The Leopard Battalion - 10th Commando in the Congo

 The Leopard Battalion -

 10 Commando in the Congo 

The iconic leopard "Kansimba" commandos of the Congo, led by Major Jean "Black Jack" Schramme. The design of the original 2nd pattern patch features a jumping leopard motif, superimposed onto an outlines of the Katangan state (red), Lake Tanganyika (blue), and the distinctive Katanga cross (locally called the "handa").


Tracing it's origins to "Leopard Group" in 1961 for service in during the Katanga crisis. It was originally formed up of white volunteers from South Africa and Rhodesia, but was augmented by a force of black Katangan Gendarmes as the unit withdrew to Angola in early 1963. Upon the outbreak of the Simba Rebellion in 1964, the unit was fully incorporated back into Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) as 10 Commando (Kansimba). The unit served throughout the war helping to liberate large swathes of the country from the ruthless rule of the lawless Simbas rebels.


Upon the outbreak of the Mercenary's Revolt in 1967, 10 Commando turned against General Mobutu's ANC in continued favor of Moise Tshombe. The unit scored some early successes under Schramme's renegade command, the unit was critically under-supplied. As ANC forces regrouped, 10 Commando was largely destroyed as a fighting force by the fall of 1967 by the elite ANC 2nd Parachute Brigade. A large number the surviving 10 Commando men of Lunda descent fled to Angola, where many would fight for the Portuguese against communist rebels. Schramme and the white volunteers largely departed for Europe permanently by 1968.

I plan to add a command unit of 5 figures and two sections of 8 figures to my collection armed with SLR and Mag 58

Cheers

Matt