A Second Pass- Returning to Phase Line Attila: The Amphibious Campaign for Cyprus, 1974

“Because all reviewing is re-reviewing” is the sub-title of my new Substack book discussion that begins thus:

“I was honored to publish a book review in the US Naval War College Review. It took almost two years from my reading time until the review’s publication (in the Summer 2022 edition, here). The book I reviewed was Edward J. Erickson and Mesut Uyar’s Phase Line Attila: The Amphibious Campaign for Cyprus, 1974 (US Marine Corps University Press, 2020).”

This fascinating book, utilizing for the first time classified official Turkish naval archive files, details the point-by-point naval, aerial and marine combat operation planned since 1970 by Turkey as a contingency plan for invading and occupying the northern third of Cyprus. The actual invasion unfolded in July 1974, after a coup unseated Greek Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios.

In addition to my review, I also feature in this new Substack piece a lengthy and detailed book presentation video by co-author Erickson, as well as a classic 1984 British TV documentary on the roots of the ‘Cyprus problem.’ This video is particularly interesting because it interviews people who were actually there at the time, from British military and political leaders to Turkish and Greek politicians and even veterans of the Greek Cypriot EOKA guerrilla movement. There is even archival footage of both Makarios and EOKA leader Colonel George Grivas as well as many incendiary revelations that will be of interest to any historian working on the history of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean.

For more insightful and unexpected works of this kind, you are welcome to take out a free or paid subscription on my Substack newsletter, the Traveller’s Literary Supplicant.