Monument to General Grivas and EOKA, at the spot on the west coast of Cyprus where, as an Army Colonel, he arrived secretly in November 1954 and began immediately the formation of his underground organization EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston - National Organization of Cypriot Fighters). Also known under the pseudonym Digenis which he adopted while in EOKA, he was a Cyprus-born general in the Greek Army and leader of the EOKA organization.
Grivas started a guerrilla campaign against British colonial rule aimed at self-determination and union with Greece (Enosis)on 01 April 1955. The campaign, which started when the first EOKA bombs exploded at 00.30 hours on 1st of April 1955, lasted until 1959 and caused the death of more Greek Cypriot civilians than the total of British killed. It created civil strife and mistrust between the two Cypriot communities. Tension increased in early 1957, when EOKA attacked Turkish police and auxiliaries. EOKA received direct support from Greece in money, arms, organization and propaganda. Greek-speaking Cypriots were awed by EOKA terrorists and subject to bombardment by Athens radio. Under a 1959 compromise settlement known as Zurich-London agreements, Cyprus became an independent Republic in 1960.
THE EOKA conflict in Cyprus lasted between April 1, 1955 and officially ended on December 24, 1959. At its height, more than 30,000 British troops were assigned to combat EOKA, commanded by Grivas and funded by the Orthodox Church, led by Archbishop Makarios.
Officially, 104 British military personnel lost their lives in Cyprus, but research conducted on behalf of the Britain's Small Wars website indicates there were more than 360 deaths. Yet there are no memorials the length and breadth of the British Isles that carry their names.
