In the summer of 1974 the island of Cyprus was on fire.
In the early morning of July the 20th, a large Turkish landing force invaded the northern part of the island.The official reason for this was a disastrous coup against the governement of President Makarios, which was staged a week earlier, by a group of Greek officers attached to the Cypriot National Guard.Turkey cited its right as a guarantor (along with Greece and the U.K.) to intervene, as it considered the Turkish-Cypriot minority threatened by the events.
In reality, all the fighting during the coup was among the Greek and Greek-Cypriot military forces and the forces loyal to the Cypriot President.This fighting did not in any way threatened the Turkish-Cypriot population.
The real reason for the invasion was, of course, the long standing claims and ambitionsTurkey had on the island.The protection of the minority was a pretext she had used in the past for intervening in the affairs of the island.It is a known fact that preparations for an invasion had started long before the outbreak of the coup.
The Turkish invasion found the defences of Cyprus in disarray and the morale of the defenders very low, after the coup and the tragic events that followed.
The ”leadership” that was installed by the coup leaders, was unable to rally the population for the defence against the invaders, and of course its international recognition was non-existent.
The preparations for the defence of the island that was considerably weakened after earlier mishandlings and mistakes, was further compromised by the purges in the Cyprus National Guard that followed the coup.
In the first day of the invasion and despite overwhelming air, land and sea superiority and the weakness of the resistance offered, the Turkish Forces had secured only a very small bridgehead on the coast of Kerynia.
This could have been destroyed in the early stages of the invasion by the side that had the means (and the right) to intervene:Greece.
But no serious attempt was made towards this direction.The dictatorship that ruled Greece for the past seven years, was in the verge of total collapse.
The political situation in Athens, where the coup had originated and from which the defence of Cyprus could have been affected, was fast deteriorating.
The military preparations and declared mobilisation turned into a fiasco.
Valuable time was lost with vacillations, indecision, conflicting orders and outright incompetence.
In a climate of confusion and defeatism, the existing plans for the reinforcement of the defences in Cyprus ( mainly the air assault on the invading forces) after an initial order for implementation, were cancelled.The excuse given was the remoteness of Cyprus and the slim chances of survival of any Greek aircraft sent over the battlefield.
Alternatively, it was decided to send a token military force by air, in the form of one commando (not paratroop) battalion.
There was an attempt to transport a north-Greece commando unit, by commercial (Olympic Airways) aircraft, but this failed under very suspicious circumstances.
Alternatively, it was decided to transport another unit, by almost the entire transport fleet of the Hellenic Air Force at the time.
It is hard to see the rationale and purpose of this operation, other than as a purely symbolic and morale-raising attempt.
After the many facts that came to light over the years, one thing is certain: this was a suicide mission pure and simple.
The fact that it did not end up in the total destruction of the force dispatched, can be attributed primarily to the heroism and capabilities of those that carried out the mission, and secondly in sheer luck.
No one was ever held responsible for ordering this mission which resulted in the deaths of 33 airmen and commandos, and the destruction of 4 aircraft.
This is not inconsistent with the fact that there were no serious charges brought against those responsible for the ”Cyprus Tragedy”, (during which this mission took place), either.
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The following is by no means an analysis of the political, or military parameters of the Turkish invasion and the fighting that followed.
It is a short narrative, as a small tribute to those killed or injured and all those who participated in the little-known mission ”Niki” (Victory) in July of 1974.
This mission was to take place in secrecy, from Souda air base in Crete, with the purpose of carrying the 1st Commando Battalion and its equipment to Nicosia airport in Cyprus.It was given the codename ”Niki” (Victory).
20 ageing Nord 2501 Noratlas and 10 C-47 Dakotas, of the 354 Transport Squadron "Pegasus", were assigned to transport the commando force.
The transports would take off at night, with no fighter escort, fly in radio silence, at very low level, with minimum lights and no visual contact between aircraft.They would land in Nicosia, unload the force and take-off right away for the return to Greece.
The plan was, for the take-offs to start at 22.30 hrs of July 21, with a separation of 5’ between take-offs, so that all aircraft would be airborne by midnight.
The flight to Cyprus, the landing, unloading and return to base, should take place under cover of darkness to avoid detection by the Turkish Air Force.There were strict orders not to land in Nicosia in daylight.
On the night of 21st of July, all the assigned aircraft and the unit to be carried, were ready in the 115 Combat Wing base at Souda bay.
The take-off plan was kept by the first five aircraft, when delays started to occur (according to some opinions deliberate), with the result that the order was given to abort the remaining take-offs, leaving five Noratlas and all the Dakotas with the heavy equipment behind!
The last aircraft to take-off was ”Niki 15” (fifteenth in the take-off order), outside the time limits and having ignored the order to abort!
The aircraft that finally took-off, flew over the city of Chania, climbed to an altitude of 7000 ft over the White Mountains, and when over the sea, dropped to an altitude of 300-500 ft.They followed a south-eastern course, until a point approximately 34º N and 27º E, where they turned east in the direction of Cyprus.
The area ahead was monitored by the Turkish Air Force and the detection of the slow transports meant their certain destruction.
The Noratlas crews knew very well that in this mission they were alone, there was no friendly fighter escort for their protection.Their only protection was the darkness and the element of surprise.There were no navigational aids, these being shut down because of the outbreak of hostilities, and no reference points to take their bearings, so the skills of the navigators were critical.They did not fly in formation, but idependently and had no visual contact between them, the crews had only a general idea about where the preceding or following aircraft was!
Most of the aircraft had dropped to an altitude of no more than 40-50 ft., a very dangerous situation, where the slightest mistake from the pilot meant sudden death for the crew and occupants, on the surface of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The flight to Cyprus, was estimated to take around two hours for the slow and heavily laden Noratlas aircraft.Many of them, had all kinds of malfunctions, but their heroic crews pressed on, taking them to their destination.
Approaching Cyprus from the west and having broken the radio silence long ago, they noted the increased U.S 6th Fleet warship activity in the area south-west of the island.One of the Noratlas, reported having flown very near an aircraft carrier, without incident.
Other aircraft flew over the British base of Akrotiri which went on alert.The Command of the British Forces in Cyprus, warned that they will intercept any further overflights of the area.
Over the island, the aircraft climbed higher and their crews noted the large fires blazing on Mt Troodos, the result of the Turkish Air Force bombings of the previous day.These blazes were the source of the gleams of light on the horizon, that had helped them with their navigation earlier , when far out over the sea.
Some aircraft started to receive light arms fire from the Turkish Cypriot positions on the island, but the crews were not overly worried.
One by one, the heavily laden transports started their final approach to Nicosia airport losing progressively height.
Near the airport, they encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, even though they knew the airport and the surrounding area was in Greek hands.The time was a little over 02.00, July the 22nd.
Before take off, at their briefing, the crews had been told that the Greek-Cypriot forces holding the Nicosia airport were informed for their coming and ordered not to open fire on their approach.
There are many conflicting reports about such an order being issued, who gave it, what it really said, or at what time it was sent out.
The fact is, that the aircraft trying to land, received a barrage of fire from positions inside and outside the airport.The fire came from Greek-Cypriot anti-aircraft positions, and from various other spots manned by civilians firing at the Noratlas transports, with all kinds of weapons.Later, it was learnt that all those firing at the approaching aircraft thought that they were Turkish, having heard nothing of any coming Greek reinforcements.
Aircraft ”Niki 1”,”Niki 2” and ”Niki 3”, under a hail of fire, managed to land and unload the commandos and their equipment.
Noratlas ”Niki 4” got hit by heavy AA fire, caught fire and crashed two miles before the runway.All on board, except one, were killed.”Niki 7”, received a direct hit on No 1 engine , and had No 2 on fire , but its heroic crew managed to land the aircraft.Two of the commandos on board got killed and 11 others were injured from the fire that almost tore the aircraft apart.Some of the Noratlas pilots, on their final approach, turned all their lights on, in a desperate effort to warn those firing from the ground about their nationality.This had little effect on those firing, but at least the last aircraft had no casualties even though they all carried the marks of the fire they received.
Belatedly, and after most of the aircraft had landed, the forces on the ground realised that the aircraft were friendly and the fire ceased . Unfortunately, too late for the 33 killed and the two Noratlas transports.
Last, and just before the first light, ”Niki 15” landed, carrying the heavy equipment of the 1st Commando Battalion.
All the aircraft that landed in Nicosia airport, took off immediately for the return flight, except of course, the unfortunate ”Niki 4” and three others:”Niki 3” which had engine problems and could not take off, the almost destroyed ”Niki 7”, and ”Niki 12”, that ran out of fuel.All three Noratlas aircraft were destroyed on the ground by Greek-Cypriot Forces, under orders of the Hellenic Air Force Headquarters, presumably as an attempt to erase all evidence of this symbolic Greek contribution to the Battle of Cyprus.
The pretense of course was, that Greece was not officially at war with Turkey!!
The rest of the aircraft, saving fuel and flying always very low, to avoid the Turkish Air Force that was soon to resume flying with the daylight, started to arrive in Souda , except 4 which landed in Rhodes, these being short on fuel or having sustained damage.
Two of the Noratlas that took off from Souda, never landed in Nicosia:”Niki 13”, after wandering over the sea, reported "navigation difficulties" and landed in Rhodes.”Niki 14”, arriving late over Cyprus and after the first light, followed the orders to the letter and turned back without landing.
In Nicosia, when daylight came the Turkish Air Force started to bomb the airport.The commandos of 1st Battalion that survived the nightmare of the previous night, took positions in the defence of the airport.In the days that followed they fought gallantly against the Turkish invaders.
Unfortunately, the heroic mission of the Hellenic Air Force was the only help from Greece to arrive in Cyprus at the time of crisis.
The heroism of those that took part, and the sacrifice of those killed during it, were not enough to alter the course of the events.
It will, nevertheless, be one of the brightest moments in the History of the Hellenic Air Force, albeit not fully recognised.
NORATLAS 52-133 "NIKI 4"
KILLED HELLENIC AIR FORCE
Panagopoulos Vasilios
Symeonidis Georgios
Anthimos Ilias
Davaris Georgios
KILLED COMMANDOS
1ST COMMANDO BATTALION
Tsamkiranis Dimitrios
Kavrahorianos Nikolaos
Tsilivakis Stefanos
Tsakonas Evangelos
Hristopoulos Athanasios
Anastasopoulos Andreas
Gianakakis Kosmas
Giannakos Stefanos
Giannopoulos Panayotis
Dalamangas Ilias
Zisimopoulos Andreas
Ilias Konstantinos
Kasimakis Sotirios
Kateros Konstantinos
Kourounis Sotirios
Ligdis Hristos
Doitsidis Hristodoulos
Maniatis Spiridon
Monias Emilios
Mparotas Konstantinos
Nakos Georgios
Prinianakis Stilianos
Siorokos Dimitrios
Skiadaresis Nikolaos
Tzouras Sotirios
Toulis Ilias
Hatzopoulos Hristos
INJURED COMMANDO
Zafiriou Athanasios
(only survivor)
NORATLAS 52-139 "NIKI 7"
KILLED COMMANDOS
1ST COMMANDO BATTALION
Nobelis Spiridon
Ikonomakis Konstantinos
INJURED COMMANDOS
Tsongas Pavlos
Antonopoulos Georgios
Fisaris Ioannis
Theodoropoulos S.
Gogos K.
Tsagaropoulos Dimitrios
Latzourakis Georgios
Xeftilis Konstantinos
Papaefstathiou Efstathios
Mavroudis Georgios
http://koti.welho.com/msolanak/kyprosengl.html
