 In a disastrous strategic move, the four Greek Cypriot mountain commando battalions were ordered to move from the Pentedaktylos mountains (where they had created a virtual blockade across the line of a Turkish bridgehead) and sent in the direction of Agios Pavlos.The 187MPP artillery battalion, which was badly damaged by Turkish air attack at its camp the previous morning, went into battle with just four surviving 100mm guns out of its original twelve.The previous day, it had fired a number of shots at the Turkish Cypriot enclave in northern Nicosia, as well as at Saint Hilarion.