Greek 1945 Long Branch No 4*.

Hello again all..here are pics of a 1945 Long Branch No 4* that I bought about a year and a half ago, sold to a friend of mine, and bought back today. The buttstock is carved in Greek characters, and I translated them when I first got it (have it on a piece o' paper somewhere) Anyway, apparently this No 4* was one of who knows how many rifles that went to Greece to fight the commies after WW2. One of the places carved on here is Kokinna, which I believe is Cyprus(?) and the year 1971. The owner/users nameis on here as well. Will have to find the paper with all the translations. Just wondered what event took place on Cyprus in 1971. Did the Turks try another takeover? Would really like to get an idea what this rifle was involved in..enjoy the pics!

Kokkina exclave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I knew it doesn't mean Cyprus, I was there for a while...couple times. I saw these rifles in use. They saw lots of good solid use. The Turks did a couple attempts to push the island. Lots of info in that link I sent. In 1974 there was the second war and these rifles were in the hands of virtually everyone. We saw Greek civilians wearing suits fighting with these rifles.

To be fair to the Turks, they did not try to "take over" Cyprus, just part of the Island to provide a safe haven for the Turkish population. And they only did so in response to a military coup on the island by some of the Greek population that was ordered by "The Colonels" Junta in Greece.

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Originally Posted by Beerhunter

they did not try to "take over" Cyprus

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Sure thing. Whatever you say...

Heres a little 'diagram' I made up of both sides of the butt. Copied and translated the best I could. Browningauto, since you were there, I'd be very interested in what you think of these. Also, if you had any photos from when you were there, Id really like to see them! Ive become very interested in the history of this conflict since Ive gotten this rifle.

As they say, it's all Greek to me...The name on the left is just that, the 52B looks like a radio call sign, but Canadian so...maybe it's his sub unit. The year would make sense. The village name would make sense too. Many of those Greek Cypriot fighters were posted to their own home area, so they could be billeted at home and fed by mother. This reduced the care and expence taken by their unit. Their duty station would be just down the road from home...bunker or roadblock...

I have a few photos from there but they're all hard copy. I should get some done to digital, when I do...I'll drop you a PM. Send them along to you. Take the town name and type it into a search engine. It'll come up and Youtube has lots of vids about the 74 war.

Thanks for the info!

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Sure thing. Whatever you say...

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Forgive me but it isn't "what I say" it's what happened.

The right side of the stock says "12 months in Kokkina" ("12 mines eis Kokkina"). The left side has the name "Leukas Papadopoulos" and "Limassol 1971." I don't know what "52B" means. Possibly a unit?

I've been thinking a little more about this. "Kokkina" could mean the color red (or rather, things that are red), as well as the name of the Turkish-enclave village. It doesn't seem reasonable that a member of the Greek-Cypriot National Guard would spend a year of his service continuously besieging a Turkish-occupied village, especially when no active fighting was going on. The inscription could mean something like "12 months in the red" -- a commentary on the futility and waste of his service, in that he could have been doing something more useful and profitable.

Alexander...wow! Very interesting.
The history you learn from these old war horses never ceases to amaze me. Really appreciate everyones input so far.

Possible too, but in 1970 there was no active war. They did a thing in 1964 which first took us there and then in 1974 when it all changed the face of the island. The Greek could have come from that town originally, we had cases of Turk and Greek (Cypriot fighters) standing opposing posts a few yards apart, that had gone to school and played together. They lived next door to each other. Now enemies, it caused one death I can personally vouch for. These guys weren't exactly deep so I doubt they would think about the state of affairs...we've seen other weapons come through this forum marked with the owner's name or town of residence. Was it a Bren? Someone here will remember...

All in all, the only one that will know exactly what the marking mean...is the one that did them.

I do believe that was a Bren.

Here we go...see how well we sorted that one out? Greek Bren

I had 160 or so Greek issued LB rifles. All but a few project rifles are now sold. Some were purchased by fellow forumers. Many had the little stickers on with the names and towns of the soldiers to whom issued. Interesting thread.