Military Operations During The Turkish Invasion of Cyprus - Aphrodite Two Defence Plan and Counter Offensive - 21 July 1974

21 July 1974

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.

On the same evening, the Hellenic Air Force commenced a clandestine air-lift operation (Operation "Niki") using fifteen Noratlas aircraft (354 Squadron "Pegasus") in an effort to transport a battalion of commandos from Souda, Crete to Cyprus. However, the aircraft were erroneously engaged by Greek Cypriot anti-aircraft guns of the 195 MEA/AP battalion at Nicosia International Airport, and the 3rd Noratlas was shot down with the loss of four crew and 29 commandos. A further two Noratlas planes were also badly shot up, and forced to make hard landings, at which point the mistake was realised. Some of the remaining planes were able to make safe landings and offload their troops and equipment, resulting in a Greek contingent available to defend the airport. This unit was the A Commando, later given the Greek Cypriot designation 35MK Commando.

At Kyrenia, the 251st battalion had now moved to the village of Trimithi to mount its defence of the town, while the 241st and Engineer battalion moved east of Kyrenia, with the latter tasked to mining the coastline.

At the Agyrta-Nicosia pass, the Greek Cypriot mountain commando forces achieved their objectives, with the 31MK and 33MK arriving from the west to capture the Kotsakagia mountain top, while the 32MK arrive from the east to force a Turkish retreat from the pass.

At around 06:00, all Turkish-Cypriot resistance at Limassol collapsed under the weight of a Greek Cypriot assault, and approximately 1,000 POWs were taken. Meanwhile, the Turkish-Cypriot held village of Pileri was captured by the 231st Infantry battalion.

In a disastrous strategic move, the four Greek Cypriot mountain commando battalions were ordered to move from the Pentedaktylos mountains (where they had created a virtual blockade across the line of a Turkish bridgehead) and are sent in the direction of Agios Pavlos.

The 187MPP artillery battalion, which was badly damaged by Turkish air attack at its camp the previous morning, went into battle with just four surviving 100mm guns out of its original twelve. The previous day, it had fired a number of shots at the Turkish Cypriot enclave in northern Nicosia, as well as at Saint Hilarion. On the 21st, she moved to a new position at Gerolakkos under cover of night, and executed shots at Saint Illariona in support of National Guard and ELDYK forces.