After 43 years, I felt the need to record what I experienced in the summer of 1974, when I was serving in the 231 TP based in Ag. Vasileio, on the Nicosia – Panagron – Kyrenia road. I felt that I had a duty to convey what I experienced as a young national guard at the time, something like a debt of honor to my friends and fellow soldiers who lost their lives in that unequal struggle. The publication of the book "The Eagles of the Pentadactylus" in 2016, which records the memories of the fellow soldiers of 231 TP (in which due to my blindness I was not invited to contribute), was the final trigger to record my own memories and testimonies.
Most of the text was completed in the summer of 2017, while there were small additions depending on what the memory brought to the surface, or depending on some incidents (e.g. the naming of the street "Andrea Artemiou" in Strovolos in June 2019). But this recording also serves (and perhaps more than anything else), an inner need to externalize (and perhaps exorcise?) tormenting memories of that bitter summer... I remember years later, a student in France, I had read a poem somewhere and I held back an element… “I was then twenty years old…. I will not allow anyone to say that this is the most beautiful age"...
With the passage of such a long period of time, the memory has weakened somewhat, so some details may escape me, and I may again misattribute some other details, names or dates. Please forgive me for any inaccuracies and oversights – which must be attributed solely to the fading of memory after such a long time...
Introductions
I enlisted in the National Guard on July 21, 1972 when I turned 18 and graduated from the Laniteo Gymnasium of Limassol. The classification took place at the Military Office of Limassol which was then located in the main Police Station of the city. From there I was transferred to KEN Geroskipou for basic training and distribution in Weapons and Corps where I was selected as an infantry rifleman, and then I remained at KEN for basic infantry training. In October 1972, with the completion of the basic training at KEN, the then infantrymen continued for another six months the 2nd cycle of infantry training. There were a total of four battalions of the 2nd cycle of infantry training:the 241 TP (Athalassa), the 281 TP (Myrtos), the 256 TP (Diorios) and the 399 TP (Bogazi Famagusta) – to which I was transferred.
From 399 TP I vividly remember the state of alert and the manning of the coastal machine guns in the Bogaziu - Salamina area when the TURDYK detachment was changing (with Turkish gunboats docked at the port of Famagusta), as well as the large battalion exercise on foot to Kantara in Pentadaktylos , camping at Flamoudi, and then counter-attack exercises up to Davlos to deal with landing energy on the coast. I will never forget the pristine beauty of the area that was unknown to me until then. In 399 TP I was awarded the honorary rank of Lance Corporal.
With the completion of the 2nd Cycle of training in the Spring of 1973, we were all transferred to our final reception units. I was lucky enough to be transferred to 231 TP, which was based in Ag. Vasileio, next to Gerolakkos, on the Nicosia – Panagron – Kyrenia road, just a few kilometers west of Nicosia airport. I remember that our transfer from Bogazi took place in "Bedfords" in which there were not enough side seats and therefore many of us sat down for hours... It was my birthday (April 13).
After a short period of familiarization with the location and mission of the order (which also included mountain living in the Prophet Elias in Pentadaktylos) I was placed as a Clerk in the 1st Office (Shelter) together with Lieutenant Kyriakos Andreas ("Andrikkuin") from Kyperunda. The Director of the 1st Office (and Commander of the Command Company) was then Captain Tsitsikostas Kostas, who after his transfer was replaced for a short period at the end of 1973 by the then Lieutenant Athanasios Mamalis and then by Lieutenant Damianidis Christos (until then Commander of 2nd Company).
231 IT
In 231 TP he was based in Ag. Vasileio, in the west of Nicosia, on the Nicosia – Panagron – Kyrenia road. It was a covert battalion responsible for the surveillance of the western sector of the Turkish Cypriot (T/C) enclave of Agyrtas - Kioneli. The line of responsibility of the battalion consisted of a line of outposts with a horseshoe arrangement that started from the west of the Nicosia airport in Gerolakkos, continued west and passed through Ag. Vasilei and Skylloura, then "turned" north towards Ag. Ermolaos, and from there it continued towards Pentadaktylos, at the Passage of Ag. Pavlou, from where the line now "turned" eastward on the ridge of Pentadaktylos, passing through Prophet Ilias, Gomaristra, straight to "Aetofolia" opposite the Kotziakaya hill and Ag. Hilarion.
The outposts from Gerolakkos to Ag. Ermolao covered the western lowland end of the Agyrta enclave, which is why they were called "Lower Outposts" under the responsibility of the 2nd Company, with the headquarters of the battalion at Ag. Vasilei, and commanded in 1974 by Captain - then - Nikolaos Zenios. The eastern lowland edge of the 2nd Company Zone of Responsibility bordered the ZE of ELDYK and TURDYK (whose war headquarters was in the pure T/K village of Kioneli). The outposts on Pentadaktylos, from the passage of Ag. Pavlou to "Aetofolia" were called "Pano Phylakia".
The 3rd Company was based at the strategic pass of Ag. Pavlou which connected the northern side of Pentadaktylos, Lapithos, as well as Karava beach - Lapithos, with the southern side of Pentadaktylos - Ag. Ermolaos, Nicosia-Panagro - Kyrenia road. The commander of the 3rd Company in 1974 was the then Lieutenant Athanasios Mamalis. The 1st Company was based at the eastern end of the horseshoe line, on Pentadaktylos and had as its Zone of Responsibility the outposts above Pyleri, Fotta and Agyrta and opposite the western side of Ag. Hilarion.
The commander of the 1st Company in 1974 was Lieutenant Kasidakis Charilaos. The 189th POP (Mountain Artillery Artillery) was stationed in the middle of the arrangement of the 1st Company Posts on the ridge of Pentadaktilo, facing the beach of Karava - Kyrenia. The Command Company (LD) and the Battalion Support Company (LYT) as well as part of the strength of the 2nd Company, were stationed at the headquarters of the Battalion in Ag. Kingdom.
1974 – Surrounding atmosphere
The political climate of the time was particularly acute, with the illegal activity of EOKA II, the division into "Makarians" and "Grivians" and the intense stigmatization, within the National Guard, of the "Makarians" as "companions" of the communists ( and roughly like "traitors"). The then aggravated situation led on July 2, 1974 to the sending
of Makarios' well-known letter to the President of the Greek Junta, General Gizikis, openly accusing the then Junta Government of Greece of active involvement in the attempts to overthrow and assassinate him.
In addition to the complaints, Makarios finally announced the recall of the Greek officers who were then serving in the National Guard, and at the same time the immediate reduction of the term of office from 24 to 12 months. The last measure (reduction in 12 months) had a direct impact on the 1st office, which besides the preparation of the 72B's (ie my) diplomas (ie my) that we had already begun, we started preparing feverishly and feverishly the graduation certificates of 73A and 73B ESSO.
I remember how many nights we stayed up late together with the other Clerk of the 1st Office, Mr. Kyriakos Andreas to handle the huge extra volume of work in the short time remaining until July 20 – the date when the layoffs would normally begin. I also remember the teasing of blessed Markos Ilias from Famagusta who used to make fun of me because he would be fired in 12 months while I and my line would serve 24 months.
The Coup
I remember around 8:30 am. on July 15, Monday, a large and dense column of black smoke rising from the side of Ag. Dometiou in the south-east... My question about what this was was solved shortly when the RIK, occupied by the coup plotters, announced the attack on the Presidential Palace and the alleged "death" of Makarios. I remember the Governor, HRH Haramara Dimitrios answering a phone call he received and immediately after ordering the blockade of the Nicosia - Morphou road - a blockade that lasted until late at night and resulted in the formation of a huge queue of cars.
Later, in the early afternoon, a detachment of the 231 TP force based at the headquarters of the battalion was sent to assist in the capture of the Police Station in Gerolakkos. There in 231 TP he had his first death, Neocleus Kostas, a soldier from Morphou. This soldier, was for about a year posted to the 3rd ATD in Nicosia, next to the GSP, and was recalled to the headquarters of the 231 TP just a week before due to dismissal (he was, like me, of the 72nd SSSO).
The tension in those days was at an all-time high, I remember fires in Pentadaktylos that the Turks lit from the very first day of the coup and that burned for days, turning night into day, and I remember that we took out binoculars because of the state of alert... we barely slept. I also remember rumors that the Engineer had been called to lay minefields in the area of Famagusta (which before the war was considered the most likely place for a Turkish landing).
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