OXI Day

The magnificent Greek holiday Oxi Day is celebrated every year in Greece on October 28th and remembered for General Ioannis Metaxas' strong reply of 'oxi' (no) to Mussolini's request to allow Italian troops to come into Greece at the beginning of WW II. In the early hours of Oct 28th Metaxa gave his reply loud and clear: OXI (NO). The "OXI" cry has become a Hellenic battle cry that blooms defiantly every 28th of October.

On this particular day Greece pays honour to the many men and woman who stood up to the fascist Mussolini, and this was no small thing to do. First of all, Mussolini had 44 million people, and Greece had 7 million. Italy had ten times the fire power of Greece in its army navy and air force which had total air superiority, since Greece had only a small defensive force. No free country around the world believed that Greece would survive the attack. As a small country Greece faithfully and courageously met her obligations to her allies with heroism and self-sacrifice. Greece suffered much more than other countries that were on the victorious Allied side. Greece lost the highest percentage of her population, about 12%, which means about one million people. That is why the world leaders of that time recognized the contribution of the Greeks.

Sir Winston Churchill said "Today we shall say that the Greeks fight like heroes, but from now on we shall say that heroes fight like Greeks."