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Battle of Ledra Palace

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Battle of Ledra Palace
Part of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus
Date20 July – 16 August 1974
Location
Nicosia, Cyprus
35°10′40″N 33°21′17″E / 35.17778°N 33.35472°E / 35.17778; 33.35472
Result Greek victory
Belligerents
 Turkey  Cyprus  United Nations
Commanders and leaders
Turkey Hasan Pasias

Cyprus Major Demitrios Alevromageiros Cyprus Captain Nikolaos Ligoustianos

Cyprus Sub-lieutenant Andreas Magnitis

United Kingdom Brigadier Francis Henn

Canada Colonel Clayton Beattie
Units involved

Turkish Armed Forces

Cypriot National Guard

  • 211 Infantry Battalion
  • Reserve Officers Company
 UNFICYP
Strength
300–1,000 Approx. 200 Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown 1+ None

The Battle of Ledra Palace was fought during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974.

Ledra Palace is located in Nicosia district, about 2.6 km north of the Presidential Palace and on the Green Line.[1] During the invasion, and indeed from the beginning of the conflict on 20 July, Ledra Palace was a point of vital importance for the Turkish Armed Forces and its possible occupation would have likely led to the destruction and dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus.[2]

20 July

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The Reserve Officers Company of the National Guard, a few days before the invasion, had been based in the camp of the 11th tactical group, which was located near the ELDYK camp and Nicosia International Airport, and on the day of the invasion (20 July), it received orders to take hold of Ledra Palace and the surrounding area before the Turkish military.[3]

Soldiers from the 1st Company of the 211th Infantry Battalion went to the roof of the hotel and mounted a 50mm machine gun and when Turkish paratroopers began to descend, they began to fire on them.[4][5]

The Turkish military, at 8 a.m. began to hit the national guardsmen and the surrounding area with bullets, mortar shells, and artillery and this continued until the end of the day with UNFICYP men conveying threats by the Turks that if the national guard did not leave, they would drop napalm bombs on them the Greeks refused to leave.[6][7] By the end of the day, the first National Guardsmen had been killed.[8]

21 July

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On 21 July, in the morning hours, the battle started again with the national guardsmen firing against the Turkish military who were fortified in the surrounding houses.[9] During the battle, a Greek Cypriot opened fire on the Turkish mast with the Turkish flag (and therefore fell) to mislead the other Turkish soldiers that the outpost was captured (to send reinforcements). Some Turkish soldiers also tried to trap the national guardsmen allegedly surrendering in order to for the advancing national guardsmen to be trapped and killed.[10]

After this incident, the Turkish side tried through the United Nations (UNFICYP), to have a cease-fire, again, with the threat that if the Greeks did not leave, they would drop napalm bombs but again the national guard refused to leave.[11][12]

The soldiers from the National Guard then received a call from the government to leave the hotel but refused because they were afraid that if they left, the hotel would be taken over by the Turkish military and therefore made a plan with the government which included the National Guard troops leaving the hotel and for it being turned over to UNFICYP.[13][14][15]

Aftermath

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Turkey did not try to seize the hotel and therefore, the hotel has remained under the control of UNFICYP since then with various meetings and events held there either by the Republic of Cyprus or the United Nations.[16][17][18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Polignosi. "Λήδρα Πάλας". www.polignosi.com. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  2. ^ Heraclidou, Antigone; Stylianou-Lambert, Theopisti. "The Ledra Palace Hotel and the 'difficult history' of modern Cyprus". Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 47 (1): 103–122. doi:10.1017/byz.2022.22. hdl:20.500.14279/28263. ISSN 0307-0131.
  3. ^ Μαγνήτης, Ανδρέας. Το Χρονικό της Μάχης του Λήδρα Πάλας, 20 Ιουλίου - 16 Αυγούστου 1974. Αγλαντζιά: Ηλία Επιφάνιου. p. 17. ISBN 978-9925-581-45-0.
  4. ^ Μαγνήτης, Ανδρέας. Το Χρονικό της Μάχης του Λήδρα Πάλας, 20 Ιουλίου - 16 Αυγούστου 1974. Αγλαντζιά: Ηλία Επιφάνιου. p. 31. ISBN 978-9925-581-45-0.
  5. ^ Times, Terence Smith Special to The New York (21 July 1974). "The Nicosia Battle Scene: Shells, Bombs, Paratroops". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 April 2023. "A helicopter, landing in the Turkish sector of Nicosia drew fire from a 50‐caliber machine gun on the roof of the Ledra Palace Hotel...".
  6. ^ Μαγνήτης, Ανδρέας. Το Χρονικό της Μάχης του Λήδρα Πάλας, 20 Ιουλίου - 16 Αυγούστου 1974. Αγλαντζιά: Ηλία Επιφάνιου. p. 36. ISBN 978-9925-581-45-0.
  7. ^ Le Figaro. "La bataille du Palais de Ledra". Εφημερίδα.
  8. ^ "Το περίφημο Λήδρα Πάλας, όπου σκοτώθηκαν οι πρώτοι εθνοφρουροί στην εισβολή. Ήταν το στολίδι της Μεσογείου με ένα θρυλικό μπάρμαν". ΜΗΧΑΝΗ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΟΝΟΥ (in Greek). 6 May 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  9. ^ Mefadden, Robert D. (21 July 1974). "WIDE FIGHTING RAGES IN CYPRUS, TURKS CONTROL ROAD TO NICOSIA;". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  10. ^ Μαγνήτης, Ανδρέας. Το Χρονικό της Μάχης του Λήδρα Πάλας, 20 Ιουλίου - 16 Αυγούστου 1974. Αγλαντζιά: Ηλία Επιφάνιου. p. 55. ISBN 978-9925-581-45-0.
  11. ^ Μαγνήτης, Ανδρέας. Το Χρονικό της Μάχης του Λήδρα Πάλας 20 Ιουλίου - 16 Αυγούστου 1974. Αγλαντζιά, Λευκωσία: Ηλια Επιφανιου. p. 56. ISBN 978-9925-581-45-0.
  12. ^ Kielstra, David (2009). "Taking Care of Business: Canada's Forgotten Cold War Conflict in Cyprus, July-August, 1974". Journal of Military and Strategic Studies. ISSN 1488-559X. Without any improvement in the Ledra situation, Manuel, in his capacity as Nicosia Sector commander, took significant action to prevent both sides from using the hotel. According to Col. Beattie, Manuel ordered his twelve men into the hotel and told his counterpart with the Greek National Guard ,‚It's time to go. Get your men together and get them out of here. You're compromising the lives of civilians. This is UN territory. If you are afraid the Turks will fire on you, I will personally escort you and your men out of the Hotel.‛'.
  13. ^ Μαγνήτης, Ανδρέας. Το Χρονικό της Μάχης του Λήδρα Πάλας, 20 Ιουλίου - 16 Αυγούστου 1974. Αγλαντζιά: Ηλία Επιφάνιου. p. 60. ISBN 978-9925-581-45-0.
  14. ^ "British Rescue Convoy Evacuates Foreigners". The New York Times. 22 July 1974. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  15. ^ Hatay, Mete. "Ledra Palace blues: The rise and fall of an iconic hotel". Ahval. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  16. ^ "The Ledra Palace Project: Dealing with Difficult Heritage". cyens.org.cy. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Meetings with foreign leaders, a UN reception at Ledra Palace hotel on Cyprus Presidents schedule next week". ΚΥΠΕ. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  18. ^ Smith, Colin (14 July 2024). "'Turkish troops fired on our hotel, the invasion had begun': 50 years after Cyprus was torn apart". theguardian.com. The Ledra Palace, its glory days long over, has spent the last half-century in the buffer zone, serving as a barracks for British UN troops and a rendezvous for high-level negotiations that get nowhere.
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