NO DAY!! The National Day of Greece

 

A blue and white flag with yellow letters
Description automatically generated Greece proudly celebrates OXI DAY!!, the day on which Greece became involved in World War II rather than V Day, the ending of World War II. This is due to the provocations and the hostile campaign that Italy started against Greece with the sinking of the Greek light cruiser ‘Elli’ on 15 August in the port of Tinos where she was participating in the celebrations of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Virgin Mary. This provocation was followed by the ultimatum issued by Mussolini, Italy’s dictator, demanding that Italy has free passage through Greece for its forces. The Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas, rejected this ultimatum.

The ultimatum was given to Ioannis Metaxa by the Italian Ambassador to Greece, Emanuele Grazzi, at 3:00 am on 28 October 1940. Metaxas responded to the Italian ultimatum in French, in the diplomatic language at the time, “Alors, c’est la gueree!” or “Then it is War!”. In the days that followed, the word of Metaxas’ denial had spread throughout Athens, the capital of Greece, and the people took to the streets shouting “OXI!!” – “NO!!”. This was the beginning of the Greco-Italian war and the subsequent Hellenic counterattack against the invading Italian forces in the mountains of Pindus and the Greek resistance during the Axis occupation. The Greek border was attacked at 5:30 am on the same day by Italian troops that were stationed in Albania, then an Italian protectorate.

A valley with trees and mountains
Description automatically generated with medium confidencePindus or Pindos (Greek: Πίνδος) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. As it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epirus, it is known as the spine of Greece. It was important to capture the mountain passages of Pindus to control the supply roads. The Italian forces did not expect to encounter tenacious resistance by the Hellenic Army and therefore were only able to penetrate a few kilometres into Greek territory. The Italians were forced back into Albanian territory due to the dynamic advance of the Greek forces, which culminated in the capture of the strategically important Klisura Pass in January 1941 by the Greek Army. The victory by the Greeks has been referred to as the ‘first Axis setback of the entire war’ and surprised everyone with the “tenacity of their resistance”.

A group of women carrying a box
Description automatically generated The Greek Army was forced to fight under harsh conditions in the mountainous and muddy terrain on the Albanian-Greek border. If it had not been for the contribution of the Greek village women defying the cold, the rain, the wind, the snow and ice as well as the bombshells, the bullets and the airplanes, the Greek Army would not have been victorious. Those women came from the villages of Epirus, Zagori, Pogoni, Fourka, Pentalofo, Eptalofo, Vourbiani, Agia Paraskevi and villages in West Macedonia providing the soldiers not only with food and clothes, but also with ammunition since neither transport nor mules could take them there. Columns of young and old women would climb up to altitudes of over 2,000 m carrying those items on their backs, and on their return they would carry wounded men, whom they fed and clothed and took care of so that they could continue the war effort against the invader.

A statue of a person holding a book and a flag
Description automatically generated The heroism, faith, boldness, courage and endurance of those women, who carried Greece on their shoulders, amazed the whole world. In their honour and out of respect and admiration for their feats, and the fact that a large share of the victory against fascism belongs to them, a 6-metre-high steel statue of a woman wearing a head scarf and carrying a bag on her shoulders can be seen on the Radovani point near the village of Aspraggeloi, facing the Pindus Mountain range in the Zagora region of western Greece. She is the Zagorian Woman of Pindus. The statue was crafted by sculptor George Kalakallas and was erected in October 1994.

 

 

Despena Dalmaris

As a teacher of English, writing has always been a part of my life. As a Greek-Australian, I have always been interested in the history, culture and traditions of my country of origin, Greece. That is why I began writing short articles on the different places that I visited and the various activities that I took part in. I have shared my articles with many friends and the internet now gives me the opportunity to share these articles with you.