Thats the one. Please don't think I'm the nit
picking type I spotted it last night and it gave me a
little chuckle thinking of all the times we envied the
yanks, the Cannucks and the belgians with their belt fed
and robust Minimis. The LSW really is a waste of time
and effort, few tears will be shed when they are
placed on a large pile in sailsbury P and blown up.

Oppps, which page did you see the "  belt fed Light Support weapon " so i can
get it fixed, must be the Gulf weapons page ?

As a military history student who specialisies in
this area I was happy to stumble across Britains Small
wars this evening. Its a very under represented
subject, one that in a current age of civil conflicts and
brush fire wars we should be looking at learning from
intensely.<br><br>Not wanting to pick holes as soon as I arrive but the
Light Support weapon I used while in the TA never had a
belt feed option, I wish it did, (we all did!) but it
is nothing more than an L85 personal weapon with a
longer barrel and a bipod. Even has the same size
magazine, useless piece of c**p was its usual name. More
magizines and lose rounds in webbing and pockets are the
only difference between riflemen and LSW
gunners.<br><br>Come to think of it useless piece of.... was the same
name given to the rifle!

The EOKA Chap has taken the bait and is now exchanging messages with some of our
regular users of the web forum. I'll now pass him over to you guys...........

Thanks guys, I really appreciate that. A year ago
I would have been just as hot headed as this guy,
but after talking to so may vets like your self's, if
found it allot more easier to talk to people like our
Greek friend. Lets see if he is willing to talk to you.

I agree Martin you done right and handled it very well. If this lad is willing
to join us in the chat as long as he is civil I have no problem.

Well done Martin you handled it well. Im mailing this chap to see if I can
help<br>Cheers<br>Jason

Just recived some more mail from this
chap.......<br><br>Ok.First of all .I am very sorry about what I wrote in my
first <br>e-mail.I was furious .I hope you can realize
why I am so angry. The fact is that I don't have any
problems with english civilians.<br><br>What I am trying
to tell you is that I know that you were a soldier
and that you were following orders.But after a war
you have to think what was the political
situation.<br><br>I mean you have to say why England bought Cyprus
from the first <br>place. Why they didn't gave us our
"FREEDOM" , as they promised , after the II world war. Why
did they put so many people in the gallows or in the
lock-ups ? Why do you call those people that were fighting
for there freedom , terrorists ?<br><br>I have seen a
picture of two british red beret soldiers hiting a 10
year boy .Are those soldiers criminals,terrorists or
what?<br>Why those people haven't been brought in a court of
justice ?<br>And one last question if England was
occupated by another hostile <br>nation you would do
nothing do free your country
?<br>Thanks<br>...................<br><br>This is my reply<br><br>Dear
G********<br><br>Your
apology is totally accepted. I also get mad some times,
but a site down and think before I write back to some
one. <br><br>Now your questions are asking for
straight forward answers to straight forward questions.
I'm not a politician, I'm simply some one who writes
Military History and helps veterans of my countries
forgotten wars tell their story. <br><br>I shall now post
your latest e-mail on our message board to see if some
of our visiters can answer you
questions.<br><br>Yours<br>Martin

Being a youthfull 37 yr old the Cyprus "Troubles"
were a little before my time and despite the fact I
served a 6 month tour with UNFICYP I know vey little
about the conflict.I am more than willing to learn from
any one from both sides of the discussion. However I
cannot and will not respond to any one who is so full of
hate that they cannot get there message across without
foul or abusive language.<br>Having also served during
the falklands conflict and in N.Ireland I am in
regular contact with a Argentinian who also was there..
while we ferventaly disagree on many isssues we still
remain civil and I believe we have a freindship despite
our differences.<br>I am also willing to talk to and
listen to any one from both sides of the divide in
N.Ireland I do not expect any one to compromise their
beliefs for me just to listen to my point of view and
respond in a reasoned manner.<br>well I am off to the
Bravenet site to read up on Cyprus!!!.

yep I guessed that mail was sent by a kid, and
suspected he was a relative of an EOKA chappie. The EOKA
fighters from the 50s are too old for such venom.<br>Our
friend appears to know little of the history of his
island or the reasons why EOKA existed.<br>I was going
to reply to Tricky's earlier post thus:-<br>I think
it would be a good subject to kickstart our new
club...Terrorism!!<br>For example, compare the methods of EOKA with the
IRA. Despite the killing of the innocents (and I was
there) I have a grudging respect for them as fighters,as
at times the ambushes and firefights they had with
British troops were virtually suicidal in terms of
terrain, tactics etc.they had little hope of winning a
prolonged firefight but had a go anyway. Unlike our friends
the IRA. Also many young Greek Cypriots recruited by
Grivas had nlittle or no training & only threw or
detonated bombs without any idea what they were going to do
afterwards. The guy that ambushed our landrovers picked a
pretty stupid place to throw a bomb tactically and died
under a hail of bullets within minutes.(more about that
on my website)!He was only a young lad my age but he
was well educated but not intelligent to carry out
his task well enough to survive. But he had a go and
defied the dozen or so heavily armed and well trained,
trigger happy Rockapes that were approaching his hiding
place. So the lad had bottle<br>Contrast some of
these(yes I know they commited cowardly acts) with the IRA
methods who do not have the bottle to even attempt to
skirmish with British troops but prefer to concentrate on
soft non military targets. I think they are a weak and
contemptable foe and lack the courage that is needed for any
military action no matter how small.<br><br>It would be an
interesting start to get this debate going to launch our new
club I hope the mad Cypriot does come in and chat to
us, THAT WOULD MAKE IT VERY INTERESTING
INDEED!!!<br>Cheers all

The sender of the hate e-mail has responded to a
e-mail i sent him early today in which I simply said "
You apear to be a very educated person using language
like that "<br><br>He replyed by saying<br><br>"I know
that am not educated but at least am not arrogant like
you. <br>You want to control other coutries and you
don't care about the cost <br>or about the people that
leave in that country. <br><br>Did you know that
Euagoras Palikaliris an 18 year boy was hanged. <br>His
father asked the queen to give him a favour but your
queen said that he was a terrorist<br>because he was
carrying ammunitions. <br><br>Or what about Grigoris
Auxentiou that you burned him alive. <br><br>Or did you
know that my two grand fathers were killed by english
soldiers ? You didn't know<br>that , did you . <br><br>You
now know why I am so angry when you call people that
are fighting for there freedom<br>terrorists . At
least tell me really what you feel about that . <br>I
know that you were following orders .But really how do
you feel about all this. "<br><br>I then wrote back
to him saying<br> <br><br>For a start. Our web site
is NONE POLITICAL. Lets get that straight.
<br><br>This web site has be placed on the web for the
veterans of Britains Foreign wars. Not for people like you
who send rude and insulting e-mails. We try when we
can to tell both sides of the story and have had
great compliments form ex soldiers from Argentina and
Egypt.<br><br>In any war there is always terrible loss. But some
of the things the EOKA did were very bad.<br><br>In
my book people like Nicos Sampson, who like to
shooting ( in the back ) UNARMED soldiers out shopping
with their wife's in Ledra street, ARE TERRORISTS. And
what about the British Doctor Gordon Wilson, who was
also murdered in cold blood while on his way to visit
a Greek family. I suppose men like Sampson are
heros to pleole like you<br><br>If you would like to go
with petty hate mail we can. But what I suggest you do
is place your comments on our web forum at
<a href=http://www3.bravenet.com/forum/show.asp?userid=hs101248
target=new>http://www3.bravenet.com/forum/show.asp?userid=hs101248</a>
<br><br>Many British veterans of Cyprus read this
message board and I'm sure they would like to talk to
you. I have already placed your first e-mail their for
all to see. If you use the forum please do not use
foul language like you used in your first e-mail.
There is no need for it. We can have a very could
conversation with out using cuss words.<br><br>Thanks you for
your time<br><br>Martin

You know, after a year of running Britains Small
Wars and speaking to over 100 veterans of Britains "
Bush Wars " Never once has a British Veteran said any
thing negative about his old foe. Some of these people
who send us this trollop are very bitter ,especially
EOKA supporters.

Well I guess by the well presented arguments and
logical debate expressed in the e-mail that a sensible
and reasoned discussion is indeed possible....
not!<br>Unfortunatly by the very nature of these forums we are always
going to find people with a grudge that no amount of
discussion will dispel.

F##king arrogant english pig. <br>Who do you
think you are a##holes ? <br>You have destroyed our
country.You , a##holes , after you were not able controling
EOKA (GREEK<br>CYPRIOT LIBERATE ARMY) you persuated
TURKEY to invate and kill more than 6000 GREEK CYPRIOTS.
<br>HAVE you ask your self what you were doing in CYPRUS
in first place a##hole ? F##KING pig<br>.PROHISTORIC
oinker. <br><br>Do you remember EUAGORA PAllikaridi and
Grigori Auxentiou ? <br>Do you remember how you killed
them beach ?

I guess this guy is not ex EOKA, not from the 50s anyway. Im 61.

It was great to talk to you guys today. Thanks for the info Jim. I look foward
to hearing form you soon

I Too would like to read the e-mail before I
decide wether it is possible to have a meaningful
dialogue with this person.<br>If this person is still so
full of hate after all these years will anything be
achieved by discussing "Terrorism"?

Its interesting that ex EOKA terrorists have
still got a smoldering resentment about events which
happened half a century ago.<br>Yes, Martin I think the
e-mail should be posted on the board, but I would like
these people to take part in our club then we could use
the chatroom to discuss the finer points of
terrorism.

We got some more hate mail from what looks like a ex member of the EOKA. There
is a lot of cuss words in the e-mail but I can post it here if you would like to
read it.

Hi Martin<br><br>Yes, Col Mitchell's book is a
good read. Hold on to it as it is quite a rare book I
hear. I really wish Mitchell had published the book
after he got back from Vietnam as a reporter. It would
have been interesting to read his views on how the
Yanks were dealing with the situation in Vietnam in
1968. A lot has been said on Britain's sucessful
tactics in counter-insurgency ( I often wonder how
Britain would have handled Vietnam if they were directly
in it). Of course Vietnam was a much bigger war than
Malaya or Borneo. Well I look forward to reading James'
future project. <br><br>cheers<br><br>Peter

Got your e-mail, thanks. Just thought I'd use the
club message board to reply to you, since you seem to
visit every day. I'm pleased your finding it useful and
have managed to chat to Jason.<br><br>I'm half way
through Mitch's Bio, he doesn't pull any punches dose he.
There is loads of good material for BSW in the book on
Palestine, Korea, Cyprus and Borneo. And it's all on the
A&SH. I have allot of writing ahead of me.<br><br>Now
the bad news. When I was in the UK last month I
mentioned to my Uncle ( who lives in Edinburgh ) that I
have a great interest in Mitch and Aden, and wanted to
find out if Mitch was still alive. Sadly my uncle told
me that he thinks he read Mitchs obituary in the
papers some time last year. Shame that.<br><br>James (
my co webmaster ) will be publishing " Britain's
role in the Vietnam War " soon so watch this
space.<br><br>Your Pal <br>Martin

Hi Peter<br><br>Good to see you in here bud. The
two guys that will be running the club are just
starting out so give them some time to sort out when the
chat will begin and what time they will be. Hopfully
they will have chats on a GMT time that people like
you and I can join in on.<br><br>I'm reading Col
Mitchs book at the moment, great read. Lots of stuff
about the A7SH in Palestain and Korea.<br><br>Talk to
you soon bud

Has anyone suggested a chat time ? <br><br>I
guess with all of us living around the world<br>its
might be tricky ! If you can fit it
around<br>Australian evening time that would be great !<br>- only
joking.<br>cheers<br><br>Peter Lopes

Well I did write back to him saying that we
always try to tell both sides of the story on BSW, and
suggested that he might like to submit some thing to add to
our Cyprus chapter for consideration by James and my
self. We'll see if he bites.<br><br>Looking forward to
your Rockape site, we'll give it a big plug on BSW

I spent 6 years of my service life in Cyprus
1957-60. I left the island on independence day, and
returned for another tour of duty early in 1962 and left
late '64. Was General Grivas a terrorist?<br>By his
own admission he was. Were EOKA & later EOKA B,
terrorist groups? By their own addmission they were. Was
President Makarios or indeed that other genteel soul,Nicos
Sampson mixed up in terrorist acts against the Cypriot
community and British forces? Well of course they were,
they were proud of it, and were caught in the act---of
terrorism.<br>I wonder how old Panayiotis is? and where does he
suggest one digs for information ?<br>Yes I would like
some help from Panayiotis, then perhaps the horrors of
what happened in Cyprus all those years ago can be
explained away. A full account of my service in Cyprus will
be on my soon to be published RAF Regiment
Website.<br>Regards<br>Jason French

We're just received this e-mail at
BSW<br><br>Sirs,<br>you are producing a very destorded, and definatly one
sited, explanation<br>of the facts that took place in
Cyprus during 1955-59. Its best for you<br>to check a
bit deeper on what really happend before naming
people<br>terrorists.<br><br>If you wish to know more about it, please let me
help.<br><br>Panayiotis.<br><br>Obviously this gentleman dose not class people
who, walk up
to un-armed British servicemen ( off duty, shopping
with their wife's ) and shoot them in the back of the
head, as terrorists....<br><br>Strange, I wounder what
they these brave men should be called if they are not
to called terrorists

Hi Martin<br>Everything OK and logged in.<br>No objections to other chap being
founder member too.<br>The important thing is to make the club a
success!!!<br>Regards<br>Jason.:-)

Full story to follow, but Dad was in Aden for the
Kuwait crisis in 1961. He was a Ferret driver with the
11th Hussars (Prince Alberts Own).<br><br>My brother
went to the Gulf with 11 Armd Wksp: when he got back
and told dad that he had been on the Basra Road, dad
told him that he too had been along that way in 1961.
He remembers passing the Kuwaiti Army dug in with 17
pdrs ready to repel the hoard and later thinking that,
for them to cheer the troop as they passed was a
little odd - all they had (45 miles the other side of
Mutla Ridge) was the browning and a
revolver!!<br><br>Full story to follow.<br><br>Pete F

Just a line to whish you good luck and thanks for doing this for us

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