The Cyprus Regiment was a military unit of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Created by the British Government during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, it was made up of volunteers from the

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,0 ...

, Armenian, Maronite and Latin inhabitants of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, but also included other Commonwealth nationalities. The badge of the Cyprus Regiment was a shield charged with two lions ''passant guardant'' in pale and ensigned with the Imperial Crown and below the shield was a scroll bearing the title of the regiment.

Service history

The Cyprus Regiment was founded on 12 April 1940. It included Infantry, Mechanical, Transport and Pack Transport Companies. Cypriot mule drivers were the first colonial troops sent to the Western Front. They served in France, Ethiopia, Palestine, and Italy carrying equipment to areas inaccessible to vehicles. They were used to supply and support other troops at Monte Casino. On a brief visit to Cyprus in 1943,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

praised the "soldiers of the Cyprus Regiment who have served honourably on many fields from Libya to Dunkirk." About 30,000 Cypriots served in the Cyprus Regiment. The regiment was involved in action from the very start and served in the Battle of France, in the Greek Campaign (the Battle of Greece, in which about 600 soldiers were captured at

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regi ...

, in 1941), North Africa (

Operation Compass Operation Compass (also it, Battaglia della Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces of ...

), France, the Middle East and Italy. Many soldiers were taken prisoner especially at the beginning of the war and were interned in various POW camps, including

Stalag VIII-B Stalag VIII-B was a German Army prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice) in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French pri ...

Lamsdorf, Stalag IV-C at Wistritz near Teplitz (now in the Czech Republic), and Stalag IV-B near Dresden. The soldiers captured in Kalamata were transported by train to prisoner of war camps. In the post-war years the regiment served in Cyprus and the Middle East, including Palestine during the 1945-1948 period. The regiment was disbanded on 31 March 1950.

References

Sources

* Panyiotou, Nicos. ''Cyprus' participation in World War II''. Nicosia : Theopres Press Ltd., 1985. * ''50th anniversary of The Cyprus Regiment, 1939-1945''. Nicosia : Republic of Cyprus Press & Information Office, 1990
London Gazette : ''Operations in the Middle East from August, 1939 to November, 1940'' (Publication date: 11 June 1946 Supplement: 37609 Page: 2997)
( * Jackson, Ashley. ''The British Empire and the Second World War'' * ''The Commonwealth War Graves Commission''

External links

Cyprus Veterans' Association

Kazamias, Georgios. ''Military Recruitment and Selection in a British Colony: The Cyprus Regiment 1939–1944''

Imperial War Museum : Cypriots Serving with the British Forces

Commonwealth War Graves Commission : Cyprus Regiment

New medals for WWII veteran who lost originals in 1974

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c55624/ WW2 Peoples War : Gunner Bellas, POW
Battle of Crete WO Bill Knox
Battalions of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1950 Military history of Cyprus British Cyprus Cyprus in World War II {{Cyprus-stub