around Stanleyville, but with their greatest strength in the area of Luluabourg in Kasai Province.”
He moved the pool pointer far to the east on the map to Luluabourg.
“For one reason or another, the ANC has been unable to completely eliminate the Simba in Kasai Province, which may explain why, as of yesterday, General Mobutu has added Kasai Province to Colonel Supo’s responsibilities, and given him orders to eliminate the Simba and ‘Lieutenant General’ Olenga once and for all.
“I have no doubt this could be accomplished, and without the assistance of Major Hoare’s mercenaries, were it not for the new threat of Guevara. If Guevara is coming to the Congo, we have to presume he is coming with Soviet support, which means with Soviet weapons and other supplies, and possibly with the assistance of the Chinese Communists as well.
“Now, so far Olenga’s forces are not well-equipped or well-trained. Most of their weapons are those they captured from the ANC in the opening days of the trouble. If Guevara comes—”
“I stand corrected,” Totse said. “When Guevara comes, it will be necessary for him to get his men, and weapons, and supplies to the center of insurrectionist activity in Luluabourg. There is little doubt that both will arrive in the capital of Tanganyika, Dar es Salaam, which is here . . .”
He pointed to the far, eastern, coast of Tanganyika.
“. . . on the Indian Ocean, by both ship and air. That’s quite a distance. There’s no way they could get them across the border where our countries join, which means they would have to be shipped across Lake Tanganyika, and then somehow transport them to Luluabourg.
“That raises the possibility of both men and matériel being shipped through the former French Congo, now known as Congo Brazzaville.”
He moved the pointer again.
“You can see that Brazzaville is closer to Luluabourg than Luluabourg is to Lake Tanganyika.
“As Napoleon said, ‘an army travels on its stomach’, and that would seem to apply to a guerrilla force as well. The tactics devised by Colonel Supo to deal with this threat are as follows:
“First, now that Kasai Province is under his orders, he will use ANC Forces and Major Hoare’s mercenary force, and the few aircraft that will now be available to him—several B-26 bombers, a few more T-28s, and a C-47—to contain, and ultimately eliminate, the insurrectionists around Luluabourg.
“Colonel Supo believes that all that activity in Luluabourg area will discourage the Soviets—and the Cubans—from trying to increase their forces, or supply them, through Congo Brazzaville.
“That, of course, leaves them only the across-Lake-Tanganyika route. It is also possible that since they will soon learn the bulk of our strength is in the Luluabourg area, they may see it as an opportunity to strike in this area. It is communist doctrine, as we all know, to strike where the enemy is weakest, and when resistance is encountered, to bend like a weed in the wind.
“The terrain in this area is such that the insurrectionists can move a hundred meters off the road confident that we can’t see them. And, until now, aerial reconnaissance has been unavailable to us. If we can find them, without them knowing they have been found, we can do them a good deal of harm. Furthermore, patrolling Lake Tanganyika by air will permit us to interdict much of what they try to ship across the lake.”
He paused and smiled.
“Are you now getting the idea of why we’re so glad to have you with us?”
“Major,” Lunsford said. “With due respect to our aviators, overwhelming immodesty compels me to tell you that Special Forces is also pretty good at interdicting people—and their supplies—on the ground. In both friendly territory and the other kind.”
“So you have been telling me, Father,” Totse said.
“We’re also pretty good at listening to other people’s radio messages, Major,” Spec7 Peters said.
“That of course would be very helpful,” Totse said, and then went on. “I will be here as long as necessary to answer any and all questions, but before we get into that: Would you like to add anything, my colonel?”
Supo got up and walked to the lectern, looked around the room, and then said something in Swahili.
Totse translated. “The colonel says that when he was a young corporal, he was taught to conserve the things necessary to fight—that most of the time when they are gone, they are gone forever.”