I wasn't going to comment on this thread,but since I'm bored oh well
Some things the Pakistani and other members might not know about the war:
The Cypriot National Guard's equipment was a mess back then. Their small weapons were of so many different calibres that it was a logistical nightmare! Soviet 7,62x39 ammo,NATO 7,62x51,9mm and .303 British cartridges and .30 cal and .50 cal etc.
They were fighting with Lee-Enfields,some FN FALs,Vz 58s,AK-47s,they also had Stens,MP-40s and Thompsons.I think Garands as well. Meanwhile the Turkish army was equipped with G3s (!) and Thompsons.
They had about
32 T-34-85 tanks while the Turks were using M-47s and M-48s. Many of the T-34s were abandoned because of mechanical failures (I think it was something about the engine or some other part of the tank,I don't remember exactly). They also had some Marmon-Herington and BTR-152 armored vehicles.
There were contradictory actions by authorities in Cyprus who had removed gun emplacements from strategic positions prior to the invasion.
The ruling junta in Athens was NOT the 1967-1973 regime. Ioannides had launched his own coup and removed Papadopoulos. Ioannides was heavily pro-American and one of the notorious acts he and his regime did was to stall and then forbid any help to Cyprus.
"In the evening, the ruling Junta in Athens agreed upon an arrangement to dispatch clandestine reinforcements to assist the Greek Cypriots, in the form of an infantry battalion, a commando battalion and a battalion of medium tanks. An initial effort was made to dispatch these forces using the large vehicle ferry Rethymnon, which took on board the 537th Infantry battalion, a battalion of tanks and 500 Cypriot volunteers (primarily EOKA-B supporters). This vessel set sail from Piraeus that evening."
That help never arrived. As the ship was leaving from Piraeus,it was ordered to turn back,but the officers on board chose to ignore the orders from the Junta. Eventually,they got a message from Rhodes there was supposedly an imminent Turkish invasion and they stopped there to reinforce the garisson. As soon as they reached the harbor,they found out it was all a lie.
The Greek Cypriot navy only had a few torpedo boats and the Turkish Navy and Air Force had the advantage.
Still I'd like to post this picture of the aerial losses during the war:
The Turkish F-100s that were shot down on 21 July 1974 by Turkish Navy destroyers were part of the ones that attacked the Turkish flotilla and sank the Kocatepe in a friendly fire incident.
The Greek losses were also a tragic friendly fire incident:
en.wikipedia.org
