At dawn envog arrives Morning of October 28th “No day” proven by deed Descendants of Sparta, Athens and Crete! Look north, ready to fight Enemies charge from the hills To arms! Facing defeat! There’s no surrender! There’s no retreat! Time after time Force their enemies back to the line Call to arms banners fly in the wind For the glory of Hellas Coat of arms reading “Freedom or death!” Blood of king Leonidas Air raid pounding the land Bombers are flying both day and night Endure six days of rain Dropped by invaders bomb raid in vain Strike hard, the tables have turned Drive them back over the hills At arms! Just like before Soldiers, civilians, Hellas at war By theire own hand Forced the enemy out of their land Call to arms, banners fly in the wind For the glory of Hellas Coat of arms reading “Freedom or death!” Blood of king Leonidas Just like their ancestors ages ago Fought in the face of defeat Those three hundred men Left a pride to uphold Freedom of death in effect Then, now again Blood of heroes saving their land Call to arms, banners fly in the wind For the glory of Hellas Coat of arms reading “Freedom or death!” Blood of king Leonidas Call to arms, banners fly in the wind For the glory of Hellas Coat of arms reading “Freedom or death!” Blood of king Leonidas
The Greco-Italian war opposed Italy and Greece from the 28th of October 1940 until the 23rd of April 1941. The campaign’s objective was to establish a Greek puppet state which would allow the Italian annexation of the Ionian, Sporades and the Cyclades islands. On the 28th of October, the Italian forces invaded Greece in several columns coming from Albania. On the 3rd November, the Italian spearhead was surrounded from all sides and reinforcements were unable to reach the cut-off Italian forces. The Italian defeat was followed by the Greek counter offensive which ended on the 6th of April 1941 was called the first “first axis setback of the entire war” by Mark Mazower. After reinforcing the front to 28 divisions, the Italians conducted a spring offensive in 1941 which also failed. During the Battle of Greece, Greek and British forces in northern Greece were overwhelmed by the Germans, which advanced rapidly into Greece. The Italian army suffered more than 154’000 casualties and the Greek army suffered about 90’000 losses. (Text credits: Gregory Sandoz)