DT. wrote:baby-come-fly-with-me wrote:Well well well what i can clearly see here is that certain people believe that british heros who they like to call murderers because they are fighting for a bloody good reason is down to plain jelousy, at least the british soldiers dont back down, at least they can use a gun, and they wouldnt run around like headless chickens shouting "rey kombere malacka" whatever it is.
I mean come on what a shit job they did in 1974, and are still crying!! and you have the nerve to slate the british soldiers. well all i can say I hope the cypriots dont ever go to war with the united kingdom, you wouldnt last 5 minutes!!!!
I think you'll find the people shouting re koumbare please come out I'm frightened were the English when we were kicking their arses in 55. Your governor lost his mind so much that he fell asleep on one of our bombs.
The Brits could learn a thing or two from Cypriot soldiers both in 55 and 74. Both times fighting enemies 100 times larger and better equiped. Ask the Turks how many they lost from a civil war torn betrayed army whose ammunition was locked up in hangars by treasonous Greek soldiers. Ask the Turks how many they'll lose if they try something like that again against this island of 750,000.
And while you're at it you ignorant cow read a book or two about how many CYpriots went to the UK to fight for your army....(one example is our former President Clerides who was in the RAF)
You've got shit for brains and this is all the attention I;m prepared to give you right now.
From today's Cyprus Mail.
‘Brave call to a brave people’
By Nathan Morley
September 3 was the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, a conflict in which 20,000 Cypriots volunteered to fight
THERE are only a handful of Cypriots still alive who signed up to fight for the Allies following the outbreak of World War II - veteran Loizos Demetriou is one of them.
In late 1939, as German troops marched into Poland, he was preparing to sign up for military service and was gripped by the wave of excitement on the island.
“The atmosphere in those days was very different. Everybody in Cyprus was very enthusiastic about serving in the armed forces, and we did it voluntarily and with great pleasure,” he recalled.
The enthusiastic loyalty of Cypriots was seen in the besieging of the recruiting offices after an official announcement that the British Government had decided to form a local muleteer corps in November 1939.
There was also the suggestion that Britain would remember after the war the loyalty of the Cypriots.
The Cyprus Post newspaper reported "This is a brave call to a brave people. We are confident that the Cyprus Regiment will bear itself with honour on the battlefields in this war, which will surely end in the triumph of democracy.”
Demetriou served in Palestine, Egypt, Iraq and Greece and on home-duty here in Cyprus.
“Twenty thousand Cypriots joined as volunteers in the Second World War, and most served with distinction in places such as Greece, Crete, France and Italy,” he added.
This was in spite of the persistent radio propaganda from Germany promising a better deal under the Nazis, and came at a time when Cyprus with its lack of shipping and air communications found itself unduly isolated.
Fears of a German invasion grew in 1941 when German and Italian warplanes directed violent, continuous air assaults on Famagusta, Nicosia and Larnaca that killed a dozen people. German U-boats stalked the waters off Famagusta and Cape Greko dropping sea-mines and keeping allied shipping in check.
“By this time everybody was worried,” recalled Demitriou. “After the invasion of Crete everybody here felt that Cyprus was the next target. The bombings of Cyprus were not effective thankfully, but they were not pleasant.”
The German Airborne invasion of Crete was so costly in terms of casualties that no further use of parachute and airborne troops was made in that role. The expected invasion of Cyprus never came.
During the retreat of the Allied Forces from Greece and Crete, the Cyprus Regiment lost some 2,500 men, most of whom were taken prisoners of war.
Much to the dismay of British leaders in Cyprus, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had frequently said that a force of only 1500 men was all that was needed to deter the Germans from an invasion of the island; fortunately the defences were never called into action.
On a brief visit to Cyprus in 1943, Churchill praised the “soldiers of the Cyprus regiment who have served honourably on many fields from Libya to Dunkirk.”
About 1000 Cypriot women enlisted voluntarily to the Auxiliary Territorial Service and Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and served in the Middle East as drivers, mechanics or for office duties.
Out of the total Cypriot volunteers, some 600 men were killed in action and are buried in 56 cemeteries of 16 countries; among them are Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Armenians, Maronite and Latin, while some 250 are considered as missing persons.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
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