83
years ago we were forced to fight a war we had never wished for. Our
small country with outdated armed forces, obsolete arms and no means had
to defend itself from an empire with the most advanced military
equipment at that time, and a mighty power of hundreds of thousands
heavily armed troops that they could just walk through!
There
was only one answer against fascism and that answer was heard loud and
clear: OXI ( = No)! Italy had ten times the fire-power of Greece and overwhelming
land, air and sea superiority. But we won. We won spiritually,
psychologically and practically in the extreme cold mountainous fields
of Northern Epirus, nowdays in Albania. It was the first defeat of the
Axis powers and the first liberation of territory captured by the Axis
powers.
The
price paid from both sides was high. There is nothing good at war. No
greatness, no pride, no honour! History is full of it. History is
written with blood, sweat and tears...
We
all know that people make the same mistakes again and again, because
they never really learn. Sooner or later we will have to defend once
more our small homeland from turkish nationalism and islamofascism and
we shall prevail again, because we will be defending not only ourselves
but what is fair and just!
Till
then, we will be commemorating our grandfathers who fought and
sacrificed themselves for our freedom, and we will preserve their spirit
as their legacy to us and to all mankind! 
