Free The Sixteen by John Urwin Page A

we were in relation to where we’d landed at Nicosia. There was no wildlife as such either, with the exception of lizards, which could be seen scuttling about or basking on rocks. Days and nights were filled with the incessant chirping of crickets and buzzing of insects. The days were baking hot, the nights warm and oppressively humid. There was nothing to see and nowhere to go other than the camp NAAFI or the long walk down to the beach at Episkopi.
    There were about three hundred of us stationed at 524 Company, D Platoon, four to every tiny tent, dust and ants in everything we touched. Each tent was equipped with two bunks down either side, about six inches off the ground, with a couple of planks of wood running down the middle. This meant that at least there was something to stand on other than the ground. But when we did stand up our heads touched the top of the tent and we kept knocking each other over, as we all tried to get dressed at the same time in the tiny space between the bunks, still half asleep.
    To top it off, a little wimp of a sergeant would come along everymorning, screaming his bloody head off and bashing the sides of the tents with a stick. This just caused even more confusion and made matters worse, although he probably thought it would make us get dressed quicker! We really didn’t need any encouragement to escape from the cramped confines of the tiny enclosures and get to the mess tent as soon as possible, as we always seemed to be hungry.
    Once the battle was over between the four of us trying to get our clothes on, there would be a mad dash to get washed and shaved – we only had half an hour to do this before breakfast. Half an hour might seem quite a while, but when there are hundreds of men all trying to get washed at the same time, it really isn’t very long at all. To perform our ablutions, we used what looked like a couple of wooden troughs, roughly thirty feet in length. About every yard or so a pipe stood up with a tap stuck on the top of it. Of course, the next dash was to the toilets (or latrines, as the army calls them).
    These consisted of lines of steel buckets with wooden seats on the top, surrounded by a four-foot wall of hessian sacking. We would all sit there trying not to look at one another, discussing how hot the weather was yet again in order to cover our embarrassment, while at the same time trying to prevent ants from climbing up our legs. We also had to dodge some huge buzzing things, which looked like bees but were called horseflies. Following this came breakfast and we just couldn’t wait!
    In a large, side-less marquee, where wind and dust passed straight through, we were doled out pitiful portions of greasy eggs, stringy bacon and dried-up porridge mixed with dust and grit. Even before we had time to finish, we’d be rousted out for works parade, with barely enough time to say ‘hello’ to one another. Before leaving the tent, we had to wash our mess tins and plates in two small tin baths set up on a trestle table. Hundreds of us had to use the same water and it was always thick with grease, eventhough the kitchen staff kept changing it. If you were one of the lucky ones who managed to get to the water first, you might just end up with clean kit!
    After breakfast we’d line up on the parade ground, a level area surrounded by tents with a flagpole stuck in the middle. And, as we stood to attention, small whirlwinds called dust devils would whip past us making us grab on to our hats and each other. Through the swirling dust, we would see that stupid little sergeant coming towards us trying to hold on to his orders and shouting at the same time.

CHAPTER 4
ON THE BEACH
    I ’d never heard of Cyprus until we’d landed there. But one important thing we all learned from the moment we arrived, was just how much the Cypriots hated us.
    The Greek Cypriots, under General Grivas, wanted self-government and ENOSIS (union) with the Greek mainland despite almost a third of its