Ambush in the Poison Triangle

by
Dave Cranston
Ex Royal Ulster Rifles August 1 1958, a patrol from 1 R.U.R. consisting of a 1-ton vehicle and an Austin Champ 1/4-ton left Karaolos Camp, Famagusta to patrol 'The Poison Triangle’, a notorious area bordered by the villages of Lysi, Vatilli and Asha, three hotbeds of EOKA activity. The patrol was ambushed on a stretch of the Nicosia Road between Lysi and the village of Kondea. The following is a description of events by Rfn. Billy Reid, a passenger in the Champ

"We had just dropped off two ambush parties near one of the villages and were on our way back from the drop zone. The occupants of the Champ were Capt. J.B. Wadsworth, Rfn. Tom Rigby (Radio Operator), the driver, whose name I cannot for the life of me remember, and myself.

Suddenly there was a loud bang. We discovered later that it was a 'Pipe Type’ bomb that had exploded, luckily for us, behind the Champ. Almost immediately we came under fire from both sides of the road, and the terrorists were well concealed in the orange groves. We stopped and returned fire, Capt. Wadsworth taking the left side and me the right. Tom Rigby was by now in contact with H.Q. and reinforcements were on their way. We continued to return fire, aiming at the muzzle flashes and firing single shots, as we did not have ammo to waste.

During this time I noticed the other vehicle of our patrol suddenly make off in the direction of Lysi at top speed, and the driver really had his foot to the floor. Suddenly all went quiet, and Capt. Wadsworth called me over and said he could hear movement. We crawled around for a few minutes but the ambushers had gone. Later when I saw the driver of the 1-tonner and asked why he had just left us he said, "I thought you were all dead when I saw you lying by the roadside."

RFN Billy Reid

RFN Tom Rigby

The photographs show how close to being a success the ambush was, Billy Reid and Tom Rigby with the Champ.

C.S.M. Willy McConnell B Coy searching
suspects in the Poison Triangle 1958

AMBUSH AT LYSI

On a warm summer evening in July 1958 an ambush was set up by men of B Company 1 R.U.R, the ambush was set on a track junction near the village of Lysi in the notorious 'Poison Triangle' area near Famagusta. The ambush party led by Cpl. Beach with L/Cpl. Gill and his tracker dog and men of B Coy. were one group, a back up group led by Cpl. Austin were in hiding about 200 hundred yards away, but were close enough to give support if needed.

All was peaceful until about 2130hrs, then four men were seen approaching the ambush position, they were pushing bicycles and appeared to be heavily armed. The men were challenged and their reply was a hail of bullets, Rfn. Hagen was hit in the forearm and the tracker dog lost several inches of his tail. The ambush party returned fire and was joined by Cpl. Austin and his back up party. The firefight was over in minutes, the result, 3 dead E.O.K.A and the capture of the entire arms cache of the Poison Triangle.

The debit side, 1 Rfn. wounded and the tracker dog rendered practically tailless, both made a full recovery.

In his book 'MEMOIRS' Grivas the E.O.K.A leader describes the ambush in a different light.

L/Cpl. Brain Gill and his tracker dog

GRIVAS'S VERSION OF LYSI AMBUSH

After the arrest of E.O.K.A members who may have broken under interrogation the arms store in Lysi was in accordance with instructions being moved to another hiding place. The weapons were loaded on to bicycles by a group of three, by ill chance they stumbled into an army patrol almost immediately. In an exchange of fire the leading fighter was killed, the man behind him, Michael Kallis aged 24 wounded a soldier with a shot from his revolver before the patrol emptied their automatics into his body, although dying he he managed to hurl a grenade into the ambush party killing five soldiers. The third man was shot down as he tried to escape.

Once again I was forced to take reprisals, a British police officer was shot dead in a Nicosia street and an airman was killed in the same way by an execution squad.

THIS VERSION BY GRIVAS SHOWS A DEGREE OF INACCURACY BORDERING ON THE RIDICULOUS.

Firstly the army was lying in wait so it was not an accidental meeting, secondly the heroic Kallis, who if Grivas is to be believed had been the victim of several automatic weapons being emptied into his body, was in spite of having 60 to 80 7.62mm and 9mm rounds in him able to hurl a grenade and kill five soldiers,. Thirdly if the last E.O.K.A man died trying to escape who gave Grivas such detailed information.

Dave Cranston
Ex Royal Ulster Rifles

Back to Cyprus Index