operation Dragon Rouge. In 1964 Belgian paracomados attempted one of the largest hostage rescue missions ever in Congo.
operation Dragon Rouge. In 1964 Belgian paracomados attempted one of the largest hostage rescue missions ever in Congo.
4 comments
Lol, at 1:00 “Under the leadership of Leopold the **1st** the europeans seized control” this seems to be a well researched video…
I get, that it isn’t a video about the decolonisation time,… but mixing up the Leopolds and even using a picture of the wrong leopold is a bit weird, no?
Also not mentioning that the spiraling into chaos and destabilisation was pushed because of Belgium and the CIA’s involvement in the creation of the Katanga freestate to protect mining interests. Which pushed Lumumba to seek help. As the US and Belgium supported the Katanga Freestate, the UN involvement did nothing to stabilize the conflict. basically pushed him in the hands of the USSR sealing his deathsentence. And we all “know” what happened with Lumumba. And that Belgium was involved in that aswell.
But yeah, at the time of dragon rouge, Congo was an absolute shitshow, and the intervention of the para’s was something that saved a lot of lives!
There’s some pretty wild footage out there of private military contractors (including Belgians) involved. Back in those days, they were just called mercenaries.
Didn’t the Foreign Legion drop in first 2 REP and then the Paras arrived a few days later.