Stylianos Lenas ( el, Στυλιανός Λένας; 20 June 1931-28 March 1957) was a member of

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνο� ...

, and one of the

Cypriots Cypriots or Cypriot people may refer to: * The inhabitants of Cyprus ** Demographics of Cyprus * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish Cypriots See also * Cypriot ...

who were wounded in battle against British soldiers.

Early life

Lenas was born into a poor family in

Chandria Chandria (Greek language, Greek: Χανδριά) is a village in Cyprus in the Limassol administrative district and belongs to the Pitsilia group of villages. At an elevation of 1,275 m (4,180 ft), it is the second highest village in Cyprus ...

. When he finished the local school in his village, he took a job in town. He went to Lero for further studies and when he returned, he opened a shop and later worked as a plumber.

EOKA activities

He was one of the first members to join EOKA and was located in the Troodos Mountains. Formerly a plumber, Lenas became a skilled maker of bombs and

MK2 grenade The Mk 2 grenade (initially known as the Mk II) is a Hand grenade#Fragmentation, fragmentation-type anti-personnel hand grenade introduced by the Military of the United States, U.S. armed forces in 1918. It was the standard issue anti-personnel g ...

s. Lenas was one of the first five squad leaders among EOKA units in Nicosia. He led his team during the

1 April attacks The 1 April Attacks were a series of attacks across Cyprus in 1955 by the Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA) which led to the start of the Cyprus Emergency. Multiple British locations were attacked after midnight by EOKA members. This att ...

, alongside Markos Drakos, in blowing up the Wolsey Barracks and later trained sabotage units in Lysi. Lenas joined Grigoris Afxentiou when the latter took over as commander of the

Pitsilia Pitsilia ( el, Πιτσιλιά) is an agricultural region in Cyprus, with total area of , in a mountainous area of rocky land on very steep slopes that have been used mainly for grazing goats and sheep and for producing small amounts of cereals, w ...

section; Lenas was appointed as commander of one of the four sub-sections in August 1956. In a battle with the British Army in the area of Potamitissa on 17 February 1957, Lenas was seriously wounded and captured. He died in Akrotiri hospital after 39 days on 28 March 1957. He was buried at the Imprisoned Graves in the Central Jail of Nicosia alongside Drakos and Afxentiou; the British feared a publicly accessible grave would provoke demonstrations.

Legacy

A motorcycle that belonged to Lenas and was used to carrying weapons and ammunition is on display at

Cyprus Classic Motorcycle Museum The Cyprus Classic Motorcycle Museum is a museum in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, dedicated to the history of motorcycles between 1914 and 1983. The collection consists of more than 400 motorcycles. Companies represented are AJS, MV Agusta, Match ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lenas, Stylianos 1957 deaths Cypriot people of the EOKA Year of birth missing People killed in the Cyprus Emergency 1931 births