On predominantly Greek-inhabited Cyprus, popular sentiment had hitherto been pro-Axis, because it was believed that a Nazi victory would free the island from British colonial rule. Now, however, a Cypriot wrote: “The supreme desire was for the defeat of the armies which had invaded Greek soil, to be followed by ‘the fruits of victory’—‘freedom,’ as promised by Churchill.” To the astonishment of the world, not only did the Greek army repel the Italian invasion, but by November its forces had advanced deep into Albania.
