The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Armies

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Hope you guys enjoy reading ! :thumb:

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Congo Katanga

A tough-looking blonde female mercenary stands in a group of camouflaged Katagna mercenaries gathered on the road from Kolwezi Jan. 20 after retreating from advancing United Nations troops.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

French mercs working with the Karen In Burma late80s early 90's the karen had been fighting the Burma in Burma for independance since 1945

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Serbian mercenaries training troops in Zaire

 

[Kunal Biswas]

PARIS: Bob Denard, a French former mercenary who led uprisings across Africa and the Middle East and controlled Comoros for more than a decade, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 78.
Denard died in the Paris area and the cause of death was not immediately clear, a family member said on the condition of anonymity for privacy reasons.
Denard was given a five-year suspended prison term by a French court last year for his role in a failed 1995 coup in Comoros, a former French territory in the Indian Ocean that he virtually ruled through figurehead leaders after a putsch in 1978.
Denard, whose real name was Gilbert Bourgeaud, was convicted for leading about 30 French mercenaries who had stormed ashore in Comoros to overthrow President Said Mohammed Djohar after an overnight raid. A week later, French troops, acting in the name of a bilateral defense accord, liberated Djohar and captured the mercenaries.
In May 1999, Denard was acquitted in the assassination of the Comoros president, Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane, who in 1989 was shot in his office in Moroni, the capital. Denard was one of several European mercenaries to play a major role in a series of wars that accompanied the decolonization of Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. His ruthless efficiency when faced with poorly equipped and poorly trained African troops made him a legendary figure as he led a band of former European soldiers who became known as les affreux, or the dreadful ones. Denard served in the French Marines and the French colonial police in Morocco before embarking on a career as a mercenary. Starting in 1961, Denard led uprisings in Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Rhodesia (which later became Zimbabwe), Iran and Yemen. In 1993, a Paris court also sentenced Denard to a five-year suspended sentence for his role in an attempted 1977 putsch in Benin.

Bob Denard, French former mercenary, dies at 78 - The New York Times

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Executive Outcomes :cool2:

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Video of Executive Outcomes gunship in Sierra Leone:


Blood diamonds anyone ?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Surinam

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Roberto Holden, President of the FLNA (Frente Nacional para a Libertação de Angola) and Santos Di Castro, ex-Colonel of the Portuguese Army, now allied with the FLNA

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Good research and photos from Kunal Biswas!

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Some background on the Congo.

Colonisation of the Congo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is at this point that King Leopold of Belgium took a part. In Peter Forbath's words, Leopold was:

"A tall, imposing man ... enjoying a reputation for hedonistic sensuality, cunning intelligence (his father once described him as subtle and sly as a fox), overweening ambition, and personal ruthlessness. He was, nevertheless, an extremely minor monarch in the realpolitik of the times, ruling a totally insignificant nation, a nation in fact that had come into existence barely four decades before and lived under the constant threat of losing its precarious independence to the great European powers around it. He was a figure who, one might have had every reason to expect, would devote himself to maintaining his country's strict neutrality, avoiding giving offence to any of his powerful neighbours, and indulging his keenly developed tastes for the pleasures of the flesh, rather than one who would make a profound impact on history. Yet, in the most astonishing and improbable way imaginable, he managed virtually single-handedly to upset the balance of power in Africa and usher in the terrible age of European colonialism on the black continent."

 

[Tshering22]

Swiss Army is probably the world's most powerful mercenary army.

The Swiss don't fight anybody else's war. When was the last time they ever had to fight in first place? A few brush ups with Axis and Allied forces? That's it?

If WW2 had not happened, Switzerland might not even have had to need a military.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

The Swiss don't fight anybody else's war. When was the last time they ever had to fight in first place? A few brush ups with Axis and Allied forces? That's it?,If WW2 had not happened, Switzerland might not even have had to need a military.

He said Probably..

Swiss majority population have military background and they are very different and nice people..
French, Belgian, US, UK & German, Russian, other east Block have larger business in Mercenary thing..


Besides Swiss, Denmark and other Nordic countries are small and there part is very less in this business..

 

[W.G.Ewald]

The Swiss don't fight anybody else's war. When was the last time they ever had to fight in first place? A few brush ups with Axis and Allied forces? That's it?

If WW2 had not happened, Switzerland might not even have had to need a military.

Historically the Austrians have been the foes of the Swiss. That William Tell business was part of that.

William Tell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Swiss Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde are the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers. Apart from household and guard units, regular Swiss mercenary regiments have served as line troops in various armies; notably those of France, Spain and Naples up to the 19th century. In contemporary usage, the name Swiss Guards generally refers to the Pontifical Swiss Guard of Vatican City.

Various units of Swiss Guards existed for hundreds of years. The earliest such unit was the Swiss Hundred Guard (Cent Suisses) at the French court (1497 – 1830). This small force was complemented in 1567 by a Swiss Guards regiment. The Papal Swiss Guard now in the Vatican City State was founded in 1506 and is the only Swiss Guard that still exists. In the 18th century several other Swiss Guards existed for periods in various European courts.

The institution reflects the situation of Switzerland at the time. Unlike the present, Switzerland was a poor country whose young men often sought their fortunes abroad.

 

[prakashbioc]

Don`t feed the troll..

 

[KS]

The Swiss don't fight anybody else's war. When was the last time they ever had to fight in first place? A few brush ups with Axis and Allied forces? That's it?

If WW2 had not happened, Switzerland might not even have had to need a military.

I meant they are probably the most powerful militia. In Swiss Army only about 5% of them are regular army personnel. The rest are just militia. The line is quite a blur between militia and mercenary.

Also will the Arab and Chechen fighters in different locations like Afghanistan,Caucuses come under mercenary category ?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Also will the Arab and Chechen fighters in different locations like Afghanistan,Caucuses come under mercenary category ?

I cant say the word mercenary for them as they have no Military training from Military, But tango themselves, there are Serbian and Russian Mercenary though..