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TURMOIL ON CYPRUS 325
from RAF Akrotiri to their homes in the capital of Limassol.
Officers thought they had negotiated safe passage for them, but
as they made their way along the road towards Limassol, there
was renewed fighting. By late afternoon the convoy had become
stranded, and was unable to turn around. A large band of Greek
irregulars had drawn up alongside it, 'armed with anything from
muzzle-loaders to World War II Japanese field guns'. Heavy
fighting was developing only a few hundred yards away, and
the convoy eventually retreated back to Akrotiri. In Limassol,
some British married quarters were commandeered by the
various factions as machine-gun positions. 'One wife who
suffered such an intrusion recovered several hundred expended
cartridge cases from her living room carpet next morning.'19
The initial coup against Makarios took British intelligence by
surprise: the Foreign Secretary at the time, James Callaghan,
recalled that he had no idea what was about to unfold. 20 However,
coverage of the subsequent crisis was good, partly from interception
of high-level Turkish military communications.21 On 17
July the JIC provided a clear forecast of the Turkish response,
which was a large-scale invasion. More than two days before
the Turks landed, it warned: 'We believe that the Turks are now
militarily ready to intervene if the Turkish Cypriot community
is physically threatened or if Enosis is declared, but will try for
the moment, through diplomatic efforts, to bring about a solution
by other means.' Diplomatic efforts failed, and the Turkish
invasion was triggered. 22 In fact, Turkish emissaries had arrived
at Downing Street on the evening of 17 July, hoping to persuade
the British 'to declare war with them' and intervene jointly.
Bernard Donoughue, Prime Minister Harold Wilson's Senior
Policy Adviser, noted in his diary that when the British refused
the Turkish delegation left, saying 'they would do it themselves
anyway'. His impression was that 'they would not take long'.
Sigint from GCHQ relating to the crisis was quickly forwarded
to Washington, but the Americans were not in a position to
make good use of the material. At the end of the month Richard
Nixon would resign his presidency as a result of the Watergate