Mike Hoare
| Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Mad Mike |
| Born |
17 March 1919 British India |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom Katanga Congo-Léopoldville.svg){kind=small} "Ancient Order of Froth Blowers" |
| Service/branch | British Army (Armour) and later mercenary |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars | Seychelles affair |
Thomas Michael Hoare (born 17 March 1919) ("Mad Mike") is a British-Irish mercenary leader known for military activities in Africa and his attempt to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles.
The epithet "Mad" Mike Hoare comes from broadcasts by East German radio during the fighting in the Congo in the Sixties. They would precede their commentary with "The mad bloodhound, Mike Hoare."
Hoare was born in British India. He was educated in England. He joined the London Irish Rifles at the outbreak of World War 2 and served in India and Burma as an officer. He achieved the rank of major. After the war, he completed his training as a chartered accountant, and qualified in 1948. He emigrated to Durban, Natal Province, Union of South Africa, where he later ran safaris and became a soldier-for-hire in various African countries.
During the Congo Crisis Mike Hoare organized and led two separate mercenary groups.
Mike Hoare's first mercenary action was in 1961 in Katanga, a province trying to break away from the newly independent Congo. His unit was called "4 Commando."
During this time he married Phyllis Sims, an airline stewardess.
In 1964, Congolese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe, his employeer back in Katanga, hired Major Mike Hoare to lead a military unit called 5 Commando, Armée Nationale Congolaise (5 Commando ANC) (later led by John Peters) (not to be confused with No.5 Commando, the British Second World War commando force) made up of about 300 men most of whom were from South Africa. 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.
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Wikipedia