Grigoris Afxentiou

Grigoris Pieris Afxentiou was a famous leader of EOKA, second in command to General Grivas. He was born on 22 Feb 1928, in the village of Lysi which is now in Turkish occupied North Cyprus. He was a keen footballer and supporter of Anorthosis Famagusta FC. He attended the Hellenic Military Academy in Athens, and was a junior officer until 1953 when he returned to Cyprus and joined EOKA. He specialised in explosives attacking the broadcasting centre and the electricity company. He became the most wanted man on the British counter-terrorism list. He was especially wanted by Field Marshal Harding, the British Governor, after he led a successful raid on Lefkoniko Police Station and seized the entire armoury.
After this he operated in the Troodos Mountains of central Cyprus and defeated a Royal Marine ambush at Spilia in December 1955. On 3 March 1957 his location was betrayed by an informant and his hideout near Lazanias surrounded. He ordered his four fellow fighters to give themselves up, but when asked to surrender his weapons shouted “Molon labe!” (“come and take them”) quoting King Leonidas of Sparta’s defiance of Xerxes. The ensuing gun-fight caused British casualties but failed to flush Afxentiou out of the house. The soldiers then poured petrol on the building and set fire to it. He died and was buried at the Imprisoned Graves in the Central Jail of Nicosia. There are several memorials to him in Cyprus and streets named after him. A museum dedicated to him was built at Machairas Monastery near where he was killed.

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