Oxi Day on October 28 commemorates the anniversary when former military general and Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas said, “No” to an ultimatum made by Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini to allow Italian forces to occupy strategic locations in Greece or otherwise face war.
Metaxas’ OXI (No) led to Greek counterattack against the invading Italian forces at the mountains of Pindus in Northern Greece during the Greco-Italian War from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941.
The war between Italy and Greece turned into the Battle of Greece when British and German ground forces intervened early in 1941.
, and the Greek Resistance during the Axis occupation.
Oxi Day Parade 28 October 1946 – Widows, mothers and daughters of the fallen parade at Syntagma Square in Athens
OXI in symbols as seen in a after the war: O is the laurel wreath for the heroes, X stands for the cross on the graves of the fallen, I is the crutch for the thousands of wounded soldiers.
The great poet Odysseus Elytis, centre, on the Albanian front, 1940, where the Greek army thwarted the Italian invasion. #Greece #OxiDay
![Κωνσταντάρας και Παπαγιαννόπουλος στην πρώτη γραμμή του πολέμου το '40 [εικόνες]](https://www.iefimerida.gr/sites/default/files/styles/708x320/public/labros708_0.jpg?itok=_kYJHz32)
Actors Lambros Konstantaras and Dionysis Papagiannopoulos fought in the war front against Italian forces.
Soldiers transport – as far as the feet take them.
12 October 1944 German soldiers lay a wreath at the monument of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Greek parliament before the Nazi forces withdraw from Greece.
3 May 1941: German occupation forces parade in Panepistimiou Avenue – no crowd; just German soldiers.
November and December 1940 personnel at Greek Museums has orders to pack, protect and hide valuable objects. Here: Kouros of Sounion at the National Archaeological Museum
Thessaloniki – Military Parade 2016
The Second World War meant for Greece the death of 300,000-700,000 civilians and of more than 90,000 soldiers.
The material destruction was incalculable and led to the complete collapse of the Greek economy. Greece seeks the payment of WWII War reparations from Germany that vehemently insists that the issue was settled in the 1950’s.
Several sources – More pictures: news247.gr, iefimerida.gr
How could such a past result in today’s generation of cowardice and treason? I have found no convincing answer yet.
decadence coming from bubble & fake wealth and the enemy from within
one and the same ktg ;((
Metaxas said NO [instantly, no waiting around for that answer], 62% of the Greek people said NO….Tsipras said YES.
Courage, bravery and honour are not social attributes that pass down through generations: they are personal attributes, which can be repressed and controlled through the education system and the general mentality of the society. On average, people reflect as well as reinforce the beliefs of their society, and only a few individuals go against the direction that the masses flock in.
Thousands were fighting on 12/2/12 under the slogan “the treaty of Varkissa is cancelled”, thousands of soldiers resisted attempts to send them into the streets in December 2008 and again thousands of them declaring that they will not protect Evros against refugees – the latter had an impact of panic all over Europe and not to forget the years of strikes and resistance of millions that in most other countries would have resulted in close to revolution revolts, actually just one of the big Greek Riots on Syntagma would have brought down governments in 90% of EU-countries. This is cowardice? XaXa, that’s just another big OXI to be proud of.
Lots of cool pictures
Great pictures. People made big sacrifices.
Too bad though to see that what they couldn’t do with tanks they now managed to do with banks.
Right on the spot: the Germans are back again dominating Greece and to a lesser extent the whole Europe and this time it looks as if they succeeded. The new form of government: “Economic Fascism” run by faithful employees of the 4th Reich, called “European leaders”. Resistance has yet been proven unsuccessful.
Sometimes it’s helpful to re-read history, the Germans had only ammunition for 14 days when invading Poland and so it was straight from the start economics. Today their military power is ridiculous – and they “train” Kurdish fighters that eat 10 Krauts for breakfast – just let the madmen in Turkey rage war against Greece, the Krauts will do nothing for their own interests in Greece and btw for a new Ottoman Empire it’s also possible that a new coup comes with even more fascist scum like the Grey Wolves – just let Erdogun forget one of his sweet little mistakes.