 CYPRUS WAR:
In June 1958 the British announced a plan to maintain
the international status quo of Cyprus for seven years but to establish
representative government and communal autonomy. Archbishop Makarios and
the Greek and Turkish governments rejected the British plan, but on October 1
the British put a modified version of it into effect.
Talks held in 1959 among the various parties led to
an agreement on the general features of a constitution for an independent
republic of Cyprus.
The status of the republic was guaranteed by
Britain, Turkey, and Greece. Britain retained sovereignty over two military
bases. Archbishop Makarios, who returned to Cyprus on March 1, was elected
president on December 13; Fazil Küchük, a Turkish Cypriot, became
vice president. Independence was proclaimed on August 16, 1960. Cyprus
was admitted to the United Nations and the Commonwealth of
Nations.
In December 1963 Greek and Turkish Cypriots clashed after
Makarios proposed constitutional changes, including abolition of the Turkish
minority's power to veto laws in the legislature. Fighting spread over the
island, with the Turkish Cypriots demanding partition while the Greek Cypriots
insisted on a unitary state with minority rights safeguarded. After both Greece
and Turkey threatened to intervene, full-scale civil war was forestalled
by British troops; the UN appointed a mediator and organized a peace force to
patrol the island. |
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Royal Air Force Regiment
SERVICE CLUB
"Proud of
our Corps". "Proud of our Association".
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PATROL DUTIES ON THE MASON DIXON LINE
NICOSIA:
This was another duty we pulled and it required two Landrovers
to go on patrol together to cover each other and patrol the Mason Dixon line
between the Greek and the Turkish quarters of Nicosia to prevent any incidents
of aggravation between the two sides. The normal complement was a Corporal and
driver and signaller and two riflemen one on the Bren gun and one on lookout,
we only mounted one Bren in this role and the signaller was netted in to Patrol
HQ to alert backup if required. We did two hours on and four off and it was
extremely boring most of the time, still that was the name of the game, it was
95% boredom and 3%action and 2% relief when the action was over. We had a few
scares though especially near the time of the anniversary of the partition took
place them we were on full alert and watched everything that was going on. When
and if it looked dodgy we called in support and made whatever side, was causing
the trouble to retreat to the confines of their one area peacefully if possible
but on the understanding if they wanted grief we could and would provide it.
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Ali then took us to a neighbouring bar and we sat and had a good
laugh at Dick and Allan who asked us not to tell anyone about it which we
didn't at least I didn't until now. You know it is amazing but I look back now
and remember some of the things that happened and still find them curious and
strange. Like sitting in the rear of a Landrover with headphones on at 0300 hrs
and being nearly asleep but as soon as I heard our call sign I was 100% alert
and ready to rumble.
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| We only had to turn out the riot squads twice on my tour and once
they arrived all we did was provide cover and support and information to the
riot commander. One order that was strictly enforced was that you never
dismounted to chase any suspects you called out their police to go into their
area and find the culprits using the information we provided. That way we never
got into situations where we might be outnumbered and either killed or captured
to prove a point for them, on the whole the Turks were more amenable to us
being there than the Greeks were. That is probably why if we were going out
down town we always went to the Turkish Quarter to rest and relax as we did not
have to keep looking over our shoulders like you had to in the Greek Quarter. A
small aside here we got very friendly with one of the Turkish Police Sergeant's
who had served in Korea and he used to meet us and take us to some good bars
and restaurants. Once we went down town and remember we went armed and in fours
usually we borrowed holsters and 9mm pistols from the Air supply guy's of RASC
who were billeted next to us at RAF Nicosia. If you couldn't borrow a pistol
you had to take a Sten Gun from the Squadron Armoury and that was not really
conducive to having a good time lugging a Sten and two magazines around. Anyway
a couple of the guy's wanted some female company and Ali Osman took to a
Turkish house of ill repute? And when we got there Dick Marsh and Allan Tombs
ran up the stairs only to come to an abrupt halt as they rounded the top of the
stairs this guy jumped up with a Lanchester Sub Machine Gun in his hands and if
Ali hadn't been there it could have got nasty, anyway that rather dimmed their
ardour and we only had a beer with the guy and left. |
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I remember also being on duty for 28 days once
without a break just doing patrols 2 hours on 4 hours off and the medics gave
us some Benzedrine tablets and we took some and when I went back to RAF Nicosia
I slept for four days. That was at the time we were really stretched until they
sent out more troops, in fact if they had sent any more troops out the island
would have sunk.
NAAFI BOMB By Rabble Burns:
This
was an incident that occurred when I was on No 2 Field Squadron at RAF
NICOSIA the date of which I am not sure about but I will attempt to find
out by E Mailing the Daily Mail that reported it. What occurred was that some
EOKA personnel had got into the NAAFI in the guise of repairmen for the
Jukebox in the NAAFI and had planted a bomb in the machine fused to go off
when a certain record was selected for play. I do not know which record it was
but it was obviously a popular one, at the time of the explosion there was
quite a number of people in the room at the time and I know that there was at
least five serious casualties. Three of the injured died and they were
three guy's on tour expired awaiting to fly home the next day, the other two
injured were quite badly injured and were flown home to a RAF HOSPITAL for
treatment.
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One of our duties was to guard the airfield as this
is a prime role of the RAF REGIMENT and I was on guard at the time and we
immediately went to the site to assist in cordoning off the area and to search
for any further bombs. This was also a task we did especially when any aircraft
movements were to take place we had to search the arrivals and departure
lounges for any explosive devices or suspicious packages or bags. This duty was
also carried out on all buildings within the airport perimeter on a daily basis
at least three times a day and night, at random intervals and in a random
fashion so as not to make it routine. The NAAFI was always searched at closing
time and prior to opening time to ensure no surprise packages had been left
hidden to cause any problems for the staff and patrons.
Submitted
by:
Rabbie Burns
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| Rabbi served 12
years in the RAF Regiment from 1954 to 1966. He served in Egypt, Cyprus, Aden,
UK, Cyprus 2nd Tour, Libya, Malta, UK, Singapore, Borneo, and UK. He was
Demobbed April 1966 at RAF Catterick |
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RABBIE'S TALE
CYPRUS 1959 |
RABBIE
BURNS
Radio Op. |
CLICK TO ENLARGE
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MR RABBIE
BURNS WITH THE SAME HAIRSTYLE |
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