Hereford
05-03-2007, 01:38 PM
02-24-2007, 09:56 AM
The battle for Nicosia airport.
The battle for Nicosia airport is still pretty much unknown in Greek military history. Most historical accounts of the events in Cyprus report that when Greek metropolitan and Greek Cypriot forces delivered the civil airport to UN forces the Turks attacked to seize it and engaged by UN forces. What is not known publicly is that before the UN takes control of the airport fierce battles between Greeks and Turks took place in the airport. Greeks the last moment saved the airport and handed it over in a military manner to UN. Our narrator is a Greek conscript sergeant of the Greek special raiding forces or LOKS as they are known who participated in the battle. A full special ops squadron was transferred by Noratlas cargo planes in Cyprus. Each of the 15 Noratlas was loaded with 30 raiders and 1500 kilos of ammo. Full history of the flight called operation Nike (Victory) will be posted soon. One Noratlas was shot down by friendly fire (Greek Cypriot AA guns) killing 27 raiders and crew. Flying from Crete in sea level to avoid Turkish radars without the escort of fighter jets was a suicide mission. The Noratlas’ Nike 6’ avoided the last minute collision to a US aircraft carrier. When finally the planes landed the raiders were regrouped and participated in classic special ops behind Turkish lines but also as elite infantry due to the heat of events and absence of other forces. One such battle is the battle for the airport.
Island of Crete
In our camp in Chania our A squadron was on alert since the government ordered general mobilization. The plan is known-send forces to Cyprus. At first the news is that B squadron from Macedonia will go to Cyprus. The time is passing and finally we got the order to go. We are to fly by Noratlas military cargo aircrafts. We repack our gear to be mission specific and have minimum loads due to aircraft regulations. One of the fifteen Noratlas will be loaded with the squadron’s heavy weapons. Our lieutenant throws his food cans and loads his Bergen with more than 300 bullets for his 45 pistol and FN FAL rifle. ‘Commandos’ he shouts the Cypriots will provide food on site. As a result we follow his lead and the whole place is stuffed with cans. Our bergen consists only ammo, a spare BDU and water canteens.
The announcement that we go to Cyprus sends us to heaven. We are singing all the time traditional Cretan songs. The morale is high. A fellow hospitalized commando when he hears that the squadron has a go, leaves the hospital and is coming to join and pick his gear.
21:00 hours - 20 July 1974. We are transported in military trucks going for Souda military airport. We pass through Cretan villages. Villagers are out in the streets shouting’ honor your weapons’. Older men, veterans of the Battle of Crete wearing their traditional vrakes (wide trousers) petting their moustaches smile with satisfaction. Many have sons serving in the squadron. Their children are going to continue their tradition. Our force is 360 men plus 60 combat divers from a unit covering the Aegean. Half of the combat divers are officers – instructors.
On the ground - Cyprus.
01:00 July 22. We try to recuperate from the loss of our friends during the landing. There is no time for thinking, we must take some sleep. It’s an unsound sleep and full of nightmares.
Morning - July 23. Archbishop School of Nicosia. Our company, 41 LOK gets orders to be at stand by. After a wild 42 LOK and finally all three companies are ready .We check our bergens and web gear. Weapons, radios, boobytrap devices, explosives and ammo plus food and water cans are at reach. We drink a coffee smoking a much appreciated cigarette. Finally we get the go. Our mission: protect Nicosia airport. Intel indicts that the Turks will advance forces to seize it. The airport is of strategic importance and is guarded by a company of Greek Cypriot raiders, a company of the Greek Contigent in Cyprus (ELDYK) and the airport’s police guard armed with 106 recoilless rifles.The airport is 2 km behind the confrontation zone. We board some old city buses driven by Cypriot MPs. We lie down so the buses look empty. We split to four parties and we go to the airport by different roads so no one can predict that this is a joint force with a joint objective.We move parallel to the frontline and we arrive at the airport. About 500 meters at 3 o’clock we see military trucks unloading infantry troops. Ours or Turks? Can’t say from this distance but they also don’t seem to recognize us. It doesn’t matter, we are inside. I am a radio operator carrying an Israeli made GRC 25 but also a medic to cover the losses of the landing.
Battle positions.
Commandos soon begun to assume battle positions. Our lieutenant, a sergeant, seven Light machine guns, one MG plus three 90 mm recoilless rifles, one sniper and me quickly go to the roof of the airport’s main hall. We walk bending and post our weapons. In the roof we find already posted a LMG and a MG with Cypriot raiders.
My company’s firing line is vertical to the Turkish axis of attack. Our lieutenant instructs the 2 MGs to let the Turks come close enough to a wide area so the 8 LMGs will reap them out. In this way a death zone is created since the area is clear with no vegetation or something to cover.
Inside the well-hole the sniper observes through his sniper scope and begins to report valuable info. Our lieutenant sees with his binoculars. I take the signal from the radio: LOKS ready to fight. The tar on the roof begins to melt. Raiders swim in their sweat.Temperature more than 40 C. The Turks notice our positions and the fighting begins. 43 LOK fires first and sequentially all airport defenders join. A raider and a Cypriot MP are wounded slightly. We have also some old M-8 APC’s courtesy of airports police. My company has a UN camp directly at 12 o clock so we will hit the attacking Turks from aside. We have no fear of a direct attack due to the presence of the UN camp. Our only concerns are the Turkish air force and mortars. The Turks probably thought that the airport was defended only by Cypriots and so did the UN. They can not know that three companies slipped from the city in buses under their noses. I must say that the Cypriot raiders did miracles and won all the battles they fought.
But we are with the finger on the trigger. Turks are preparing full attack with infantry and tanks. The lieutenant, a compatriot from Evia says to me:’ Patriotaki’ they are ****ed. They don’t know we’re here. They are sanding troops to every direction. It will be a slaughter’.
Continuous attacks
Indeed Turks spread and attack. About 150 of them in every direction begun to advance. Both 42 and 43 LOKs fire at them at 12 o’clock we hit them from their side. It’s hell. No Turk from this first wave survives as I see it. Some only at the back begun to retreat and take cover inside a small park near to the UN camp with the hope we won’t shoot at this direction. I look around and see the lieutenant. One hand holds the binoculars, the other rests on his rather large fighting knife he carries. He smiles under his moustache with satisfaction-probably for the outcome. What happens sir I ask, are they leaving? No sergeant they are just regrouping. Haven’t you heared the infamous Ottoman jurusia? If they got their lesson and calculated our fire they will come back probably with a battalion strong and more so it would be more difficult. Before I realize his thought a shell explodes a thousand meters behind me. The lieutenant immediately finds azimuth with his compass and he orders me to write it. Soon a second shell explodes in the same line but 200 meters closer to us, so he orders me to report that we are taking fire by 4.2 mortars with direction the opposite of the azimuth. The Turks having the UN camp in the front can’t shoot our side directly so they are firing mortars progressively every 200 meters until they hit the building. One Turkish shell destroys a civil aircraft 500 meters from the building.Then quiet. ‘It looks they have no other shells’ a sergeant says smiling. Sergeant they are coming again FIRE!! FIRE!! the lieutenant screams. More attacks at the hot zone. I see body parts flying all over -the remaining pool back. The M-8s are going to a counter attack firing at them. The Turks who are sheltered near the UN camp try to create us a headache. We fire a barrage of M79 white phosphorus grenades and the bushes take fire. They are burning alive. There is an abandoned house up in a hill and they try to use it as an observation post. The sniper shouts: ‘People inside the house 1800-2000m’. They are out of range for the recoilless rifles. Something needs to be done. The sniper fires two shots. A 90 mm recoilless rifle crew takes position. The lieutenant instructs the shooter to hold the 90mm steady raising it 45 degrees above the usual fire position. Target beyond maximum range.
Fire!!- The whole place shakes. ‘ALL DOWN’ the lieutenant’s voice is piercing. Suddenly a MG burst strikes the roof. Luckily no one is hurt. The sniper reports that the 90mm hit 200 meters from the house. The Turks are leaving it, they thought it was a mortar. Why don’t they use their tanks?
The day passes with more wave attacks with the same results. During pauses commandos fieldstrip the LMG's and clean the gas regulators because they jam from continuous fire. Turkish yurusia are coming again again. But our calculated fire is lethal.You see 3 of our officers are members of the official shooting team of the Greek raiding forces and they have trained us superbly. My lieutenant’s motto is: ‘When you believe the bullet you fire, your fear takes a walk’.
Disengagement
Its afternoon and UN forces arrive at the airport. Orders from Greek Cypriot command are CEASE FIRE. At least a battalion of Canadian soldiers armed and escorted by APC’S are coming to stop the battle and take control of the airport. Their commander, a lieutenant colonel ignores our commander and doesn’t talk to him as is the proper military protocol. He bypasses him giving him an ironic glance saying: What do Greek raiders do here? Furious from this remark a raider raises his FN fal and fires at him in point blank range. Miraculously the FAL jams and other raiders disarm him quickly. If the UN commander was killed like that we would be in tons of trouble. During negotiations our sniper reports suspicious activity. Our lieutenant observes with caution and sees that during the negotiations Turks are trying to advance this time with tanks. He orders me to radio back the Greek Cypriot command and they realize that they play games against us. The UN commander demands us to leave first and when the airport is empty UN troops are to enter. His sympathy to Turks is obvious. If we leave he will let the advancing Turks to take the airport. We won the battle, the place is full of Turkish corpses and yet the Turks must prevail as winners. Not to mention the fact that we have no cover if we leave. It’s a method commonly used as we found out later by the British forces that openly collaborated with the Turks despite serving under UN. But if the UN officially takes control as we demand can’t deliver it to the Turks.
Luckily our sniper spots the Turks and warns us.’ Commandos listen up’ the voice of our lieutenant is dominant:’ Load and prepare’. A UN officer will come with a radio man. They must believe that if the Turks won’t retreat we will break the cease fire. Indeed a UN lieutenant with a radio operator equipped with a US made GRC radio are coming to the roof. The two lieutenants talk some time when our guy shouts ungry making gestures. The UN guy begs: please sir just a minute: Our officer is out of control or he is playing it real nice?’ Commandos ARM’. Other UN officers the same time are talking to Turks. Finally our officer shows his five fingers and says’ five minutes’.’ Ok Sir Ok Sir’ replies the UN guy and begins to talk to the radio. Finally an agreement is reached and Turks return to their original positions. Our replacement is taking place normally by UN. Man to man, platoon to platoon, company to company as all world armies do. We go last of the roof with the lieutenant who cheques constantly the area. We pass the corridor and I see the airport’s vault. Sir we must deliver the vault to the Cypriot command. ‘Listen patriotaki’ he says and write it down inside your brain: We came to fight Turks; we won’t pollute our hands with money. ‘Stay away’. I can’t forget his words. When we are about to leave I try to communicate with the others but it’s impossible; People talk in every frequency. But my Israeli made GRC has extra frequencies unreachable by the US made radios. Finally all radio operators turn to a pre-arranged frequency and we manage to coordinate our forces.
We arrive in Nicosia and rest to an abandoned camp. The same night BBC reports that Greek Cypriots assisted by Greek metropolitan forces defended the airport inflicting heavy casualties to the Turks. Probably is a report by British journalist Philips who was present at the airport but was drawn away by our commander for his personal safety. Later I heard he was killed during a mission. Petty, he was a noble man. Our casualties are a master sergeant dead and a raider wounded. The master sergeant Photopoulos Athanasios was killed when he left his barricaded position and started walking towards the attacking waves firing his rifle from the hip full auto . Raider Andrulakis had his right arm amputated after receiving a round in the shoulder. The shot was fired by the Canadians from the UN controlled area and our people fired back.
Turkish casualties are a question. Cypriots intercepted a signal to the Turkish commander at the airport. He was asked why he had so many casualties with no success. I remember that after two weeks Turks attacked again despite the cease fire but intercepted by UN troops
Today almost 20 years later, often I recollect the events. My mind remembers my dead and wounded friends. They wrote history with their heroism. We did our duty. The rest is a job for historians.
.................................................. .................................................
Some useful info:
Greek officers on site claim that after the failure of the first wave Canadians informed the Turks about the exact strength of the defendants and they threw an entire regiment about 2000 soldiers at the airport the majority of which was wiped out. The good thing is that the official Turkish KIA’s for the entire operation in Cyprus is 1285!!! Nicosia airport was never used again since 1974.
The battle for Nicosia airport.
The battle for Nicosia airport is still pretty much unknown in Greek military history. Most historical accounts of the events in Cyprus report that when Greek metropolitan and Greek Cypriot forces delivered the civil airport to UN forces the Turks attacked to seize it and engaged by UN forces. What is not known publicly is that before the UN takes control of the airport fierce battles between Greeks and Turks took place in the airport. Greeks the last moment saved the airport and handed it over in a military manner to UN. Our narrator is a Greek conscript sergeant of the Greek special raiding forces or LOKS as they are known who participated in the battle. A full special ops squadron was transferred by Noratlas cargo planes in Cyprus. Each of the 15 Noratlas was loaded with 30 raiders and 1500 kilos of ammo. Full history of the flight called operation Nike (Victory) will be posted soon. One Noratlas was shot down by friendly fire (Greek Cypriot AA guns) killing 27 raiders and crew. Flying from Crete in sea level to avoid Turkish radars without the escort of fighter jets was a suicide mission. The Noratlas’ Nike 6’ avoided the last minute collision to a US aircraft carrier. When finally the planes landed the raiders were regrouped and participated in classic special ops behind Turkish lines but also as elite infantry due to the heat of events and absence of other forces. One such battle is the battle for the airport.
Island of Crete
In our camp in Chania our A squadron was on alert since the government ordered general mobilization. The plan is known-send forces to Cyprus. At first the news is that B squadron from Macedonia will go to Cyprus. The time is passing and finally we got the order to go. We are to fly by Noratlas military cargo aircrafts. We repack our gear to be mission specific and have minimum loads due to aircraft regulations. One of the fifteen Noratlas will be loaded with the squadron’s heavy weapons. Our lieutenant throws his food cans and loads his Bergen with more than 300 bullets for his 45 pistol and FN FAL rifle. ‘Commandos’ he shouts the Cypriots will provide food on site. As a result we follow his lead and the whole place is stuffed with cans. Our bergen consists only ammo, a spare BDU and water canteens.
The announcement that we go to Cyprus sends us to heaven. We are singing all the time traditional Cretan songs. The morale is high. A fellow hospitalized commando when he hears that the squadron has a go, leaves the hospital and is coming to join and pick his gear.
21:00 hours - 20 July 1974. We are transported in military trucks going for Souda military airport. We pass through Cretan villages. Villagers are out in the streets shouting’ honor your weapons’. Older men, veterans of the Battle of Crete wearing their traditional vrakes (wide trousers) petting their moustaches smile with satisfaction. Many have sons serving in the squadron. Their children are going to continue their tradition. Our force is 360 men plus 60 combat divers from a unit covering the Aegean. Half of the combat divers are officers – instructors.
On the ground - Cyprus.
01:00 July 22. We try to recuperate from the loss of our friends during the landing. There is no time for thinking, we must take some sleep. It’s an unsound sleep and full of nightmares.
Morning - July 23. Archbishop School of Nicosia. Our company, 41 LOK gets orders to be at stand by. After a wild 42 LOK and finally all three companies are ready .We check our bergens and web gear. Weapons, radios, boobytrap devices, explosives and ammo plus food and water cans are at reach. We drink a coffee smoking a much appreciated cigarette. Finally we get the go. Our mission: protect Nicosia airport. Intel indicts that the Turks will advance forces to seize it. The airport is of strategic importance and is guarded by a company of Greek Cypriot raiders, a company of the Greek Contigent in Cyprus (ELDYK) and the airport’s police guard armed with 106 recoilless rifles.The airport is 2 km behind the confrontation zone. We board some old city buses driven by Cypriot MPs. We lie down so the buses look empty. We split to four parties and we go to the airport by different roads so no one can predict that this is a joint force with a joint objective.We move parallel to the frontline and we arrive at the airport. About 500 meters at 3 o’clock we see military trucks unloading infantry troops. Ours or Turks? Can’t say from this distance but they also don’t seem to recognize us. It doesn’t matter, we are inside. I am a radio operator carrying an Israeli made GRC 25 but also a medic to cover the losses of the landing.
Battle positions.
Commandos soon begun to assume battle positions. Our lieutenant, a sergeant, seven Light machine guns, one MG plus three 90 mm recoilless rifles, one sniper and me quickly go to the roof of the airport’s main hall. We walk bending and post our weapons. In the roof we find already posted a LMG and a MG with Cypriot raiders.
My company’s firing line is vertical to the Turkish axis of attack. Our lieutenant instructs the 2 MGs to let the Turks come close enough to a wide area so the 8 LMGs will reap them out. In this way a death zone is created since the area is clear with no vegetation or something to cover.
Inside the well-hole the sniper observes through his sniper scope and begins to report valuable info. Our lieutenant sees with his binoculars. I take the signal from the radio: LOKS ready to fight. The tar on the roof begins to melt. Raiders swim in their sweat.Temperature more than 40 C. The Turks notice our positions and the fighting begins. 43 LOK fires first and sequentially all airport defenders join. A raider and a Cypriot MP are wounded slightly. We have also some old M-8 APC’s courtesy of airports police. My company has a UN camp directly at 12 o clock so we will hit the attacking Turks from aside. We have no fear of a direct attack due to the presence of the UN camp. Our only concerns are the Turkish air force and mortars. The Turks probably thought that the airport was defended only by Cypriots and so did the UN. They can not know that three companies slipped from the city in buses under their noses. I must say that the Cypriot raiders did miracles and won all the battles they fought.
But we are with the finger on the trigger. Turks are preparing full attack with infantry and tanks. The lieutenant, a compatriot from Evia says to me:’ Patriotaki’ they are ****ed. They don’t know we’re here. They are sanding troops to every direction. It will be a slaughter’.
Continuous attacks
Indeed Turks spread and attack. About 150 of them in every direction begun to advance. Both 42 and 43 LOKs fire at them at 12 o’clock we hit them from their side. It’s hell. No Turk from this first wave survives as I see it. Some only at the back begun to retreat and take cover inside a small park near to the UN camp with the hope we won’t shoot at this direction. I look around and see the lieutenant. One hand holds the binoculars, the other rests on his rather large fighting knife he carries. He smiles under his moustache with satisfaction-probably for the outcome. What happens sir I ask, are they leaving? No sergeant they are just regrouping. Haven’t you heared the infamous Ottoman jurusia? If they got their lesson and calculated our fire they will come back probably with a battalion strong and more so it would be more difficult. Before I realize his thought a shell explodes a thousand meters behind me. The lieutenant immediately finds azimuth with his compass and he orders me to write it. Soon a second shell explodes in the same line but 200 meters closer to us, so he orders me to report that we are taking fire by 4.2 mortars with direction the opposite of the azimuth. The Turks having the UN camp in the front can’t shoot our side directly so they are firing mortars progressively every 200 meters until they hit the building. One Turkish shell destroys a civil aircraft 500 meters from the building.Then quiet. ‘It looks they have no other shells’ a sergeant says smiling. Sergeant they are coming again FIRE!! FIRE!! the lieutenant screams. More attacks at the hot zone. I see body parts flying all over -the remaining pool back. The M-8s are going to a counter attack firing at them. The Turks who are sheltered near the UN camp try to create us a headache. We fire a barrage of M79 white phosphorus grenades and the bushes take fire. They are burning alive. There is an abandoned house up in a hill and they try to use it as an observation post. The sniper shouts: ‘People inside the house 1800-2000m’. They are out of range for the recoilless rifles. Something needs to be done. The sniper fires two shots. A 90 mm recoilless rifle crew takes position. The lieutenant instructs the shooter to hold the 90mm steady raising it 45 degrees above the usual fire position. Target beyond maximum range.
Fire!!- The whole place shakes. ‘ALL DOWN’ the lieutenant’s voice is piercing. Suddenly a MG burst strikes the roof. Luckily no one is hurt. The sniper reports that the 90mm hit 200 meters from the house. The Turks are leaving it, they thought it was a mortar. Why don’t they use their tanks?
The day passes with more wave attacks with the same results. During pauses commandos fieldstrip the LMG's and clean the gas regulators because they jam from continuous fire. Turkish yurusia are coming again again. But our calculated fire is lethal.You see 3 of our officers are members of the official shooting team of the Greek raiding forces and they have trained us superbly. My lieutenant’s motto is: ‘When you believe the bullet you fire, your fear takes a walk’.
Disengagement
Its afternoon and UN forces arrive at the airport. Orders from Greek Cypriot command are CEASE FIRE. At least a battalion of Canadian soldiers armed and escorted by APC’S are coming to stop the battle and take control of the airport. Their commander, a lieutenant colonel ignores our commander and doesn’t talk to him as is the proper military protocol. He bypasses him giving him an ironic glance saying: What do Greek raiders do here? Furious from this remark a raider raises his FN fal and fires at him in point blank range. Miraculously the FAL jams and other raiders disarm him quickly. If the UN commander was killed like that we would be in tons of trouble. During negotiations our sniper reports suspicious activity. Our lieutenant observes with caution and sees that during the negotiations Turks are trying to advance this time with tanks. He orders me to radio back the Greek Cypriot command and they realize that they play games against us. The UN commander demands us to leave first and when the airport is empty UN troops are to enter. His sympathy to Turks is obvious. If we leave he will let the advancing Turks to take the airport. We won the battle, the place is full of Turkish corpses and yet the Turks must prevail as winners. Not to mention the fact that we have no cover if we leave. It’s a method commonly used as we found out later by the British forces that openly collaborated with the Turks despite serving under UN. But if the UN officially takes control as we demand can’t deliver it to the Turks.
Luckily our sniper spots the Turks and warns us.’ Commandos listen up’ the voice of our lieutenant is dominant:’ Load and prepare’. A UN officer will come with a radio man. They must believe that if the Turks won’t retreat we will break the cease fire. Indeed a UN lieutenant with a radio operator equipped with a US made GRC radio are coming to the roof. The two lieutenants talk some time when our guy shouts ungry making gestures. The UN guy begs: please sir just a minute: Our officer is out of control or he is playing it real nice?’ Commandos ARM’. Other UN officers the same time are talking to Turks. Finally our officer shows his five fingers and says’ five minutes’.’ Ok Sir Ok Sir’ replies the UN guy and begins to talk to the radio. Finally an agreement is reached and Turks return to their original positions. Our replacement is taking place normally by UN. Man to man, platoon to platoon, company to company as all world armies do. We go last of the roof with the lieutenant who cheques constantly the area. We pass the corridor and I see the airport’s vault. Sir we must deliver the vault to the Cypriot command. ‘Listen patriotaki’ he says and write it down inside your brain: We came to fight Turks; we won’t pollute our hands with money. ‘Stay away’. I can’t forget his words. When we are about to leave I try to communicate with the others but it’s impossible; People talk in every frequency. But my Israeli made GRC has extra frequencies unreachable by the US made radios. Finally all radio operators turn to a pre-arranged frequency and we manage to coordinate our forces.
We arrive in Nicosia and rest to an abandoned camp. The same night BBC reports that Greek Cypriots assisted by Greek metropolitan forces defended the airport inflicting heavy casualties to the Turks. Probably is a report by British journalist Philips who was present at the airport but was drawn away by our commander for his personal safety. Later I heard he was killed during a mission. Petty, he was a noble man. Our casualties are a master sergeant dead and a raider wounded. The master sergeant Photopoulos Athanasios was killed when he left his barricaded position and started walking towards the attacking waves firing his rifle from the hip full auto . Raider Andrulakis had his right arm amputated after receiving a round in the shoulder. The shot was fired by the Canadians from the UN controlled area and our people fired back.
Turkish casualties are a question. Cypriots intercepted a signal to the Turkish commander at the airport. He was asked why he had so many casualties with no success. I remember that after two weeks Turks attacked again despite the cease fire but intercepted by UN troops
Today almost 20 years later, often I recollect the events. My mind remembers my dead and wounded friends. They wrote history with their heroism. We did our duty. The rest is a job for historians.
.................................................. .................................................
Some useful info:
Greek officers on site claim that after the failure of the first wave Canadians informed the Turks about the exact strength of the defendants and they threw an entire regiment about 2000 soldiers at the airport the majority of which was wiped out. The good thing is that the official Turkish KIA’s for the entire operation in Cyprus is 1285!!! Nicosia airport was never used again since 1974.