Dimitrakis Charalampous

He was born in the village of Limnatis¹, Limassol district, in 1925.

He was killed by British soldiers who set up an ambush for him, in the location of Kokkinogia in Limnatis, on October 13, 1958.

Dimitrakis Charalampous finished the primary school of his village and was a builder.

He joined the Struggle in July 1956 and immediately connected with the rebel group of his area, with which he took part in ambushes against the British on the Limassol – Amianto road.

On February 2, 1957, during searches, he escaped the attention of British soldiers, who were accompanied by a traitor, and went into hiding. The local EOKA officials of his village were arrested en masse and kept in detention centers. In a few days he was also arrested, detained for 17 days and dismissed.

He was later appointed as the head of EOKA Limnatis and acted as a semi-insurgent with the rebels of his area, who resided in the “Koutaliano Cave” and other hideouts in the surrounding orchards. Supporting him in his offer was his wife Artemis, who prepared food for the rebels and washed their clothes. The preparation of on-site mines for detonation was once done in their house.

On October 13, 1958, after arranging with his wife to represent him in a relative’s wedding, choosing for her and her dress that he liked, he went to accompany his department head on a tour from Limnatis to Lania. In the area of Kokkinoia they were ambushed by the English with whom they exchanged fire, from which Dimitrakis Charalampous was mortally wounded.

His wife Artemis attended the tearful funeral, dressed in her fine dress, which he had chosen for the wedding.

“When they brought my dead husband to me,” his wife recounts, “his face was smiling. This is my consolation. In no way did I want to take off my clothes that I wore to the wedding, the ones that my Dimitris liked. I happily accompanied him to his funeral, while my tears had dried.”