Monday, Oct. 28, marks the 84th OXI Day anniversary of Greece’s entry into World War II on the side of the Allies, commencing a titanic four-year struggle that first witnessed a spirited defense against an Italian invasion along the rugged frontier with Albania in the northwest Epirus province, following by sustained counter-attacks by Greek forces through the spring 1941 that pushed back the Axis invaders from a quarter of the neighboring country.
The occasion, known as OXI Day from the Greek word for “No” and pronounced as “OH-ee”, as encapsulated by the laconic reply of then Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas to a sudden Italian ultimatum for surrender, is a cherished national holiday in the east Mediterranean country and celebrated by ethnic Greek communities worldwide. The uttered “No” echoed and conveyed the sentiment of the Greek people against the Axis and the volition to fight against overwhelming odds.
The Greek military’s victories in the snow mountains of southern Albania proved to be the first setback for the conquering Axis in the European theater and is judged to have delayed Hitler’s planned invasion of the Soviet Union by several crucial weeks.
The primary annual military parade in Greece takes place in the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki, with similar parades by armed forces units around the country, along with pupils’ marches, with the largest taking place in downtown Athens and passing before Parliament.
A Wehrmacht invasion of northern Greece from Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in April 1941 (Operation Marita) led to the country’s brutal “triple” occupation (Nazi German, Fascist Italy, Axis-aligned Bulgaria) until the autumn of 1944. A vigorous national resistance was active throughout the occupation, especially in the mountainous provinces of mainland Greece and on the large island of Crete.
The latter remained occupied until May 1945, although ferocious resistance by local partisans kept tens of thousands of German troops on high alert throughout, and essentially entrapped the enemy garrison on the island as the western and eastern fronts collapsed on Berlin.
