Georgios Grivas (June 6, 1897 – January 27, 1974)
Born in Nicosia, he was a Cypriot officer who became Lieutenant General of the Greek Army. He would later be the Leader of EOKA and of their struggle, to overthrow British colonial rule in Cyprus and unite the island with the rest of Greece.
After completing his studies in Cyprus, he moved to Greece and enlisted in the Hellenic Military Academy in 1916, graduating with honours in 1919.
He immediately saw action in the Asia Minor campaign (1919-22). For his efforts, he was decorated with the Gold Medal of Courage and the Cross of War.
At the outbreak of WW2, Grivas was part of the Operations Department of the Greek Army, focusing on defensive strategy for Northern Greece. He was later deployed to the Northern Epirote front when the Greco-Italian War broke out in 1940, serving as Chief of Staff of the 2nd Division.
Following the triple German-Italian-Bulgarian occupation of Greece, Grivas founded and led – Organisation X – a guerrilla organisation made up of officers of the Greek Army, resisting the occupation of Greece.
In 1946 he retired from the Greek Army to take up his most important role, that as Leader of the EOKA struggle in Cyprus, fighting to overthrow British colonial rule, for self-determination and for union with Greece. For the next 28 years he would devote his life to that cause.
In 1955, he directed the first EOKA attacks and operations against the British occupiers from Nicosia and later from a hideout in the Troodos mountains. He was twice surrounded by British forces but escaped capture on both occasions. The British offered a reward of £10,000, plus free passage to anywhere in the world to anybody, for information leading to Grivas’ capture.
General Grivas would continue his campaign for self-determination and Enosis right up until his death in January 1974.
