This stamp imagines a daring paratrooper assault carried out the Congo Army. Well the army had a paratroop division, so that could happen. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The world was filled with stories of foreigners fighting in the Congo. Belgium, the UN, mercenaries with various backing, and even Che Guevara. Yet here we have the Congo Army fighting for itself pulling off a dangerous airborne assault. The opposite of reality.
Todays stamp is issue A113, a 9 Franc stamp issued by the Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 5, 1965. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of independence. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents. This stamp set also exists imperforate, raising the value to $17.50.
Belgium had administered the colony with local Askari soldiers operating with mostly Belgian officers. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/10/belgian-congo-1942-can-colonials-rely-on-askari-soldiers-when-the-home-country-is-occupied/ . The function was civil defence with the additional tasks of forcing labor contracts. To do this last function, they carried chicotes, a whip made from the hide of a hippopotamus. Not a promising basis for a professional army. Only in the final years of colonial status were a few locals taken for more advanced military training. The intention was that Belgian officers would be seconded to the Congo Army until further notice. 5 days after independence the troops themselves announced that was not acceptable and mutineed. The troops rioted in the major cities specifically targeting whites. Soon copper rich Katanga declared itself independent and Belgian paratroopers landed to support that and protect it’s nationals. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/13/katanga-1961-mining-out-the-chaos/ .
The United Nations intervened on the side of the Congo army. The government was trying to get control of the looting army. They appointed locals as generals that had previously served as corporals and sergeants in the previous Askari force, The tide was against the Congo. The Prime Minister was arrested and turned over to “independent” Katanga where he was beaten, shot by a firing squad, and his corpse dissolved in acid. Dag Hamirgold, the UN secretary, was killed in a plane crash trying to get negotiations going.
All this quickly proved tiresome. Che Guevara found the local freedom fighters unhelpful and untrustworthy and moved on. Congo then agreed to take Katanga leader Moise Tshombe as Prime Minister to get Katanga back and restore Belgian support. A few months after this stamp, Congo General and former Askari corporal Mobutu declared himself President and Tshombe was off into exile.
I mentioned lack of training and effective leadership plagued the early days of the Congo Army. This line of thinking lead to lots of dubious aid to Congo. At the time of this stamp, Begians were training the Army. The British were training Army engineers. Italy was training the combat arm of the air force. The USA was training the Air Force’s transport command. Most relevant to this stamp, Israelis were training the Army’s Parachute Division. The parachute division was most important to the central government as most army units listened only if at all to local provincial leadership.
Discarded C47, jump off only while still on ground. Lesson of the day!
Tshombe tried to come back to Congo in 1968 despite having been tried and sentenced to death for treason. His executive jet was hijacked by French spy Francis Bodenan of SDECE. He ended up in Algeria where he died of “heart failure”. Europe was now supporting Mabuto. Meanwhile the Army is desperately in need of more foreign aid so it can become a force for good and achieve…… So it goes.
Well my drink is empty. Wait, up in the sky, is that the Congo Parachute Division. Oh no… Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.