The FN FAL Battle Rifle by Bob Cashner

Author:Bob Cashner [Cashner, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-05-14T10:33:18+00:00

countries sent huge amounts of

armaments – and advisors – to the

largest groups of guerrillas.

In 1964, communist-backed

guerrillas calling themselves Simbas

took over large parts of the Congo

from the fledgling nationalist

government under Moïse Tshombe

(1919–69). The Simbas killed off the

intelligentsia and committed many

other atrocities as well, especially

involving European mission

workers, including nuns. In the town

of Stanleyville (now Kisangani), the

Simbas took a large number of

civilians hostage; these were mainly white Europeans but also included A Congolese soldier resting in some Congolese friendly to the government.

the bush, 1961. He is armed

Due to the ongoing bloodshed and the fear that the hostages would be with a Belgian FN FAL. (Photo by Terrence Spencer/Time Life

executed, a rescue mission was planned, Operation Dragon Rouge, Pictures/Getty Images) involving the crack Belgian troops of the 1er Régiment de Para-Commando.

The Belgian Air Force was, at the time, equipped with American-made Fairchild C-119G ‘Flying Boxcars’ and it was found that the extensive length of the standard FAL rifle could prove difficult for paratroops exiting the aircraft. In early 1964, the Régiment Para-Commando had begun to receive a new weapon, a modified FAL with a folding stock to make it more compact. Not all para-commandos were equipped with the new weapon, but its initial use in Operation Dragon Rouge would lead to it forever being referred to as the ‘Para’ or ‘Congo’ FAL.

At 0400hrs on 24 November 1964, some 350 para-commandos made

a ‘hot’ (opposed) parachute drop onto Stanleyville airport. Within 40

minutes they had secured the airfield and removed obstacles from the runway. This enabled the five US Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft carrying more Belgian troops to land at the airfield. No fewer than five rebel counter-attacks were beaten off by the para-commandos at the airfield, while another advance group fought its way into Stanleyville proper.

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© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

On the ground, Congolese troops and a band of mostly white mercenaries known as 5 Commando was likewise rushing towards

Stanleyville. These were the troops of colourful Irish soldier-of-fortune Colonel ‘Mad Mike’ Hoare, hired by Tshombe. The first action of the mercenaries had proven near disastrous, as some of Hoare’s men were not the fully trained veteran soldiers they claimed to be.

Hoare’s 5 Commando then conducted serious military training to weed out the undesirables and bring the unit together. Much of that training involved live-fire practice at a home-made rifle range with the new weapon issued to the mercenaries – the FN FAL rifle. Hoare himself was particularly impressed by the weapon and greatly appreciated the full-automatic capability for jungle warfare: ‘Every man who was armed with an FN rifle … was now the equivalent of a light machine-gunner, restricted only by the amount of ammunition he could carry or had immediate access to. With this firepower, four men with FN rifles were a potent force’ (Hoare 2008: 16).

As with just about everyone else who used the FAL, Hoare’s men found the weight of the weapon was an issue. It was impossible not to become weary carrying a 4.5kg (10lb) rifle all day and the regulation military sling could not keep the weapon in the ‘ready’ position.

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