10-Year Military Plan For Use Of Cyprus

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27733, 10 August 1955, Page 13

10-Year Military Plan For Use Of Cyprus

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A,) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, August 9. Suggesting that the role of Cyprus be “something more than that of a headquarters and less than that of a base” the Nicosia correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian” says that whatever its political future, the military development of the island has been planned for at least 10 years to come. “What exactly this development will be will always depend on the state of affairs in the Middle East but present plans are clear. “There will be a combined headquarters of the Army and the Royal Air Force in the Middle East, another headquarters called Air Headquarters, Levant and an armoured brigade headquarters.

A brigade group is being formed of three infantry battalions, a, field regiment of the Royal Artillery, a field regiment of the Royal Engineers and attendant mechanical engineering, army service corps, ordnance and other ancillary troops. “The rest of the armoured division will be scattered about Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Libya.

"There are no present plans to bring in more troops, no plans for stockpiling, no plan? to build heavy workshops. “The brigade group will live in a cantonment on the south coast which is planned as a self-contained town costing more than £ 10,000,000 and now about half built. It will have its own shops, bank, cinema, clubs and schools. “All this means that the troops live under very much better conditions than men in the Canal Zone, where they h~d little more than boosted up field service standard. “Another large cantonment will be built for Middle East land and air forces.

“On a tongue of land, a major air base called Akrotiri is being built. It will have a 9000 foot runway, will take the heaviest known bombers and will be operational in 12 to 18 months . It is up to full N.A.T.O. specification. “No doubt, the opening up of Akrotiri will bo a big step towards strengthening air power in the Middle

East after the closing of air fields such as Fayid and eight others in the Canal Zone. “The present Nicosia airport, which now has to carry civilian traffic as well as Royal Air Force planes, will still be available for military use and it might be that the pattefn of air operations from Cyprus would be Nicosia as a fighter station and Akrotiri for bombers. “Air reinforcement of the Middle East from Britain would also be a very practical proposition. using Cyprus as an intermediate stage. “It is practical now even with the slow old aircraft which Transport Command has —but with modified Comets and brand new Britannias which are on the way. the journey will be no more than a couple of hops. “For this sort of work Cyprus will be a key point and although the Armv may regard the island as very much of a second best compromise, the R.A.F. is ready to treat it as the foundation of air operations in the Middle East in peace or war—in other words as a base,” says the correspondent.