Greece at War

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1940 Greece Italy October Wars World War II
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The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece from October 28, 1940 to April 6, 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II.
The song is "Παιδιά της Ελλάδος Παιδιά" (Paidia tis Ellados Paidia), roughly translated into English as "Ye children of Greece". It became our national song in the winter of 1940 & a reminder of our struggle against the Italian invaders. It goes like this (a free translation by me):
"Wondering in the streets,
the mothers seek their children,
who vouched for victory,
when they left them
at the train station.

Yet, for those who are gone,
and have found glory,
mourning is inappropriate
let us be joyful for them.

Chorus:
Ye, children of Greece,
who fight a harsh war
on the mountains,
we pray to the sweet Virgin,
for your safe return.

I say to the women who love
and wake at their thought
and breathe a sigh,
that the bitterness of parting
and the quiver
are incompatible with the honest Greek women.

Ye girls of Zalongon*,
city-girls or village-girls
though we might hurt,
let us say with pride like the Souli women

Chorus:
Ye, children of Greece,
who fight a harsh war
on the mountains,
we pray to the sweet Virgin,
for your safe return.

With the victory laurels,
we're waiting for your return,
children".
*During our war of independence in 1821, near a mountain called Zalongon in Epirus, a Greek village was attacked by the Turks. The Turkish soldiers slew every male they could find. The women and children to avoid their fate (slavery), they joined hands, they danced their last dance and fell of the edge of a cliff on the mountain of Zalongon. There's a song named "the dance of Zalongon" written to honour these women who threw their kids of the edge of the cliff and then leaped to their own deaths and goes like this:
"Have joy and health, ill-fated world. Have joy and health, mountains and streams. But just as the fish can't live on sand, the women of Souli can't live without freedom".

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Comments on

Greece at War

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  • nobody ever did, ...

    nobody ever did, however the crime would be to forget what our grandfathers did.

    By wtfhellas [Affiliate User] 1222129895 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • you know why greeks ...

    you know why greeks won even when they where much fewer in numbers?because they were fighting for their country.however,german forces were much stronger to defeat!

    By FOTARAStheGREEK [Affiliate User] 1221856002 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • ..καποτε υπηρχε ...

    ..καποτε υπηρχε φιλοτιμο..ας ξαναρθη σε καιρο ειρηνης,πια......

    By hlias395 [Affiliate User] 1221849610 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • NormsChem.. believe ...

    NormsChem.. believe me we have war, horrible today.. all over the world.. and you know that. If you think what they have done with mind control machines you will see :/ terrible NSA experiemends.

    By Neyden [Affiliate User] 1221232941 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • Wow, amazing ...

    Wow, amazing footage. Thanks for uploading this!

    What a crazy time. We are lucky not to be living through this scale of war today.

    By NormsChem [Affiliate User] 1221118082 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • italian casualties ...

    italian casualties

    63,000[2][3][4] dead,
    100,000+[2] wounded,
    25,067 missing,
    12,368 incapacitated by frostbites,
    ca. 23,000 taken prisoner,
    64 aircraft (another 24 claimed)[1]

    greek casualties
    13,325 dead,
    42,485 wounded,
    1,237 missing,
    ca. 25,000 incapacitated by frostbites,
    1,531[5] taken prisoner,
    52 aircraft

    By toubiotis10 [Affiliate User] 1221094160 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • we had more ...

    we had more important things to do for our country. Ελλαδαρα ρε!

    By empireofred [Affiliate User] 1220997978 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • yea thats what i ...

    yea thats what i was gna say, elasolezito wht about studying a little history?

    By empireofred [Affiliate User] 1220997821 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • Τα σύνορα των χωρών ...

    Τα σύνορα των χωρών καθορίζονται από τους τάφους των νεκρών που πέθαναν για να τα προστατεύσουν!!Εμείς ξεχάσαμε τα σύνορα μας άρα ξεχάσαμε και όλους αυτούς που έχυσαν το αίμα τους και πέθαναν για να τα υπερασπιστούν!!Παιδιά προς Θεού!!Μην ξεχνάτε!!

    By enigma845 [Affiliate User] 1220547935 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • Today's Germany and ...

    Today's Germany and Italy is not like the 1940's Germany and Italy. Times have changed, my fellow Hellenes - we should be proud that our ancestors fought and won these battles, for their families and for their country.

    But please don't blame today's Germans and Italians for the mistakes of their grandparents.

    We have to forgive and move on.

    By Ypnos666 [Affiliate User] 1220433185 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • the greek-italian ...

    the greek-italian war was pretty useless. Mussolini wanted to do a little empire building i guess. He's lucky the germans saved their asses.

    By sammygee17 [Affiliate User] 1220387263 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • ...kai ego dialego ...

    ...kai ego dialego thanato giati etsi pantote enas menei athanatos :)

    By elasolezito [Affiliate User] 1220258454 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • ψηλά τα κεφάλια ! ...

    ψηλά τα κεφάλια ! οι έλληνες πολεμούν σαν τους ήρωες ! θα κάνουμε την ελλάδα μας ικανή να την τρέμουν όλοι οι εχθροί .

    By MrArgiris [Affiliate User] 1219795796 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • yes war is ...

    yes war is disgusting! as a Greek i would rather die than see my house and land invaded

    eleftheria oi thanados

    By cypriotcook [Affiliate User] 1218771847 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • the germans didnt ...

    the germans didnt win a single battle aganst the greek army
    get your facts right
    the greek army was outflanked by all these countries and had to surender
    but the germans didnt won a single batle against the greeks
    only for the battle of crete
    but then the island was unarmed and only few defended it
    and see what happened to the germans
    they never used parashooters again for the rest of the war

    By THEGREAT11114 [Affiliate User] 1218627781 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
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