The "OCHI" of October 28

Late in the night of October 28th, 1940 at 3 a.m. to be precise, Gracchi, the ambassador of the fascist Italy of Benito Mousolini, unexpectedly called upon the Hellenic Prime Minister at his home. He handed him a stiff Italian ultimatum, which contained many cooked-up charges about alleged frontier violations and incidents and urged upon the Hellenic government not to oppose any resistance to the Italian army, which would march in at 6 o'clock in the morning. Upon reading the Italian note, Metaxas remarked to the Italian ambassador that its phrasing and the demands formulated in it were tantamount to a declaration of war. A short interchange of words ensued, upon which the Hellenic leader told the Italian emissary to leave and closed the conversation with the words: "Alright then, let it be war". It was the Hellenic OCHI (NO) to Italians demands.

Metaxas' answer to the Italian demands had been in line with the Hellenic people's traditions. It was received with enthusiasm in the free world. Much surprise, however, was allied to the pleasure, as in those days the very name of the "Axis Powers" served to strike fear and panic into the hearts of the peoples of Europe. One nation after another had submitted without resistance to the armies of the Fascist countries, whose mechanized strength was deemed to be irresistible. But the Hellenes (Greeks), who united behind their worthy political and military leadership, were determined upon defending their country.

It soon became evident that the Italians had miscalculated. By the beginning of November, the Hellenic army had managed to halt the advance of Mussolini's troops. Immediately afterwards, the Hellenes seized the initiative and the enemy were slowly forced to retreat.

When the news of the Greek offensive became known in the word, it immediately heartened the democratic nations. The myth of Axis Power invincibility had been shattered - for the first time, but decisively. Hellas was the first country to have fought back successfully against aggression by highly superior forces. The Axis plans of aggrandizement were inevitably thrown into disarray.

By November 10th, the advanced Italian units, primary the 3rd division of Mussolini's Alpinists, were smashed and overthrown. As a result, Mussolini replaced General Prasca with General Sonddu at the command. On November 15th, the Hellenes (Greeks) attacked in the Key sector of Kalpaki, north of Yanina. By November 15th, the Hellenes had entered Albania. On the 21st they captured the important town of Korytsa. Victories were scored in repid succesin. Moschopolis, Pogradets, Premeti, Agioi Saranta and other towns fell into hellenic hands, and the Italians had to admit their defeats and the evacuation of Argytocastro.

The position of the Italians gradually grew very serious. Thousand of prisoners had been taken by the Hellenes, and the political atmosphere in Rome was oppressive. Mussolini's main lieutenants had lost heart and began to talk of an appeal for help to Hitler. In Hellas, on the other hand, enthusiasm was immense and morale had risen sky-high.

This was the reason why Italy had to react quickly to the Hellenic successes, even though weather conditions were highly unfavorable. Winter had set in. The armies suffered greatly in the harsh climate of the Albanian mountain massifs - particularly the Hellenic one, which had very limited national resources to rely upon. Operations had come to a standstill. But, for prestige reasons, Mussolini felt obliged to act.

After vainly swapping generals, Mussolini decided to take on the leadership of the campaign in person. He reached Albania on March 2, 1941 and moved heaven and earth to reorganize the Italian forces and restore their morale. Visiting unit upon unit, he addressed them in fiery words and called upon them to be worthy of the glory of ancient Rome. Having thus labored hard for seven entire days, he reached the advance post of Rehova at 4 a.m. on March 9th. At 6 a.m. the Italians started a heavy bombardment of the Hellenic lines. Shortly afterwards, a general offensive was launched. Twelve Italian divisions attacked on a narrow front with the support of 156 heavy guns and 400 planes. Mussolini hoped to effect a breakthrough and thus achieve a speedy success. Yet the numerically inferior Hellenic Forces steadfastly threw back the Italians, who suffered heavy losses. The offensive continued thus, unavailing, until March 22nd. In the end the Mussolini was forced to acknowledge the failure of his efforts. The Hellenic victory greatly impressed the free world and reinforced the democratic peoples' determination to defend themselves against the Axis.