“Stay behind the armoured car”
John Tipper recalls an adventure in the mountains of Cyprus
I was stationed at RAF Akrotiri from 1956 to 1957. As a military transport driver, I remember seeing the single-track roads bordered by packed earth for the first time. They gave me the feeling that the odds would be stacked against us if it came to an ambush.
One day I was tasked with taking an education pilot officer to a radar unit in the Troodos mountains. Driving a Standard Vanguard estate car, my instructions were to turn off the main highway before Episkopi and meet up with the escort.
The escort turned out to be an armoured car and two Land Rovers containing ten Royal Marine Commandos. I was given strict instructions to stay behind the armoured car and between the two Land Rovers.
The narrow road contained a sinuous series of bends bound by stone parapets, making it very difficult for the armoured car to negotiate. Eventually we got through and arrived at a heavily wired and guarded compound. Those stationed at the compound suffered a fair amount of harassment from the Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA, which campaigned for union with Greece and against the British presence in Cyprus), but morale was high.
I lunched while the pilot officer invigilated the exams for several airmen. I did think the place was perhaps a bit too dangerous to be putting on exams, but supposed it was to show EOKA that business was going on as usual.
When the time came to depart, a message came through that there was no escort to take us back, meaning we would have to spend the night there. Neither the officer nor I fancied that prospect, so we agreed to make a run for it.
I had the usual Sten gun, which I didn’t consider very usable in the confines of a car, so swapped it with the officer’s .38 revolver and set off.
We drove back down the hill as quickly as possible, but when we reached the aforementioned bends we quickly discovered why we had no escort. On its way up to the compound to meet us, the armoured car had been going through a particularly difficult bend when its forward gun, which extended beyond the body, became stuck in the fork of a tree.
Trying not to laugh, we stopped to see if we could help. The turret opened and a grinning head appeared. The owner, obviously seeing the funny side of his predicament, thanked us but said that EOKA didn’t have the weapons to get at them – so long as they stayed inside the armoured car. As help was on the way we waved farewell, the turret clanged shut and we sped home without incident.
As the situation had highlighted the difficulty of wielding a Sten gun when inside a car, I subsequently raised the issue and it was agreed that a .38 would be more appropriate. Earlier in the year, we had been sent up the cliffs at the back of camp for combat training, which consisted of firing a Bren gun, Sten gun and a .303 Lee Enfield rifle. Pistols were for officers only, so my training had not included firing one.
However, due to my request I was sent back up the cliffs to fire six rounds at a one-foot square target. When the practice was over, I concluded that the safest place to be that afternoon was directly in front of the target.
The road into the base, bordered by orange groves; an ideal EOKA ambush site © John Tipper
John Tipper served in the RAF between 1955 and 1957. His time in Cyprus coincided with an increase in EOKA activity. He is a member of the Association’s Dereham and Swaffham Branch.
