On 28 October Greek Prime Minister General Ioannis Metaxas said "NO" to the Italian ambassador who requested permission,so Italian forces enter Greece.
It was 3.00 o'clock at night,28 October 1940.
Few hours later, on a speech broadcasted to the nation via radio, he called Greeks to take
arms with these words,
«Greeks, the time has come for Greece to fight for her independence. Greeks, we now must prove worthy of our ancestors and the freedom they gave us. Fight for the Fatherland, for your wifes, for your children and for the sacred traditions. Now, above all, FIGHT!»
At that time, most observers expected an easy and smooth Italian victory over the far smaller, and less prepared Greek army. However, the Greeks fought the invading Italians in an epic struggle, the outcome of
which can only be called miraculous.
On October 28th, 1940 Fascist Italy launched an unprovoked attack upon Greece. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the Greek army defeated the Italian invasion and launched a full scale counterattack driving Mussolini's army out of Greece. This was the first Allied victory of the Second World War.
Sir Winston Churchill(Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time) made a statement right after the announcement of the glorious Greek Victory against the militarily superior fascist Italy.
"Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks."!
This was a victory against all odds with completely outnumbered army personnel and therefore marked the WW2 as one of the most serious and critical wars. It was Italy's defeat that forced the Germans to attack Greece first and postpone their attack to Russia for the winter(devastating mistake wich caused their defeat).
- "If there had not been the virtue and courage of the Greeks, we do not know which the outcome of World War II would had been."
Sir Winston Churchill
