 The Force Publique ( or " Public Force " ) was the combined police and military force of both the Congo and Ruanda @-@ Urundi . During World War II , it constituted the bulk of the Free Belgian Forces , numbering some 40 @,@ 000 men . Like other colonial armies of the time , the Force Publique was racially segregated ; it was led by 280 white officers and NCOs , but otherwise comprised indigenous black Africans . The Force Publique had never received the more modern equipment supplied to the Belgian Armed Forces before the war , and so had to use outdated weapons and equipment like the Stokes mortar and the Saint Chamond 70 mm howitzer . 
