Oggi è il giorno greco del Όχι (“No”), la celebrazione della vittoria della Seconda Guerra Mondiale contro l’Italia

On this day, the 28th of October 1940, the Italian ambassador to Greece visited the office of the Greek dictator Metaxàs with a “surprise” request: the Italian army should be allowed to march through Greece and “temporarily” occupy strategic ports and airports. Metaxàs responded “alors, c’est la guerre” (=thus, we’re at war), a response which was memorized in Greek history as simply, “οχι” (no). The Greek opinion was steadfast and sure: months earlier, an Italian submarine had already attacked and sunk a Greek cruiser unprovoked, in Greek waters, during the religious holiday of Virgin Mary.

Hours later, the first attacks by already positioned Italian troops occured in the Píndos mountain range, alongside bombing runs from Italian bombers. Greece, at the time with a very small army and no armored corps, managed to contain the first attacks within a small occupation zone in the border and within months the Italian assault was fully out of steam. The Greek counterattack, with British help, not only pushed the Italians back, but also established a buffer zone inside Italian-allied Albania.

Despite the brutal attack by the German army that followed, and the subsequent occupation that lasted until 1945, this is still remembered as one of the biggest military victories in Greek history, and one of our greatest moments.

I would suggest if Germans had not intervened, Greece would’ve permanently pushed out the Italians outside of Albania even. Victory against fascism.