Charlie Christodoulou

Thanks to continuing recruitment in England, a somewhat larger mercenary contingent was formed, with the first contingent of mercenaries to arrive in Angola being mostly made up of professional soldiers. However, a full battalion was never realised. The enlarged force was still rather small relative to MPLA/Cuban forces, and many of the men were civilians with no military experience, and often refusing to submit to military discipline. This, combined with the foreign, Mediterranean origin of most of the core leadership, (Georgiou, Christodoulou and the Portuguese - although Christodoulou spoke with a Birmingham accent), created a deep gulf between the officers and the British other ranks – to say nothing of the native Angolans recruited as infantry and support troops. Most of these had no military experience and many knew no English, or even Portuguese (then still the language of government and the native elite.)

Charles 'Charlie' Christodoulou (born c.1951 – killed 14 February 1976) was a British soldier in the Parachute Regiment who later served as a foreign mercenary during the Angolan War of Independence of the 1970s. Known as 'Shotgun Charlie' as he was seldom without one in his hands in Angola, he was involved in the murder of 167 civilians during that conflict.

In 1976 Christodoulou was recruited in the Aldershot area by Nick Hall as a mercenary for the Angola War along with Georgiou and Michael Wainwright.

Described as a "withdrawn and easily led character", Christodoulou fought with the rank of Captain in Angola in 1976 for the FNLA. A ruthless and sadistic man disliked by all except Georgiou, his best friend, Christodoulou was one of the first three British mercenaries to land in Angola after Georgiou, arriving with his close friends Nick Hall and Michael Wainwright.

On 14 February 1976 Christodoulou heard reports that the enemy were 40 miles away and went with two British and two American mercenaries in a landrover to investigate. They were killed in an ambush.