The Cyprus Regiment was a military unit of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. Created by the British Government during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was made up of volunteers from the Greek Cypriot,

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

, one Armenian, Maronite and Latin inhabitants of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, but also included other Commonwealth nationalities. The badge of the Cyprus Regiment was a shield charged with two lions ''passant guardant'' in pale and ensigned with the Imperial Crown and below the shield was a scroll bearing the title of the regiment.

Service history

The Cyprus Regiment was founded on 12 April 1940. It included Infantry, Mechanical, Transport and Pack Transport Companies. Cypriot mule drivers were the first

colonial troops Colonial troops or colonial army refers to various Military organization#Commands, formations, and units, military units Military recruitment, recruited from, or used as garrison troops in, colonial territories. Colonial background Such colonie ...

sent to the Western Front. They served in France, Ethiopia, Palestine, and Italy carrying equipment to areas inaccessible to vehicles. They were used to supply and support other troops at Monte Cassino. On a brief visit to Cyprus in 1943,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

praised the "soldiers of the Cyprus Regiment who have served honourably on many fields from Libya to Dunkirk." About 30,000 Cypriots served in the Cyprus Regiment. The regiment was involved in action from the very start and served in the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

, in the Greek Campaign (the

Battle of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasi ...

, in which about 600 soldiers were captured at

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

, in 1941), North Africa (

Operation Compass Operation Compass (also ) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British metropolitan, Imperial and Commonwealth forces attacked the Italian and Libyan forces of ...

), France, the Middle East and Italy. Many soldiers were taken prisoner especially at the beginning of the war and were interned in various POW camps, including Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf, Stalag IV-C at Wistritz near Teplitz (now in the Czech Republic), and Stalag IV-B near Dresden. The soldiers captured in Kalamata were transported by train to prisoner of war camps. In the post-war years the regiment served in Cyprus and the Middle East, including Palestine during the 1945-1948 period. The regiment was disbanded on 31 March 1950.

References

Sources

* Panyiotou, Nicos. ''Cyprus' participation in World War II''. Nicosia : Theopres Press Ltd., 1985. * ''50th anniversary of The Cyprus Regiment, 1939-1945''. Nicosia : Republic of Cyprus Press & Information Office, 1990
London Gazette : ''Operations in the Middle East from August, 1939 to November, 1940'' (Publication date: 11 June 1946 Supplement: 37609 Page: 2997)
( * Jackson, Ashley. ''The British Empire and the Second World War'' * ''The Commonwealth War Graves Commission''

External links

Cyprus Veterans' Association

Kazamias, Georgios. ''Military Recruitment and Selection in a British Colony: The Cyprus Regiment 1939–1944''

Imperial War Museum : Cypriots Serving with the British Forces

Commonwealth War Graves Commission : Cyprus Regiment

New medals for WWII veteran who lost originals in 1974

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c55624/ WW2 Peoples War : Gunner Bellas, POW
Battle of Crete WO Bill Knox
Battalions of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1950 Military history of Cyprus British Cyprus Cyprus in World War II {{Cyprus-stub