Difference between revisions of "Costas Georgiou"
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[[Costas Georgiou]] was a British paratrooper and mercenary.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.</ref> | [[Costas Georgiou]] was a British paratrooper and mercenary.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.</ref> | ||
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| + | Georgious served in [[1 Battalion, Parachute Regiment]] until he and a colleague [[Michael Wainhouse]] were convicted of robbing a Belfast Post Office, using army weapons. They were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.</ref> | ||
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| + | Following their release Georgiou and Wainhouse linked up with two other former paratroopers, Georgiou's cousin [[Charles Christodolou]] and [[Nicholas Mervyn Hall]]. In 1975, Hall advertised his services as a freelance soldier in the press, and the other three were among those who responded.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.</ref> | ||
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| + | The group made contact with the [[National Liberation Front of Angola|FNLA]], and was given a mission in central London as a loyalty test. Hall refused this, but Georgiou complied and set fire to the offices of the Mozambique and Guinea Information Centre on 12 Little Newport Street on 6 November 1975.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.61.</ref> | ||
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| + | ==Angola== | ||
| + | The four arrived in Angola in December 1975, where Georgiou renamed himself "Colonel Callan" after a television character of the time.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.62.</ref> | ||
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| + | [[Tony Geraghty]] records that Callan, "his fellow assasin [[Sammy Copeland]] and their inner ring of ex-para psychopaths - the mercenary advance guard - killed people as a mundane, daily process".<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.69.</ref> | ||
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| + | ===Maquela=== | ||
| + | At Maquela, on 2 February 1976, Callan shot dead 22-year-old ex-soldier [[Phil Davies]] for firing a rocket at a mercenary vehicle by mistake. He then presided over the slaughter of between 11 and 14 men from the second wave of mercenaries, who were taken to a valley and told to start running at which point Georgiou's colleague's picked them off.<ref>Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.71.</ref> | ||
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==External Resources== | ==External Resources== | ||
Revision as of 17:22, 29 June 2010
Costas Georgiou was a British paratrooper and mercenary.[1]
Georgious served in 1 Battalion, Parachute Regiment until he and a colleague Michael Wainhouse were convicted of robbing a Belfast Post Office, using army weapons. They were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.[2]
Following their release Georgiou and Wainhouse linked up with two other former paratroopers, Georgiou's cousin Charles Christodolou and Nicholas Mervyn Hall. In 1975, Hall advertised his services as a freelance soldier in the press, and the other three were among those who responded.[3]
The group made contact with the FNLA, and was given a mission in central London as a loyalty test. Hall refused this, but Georgiou complied and set fire to the offices of the Mozambique and Guinea Information Centre on 12 Little Newport Street on 6 November 1975.[4]
Contents
Angola
The four arrived in Angola in December 1975, where Georgiou renamed himself "Colonel Callan" after a television character of the time.[5]
Tony Geraghty records that Callan, "his fellow assasin Sammy Copeland and their inner ring of ex-para psychopaths - the mercenary advance guard - killed people as a mundane, daily process".[6]
Maquela
At Maquela, on 2 February 1976, Callan shot dead 22-year-old ex-soldier Phil Davies for firing a rocket at a mercenary vehicle by mistake. He then presided over the slaughter of between 11 and 14 men from the second wave of mercenaries, who were taken to a valley and told to start running at which point Georgiou's colleague's picked them off.[7]
External Resources
- NameBase GEORGIU COSTA
- 1976: Mercenaries trial begins in Angola, On this Day - 11 June, BBC News, accessed 29 June 2010.
- 1976: Death sentence for mercenaries, On This Day - 28 June, BBC News, accessed 29 June 2010.
- ANGOLA: Death for 'War Dogs', Time magazine, 12 July 1976.
Notes
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.60.
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.61.
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.62.
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.69.
- ↑ Tony Geraghty, Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering, Piatkus, 2008. p.71.
