Battle of the Pine

The Battle of the Pine is the name given in Greek Cypriot sources to an attack on a British army vehicle by the EOKA on 24 November 1955, two days before the declaration of the Cyprus Emergency. A team of EOKA guerrillas ambushed the vehicles on the road from Kyperounda to Chandria killing one soldier, Sapper Robert Melson.[1][2]

Battle of the Pine
Part of Cyprus Emergency
Date23 November 1955
Location
Cyprus
Result EOKA success
Belligerents
 United Kingdom EOKA
Commanders and leaders
George Grivas
Strength
1 vehicle
Casualties and losses
1 dead 1 innocent killed the next day

The next day British troops shot dead a Cypriot who approached the vehicle in which Downing died and failed to answer challenges from British soldiers.[3]

This was one of several comparable incidents at the times which resulted in the deaths of several British servicemen and contributed to the declaration of a State of Emergency on the island.[4]

References
  1. "Pte George McRuvie | Remembrance Pages Page 961 | the British Cyprus Memorial Trust".
  2. "Chapter 4 Harding strives to suppress the EOKA movement and give a political solution to the Cyprus problem but without success - Archbishop Makarios is exiled to the Seychelles (3 October 1955 - 9 March 1956)", A history of the liberation struggle of EOKA (1955-1959) Archived January 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine accessed 7 November 2013
  3. "Shots Fired In Cyprus". The Central Queensland Herald. Rockhampton, Qld. 1 December 1955. p. 12. Retrieved 6 August 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "State Of Emergency Declared In Cyprus". The Canberra Times. 28 November 1955. p. 1. Retrieved 11 November 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
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