Page 68 - Who Was Sapper Brown

Every autumn from October 1879 onwards, the Troodos garrison would fold up their tents and return to

their winter quarters, the Government officials to Nicosia, the rest of the troops to Polemidia. Sadly some
would remain behind, buried in Troodos cemetery.

‘Marching from Mount Troodos to Winter Quarters’, The Graphic, 2 October 1880

In June 1915 a convalescent summer camp was opened on Troodos for up to 500 men and 80 officers
evacuated from the front line in Gallipoli. During the winter the convalescents moved downhill to

Polemidia, with the camp re-opening in Troodos in the summer of 1916. After this it was closed down,
as enemy submarines were becoming too numerous in the eastern Mediterranean, and it was considered

too risky to disembark incapacitated men in an open roadstead with no protection.5

Accommodation in Troodos remained largely under canvas until the Second World War. This summer
encampment proved very popular, not least because it was a great relief from the heat of the summer

down on the plains.

The British garrison’s annual summer migration to Troodos only ceased in June 1955, as a direct result of

the escalation of the EOKA campaign when two people were killed in an explosion at Nicosia Post Office.
The Governor, Robert Armitage, and his government were ordered by the Colonial Secretary to remain in

Nicosia.6 The mountain hotels were commandeered by the British military as the hunt commenced for
EOKA guerilla groups.

5 Bagshawe, H V (1925), ‘Cyprus’ Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps Vol. 45, pp. 139 – 147.
6 Morgan, Tabitha (2010), Op Cit., p. 215.

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