The Battle of the Pine is the name given in Greek Cypriot sources to an attack on a British army vehicle by the EOKA on 24 November 1955. A team of EOKA guerrillas ambushed the vehicles on the road from Kyperounda to Chandria killing one soldier, Sapper Robert Melson."Chapter 4 Harding strives to suppress the EOKA movement and give a political solution to the Cyprus problem but without success - Archbishop Makarios is exiled to the Seychelles (3 October 1955 - 9 March 1956)", A history of the liberation struggle of EOKA (1955-1959) accessed 7 November 2013
The next day British troops shot dead a Cypriot who approached the vehicle in which Downing died and failed to answer challenges from British soldiers.
This was one of several comparable incidents at the times which resulted in the deaths of several British servicemen and contributed to the declaration of a State of Emergency on the island.
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