Stylianos Lenas

He was born in the village of Chandria¹, Limassol district, in 1932.

He died on March 28, 1957, at the English hospital² in Akrotiri, where he was transferred wounded after a battle.

Stylianos Lenas attended Chandria primary school and worked as a blacksmith in Nicosia. He took the EMAK oath among the first five fighters, in 1954. He was a member of OHEN. He was distinguished for his deep Christian faith, his courage and his resourcefulness.

On April 1, 1955, as one of the first five Nicosia group leaders, he attacked the Wesley Barracks barracks in Nicosia at the head of his group.

After June 19, 1955, when Digenis gave the order to repeat the action, he participated in an attempt against the British governor Armitage, in which the hero Markos Drakos also took part.

In August 1955, he fled to Lysi³, where, on Digenis' orders, he undertook the training of the reserve saboteur groups of the Famagusta sector.

He then fled to the Pentadaktylos area⁴, joined forces with Grigoris Afxentiou and took part in many operations against the British.

With the assignment of the Pitsilia sector⁵ to Afxentiou in November 1955, Lenas followed him, taking over, as one of his sub-sector commanders, the area of southern Pitsilia.

In August 1956, based on a strategic plan by Digenis, the Afxentiou sector was divided into four sub-sectors. Lenas was placed at the head of the section team from Agios Theodoros to Agios Mamas, where he stood out for his courageous and successful attacks against the enemy and the construction of grenades and explosive devices. The construction and perfection of the MK2 type grenades was his own work. So frequent were his ambushes and attacks that the English troops moved into his area, always taking Greek hostages as human shields. Digenis even advised him to limit his action.

After the betrayals in Pitsilia, in January 1957, Lenas led his seven-member group of guerrillas to a safe haven in the mountainous region of Gerasa⁶. He then returned to his sector with one of his guerrillas and arranged for the transfer of all the weapons to new hideouts. He then again engaged in attacks against the British.

On February 17, 1957, he was ambushed by British soldiers outside his hideout and was wounded in the ensuing battle. He was captured, seriously wounded, and transferred to the British hospital in Akrotiri, where he died 40 days later. He was buried in the Central Prisons of Nicosia by the British for fear of popular demonstrations.