Those historians who are impartial and evaluate the facts with a clear and uncompromising vision and are not trapped by prejudices or expediencies, they fearlessly confess: October 28, 1940 was a miracle for the Greeks.
Any other interpretation could be considered to have no connection with the pulse of the Greek soul. With the vision of the Virgin Mary the greek army and people resisted victoriously. Five times the Italians, armed with the latest means of war, they poured out against us.
They are giant Goliaths. We are small Davids.
The ravines of Pindus roared from the cannons. The peaks were excavated from the rain of shells.
Wave after wave, the Italians rush against the Greeks. Why did they not achieve their goal? Because, as many of them said at the time, the Greek soldiers were protected by the Virgin Mary, our loving virgin Mary.
It echoed bravely, fearlessly NO of the Greeks. Strong, unyielding, terrifying to the enemy.
The wind picked it up and carried it everywhere.
This "NO", which is immortal, flowed easily from the mouths of the Greeks, because it stemmed from faith in God's help and protection.
By divine intervention and power eight million enemy spears became useless scrap metal, in front of the steely hearts of the Greeks.
The epic of 1940 it is the greatest trumpet call in modern Greek history for the faith and bravery of the Greek people. A trumpet call that never stopped...
The first dead Greek soldier
An educated child of the people, originally from Karytsa, Zitsa, george Boukouvalas, was the first Epirus soldier to fall in the advanced defense line, in Aidonochori, Konitsa, on the Greek-Albanian border.
He was buried there and after years his bones were moved to his hometown, where a statue of him was erected in the village square.
He attended his village school and the zitsa Primary School. He then studied at Law School of the University of Athens.
It is noteworthy that, because he came from a poor family, during his studies he worked in a technical office all day and in a coffee shop at night.
He was a lawyer at the Zitsa Magistrate's Court and was drafted in the summer of 1940.
He had fulfilled his military service and on July 22, 1940, he was called up again, as part of the limited mobilization ordered by the Ioannis Metaxas, because fascist Italy had entered the war on the side of Germany and in view of the looming attack against our country.
On the eve of the Italian attack, he served in the defensive arrangement of the Greek-Albanian border.
At 5.30 in the morning of October 28, 1940 the Italian attack took place, half an hour before the expiration of the ultimatum to Metaxas.
The Italian artillery began to fire and the infantry crossed to the Greek side and George Boukouvalas found himself facing the enemies.
He defended the territorial integrity of his homeland, where he fell dead.
George Boukouvalas became hero, just as the Greeks of the 1940s became heroes. He fought – he suffered – he was killed – he won.
And he calls us to be like him — to be like all the fighters of the '40s, in the mind.
It reminds us that if we don't say a new "NO," we lose our innate power to become heroes. And in this place we don't have the right.
And george Boukouvalas And all the greeks Said to the Italians: "No, we do not allow you to pass through our homeland, to make us slaves. We are not handing over Greece to you. We will fight "with a smile on our lips", because we did not provoke this war. You imposed it on us. We, the few, will fight you, the many." And they did it bravely. And they triumphed...
The women of Pindos
The women of Pindos immortal heroines emerged, carrying ammunition on their backs to snowy peaks and contributing to the greatness of "NO".
It was a fight for victory. Epic of No, in which the unforgettable women of Pindos also Contributed.
A victory that began with refusal to deliver to the enemy and a fearless, unequal fight took place with the slogan: “Air!”
A victory that passed through Pindus and dug up its soil and dyed it with blood and laurel myrrh, which the world smelled and said: "You fought, small against large, and you prevailed. It could not have been otherwise, because you are Greeks."
OR patriotic impulse and flame it inspired and ignited the women of Pindus, as well as the officers and soldiers.
On the peaks of Pindus, they took place miracles.
In War Diary of Argyris Balatsos it is mentioned:
“I met women carrying ammunition. One was 88 years old. One told me that she locked the little one in a hut to help the army… Truly, miracle women! What a difference from the cities!”
And we, the Greeks of today, are called to be the happy torchbearers of the idea of the Homeland. Her guards, her protectors, her defenders. Her shields. What a debt, what an honor!
The example of Konstantinos Davakis
The case of the ambitious conqueror of Pindos is characteristic. Konstantinos Davakis.
Alone, without soldiers, he formed a "platoon" from the auxiliary staff of his office and the kitchen, on the terrible mountains, to face the Italian divisions.
The trumpet blast always remains the same, not only in times of war, but always: "Greeks, move forward!"
And the words that foreigners wrote in 1940 in their newspapers about our magnificent unequal struggle, which proved that "This is about the same Greeks who, more than three thousand years ago, defeated the barbarians and saved Europe", let us aspire to always write it and say it. "That it's about the greeks Themselves!" The best honorary title.
One Hundred Testimonies about the Epic of the 1940s
In her book Maroulas Papaefstathiou-Tsaga «Greco-Italian War, Occupation, National Resistance (1940-1944) – 100 Historical Oral Testimonies", includes shocking testimonies and letters from people who experienced the events.
They clearly describe, through the experiences of the protagonists, the hard struggle of the fighters of the 1940s for a free Homeland, revealing the greatness of their souls.
They are preserved for future generations, not as a "fairy tale", but as accomplished feat, brilliant pages of the Nation, which always inspire and guide.
The last survivor of the Epic of '40
Three years ago (2022) he passed away. Dimitris Kalbaris, who fought bravely in hill 731 of the northern Epirus mountains, where the most decisive battle of the war took place.
Despite the furious and repeated attacks for 15 days, the Greek forces — although they were numerically and materially inferior — remained inflexible.
The former minister George Sourlas, president of the Association of Relatives of the Fallen, had recorded his memories and expressed the pain for those who fell on the battlefields, but also the horrors of war.
It was mentioned in frostbite, hunger and poverty, but also in stories of survival, such as the killed horse that kept him alive or the honey they ate with the bees.
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