Soldiers of Misfortune

 the history of mercenaries
Costas Georgiou

Costas Georgiou aka "Colonel Callan" (1951-1976)

Costas Georgiou was born in Cyprus in 1951and moved with his family to London in 1963. Later he joined the British Army and served with the Parachute Regiment in Northern Ireland. After he robbed a Post Office in 1972 with another para he was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to five years in prison.

Soon after his release he made contact with some supporters of Holden Robertos FNLA in Angola. In this time the FNLA was funded by the CIA and desperately looking for mercenaries. With some ex comrades Georgiou went to Angola and installed himself in northern Angola as Colnel Callan. Despite some suicidal missions against the Angolan MPLA and their Cuban allies he become foremost known for his bloody regime of terror and murder among his own forces.

Finally he and some of his comrades were taken prisoners and put on trial in Luanda for war crimes. He was sentenced to death (most notably for killing 14 of his fellow mercenaries) and executed on 10 July 1976.