CHAPTER FOUR
At midnight on 1 April 1955, Colonel Grivas was in his room listening for the explosions to open the EOKA drive for enosis and expecting to see the lights go out. The Markos Drakos group broke into the newly refurbished Cyprus Broadcasting Service compound at Athalassa near Nicosia Airport where they gagged the unsuspecting night watchmen and planted bombs that badly damaged the transmitters. The Forces Broadcasting Service was not attacked because, it seems, young Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots liked its pop music. The Nicosia group led by Christakis Eleftheriou, a senior EOKA who had been with Grivas when Makarios gave permission for the campaign to begin, threw hand grenades at the Colonial Secretariat. The plumber Stylianos Lenas, who had become a formidable bomb-maker, threw a device over the Wolseley Barracks perimeter fence at the Communication Centre. In spite of the belief the explosions might be an April Fool’s Day joke, 2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers immediately stood to, and Lieutenant Colonel Ian Freeland sent the Internal Security Platoon to guard the HQ Middle East Command compound. 2 Green Howards were on exercise. In the Famagusta Group area, several bombs failed to explode, but 2 Wireless Regiment installation at Ayios Nikolaos came under fire. An attack on Dhekelia Power Station led by Andreas Karios failed when Modestos Pantelis was electrocuted as he threw a rope damp with dew over live electricity cables. Had he succeeded, he would have blacked out much of Cyprus. His body was found next day.
The success that the police enjoyed was largely a combination of good luck and EOKA incompetence. The brother of Pantelis, Christofis, was arrested at a roadblock near Akhna on his way to join the Troodos Guerrilla Group and was later sentenced to seven years. In Larnaca, the former PEON Secretary-General Stavros Poskottis, the Town Group leader, was arrested during the day after an explosive device was found outside his house. He was sentenced to nine years for possession. His Group had damaged the Courthouse and Police Station. The Limassol Town Group, led by Evghenios Cotsapas, was largely deterred from completing their tasks by police patrols and incompetence. Cotsapas was arrested in November 1955 in possession of bombs in his car at a roadblock and sentenced to three years. A number of leaflets found throughout Cyprus read:
With God’s help, faith to our righteous struggle, the support of all Greeks, and the help of Cypriots, WE START OUR FIGHT AGAINST THE BRITISH RULERS, having as a dictum what our forefathers left as a holy testament, “COME BACK WITH YOUR SHIELD OR ON YOUR SHIELD”
CYPRIOT BROTHERS
From the depths of the centuries, they look upon us all those who glorified Greek history, the soldiers of Marathon and Salamis, Leonidas’ 300, the fighters of the Albanian front. The fighters of 1821 have turned our eyes towards us and teach us that that freedom is only won with BLOOD. All of Hellenism is watching us as well, with anxiety and national pride. Let us show with our actions that we will surpass them.
The time has come to show to the world that, even if international diplomacy is UNFAIR and COWARDLY, the Cypriot soul is nevertheless brave. If the conquerors do not want to give us our freedom, we will take it ourselves with our own HANDS and BLOOD.
Let us show to the world that no modern Greeks can bear slavery. The struggle will be difficult. The tyrant has the means and numbers. We have the SOUL. We have RIGHT on our side. That is why we will WIN.
INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATS
Look at the result of your work. It is a disgrace in the 20th century for people to shed their blood to win their FREEDOM, this holy present for which we fought on your side, while you claim that you have fought for against fascism and Nazism
GREEKS
Wherever you are, listen to our voice.
FOLLOW US FOR THE FREEDOM OF CYPRUS
EOKA |
CAPTAIN DIGENES
The call to arms to Greek-Cypriots was typically full of images of Ancient Greece, a feature that would surface several times over the next four years. ‘Come back with your shield or on your shield’ was the farewell of Spartan mothers when their sons left for war. ‘Let us show with our actions that we will surpass them’ was part of the Oath of the Athenian Warriors.
On 2 April, EOKA declared their intentions to attack the British when a grenade was thrown into a military bus taking Service wives shopping in Nicosia; fortunately, it failed to explode. Questioning of about twenty EOKA suspects by Special Branch soon produced results when the entire Limassol cache of 300lbs of explosive, twenty-seven smoke grenades, detonators and .303-inch ammunition was seized. The first arrest warrant against a member of EOKA, with the posting of a reward of £250, was issued against Gregoris Afxentiou on 4 April after nine grenades, two sticks of dynamite and three packets of commercial explosive were found in his abandoned car, not far from a roadblock. A police search of his house also revealed a Greek Army handbook on sabotage. Although Grivas had issued instructions to his second-incommand to stay at a safe house in Kyrenia and to communicate through a nominated courier, Afxentiou had disobeyed. Grivas had no alternative but to sack him and appoint Pavlos Pavlakis, a shipping clerk, to lead the Famagusta Group. Afxentiou was sent to lead the Pentadactylos Group. Among the new recruits attracted to EOKA was Michael Rossides, a mining clerk aged twenty-one years.
Although the incidents would prove an embarrassment to Sir Robert Armitage, and London would criticize him heavily for being caught on the hop and allowing nationalist subversion to bed into the Greek-Cypriot community, the fact was the intelligence and security authorities believed that in spite of the enosis disturbances in Limassol and Nicosia in December 1954 and the interception of the Ayios Georghias and arrest of the exiled Socrates Loizides, the struggle for enosis had been nipped in the bud before it had begun; consequently no precautions had been taken to protect sensitive buildings. Armitage acknowledged that while weapons and explosive had been smuggled to Cyprus, there was no indication that they were about to be used. The local authorities always expected trouble at events in the Greek calendar, in this instance April Fool’s Day. In relation to the proclamations, Commissioner of Police Robbins admitted that little was known about EOKA or the meaning of the acronym. Everyone seemed to know that ‘Digenes’ was a twelfth century Byzantine warrior renowned in an epic poem. The Greek Communist Party’s disclosure that it was the codename of the infamous Colonel Grivas of X in post-war Athens was largely rejected as nonsense and mischief.
Robbins placed the Cyprus Police on full alert and intensified the patrolling of urban areas. General Keightley, the experience of Palestine still fresh, doubled the military guard at key points and ordered that Government buildings be protected against blast damage with sandbags and tape on windows. Armed sentries controlled access to Famagusta port and patrolled its perimeter fence. On the 21st, 40 Field Regiment exchanged places with 2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Wolseley Barracks. The incidents did not immediately harness the popular support expected by Grivas, indeed ‘Voice of the Fatherland’ broadcasting from Radio Athens supported passive resistance. Makarios was shocked by the bombings and insisted that Grivas should regroup. However, Grivas, recognizing that the passive resistance practised by Mahatma Gandhi in India had been effective, believed that the profile of Cyprus must be raised with the British public and that at the same time the effectiveness of the Cyprus Government should be undermined with violence.
A feature of all terrorist groups is to search for scapegoats, and when Petropouleas was blamed for failing to order the Troodos groups to explode their bombs and then was implicated in the arrest of Christofis Pantelis after being questioned by the police, Grivas, believing that he had been ‘turned’ to become an informer, wanted him eliminated. Having become something of a liability after exploiting his illegal presence in Cyprus to promote his reputation as a playboy, he was quietly transferred to Beirut. Since the expected difficulties in smuggling weapons from Greece had materialized, Grivas ordered EOKA to confiscate shotguns from farmers and sportsmen.
On 6 May the sentences for those involved with the Ayios Georghios were handed down at Paphos, with Socrates Loizides sentenced to twelve years to be served in England. Radio Athens was intemperate in praise of the Cypriot patriots. But Grivas had lost both his lieutenants and there was little to suggest that the Greek-Cypriots had the relentless desire for the pursuit of freedom so recently exhibited by the Greeks during the occupation of Greece. Perhaps he failed to recognize that after decades of relative tranquillity and a benign colonial government, while Greek-Cypriots supported enosis, engaging in armed rebellion was a gigantic step for very many.
Since the authorities had little intelligence on EOKA, they were forced on to the defensive. General Sir Gerald Templar, who was the Director of Military Intelligence and architect of successful intelligence operations against the Communist Terrorists in Malaya, arrived in Cyprus in mid-May and recommended that the relationships between government and the Cyprus Police be thoroughly overhauled. During the course of the year, the Colonial Office Police Adviser and a logistic expert assessed the likely needs of the police in the event that an internal security emergency developed.
Grivas knew that he could rely upon youth and student groups to create civil disturbances, the first of which had culminated before Christmas. The next wave of unrest emerged on 8 April when pupils at the militant Nicosia Pan Cyprian Gymnasium boycotted lessons, and although the headmaster managed to persuade some to return, a hard core marched to Nicosia Prison and sang nationalist songs to the EOKA suspects held inside. Three days earlier, Sir Robert Armitage had warned teachers, after EOKA oaths of allegiance had been posted on notice boards, that the overlooking of EOKA activity evident so far would not be tolerated. The oath read:
I swear by the Holy Trinity’s name that I shall work with all my power for the liberation of Cyprus from the British yoke, sacrificing for this even with my life.
Although parents and teachers objected, on 23 May about 500 students, most from the Nicosia Pan Cyprian Gymnasium, insisted they be allowed to attend school, as opposed to enjoying the Empire Day bank holiday, and staged a demonstration in Metaxas Square in Nicosia. When the Cyprus Police attempted to disperse them, the students stoned Government House, smashed windows of local authority buildings, jeered a group of Service wives on a shopping trip and seriously injured the driver of an RAF lorry. But the momentum of youth unrest slackened when the annual summer examinations arrived. When it was announced that as part of the Empire Day celebrations Sir Robert Armitage would attend a special showing of the film Forbidden Cargo in aid of the British Legion at the Pallas Cinema in Nicosia, Grivas tasked Marcos Drakos to assassinate him. Drakos suggested to a municipal worker that he smuggle a time bomb into the theatre during an earlier showing and place it underneath the balcony to be occupied by the Governor and his party. However, the special showing started earlier than expected and when the device exploded the auditorium was empty; nevertheless, considerable damage was caused. The Greek Consulate delegation were conspicuous by their absence.
On 6 June, after Archbishop Makarios and Colonel Grivas agreed at Kykko Monastery to a campaign of intimidation against the Cyprus Police, Grivas met Renos Kyriakides, who had formed the Kyperounda Guerrilla Group, and charged him to attack police stations for weapons, ambush patrols, execute police officers working closely with the British and hinder police freedom of movement. Kyriakides had studied maths and physics at Athens University and was a brother of the militant Bishop Kyprianos of Kyrenia. He was one of several students allied to PEK who had been trained by the Greek Army in guerrilla warfare and had then been distributed among the EOKA mountain groups in Lefka, Kyrenia and Amiandos. EOKA was already being considerably helped by disloyal Greek-Cypriot police officers passing information and refusing to do their law enforcement duty. Grivas also talent-spotted a militant clerk employed at the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce named Polycarpos Georghadjis, who was in a position to recruit Cyprus Government officials and the police prepared to supply information on such activities as operations, investigations and details of informants. Georghadjis proved to be a talented conspirator. Initially, he met informants to transfer information, but when one was nearly caught with a written report, he arranged for meets through cut-out contacts. A prized informant was Special Branch Inspector George Lagoudontis, who throughout the campaign reported on the daily operational meetings held in Nicosia Police Station between senior Army officers and police representatives. Indeed, he claimed to be Grivas’s Intelligence Officer and persuaded him to protect his cover as an anti-vice officer by placing him on a list of Greek-Cypriot traitors.
The first direct attack on a police station occurred in Limassol on 10 June when a bomb injured several people, including Able Seaman Alexander Thompson. It was the start of a sustained bombing and grenade campaign that would see over 4,000 devices delivered or thrown, causing death, severe injury and distress to those involved. In the first of fifteen attacks over the next six months, on 19 June, Kyriakides and his fifteen-man group attacked Amiandos Police Station and killed Station Sergeant Ioannis Demosthenous, the first Greek-Cypriot police officer to die in the campaign. Operational inexperience led to a gunman being arrested at a roadblock with a Sten gun concealed in a violin case. On 20 June EOKA attacked several British commercial interests in Nicosia with explosive devices and carried out its first direct attack on the Armed Forces when RAF Acting Corporal Myles O’Connor, of 264 Signals Unit, would be awarded the British Empire Medal for gallantry when he tossed out a grenade thrown into the Palms Bar through a window, at the same time shouting to nine friends to take cover. On the 21st, a bomb exploding outside Cyprus Police Headquarters in Nicosia killed the first Greek-Cypriot civilian, a bystander, and injured thirteen Turkish-Cypriots. This angered their leader, Dr Fazil Kutchuk. Not unexpectedly, the Cyprus Police were insufficiently equipped or trained to deal with unexploded devices, although they were fortunate to have Chief Inspector Bird, a ballistics expert who had served in Palestine before and after the war. RAOC bomb disposal officers removed devices from the home of Lieutenant General Keightley, Brigadier Ricketts and several other senior officers. A proposal by Grivas to ambush Keightley at Boghaz as he travelled between HQ Middle East Command and his house at Kyrenia was vetoed by Makarios in favour of a grenade attack on married quarters in Nicosia and Kyrenia two days later. These attacks highlighted the vulnerability of Service families, in particular those living in private hirings within the community, many of them unaccompanied dependants of servicemen serving in Egypt.
Early in July, Colonel Grivas, who had been travelling around Cyprus incognito for several months, joined the Troodos Guerrilla Groups and stayed with the Greek Army reservist and schoolmaster Ioannis Katsoullis in a house on the outskirts of Kakopetria, nine miles to the east of Kykko Monastery. Since police or Army patrols were rare, the guerrillas led a relaxed life, training by day and sleeping in villages near their hideouts, a lifestyle that suited their romantic notion of resistance fighters. Civilian clothes were worn, except when photos were taken, in which case British Battledress and berets added to the romance.
In mid-July, Field Marshal Harding visited Cyprus and in talks with Lieutenant General Keightley and Brigadier Ricketts agreed that if a State of Emergency was declared, Cyprus District would be reinforced by 50 and 51 (Independent) Brigades from 1st Infantry Division in Egypt and 3rd Division units sent from the UK and 3 Commando Brigade in Malta. Grivas and Athens both claimed that the transfer of troops from Egypt was because the Cyprus had become ungovernable.
Encouraged by sedition stoked up by Archbishop Makarios, a general strike at the end of July led to serious disturbances, with soldiers supporting the police by patrolling in Nicosia. Intelligence had identified the EOKA offensive against the police after several inept assassination attempts and then Special Constables Zavros, a postal worker with three brothers in the Police, was murdered on 11 August. A fortnight later, Special Branch Constables Kostopulous and Poullis were shot dead outside Alhambra Hall Market in Ledra Street, Nicosia while they were observing a PEON rally. When the three gunmen left the scene on bicycles, the crowd seized Charilaos Michael, a Revenue Department clerk, and handed him over to the police. On 8 September, EOKA scored a significant propaganda coup when twelve young men led by Dinos Charalanbous seized several weapons from Kyrenia Police Station and withdrew without loss, all within sight of a British Army detachment in the Castle, then being used as a detention centre. Among the detainees was Marcos Drakos, who had been arrested for terrorist offences. By the early autumn, the operational capability of the Cyprus Police was near to collapse, particularly among those sidelined for duty because they were not Greek-Cypriots. Appeals at the end of June for 1,500 volunteers to join the new Cyprus Police Reserve had met with limited success.
Deteriorating internal security led to Cyprus being discussed at a tripartite conference at Lancaster Gate in London between the UK, Greece and Turkey, but the exclusion from the negotiations of anyone representing enosis led to Makarios threatening that if the talks failed, the ‘liberation struggle would be continued by other means.’ While the delegates agreed that Cyprus was important to the defence of the NATO southern flank and therefore the British military contribution was essential, Greece warned that tranquillity in Cyprus could not be guaranteed unless enosis was granted. Turkey insisted the island was critical to the strategic protection of her southern ports and coastline. Britain and Turkey doubted the stability of the Greek Government. A proposal by Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden that the two communities be given self-government guaranteed by representatives in Nicosia reporting to a British governor responsible for defence and foreign affairs was rejected. The stalemate induced serious rioting against Greek interests in Turkey.
Grivas re-opened his liberation struggle with the second attack on the Cyprus Broadcasting Service and also Central Police HQ on 31 August. Several grenades and improvised devices were thrown at British married quarters, most of which failed to explode. Two days later, a time bomb in a lorry smuggled past the Guard Tent by a Greek-Cypriot employed at 264 Signals Unit RAF at Ayios Nikolaos exploded, badly wounding Pilot Officer Norman Harvey. The day before, a 2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers patrol was ambushed near Famagusta, and when Archbishop Makarios was stopped in his official car during follow-up operations, he registered a complaint. Masked gunmen seized rifles and shotguns from Paralimni Police Station and an attempt was made to assassinate the communist secretary-general of the Pan Cyprian Federation of Labour (The Old Trade Unions).
By the early autumn, the Cyprus Police was in dire straits. Although the force was compelled to work longer hours, at continual risk from EOKA, their pay not keeping up with the costs of living, Commissioner of Police Robbins was refusing to accept the growing list of Greek-Cypriots resignations. To relieve routine activities, the Auxiliary Police was formed almost entirely from Turkish-Cypriot farmers to guard government buildings and provide escorts during the slack periods of their agricultural calendar. The 1,084 officers recruited in 1955 had risen to 1,595 three years later. Local policing with crime reduction patrols in urban areas was increased with the recruitment of about 750 Ordinary Specials, mainly Turkish-Cypriots, rising to 1,475 in 1956, and Emergency Specials being recruited from the expatriate community and government officials. On 5 September, Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan tabled proposals that government for Cyprus should be similar to the principles applied in Malta of appointed ministers and an elected assembly to manage internal affairs.
In early September, the first joint Army/Police cordon-and-search operation of Strovolos, a suburb near the Airport, by the Cyprus Police, the Royal Inniskillings and 5 Wing, RAF Regiment was opened by a police loudspeaker waking the residents at about 3 am. While the detailed searches unearthed material associated with EOKA, a picnic lunch was provided by the Army for the residents.
The Army developed three basic types of search. The ‘whirlwind’ involved the swooping of a small party of soldiers and police, often using a civilian lorry, to search a particular house or area, usually based on intelligence, or perhaps by setting up a snap roadblock. The ‘village’ search was usually speculative or based on information received and began with the dawn establishment of a cordon to prevent farmers leaving for their fields and to catch guerrillas making their way to their hideouts. The loudspeaker then announced a curfew after which the men and boys were assembled centrally, perhaps on the football field or in the village square for screening by intelligence officers, while police and soldiers carried out house-by-house searches. Sometimes a masked informer pointed out EOKA suspects or sympathizers. Women from 27 Independent Company (Women’s Royal Army Corps) or 114 (Women’s Royal Army Corps) Provost Company helped with the searches. ‘Large scale’ swoops usually involving several battalions or a brigade, applied the same principles but called for a high degree of co-ordination and security.
As the internal security situation worsened and the Cyprus Police became less effective, and when the Cyprus Government appealed for military assistance to aid the civil authorities, 50 Infantry Brigade began arriving by troopship from Egypt and took up positions in north Cyprus, including Nicosia in mid-August. The 1st Battalion, South Staffordshires (1 South Staffords) moved into Wolseley Barracks. Brigadier JAR Robertson’s 51 Lorried Infantry Brigade, also landed and took over the south-east sector of Cyprus that included Larnaca and Famagusta. The Army were still in support of the civil authorities and largely confined to guarding government buildings, unless requested by a senior police officer to support police operations, such as riot control and search operations. The troops were restricted by strict rules of engagement.
After the MacMillan proposal was rejected in the first week of September, 3 Commando Brigade was instructed to deploy to Cyprus and to take over the south-west sector from 35 Engineer Regiment. The Royal Marines had taken control of the management of amphibious operations when the Army Commando brigades were disbanded in 1945 and had formed the Amphibious Warfare Squadron. It was capable of lifting 600 troops, their vehicles and equipment in two Landing Ships Tanks converted into assault ships, HMS Striker and Reggio, the two tank landing craft, HMS Bastion and Redoubt, with the HQ on HMS Meon. A shambolic Army landing exercise at Tobruk in 1952 had led to 3 Commando Brigade, then based in Malta, providing the Embarked Force to be ferried to trouble spots by the Squadron. The Brigade was about to depart for an exercise in Libya when it was warned to deploy to Cyprus and take over the southern sector that included Limassol. Within four days, 1,300 Royal Marines and their vehicles were at sea, with 45 Commando embarked on the assault ships and 40 Commando crammed into the light cruiser HMS Birmingham. After landing at Limassol on the 10th, 45 Commando took over operational responsibility for the Pentadactylos Mountains and the ‘Panhandle’, with Commando HQ based at Aghirda at the southern end of the Kyrenia Pass. Under command it had an Amphibious Warfare Troop with its light assault boats. Transferred by the Amphibious Warfare Squadron from Egypt and landing at Famagusta, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots (1 Royal Scots) gave the Royal Marines the three battalions expected in brigades. Moving to Coral Bay Leave Camp near Paphos, it covered 600 square miles that contained fifteen police stations. C Company was sent to the Limni Sulphur Mine near Polis on the north coast.
Within four days, four Troops launched Operation Storm Sail, a cordon-and-search of the village of Mandras, which included the first search of a church. Surgeon Lieutenant Guy Bradford held a surgery that lasted over two hours. At the same time, in a combined operation, Z Troop and Royal Engineers executed an amphibious raid at Xylophagen on the Panhandle while a land move by elements of 2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2 Green Howards and 200 police officers led to the arrest of 200 EOKA suspects. On the 13th, amid escalating damage and vandalism to British businesses, including the NAAFI, 40 Commando landed at Limassol. Within two days, two Troops had quelled a disturbance. A week later, two other Troops were embroiled in an ugly riot in the mining village of Pano Amiandos in the Troodos when police officers tried to remove EOKA slogans from walls. Church bells summoned the mob.
In mid-September, when the Cyprus Government declared EOKA to be illegal, Makarios began to reflect Greek-Cypriot concerns that the United Kingdom was about to get tough. Henceforth, penalties for supporting EOKA included the imposition of curfews and the collective fining of communities that actively supported EOKA or failed to take measures supporting law and order. Measures were also introduced to hold EOKA suspects without trial at several detention camps. Kokkinotrimithia Camp, about eight miles west of Nicosia and usually known as ‘Camp K’, was a former isolation hospital surrounded by several Nissen huts with corrugated roofs and could house about 260 internees. It had a section for wealthy prisoners who could be supplied with expensive foods by their families. The camp was surrounded by a double perimeter fence that was patrolled by military patrols and dog handlers with their German Shepherds. ‘Goon’ towers overlooked the compounds. The Cypriot Prison Service managed the detainees and detention quarters.
In August the Mayor of Nicosia had refused to assist the Cyprus Police quell an ugly disturbance and claimed that all Greek-Cypriots were members of EOKA. The Mayors of Larnaca and Famagusta then declared that the Greek-Cypriots would continue ‘their sacred struggle without fear of any repressive measures’. Since the loyalty of the Greek-Cypriot element of the Cyprus Police could not be guaranteed, Turkish-Cypriots were invited to join the 165-strong Police Mobile Reserve. A specialist unit led by Colonial Police officers with experience in Kenya, Malaya and Palestine, it was initially specifically trained to disperse urban demonstrations. By 1957, its role was widened to include cordon-and-search operations specifically against Greek-Cypriot villages and its establishment increased to 580. This role led to considerable resentment from Greek-Cypriot communities but at least the authorities could rely upon effective searching.
In much the same way as the Romans had introduced a planned road network in England, the roads built in Cyprus by the British since 1878 were the envy of the Near East. Of a total network of 3,300 miles, 800 asphalted miles connected the principal towns, the remaining miles being narrow secondary roads linking villages. Innumerable narrow tracks filtered alongside fields, orange groves and vineyards, to beaches and through mountain forests. The increased use of lorries in supplying the camps and barracks sprouting up throughout Cyprus and the ferrying of troops on operations fell onto the young shoulders of the RASC and regimental drivers, many of whom had never driven until they joined up and were now expected to acquire combat driving skills under active service conditions. When a 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders (1 Gordon Highlanders) convoy ran into an ambush, the drivers did not realize that the shooting was an attack and stopped too close to each other; consequently, the Highlanders suffered several casualties before they could counter-attack and drive the guerrillas from their positions. The mountain roads and tracks perched on the side of ravines and valleys had countless tight hairpin corners unsuited to lorries and were treacherous from dust in summer and rain and snow in autumn and winter. Of the estimated forty-seven men killed in road traffic crashes, about forty per cent died in the Troodos after lorries, armoured cars and light vehicles skidded into ravines; at least one Ferret Scout Car was blown into a deep valley by a mine and its crew killed. At the time, the only mule pack transport in the Army was used in Hong Kong to support observation posts overlooking the Chinese border. Although a column was not formed in Cyprus, some places were so inaccessible that donkeys were hired to carry awkward and heavy equipment over broken ground.
When a police officer apprehended youths daubing ‘EOKA’ on several buildings in Metaxas Square during the evening of 17 September, a major riot developed during which the British Institute and its historic library of 16,000 priceless books and documents was burnt. A Royal Military Police (RMP) Land Rover being used by a patrol to prevent British soldiers and families entering the seething square was wrecked. It was three hours before the Cyprus Police sought support from 1 South Staffords, and then shortly after 11 pm the lead platoon dispersed the mob by firing tear gas and several rifle shots.
Riot control centred on a Riot Platoon deployed into a disciplined box formation designed to be psychologically powerful in comparison to scruffy and undisciplined rioters. Wearing steel helmets, respirators at the ready and armed with batons and shields, which at first were dustbin lids, two sections led followed by the platoon commander, the megaphone-carrying bugler, two projectile firers armed with a tear-gas gun and dye sprayer and two carrying a banner on 10-foot poles which when unfurled, read, ‘This is an unlawful assembly and you must disperse immediately.’ When the warning failed to impress, as it usually did, the two soldiers crossed to display on the rear, ‘If you do not disperse now, we will fire tear gas.’ There were occasions when troops opened fire, for instance in Limassol on 27 September, when 40 Commando shot a ringleader. Bringing up the rear was the third section carrying barbed wire, stretchers and a wireless set.
In a raid on Akhna Police Station on 22 September, EOKA gunmen stole rifles and several radios, but several suspects fingered by Cypriots were detained in Kyrenia Castle. EOKA again achieved international recognition when Cyprus was discussed at the UN on 23 September but the simmering disagreements were once more aired between Greece and Turkey. The British suggested that the terrorism in Cyprus had nothing to do with colonialism but was a bid engineered by Greece for enosis. As Athens failed to convince the Assembly to place Cypriot self-determination on the General Assembly agenda, the island braced itself for further violence.
That night, seventeen EOKA detainees confined to two rooms in the north tower, among then Markos Drakos and Gregoris Afxentiou, began a noisy disturbance to cover the breaching of a bricked gun port, and then several bed sheets tied together were thrown out. Over the previous nights, the detainees had calculated the time that it took a sentry to patrol the parapet around the tower and, using this as a guide, Drakos controlled the abseiling of each escaper onto a platform overlooking the adjoining Country Club. The story goes that when a British officer reported a commotion on the beach to the prison authorities, he was advised that since it was part of the club, this was not entirely unexpected. Seven escapers were quickly recaptured, four by 45 Commando, but most of the remainder joined the EOKA groups in Nicosia and the mountains. One of those invited to review the security of the castle was Royal Marines Major Hugh Bruce, who had made an unsuccessful escape from Colditz Castle during the war. He assessed that it would be easy to escape from the tower within twenty minutes. It was remarks such as this that led to speculation that the authorities made no great effort to prevent the escape, so that the escapers could then be tracked to EOKA cells. The escape shattered public confidence, and leaflets distributed by a subversive Turkish-Cypriot group known as Volkan criticized security lapses. When a newspaper then exposed that several senior officials were at a dinner party held at Government House on the night of the Metaxas Square riot, London finally lost patience with Sir Robert Armitage and in the last week of September announced that he had been posted to Nyasaland (now Malawi) and would be replaced by Field Marshal Sir John Harding as Governor. The reasons given for the appointment of a Service officer were to satisfy the United Kingdom’s NATO obligations and the need for a co-ordinated approach to address the problem of terrorism.