Firstly I received 4 or 5 responses to the small advertisement I had placed in Gunner Magazine from individuals who had served in Cyprus and were willing to share their experiences with me. Emails moved back and forth and I then received a submission from "Tam", a former 26 Regt RA Sgt who had been on the way to Aquaba as part of the "Firefighting" Brigade, where, having staged to equip and train in Cyprus, were then diverted to help with the EOKA campaign. I will publish excerpts from his very interesting story here eventually, but like all things I need to do some cross-referencing to make sure our facts are correct before doing so.
I had also received an email from a former 31 Fd Regt Soldier, (Owen), who served during the Second World War from 1942 - 1945. Owen joined his Regiment in Cyprus where they had been withdrawn after receiving a severe mauling by the Afrika Corps at the battle of Alem Hamza. Since his email we have spoken on the phone and he has placed in the post several photographs and an account of his experiences which I not only look forward to reading, but sharing with everyone else. I would love to get to meet him and may attempt to do so later in the year.
My research efforts in the last two weeks seem to have become EOKA focussed - that is where the wealth of material exists on the internet, and very interesting, (and in some cases incredibly sad), it is too. I am conscious however that I am not writing a story about the Gunners versus General Grivas, but something with a wider context.
However! Firstly there is a very interesting and informative site on the internet, who's editor has put together pages that gather history and anecdotes from former servicemen who have served all over the world since WWII, and well worth a browse for any of you, who like me, have been involved in conflicts from Northern Ireland to Bosnia, to Afghanistan. The link to the Cyprus page is here:
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/cyprus/index.html
I spent some time combing this site, and having been given permission by James the editor, I have manipulated their databases, extracting the information relevant to the Gunner story.
The first database covers those Gunners who died during the EOKA conflict. The conflict is said to have commenced on the 1st of April 1955 and finished on the 1st of December 1959 when a ceasefire was agreed.
This database can be found by following this link
Roll of Honour
And my thanks go to to David Carter who complied the original list.
This list does have holes in it and if you can help with filling them in please do not hesitate to get in touch. I'm also grateful to another website lastrp.com and David Hamilton the author. David has very kindly allowed me to use material from his website in my research, and again his very informative website is well worth a visit.
I have been attempting to compile a list of British Army units stationed in Cyprus, and will publish a list when I have more meat on the bones - to date it is full of holes and I would be loathe to put it out for public inspection - I do feel a trip to the Royal Artillery Museum coming on though.
Britain's Small Wars website did allow me to compile a complete list of those Gunner units who have served under the UNFICYP umbrella, and my compiled list can be found here:
UNFICYP, RA Units
The final little gem I came across was a website dedicated to those Gunners who served in 188 Radar and Searchlight Battery RA. The compiler, David Nicholas has, again, very kindly allowed me to use material from his site in my research.
188 Radar and Searchlight Battery RA
This site allowed me to make contact with several former members who served in Cyprus, and again, I look forward to reading their story.
So, two weeks worth of research, but I have lots of ground still to cover, I'll report back, God willing, next week. I leave you with the image below which shows the main gate of "Ubique" Camp, 188 Battery Headquarters Cyprus, (Thanks to David Nicholas and John Wood).
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