Toumazos Toumazou

He was born in the village of Athienou¹, Larnaca district, in 1934.

He was killed on August 24, 1956 in his village, by a bomb explosion.

Toumazos Toumazou was sworn in as a member of EOKA at the beginning of the struggle in the Kykkos Metochi², along with other fellow villagers, and assumed responsibility for the youth groups.

Their first actions, led by the hero Artemos Franjeskou were to instill the pulse and spirit of struggle in the hearts of the young, to organize groups in the villages of Tymbou, Pyrogi, Tremetousia and Arsos, to find weapons and distribute leaflets. To facilitate these actions, Toumazos founded the OHEN of Athienou, from where he selected the members to man the groups.

During 1955 and 1956 he took part in various ambushes against the British.

In January 1956 he contributed to the collection of 21 hunting weapons, which were distributed to the groups of the villages of Tremetousia, Arsos, Troulloi, Pyla and Tymbou. In addition to these weapons, the above villages were also supplied with hand grenades, the manufacturing center of which was Athienou and in the construction of which Toumazos also participated.

“After the death of our leader Artemos Franjeskou, on August 12, 1956, our fellow fighter Toumazos Toumazou took his place”, recounts Kyriakos Neocleous. “A new type of gunpowder had been sent to us and, because we knew the danger, Toumazos and I decided to test the filling of the bomb outside the village. Although we took all the safety measures, the bomb exploded in our hands while we were assembling it. We were sitting cross-legged. Toumazos remained with his leg crossed, while his body was burning. I saw one of my hands thrown some distance into the vine. The other was hanging severed. I did not lose consciousness. I tried to get up, but my leg was also cut. I fell on my friend and with my cut hands I tried to put out the fire. It was August 24, at around 2pm. “.

Toumazos died on the spot, while his fellow competitor was taken to the hospital in a miserable condition.