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T
he book
The Cypriot volunteers of World
War II: The Registers, the Catalogues and
the toll of blood, Nicosia 2012
, lists and hon-
ours over 16,000 Cypriots who volunteered to
fight in World War II.
Introducing the book, its editor, University of Cy-
prus Professor Petros Papapolyviou, noted that a
record of WWII Cypriot volunteers was a long-
standing request from the Cypriot veterans who
took part in the biggest war of mankind. The veter-
ans felt they had a duty and obligation towards the
thousands of their co-warriors who did not survive.
However, he added, it was also a bibliographical
necessity for Cypriot historiography; a record for
future generations to see how Cypriots contributed
to the fight against fascism in 1939-1945.
The discovery by the British High Commission in
Cyprus of the “Register of the Cyprus Regiment”,
in February 2004, which coincided with former
President of the Republic, Tassos Papadopoulos’
establishment of the “Committee for the Prepara-
tion of a Register of Cypriot Volunteers”, played a
defining role in the book’s publication.
In his introduction, Dr Papapolyviou presents and
analyses, arithmetically and statistically, the par-
ticipation of Cypriots in the British and other allied
armies. The book then publishes the names of all
16,624 Cypriot soldiers, as listed in the Registers
of the Cyprus Regiment and the Cypriot Volunteer
Force. It then publishes the names of 117 Cypriot
women who served the British army; 85 Cypriots
who served the British army abroad; 94 Greek Cy-
priots who joined the Greek army; 329 Cypriots
who enlisted in the American army and 136 Cy-
priots who served in theAustralian army. The third
part of the book is dedicated to the Cypriot soldiers
who fought with the British army and died, either
in battle or due to accidents, disease, etc. The
names are listed as per country and cemetery of
burial, along with seven soldiers who died in battle
alongside the Greek army.
The list of the fallen emphatically highlights Cy-
prus’ participation in the war against the Nazis.
According to the research put into this book, 374
soldiers of various British army units died during
WWII. Of those, 309 belonged to the Cyprus Reg-
iment, 32 to the Cyprus Volunteer Force and 33 to
The Cypriot Volunteers of World War II
Soliders of the 1
st
Pioneer Battalion pose at Famagusta port,
before departing for Egypt in May 1940 - TNA, London