"We Will Eat the Turks!"

TIME Correspondents William Marmon and Karsten Prager were in Nicosia when invading Turkish troops began landing. Their eyewitness report from the Cypriot capital:

The Ledra Palace Hotel is almost smack on the Green Line that runs through Nicosia, dividing the Turkish sector from the Greek. Most of the hotel guests were awakened Saturday morning by a long burst of weapons fire.

Minutes later we heard the drone of propeller engines coming from the west and north. Overhead we saw American-built transports dropping squad after squad of paratroopers. The brown parachutes stood out brightly against the clear blue morning sky as the troopers dropped gracefully onto the plain north of Nicosia. As soon as they hit ground, they began to assemble and move out. Whenever they encountered Turkish Cypriots, the paratroopers were wildly cheered.

They urged the civilians to take shelter inside the Turkish towns.

The paratroop transports came in three waves; each was covered by three fighter-bombers. Before departing, the bombers swept toward the airport and the barracks of the Greek contingent and strafed and dropped their bombs, setting off fierce fires.

Soon the sounds of fighting could be heard throughout the city. Residents of the capital clustered in stair wells, basements and other parts of their homes seeking shelter. Many held portable transistor radios to their ears, trying to determine what was happening. The radio announced total mobilization, exhorting: "Greeks! Arise and fight! We will fight the Turks to the end!"

On Grivas Boulevard, a main road of the capital, there was a tremendous movement of vehicles. People were running about in great confusion, probably in a frantic search for food, but the shops had not opened. Hundreds of reservists and mobilized civilians streamed down the streets to a mobilization center at the Kiko Gymnasium. There, in the midst of chaos, attempts were made to organize the men and distribute an assortment of old weapons (mainly World War II-vintage M-l rifles) and combat boots, many without laces. Almost everyone, strangely, seemed in a holiday mood. "We will eat the Turks!" said one young, grinning, newly mobilized trooper, wearing his khaki U.S. Army shirt and cradling an aged automatic weapon still caked with grease. As we walked along the streets with the troops, an old lady dressed in black crossed herself and shouted to us: "St. George be with you."

Later we saw clusters of Greek Cypriot soldiers who did not seem to know where to go or how to operate their weapons. Some just shot the rifles into the air or constantly switched the safety catch on and off. It was a bit unnerving.

Around the Ledra Palace Hotel, where 150 reporters and photographers were staying, there were sporadic bursts of fire from a squad or so of Greek Cypriots, although there seemed to be no clear target. The troops seemed uncertain about their role. They moved frequently from the front of the huge hotel to the back amid much shouting of orders and replies. In all the confusion there was a glimmer of comedy. When a hotel employee paged a journalist, one of the Cypriot troopers, rifle in hand, joined in calling for him with great gusto.

Early in the day, Greek Cypriot soldiers carried a .50-cal. machine gun up to the roof of the four-story hotel. Other Greek soldiers took up positions in rooms on the top floor, which gave them a commanding view of the Turkish area.

The Greeks began shooting, and they soon drew counterfire. A heavy shell, possibly a bazooka, hit the northeast corner of the building, killing one Greek Cypriot soldier and fatally wounding a second. The Turks continued to shell the hotel roof intermittently. None of the hundreds of journalists and guests crowding into the lower floors were injured by the Turkish firing. Later, when the Greeks removed their guns from the hotel and withdrew to the patio, they were loudly cheered by the much relieved newsmen and guests.

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