May 11, 1956
EOKA RETALIATES: Nicosia, 11 – The head of the National Cypriot Fighters’ Organization (EOKA), Georgios Grivas, confirmed today the execution of two British corporals. The announcement came in proclamations bearing Grivas’s signature. Today a young Cypriot patriot, aged just 14, was shot dead by the British soldiers of Governor Field Marshal Sir John Harding. The British authorities, however, deny the report, obviously so as not to anger the British public or terrorize the troops because of the deterioration of the situation due to their own political mistakes. EOKA has announced that it executed the British soldiers in retaliation for yesterday’s hanging of Michail Karaolis and Andreas Dimitriou. Those killed by EOKA were the British corporals Gordon Hill and Ronny Silton. (..) The proclamation, which opens with the phrase «God Rest Their Souls,» adds: «We do not hate the British soldiers, but we are determined to live in freedom. In order to obtain our freedom, we are forced to use the same means used by the British to take it from us. We will respond in kind for each hanging or torture.»
