... years. The desire for enosis erupted, on April 1, 1955, when bombs destroyed the transmitter of the Cyprus broadcasting station and exploded at British Army installations in Nicosia, Limassol, Famagusta, and Larnaca. The explosions signalled the beginning of a guerrilla war against the British colonial administration that was to continue for four years and claim some 600 lives. The Greek Cypriots fought under the banner of the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston--EOKA), led by Colonel George Grivas. Although EOKA included only a few hundred active guerrillas, it enjoyed wide support in the Greek Cypriot community and was able to tie down about 10,000 British soldiers. However, when EOKA called a cease-fire in March 1959, after the signing in February of the agreements that led to Cypriot independence, it could claim only partial success. The Cypriot tie to Britain was broken sooner than it would have been ...

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