Today we will complete the story of the famous “condottieri” of the XX century, which began in the previous articles ("Great Condottieri of the 20th century", "Soldiers of Fortune" and "Wild Geese", "Bob Denard:" The King of Mercenaries "and" Nightmare of Presidents ").
Bob Denard's last expedition
Robert Denard turned out to be the most active of the famous commanders of mercenary detachments, other "condottieri", who began their journey simultaneously with him in the 60s, left the big historical scene much earlier. Denard, at the age of 66, felt so confident that in September 1995 he again went to the Comoros. There at that time was ruled by the pro-French president Said Dzhokhar, whom the "king of mercenaries" who did not age at heart and decided to "retire". For this purpose, Denard collected only 36 merseneurs, but they were veterans who had previously served with him in the Comoros and "could walk from the landing site to the presidential palace with their eyes closed." On a ship bought in Norway, this small detachment reached the main island of the Republic of Gran Comoros, captured the capital (the city of Moroni) and freed more than 200 soldiers and officers of the presidential guard who were serving their sentences after the unsuccessful 1992 putsch. President Said Mohammed Johar was arrested at his villa, and Captain Ayub Combo was put at the head of the republic, who handed over power to the interim government four days later.
That is, Denard was "in shape", and his next coup turned out no worse than before. He did not take into account only the reaction of the French government, which did not like such "self-righteousness" of the veteran.
This time, as part of Operation Azalee, the French sent against Denard a small frigate of the Le Floreal de Lorient class (sometimes referred to as corvettes) and 700 legionnaires of the DLEM (de Legion etrangere de Mayotte) unit, supported by the commandos of Djibouti and soldiers of the second parachute a marine regiment (about a thousand people in total).
Realizing that they simply had no chance against such forces, Denard and his people did not offer resistance. They were arrested and taken to Paris.
However, the interim government of Comoros continued its work, and six months later, one of the princes who headed it, Mohammed Taqi, was elected president of the Republic of the Comoros. Thus, despite the arrest of Denard and his people, in general, this coup can be considered successful - but not for Denard himself.
In France, Denard was again put on trial, which lasted until 2007. In 2006, one of the former heads of French foreign intelligence, passing as a witness (his name was not disclosed), made a statement:
“When intelligence agencies are unable to carry out certain types of covert operations, they use parallel structures. This is the case of Bob Denard."
In July 2007, the court acquitted Denard on three counts and sentenced him to one count, sentencing him to four years in prison. However, for health reasons, Denard never got to prison. Some later wrote about Alzheimer's disease, which Denard allegedly suffered at the end of his life. But look at this photo of him in the courtroom:
Before us is a well-preserved elderly man with a strong-willed and intelligent face, not in the least frightened: it seems that he can hardly restrain a sarcastic smile.
Three months after the sentencing (October 14, 2007), 78-year-old Denard died in his home in one of the suburbs of Paris, the cause of death was called acute circulatory failure. He was buried in the Church of St. Francis Xavier.
In the last years of his life, Denard headed the association of former mercenaries with a very interesting name "The World is Our Country".
It is curious whether this name was known to the author of the lyrics of the song of the "Jam" group?
A fragile stone will fall into dust like fire in a vein.
There were - a fairy tale, steel - a reality, your walls will not help …
We are not the first weapons - the generation of immortals.
Steel lays the formation on endless roads.
And the drunken demon laughs, the mirrors will spill crookedly, We know how to live beautifully - we need peace …
And preferably all.
Denard had 7 wives who bore him 8 children. 4 years after his death, he became the protagonist of the French film "Mr. Bob" (2011), which takes place in Congo in 1965.
Among the characters in this film was Jean Schramm.
The fate of Jean Schramm
Since 1968, Schramm lived in Belgium and no longer took personal part in mercenary operations, but back in the 80s. advised Latin Americans (his services, for example, were used by the ultra-right organizations in Bolivia).
However, the past still caught up with him: in 1986, a Belgian court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the longtime murder of a white planter in the Congo (the Belgians were not interested in killing blacks). For some reason, Schramm did not want to sit in a well-organized and comfortable Belgian prison, instead he went to his friends in Brazil. Here he wrote and published his memoirs, which he called "Revelation". He died in December 1988 at the age of 59.
Roger Folk's Thousand Lives
Roger Folk (Fulk in another transcription) was Denard's constant partner and actively collaborated with him in the following years. Together with him, as we remember from the last article, he fought for the "king-imam" al-Badr in Yemen in 1963. Then, in addition to them, SAS personnel who were on leave were involved in hostilities against the new republican authorities, and funding went through Saudi Arabia.
In 1967, Folk led a detachment of Merseneurs in Biafra, the oil-rich Nigerian province inhabited by the Igbo people. Here he also called Bob Denard, and other "authoritative" fighters, then agitated by Folk, were the German Rolf Steiner and the native of Wales Teffy Williams.
Rolf Steiner was born in Munich in 1933 and was the son of one of the squadron pilots of the famous "Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen. Behind the shoulders of 34-year-old Steiner was the service in the first parachute regiment of the Foreign Legion, the war in Indochina and Algeria. He was also a member of the OAS and participated in one of the assassination attempts against Charles de Gaulle, was arrested and was under investigation for 9 months.
In Biafra, Steiner quickly went up the hill: starting his service as a company commander, he ended up as the commander of the 4th commando brigade he himself created ("Black Legion"), whose emblem was a skull and bones, and the motto was the phrase "My Honor is called Loyalty."
The beginning of his career as a mercenary was so successful for him that he continued it in Uganda, but was betrayed by the new authorities of this country and was in Sudan for three years, where he was kept in an iron cage in the middle of a prison yard, starved and tortured. Steiner returned to Germany disabled. Here he wrote the book "The Last Condottiere".
Rolf Steiner was an atypical mercenary: he called himself an "adventurer" and claimed to have fought not for money, but for conviction. Indeed, he did not leave Biafra with the other Volk mercenaries, and the journalist France Soir then wrote about the remaining ones: "They need another one to create a good title for the film and hundreds to create an army" - you probably guessed what he was hinting at to the "Magnificent Seven". And in the future, Steiner could have avoided arrest if he had agreed to testify against his friend, Idi Amin, chief of the General Staff of the Ugandan army.
Folk's other subordinate, Taffy Williams, was born in Wales, but spent his childhood and adolescence in South Africa.
Previously, he served with Mike Hoare in the Congo, in the famous Wild Goose Battalion (Commando-5). Both in the Congo and in Biafra, he became famous for his absolute fearlessness, personally led soldiers in attacks under machine gun fire, and his subordinates considered him "conspiracy". In Biafra, he served in Steiner's Black Legion and highly praised the fighting qualities of the rebels under him, stating:
“There is no one stronger than these people. Give me 10,000 Biafrians, and within six months we will build an army that is indomitable on this continent. I saw that men die during this war so that if they fought in World War II for England, they would have earned the Victoria Cross."
Williams completed his contract in Biafra and was the last of Steiner's "Magnificent Six" to leave the province. Therefore, he is often called the "ideal mercenary". Many believe that it was Taffy Williams who became the prototype of the protagonist of F. Forsyth's book "The Dogs of War".
Taking this opportunity, let's say a few words about other famous "volunteers" of Biafra: pilots Karl von Rosen and Lynn Garrison.
Karl Gustav von Rosen was a count, the son of the famous Swedish ethnographer and nephew of Karin Goering (nee Fock), the wife of Hermann Goering.
During the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935), he served in the Red Cross aviation and during one of the missions received chemical burns from mustard gas used by the Italians. Then on the aircraft "Douglas DC-2" he bought himself, converted into a bomber, in 1939-1940. he fought as a volunteer on the side of Finland. After the outbreak of World War II, the British refused to recruit him because of his kinship with Goering. Later, von Rosen was the personal pilot of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, whose plane was shot down on the night of September 18 in the Congo. Karl von Rosen was then ill, and therefore another pilot, also a Swede, flew the plane.
After the outbreak of the war in Nigeria, with the support of French intelligence, he delivered 5 Malmo MFI-9 aircraft converted into attack aircraft to Biafra: this is how the famous squadron "Children of Biafra" was created (another version of the translation is "Babies of Biafra"), which surprised everyone with its bold and effective actions.
In 1977, Ethiopia and Somalia went to war over the Ogaden province.
The paradox was that at first it was Somalia that was the ally of the USSR, and the Soviet Union, diligently and sparing no effort and resources, actually created a modern army in this state. And then Ethiopia announced a "socialist orientation", and the Somalis found support from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq and some other Arab countries. Now, in this round of the Cold War, Soviet leaders found themselves on the side of Ethiopia, whose army "made a depressing impression." The formula for victory was simple: Soviet weapons, instructors, advisers plus revolutionary Cuban soldiers (18 thousand people) transferred from Angola and Congo. And some more Yemenis and Karl von Rosen, who unexpectedly found himself on the Soviet-Cuban-Ethiopian side. The Cubans then lost 160 people, the USSR - 33 "military specialists". And on July 13, 1977, Karl von Rosen was killed during an attack by Somali partisans.
Lynn Garrison, an Irish Canadian, began his pilot career as the youngest fighter pilot in the postwar Canadian Air Force (served from 1954 to 1964). He was remembered by his colleagues with the phrase: "If this plane has fuel and the noise of the engine is heard, I can control it."
While serving in the Sinai Peninsula, at one time he served as a personal pilot for UN Under-Secretary-General Ralph Bunch.
Garrison became interested in collecting "classic" aircraft (and could afford this pleasure). By 1964, he had acquired 45 vehicles, among which were, for example: Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, Hawker Hurricane, Fokker D. VII, Morane-Saulnier MS.230, Supermarine Spitfire, Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, Vought OS2U Kingfisher, Vought F4U Corsair, Mustang P-51, B-25 Mitchell.
In 1964, Garrison founded the Canadian Aviation Museum, and in 1966 he was the organizer of an air show in Los Angeles.
During the Nigerian Civil War, he became a pilot for the Children of Biafra Squadron. As you can imagine, this rich collector was the last to think about money.
Garrison then took part in the Football War between Honduras and El Salvador (July 6-14, 1969). These were the last battles in history between piston aircraft. The contradictions between these countries have been growing for a long time, the immediate reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the defeat of Honduras in the second qualifying match of the 1970 World Cup. The “lucky” national team of El Salvador later lost all matches in this championship and did not score a single goal.
In 1980, Lynn Garrison attempted to film a TV movie about the voodoo cult in Haiti, but it ended up beating a film crew by local peasants in a cemetery while trying to excavate the alleged zombie's grave. In 1991, Garrison returned to Haiti as an adviser to Haitian dictator Raul Sedras. In 1992, he became the US Consul in this country, together with Pat Collins, assisted in the reorganization of its army. In 2010 he retired and stayed in Haiti.
Garrison is also known as the director of aviation stunts in some films.
Lynn Garrison is one of the few surviving participants in the events of those years.
But back to Folk, who did not win laurels in Biafra and preferred to withdraw his people ahead of time, citing poor supply of weapons and ammunition, which was a violation of the contract. After that, he "retired" and, enjoying universal respect, lived in France. In 2010, he was even a guest of honor at the main Foreign Legion celebration of the Battle of Cameron.
Folk died in Nice on November 6, 2011 (at the age of 86).
Mike Hoare's Hundred Years
After returning from Congo, Mike Hoare seemed to have retired from "big business" and even made a trip around the world on a yacht. If in the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp about the commander of the "Wild Geese" and his subordinates were written exclusively in "black" tones, then in the West he had a quite decent reputation as a man who saved thousands of innocent Europeans from reprisals.
He also tried to "find a job" during the civil war in Nigeria (which was mentioned above), but could not agree on payment for his services. But his former Commando-5 subordinates Alistair Weeks and John Peters were making good money then recruiting pilots: Weeks recruited them for Biafra, and Peters for Nigeria. But for Weeks, it all ended sadly: his plane with several tons of Nigerian dollars was detained in Togo, the money was confiscated, and Weeks and his pilot served 84 days in prison.
Still, he was bored with living the life of a "well-deserved pensioner," and in 1975, many claim, he was involved in the recruitment of mercenaries who then went to Angola. Imitating Robert Denard, in 1976 Hoare organized the Wild Goose Club, an office of mercenaries, many of whom later ended up in Rhodesia.
And at the end of the 70s. Michael Hoare has consulted on The Wild Geese (1978), a screenplay based on the novel Thin White Line by Daniel Carney.
The film stars Ian Yule, who previously served with Mad Mike in Commando 5, as Sergeant Donaldson, and Richard Burton himself plays Allen Faulkner (one of his prototypes was Mike Hoare).
Other celebrities in the film were Roger Moore and Richard Harris.
But it was Hoare, the only one of this cheerful company of mercenaries of revolutionary Katanga, who was destined to go to prison.
In 1981, Hoare decided to shake off the old days and undertook to fulfill the order of the South African government to organize a coup d'état in the Seychelles. It is curious that Hoare then acted in the interests of the legitimate President James Mancham, who in 1977 was expelled by the "socialist of the Indian Ocean" Frans Albert René.
On November 24, 46 fighters from Hoare's detachment gathered at the Johannesburg airport. Among them were three veterans of the famous Commando-5 ("Wild Geese") - they became Hoare's deputies. The second group of fighters was represented by former soldiers of the reconnaissance and parachute regiments of the SADF (South African Defense Force, South African Defense Force). The third is the veterans of the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian anti-guerrilla unit.
Finally, the Rhodesians from the private military company SAS (Security Advisory Services), created in 1975. Its founders, John Banks and David Tomkins, deliberately adopted the name, the abbreviation of which was identical to that of the famous British Special Air Service.
They all set off on a journey disguised as members of a club of former rugby players with the frivolous name "The Order of the Beer Foam Blowers" - AOFB. But Hoare was then let down by the inappropriate behavior of one of his fighters, who had obvious mental problems.
The first unpleasant incident occurred in the city of Ermelo, where, in the absence of Hoare, the mercenaries slightly "went over" in the bar of the Holiday Inn and one of them beat up a visitor he did not like. Hoare ordered the poor fellow to be paid, and the scandal was avoided. On November 25, the rugby squad arrived at Pointe Larue Airport (Victoria) on Mahe Island.
And the times were then so idyllic that they carried disassembled Kalashnikovs in their sports bags.
The rest defies reasonable explanation.
The penultimate of the mercenaries in the bag (in which, we recall, the disassembled machine gun was hidden) turned out to be fruits prohibited for transport. It was them that the customs officers found.
Hoara's subordinate, apparently, was very fond of lychees, and therefore, instead of calmly parting with them and going to the bus, he began to bicker. And when the angry customs officer, after all taking the fruit, began to write him a fine, made a scandal with shouts: "You searched me because I am a Creole," he ran into a full-fledged search. The rest of Hoare's people were real professionals. Former parachutist Kevin Beck, who was standing next to this psychopath, assembled his machine gun in 15 seconds, the rest, who had already got on the bus, having heard the noise, were ready in half a minute. But everything did not go according to plan, they had to enter an unequal battle right at the airport, which they still managed to capture (while the Hoare fighters burned a police armored car). But further actions became impossible due to the arrival of additional forces, including army units. Realizing that they had nothing else to do in the Seychelles, Mike and his guys hijacked an Indian plane and took it back to South Africa, where they were arrested for 6 days. The world press "dubbed" this operation "Coup Tour".
For the attack on the airport and the hijacking of the airliner, Hoare was then sentenced to 20 years (served 33 months). During this time, Hoare received many letters of support from the former hostages released by him in the Congo, their friends and relatives. Here's what was written in one of them:
“Dear Colonel. On November 25, 1964, the day of the Stanleyville massacre, you, along with Colonel Raudstein of the American Army and a detachment of your people, rescued an American family who lived on the outskirts of a rebel-held city. You then put the little girl in the back seat of your truck and drove the family to safety. I am that little girl. I am now 23 years old. Now I have a husband and children of my own, and I love them very much. Thank you for giving me life."
When he was released, Hoare began to write books and memoirs: The Mercenary, The Road to Kalamata and The Seychelles Scam.
In this photo, Mad Mike is 100 years old:
Let's remember how he was at 25 years old:
At 45:
Finally, at 59, on the set of Wild Geese:
Old age does not spare even such heroes of the era.
Michael Hoare died on February 2, 2020 in Durban, South Africa, in the one hundred and first year of his life, and his death was reported by the media around the world.
