological experiments eroded market incentives and private enterprise, drawing empirical parallels to the where socialist-inspired rebellions had devastated infrastructure and productivity under Lumumbist and governance. Central to Hoare's rationale was a for pro-Western, market-oriented governance to foster stability and growth, as opposed to René's policies which he believed invited external and stifled individual initiative—patterns he had countered in Katanga by prioritizing resource extraction and anti-communist . This worldview aligned with his broader anti-Marxist convictions, viewing not as neutral policy but as a systemic driver of and decline in post-colonial states lacking robust institutions. He maintained that restoring Mancham would realign toward capitalist incentives, preventing the fiscal mismanagement and foreign influence that had already strained the islands' tourism-dependent economy by the late . Hoare's motivations were reinforced through consultations with South African intelligence operatives and business figures who shared concerns over Soviet expansionism in the , favoring a to secure pro-Western alliances and commercial opportunities. These contacts underscored his belief in causal realism: that unchecked socialist policies in fragile island economies would precipitate collapse unless preempted by decisive intervention, mirroring the Katangan model's emphasis on private sector-led development over state control.

Planning and Execution

Hoare assembled a force of 43 mercenaries, mostly and former Rhodesians, who traveled disguised as holidaymakers aboard a charter flight operated by the South African government front company Longreach. The group departed from , , smuggling an estimated 50 firearms—including rifles, pistols, and submachine guns—concealed within modified golf bags, tennis rackets, and suitcases with false bottoms. They arrived at on Mahé at approximately 17:30 local time on November 25, 1981, intending to exploit the airport's layout for a swift takeover. The operational blueprint called for immediate seizure of the airport's control tower and armory to neutralize defenses, secure the runway for incoming reinforcements via a follow-up , and then advance on Victoria to capture the presidential palace and arrest President . As the mercenaries cleared , a vigilant inspected a suspicious bag and discovered an rifle protruding from its concealment, prompting him to raise the alarm at around 18:00. This triggered sporadic gunfire, resulting in the death of one and wounds to five Seychellois personnel, while two mercenaries were captured during the ensuing chaos at the terminal. The premature exposure stalled the coordinated advance, preventing a clean overrun of key facilities despite the group's numerical superiority over the lightly armed guards. Compounding the disruption, inadequate prior intelligence failed to account for the full extent of air traffic and security protocols, including the presence of an 707 scheduled for departure with 60 passengers aboard. Hoare's team, having conducted only limited trips to the islands, overlooked these variables, which allowed the civilian jet to taxi and take off amid the firefight. Although the mercenaries temporarily controlled the and , the loss of surprise and inability to isolate the site fragmented their momentum, shifting the operation from rapid execution to improvised containment.

Failure, Hijacking, and Immediate Aftermath

The coup attempt collapsed at on November 25, 1981, when a discovered an rifle hidden inside a tennis racket bag carried by one of the disguised as members of the "Ancient Frothblowers" rugby club, triggering an immediate alert and firefight with airport security forces. Unable to proceed to Victoria as planned or consolidate control amid the resistance, Hoare's group of approximately 43 men retreated into , where they took around 70 people to cover their extraction. The skirmish resulted in one Seychelles soldier killed and one mercenary fatally shot, with two others from Hoare's force wounded; five mercenaries were later captured after being left behind. As Seychellois troops closed in, an Boeing 707 Flight 224, carrying 65 passengers and 13 crew en route from to , landed unexpectedly on the runway amid the gunfire, providing an opportunistic escape route. The mercenaries stormed the aircraft, subdued the crew at gunpoint, and compelled Captain Umesh Saxena to take off for , , with the plane's occupants held as hostages to deter pursuit. The hijacking, executed in haste without prior coordination, underscored the operation's reliance on unforeseen contingencies rather than assured success. The plane touched down in early on November 26, 1981, where Hoare negotiated safe landing and refueling in exchange for releasing the hostages unharmed after an 11-hour ordeal; the mercenaries then dispersed into before authorities intervened. The Seychelles government promptly accused of sponsoring the incursion, citing the predominantly South African and Rhodesian composition of the force and alleged logistical support, prompting diplomatic protests and demands for . denied any official complicity, with P. W. stating the government had neither initiated nor endorsed the plot, framing the mercenaries' actions as private adventurism. This initial fallout isolated Hoare's group pending legal proceedings, while straining regional relations without immediate escalation.

Imprisonment and Release

Trial and Conviction

Following the failed coup attempt on November 25, 1981, the Seychelles government under President France-Albert René, a socialist regime aligned with Marxist principles, demanded the extradition of Hoare and the 42 escaped mercenaries from South Africa, where they had hijacked an Air India jet to flee. South Africa's apartheid government refused, citing the absence of an extradition treaty and instead initiating domestic proceedings on charges of air piracy, as the hijacking occurred during the escape from Seychelles airspace into South African territory. This decision reflected geopolitical tensions, with South Africa potentially viewing the anti-socialist plotters sympathetically amid Cold War alignments, though it avoided deeper scrutiny of any official involvement. Hoare and 42 co-defendants faced in South Africa's starting in February 1982, prosecuted for hijacking the 707 and related offenses, with evidence drawn from witness statements by crew, seized weapons and documents from the mercenaries' luggage (initially disguised as golf bags), and Hoare's own testimony admitting leadership of the operation. On July 27, 1982, Judge Neville James convicted Hoare on three main counts of air piracy after a five-month , sentencing him on July 29 to 10 years' ; the other convicts received terms ranging from six months to two and a half years, with many suspended or reduced. Hoare maintained the action was a legitimate intervention against , but the court focused narrowly on the hijacking, absolving South African authorities of complicity despite allegations of logistical support. In parallel, Seychelles courts tried six captured mercenaries for treason, convicting four in 1982 and imposing death sentences, later commuted or leading to releases and deportations by 1985 amid international pressure and amnesties not extended to absent plotters like Hoare. This selective severity—death penalties in the politically aligned judiciary versus hijacking charges in —highlights jurisdictional biases, where the socialist government's framework enabled harsher penalties for direct participants, while extraterritorial limits and host-state interests shielded escapers from equivalent accountability for the coup itself. No verified in absentia conviction against Hoare appears in records, underscoring the practical impunity afforded by the extradition refusal.

Prison Conditions and Early Release

Hoare was convicted of air piracy on July 29, 1982, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, commencing his term in Pietermaritzburg Prison, a maximum-security facility in Natal Province, South Africa. The prison's conditions, standard for serious offenses during the apartheid era, included regimented daily schedules and limited privileges, yet Hoare, then aged 63, demonstrated adaptability by pursuing self-improvement activities such as memorizing poetry to maintain mental discipline. He also cultivated a routine of anonymously aiding less fortunate inmates, which he credited with fostering personal satisfaction and psychological resilience amid confinement. No reports indicate severe health deterioration during his incarceration; Hoare's prior from likely contributed to his endurance, and he emerged unrepentant, viewing the experience as survivable rather than debilitating. Hoare's early release occurred on May 6, 1985, after serving 33 months, facilitated by a presidential that accounted for his advanced age and good behavior. This clemency aligned with South Africa's periodic amnesties under President , amid domestic political dynamics favoring anti-communist figures like Hoare, though primarily justified on humanitarian grounds for elderly offenders.

Reflections on the Affair

In his 1986 memoir The Seychelles Affair, Hoare attributed the coup's failure primarily to an unforeseen security check at Mahé on November 25, 1981, where a customs officer's discovery of in one mercenary's suitcase prompted a closer of another containing concealed weapons hidden among toys, alerting authorities and forcing an premature assault. He critiqued internal planning lapses, such as underestimating defenses and coordination breakdowns that prevented full seizure, while emphasizing that years of preparation had not anticipated such a random trigger amid otherwise sound infiltration tactics. Hoare expressed no for the operation's anti-socialist objectives, framing it as a necessary intervention against President France-Albert René's Marxist regime, which he viewed as a to and aligned with his lifelong opposition to leftist governance in . Upon his release from prison on May 7, 1985, he reaffirmed this stance in a statement to the , declaring, “I regret nothing” and “I would do it again tomorrow if I had the chance,” underscoring an unyielding commitment to actions against perceived communist expansions. Later commentary in Hoare's writings and accounts maintained consistency with these views, without evident shifts toward self-doubt or ideological retreat, portraying the affair as a bold but ill-fated stand rooted in causal opposition to rather than personal gain.

Later Life and Death

Post-Release Activities

Upon his release from prison on May 7, 1985, Hoare returned to , , where he had long maintained ties, establishing a quiet residence that served as his base for the ensuing decades. There, he channeled his experiences into authorship, producing accounts of his campaigns and personal exploits to document from a firsthand perspective. Notable post-release publications included Mike Hoare's Adventures in in 2010, which detailed his pre-mercenary travels such as journeys across , and a 2013 historical , The Last Days of the Cathars, his seventh overall, reflecting a shift toward broader narrative writing while drawing on themes of conflict and resilience. These works contributed to his financial stabilization, as sales and related audio editions—narrated by Hoare himself—provided income streams absent further operational risks. Hoare eschewed any return to active endeavors, with contemporaries noting that his involvement in activities effectively concluded after the incident, limiting himself instead to reflective commentary on past operations. He occasionally participated in discussions on African conflicts and , offering insights drawn from his Congo-era , though these remained non-operational and advisory in nature at most, such as informal talks rather than structured consulting. This period underscored a pivot to intellectual pursuits, sustaining his engagement with themes of anti-communist resistance and expeditionary tactics without the hazards of fieldwork, thereby preserving his longevity into advanced age.

Final Years and Passing

Hoare spent his final years in , , where he resided until his death. On February 2, 2020, he passed away peacefully in his sleep at a care facility in the city, at the age of 100. His biographer, Chris Hoare, noted that he died "with dignity," reflecting on his life as that of a renowned adventurer and soldier of fortune.

Personal Life

Marriages and Family

Hoare married Elizabeth Stott in on February 1945, during his military service in ; the couple had three children—sons Chris and Tim, and daughter Geraldine—before divorcing in 1960. In 1961, he wed Phyllis Sims, an air hostess, in , ; they had two sons, Michael (an airline pilot) and Simon, bringing Hoare's total number of children to five. Phyllis Hoare died in 2009. Chris Hoare, the eldest son from his first marriage, later authored a biography of his father titled Mad Mike Hoare: The Legend, published in 2018, drawing on family insights and personal recollections.

Hobbies and Character Traits

Hoare maintained a lifelong passion for , inherited from his seafaring family lineage where male forebears served as ship's captains. In the early 1970s, he undertook an extended family voyage aboard the converted Baltic trading yacht Sylvia, circumnavigating parts of the Mediterranean and chronicling the adventure in his 1981 book Three Years with Sylvia. He also organized and led safaris, including the inaugural expedition in July 1959 with fifteen participants, and later ventures into remote regions such as the . These pursuits reflected his affinity for exploration and outdoor challenges, extending to authorship of adventure narratives like Congo Mercenary (1967) and (1978), which detailed his personal exploits. Contemporaries described Hoare as possessing natural that fostered loyalty among associates, coupled with a dapper and charming demeanor. His character embodied unyielding , viewing life as best lived through calculated risks rather than conventional safety, a he articulated as deriving greater value from danger. Hoare eschewed excesses typical of adventure stereotypes, prioritizing physical discipline that sustained his vitality into his years.

Controversies, Achievements, and Legacy

Criticisms of Mercenary Tactics

Hoare's operations in the Congo during the 1960s-1965 drew accusations of excessive violence, including civilian deaths and by his 5 unit, with reports of forces engaging in indiscriminate killings amid the broader chaos of rebel atrocities. Hoare acknowledged instances of by his men but argued they did not warrant execution, citing the pervasive atrocities committed by rebels surrounding his operations. Left-leaning critics and African nationalists portrayed such tactics as emblematic of , where financial incentives—Hoare's units were paid by Katangese authorities—allegedly encouraged brutality over restraint. United Nations resolutions during the condemned the deployment of mercenaries like Hoare's as a destabilizing force that undermined sovereign post-colonial governments and prolonged conflict for private gain, viewing them as tools of neocolonial interests rather than legitimate auxiliaries. These critiques framed Hoare's contractual service to anti-communist factions as akin to warlordism, prioritizing disruption over stability despite his units' official integration into Congolese command structures. The amplified human rights concerns, with Hoare's group of 44 men seizing the airport, taking dozens of hostages, and hijacking an flight to escape, resulting in at least one civilian death and endangering passengers during the standoff. Opponents labeled the operation neo-colonial meddling by white mercenaries on behalf of exiled elites against a socialist-leaning , highlighting violations such as unlawful detention and threats to locals as evidence of reckless interference. Empirical data on casualties challenges blanket atrocity narratives; Hoare's forces in Congo operations, such as the Stanleyville intervention, inflicted verifiable combat losses primarily on rebel combatants while rescuing over 1,600 hostages with limited to s, in stark contrast to the Simbas' documented massacres of thousands, including systematic executions in captured cities. This lower incidental harm ratio relative to state-backed armies or irregular —where targeting was policy—undermines unsubstantiated characterizations, as Hoare's units operated under disciplined, objective-driven contracts rather than autonomous territorial predation. Such distinctions arise from the causal dynamics of professional employment, which incentivized mission efficiency over gratuitous violence, though isolated excesses occurred in uncontrolled subunits.

Contributions to Anti-Communist Causes

In the of 1964–1965, Hoare commanded 5 Commando, a unit of approximately 300 mercenaries hired by Prime Minister to suppress the , which was backed by communist insurgents inspired by Patrice Lumumba's pro-Soviet leanings and later supported by figures like . The Simbas had overrun eastern Congo, capturing over 1,000 European and American hostages in Stanleyville and threatening to establish a Soviet-aligned foothold in , similar to later Marxist gains in and . Hoare's forces retook key territories, including Stanleyville on November 24, 1964, during , rescuing hundreds of hostages and dismantling rebel strongholds through disciplined tactics that enabled a small professional unit to defeat numerically superior but poorly organized adversaries. This campaign, completed in 18 months, prevented the consolidation of a communist proxy state in the mineral-rich Congo, preserving Western access to resources like and amid rivalries. Hoare's operations in Congo demonstrated tactical innovations, such as rapid mobile assaults and strict discipline, which allowed mercenaries to achieve outsized impacts against ideologically driven but logistically inept forces, influencing the evolution of private military contracting by showcasing effective without reliance on large conventional armies. Empirical outcomes included the neutralization of thousands of fighters and the restoration of government control over rebel-held provinces, contrasting with unchecked communist advances elsewhere in during the era. In 1981, Hoare led a mercenary group of over 40 men in an attempted coup in aimed at overthrowing the socialist government of , which had aligned with Soviet and Cuban interests, seeking to establish a Marxist outpost in the strategic zone. Though the operation failed upon discovery at on November 25, 1981, it underscored Hoare's consistent opposition to communist expansion into maritime chokepoints, where success could have mirrored Seychelles' pre-coup drift toward bloc dependencies seen in nearby or . The endeavor highlighted private actors' potential to disrupt ideological entrenchment, even if unrealized, by targeting vulnerabilities in nascent socialist regimes before full Soviet integration.

Enduring Influence and Assessments

Hoare's mercenary campaigns exemplified the utility of ad hoc private forces in addressing security vacuums where state armies faltered, paving the way for structured private military companies like , which evolved from Cold War-era precedents set by leaders such as Hoare. In the of 1964–1965, his 4th Commando unit, numbering around 250 men, rapidly recaptured Stanleyville (now ) from Simba rebels, rescuing over 1,600 European hostages and disrupting communist-backed insurgencies backed by Soviet and Chinese arms. This demonstrated causal effectiveness: disciplined, motivated contractors could achieve objectives unattainable by demoralized Congolese forces or hesitant UN contingents, a model echoed in post-apartheid African operations where firms filled similar gaps. His writings, including Congo Mercenary (1967) and The Road to Kalima (1963), alongside the 1978 film —for which Hoare served as technical advisor and which depicted a Burton-led mirroring his Stanleyville exploits—promoted a self-reliant emphasizing individual initiative over bureaucratic . These narratives framed action as pragmatic resistance to ideological overreach, influencing adventure literature and perceptions of private enterprise in conflict zones. Following his death on February 2, 2020, tributes highlighted Hoare as an anti-communist icon, crediting his fervor—rooted in viewing communism as "the greatest cancer the world has ever known"—with thwarting Soviet-aligned threats in Africa during the Cold War. Conservative outlets and military historians praised his leadership in defeating numerically superior forces, as in the Simba rebellion where his unit's mobility and morale turned the tide against cannabis-fueled insurgents. Mainstream assessments, however, often dismiss such views as outdated, emphasizing ethical qualms over profit-driven violence and interventions like the 1981 Seychelles coup, which failed amid logistical errors and led to his imprisonment. Historiographical evaluations balance these: Hoare's forces proved causally decisive in localized stabilizations, preventing wider collapses into or proxy dominance, yet raised concerns about absent state oversight, with successes tied to short-term contracts rather than sustainable governance. Right-leaning analyses prioritize his empirical results against totalitarian expansion, countering narratives that prioritize over outcomes in decolonizing chaos.

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