Yes, on this date in history 68 years ago came V-E Day, marking the Allied victory in Europe following the "unconditional surrender" of Nazi Germany. The Fuehrer had killed himself just days before in his underground Berlin bunker, as the Soviets pounded the city with relentless shelling. Very shortly thereafter, they would outright take over Berlin, taking down the Nazi flags and symbols, and hoisting the hammer and sickle. Germany, which only a few years earlier had still largely retained what could be seen as an empire (they were either allies with, or outright taken over, almost every nation in Europe), was now fighting a losing battle on all sides, as armies closed in all around them, choking off the life of the fascist state. Hitler had declared that he was building the "thousand year Reich", but it had lasted a little more than twelve years.
World War II was not over on May 8, 1945. There was still the war in the Pacific with Japan, after all. There was still months of fighting left, and many more deaths - civilian and military -would be lost yet.
Still, the worst was over with the end of the war in Europe. The casualties on all sides are simply staggering. In all, World War II cost over sixty million people their lives, but that includes the war in Asia. I wondered what the overall toll was in Europe, as well as the toll upon individual European nations - particularly Germany and the Soviet Union.
There was the war on the Eastern Front between these two nations that remains the single deadliest war in history. Think about that for a minute. Of all the wars that have ever existed throughout human history, the war between Germany and the Soviet Union was the deadliest.
There were a lot of famous battles in Europe during the war, but most of these came during the war on the Eastern Front, during which the Soviets managed to stop the seemingly invincible German military machine cold. The German advance was halted and, after a relative stalemate that lasted for years, the Soviets began to triumph in some key battles, and they began to advance forward. That meant that, for the Germans, every step that they took after a certain point was a step backwards. Before long, they had retreated all the way back to the Reich itself, which was collapsing in on itself. It would end in the rubble of bombed out cities, perhaps especially Berlin itself, the capital of the Reich.
But the losses suffered to achieve this were incredible! There are individual battles where the stakes were so enormous, that both sides just kept piling on all the military might that they could to achieve victory. The Battle of Stalingrad was probably the biggest single battle. I heard Norman Schwartzkopf and Charles Kuralt, in a documentary from 1994, state that of every one thousand soldiers on both sides sent to the battle, only three came out alive! When you see the images of the war in the East, particularly during the winter time, you begin to understand just how painful and demoralizing that particular part of the war was.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties), the numbers really are mind-boggling. The most deaths, by far, went to the Soviet Union. According to the website, the Soviet Union had an overall population of over 194 million in 1940. They suffered 10,700,000 military deaths during the war, and 15,900,000 civilian deaths, for a whopping total estimated dead at over 26 million! That, just for the Soviet Union itself.
For Germany, the numbers are equally unbelievable. Within Germany's pre-1937 borders, the overall population stood at just under seventy million. It suffered 4,400,000 military deaths. The civilian death toll is estimated at somewhere between 1,100,000 to 2,500,000. Austria (which became part of the Reich) suffered 260,000 military casualties, and another 120,000 civilian deaths. Then, for ethnic Germans living outside of the Reich itself, there are an estimated 600,000 military deaths, and somewhere between 200,000 and 900,000 civilian deaths. The estimated total of Germans lost during the war, then, are 5,500, 000 military deaths, and somewhere between 1,500,000 and 3,500,000 civilian deaths, for a total of between seven to nine million total dead!
True, that for the Germans, it was a war of aggression. Hitler wanted greater "lebensraum" for his Aryan Master Race of Germans, and so he and the Nazis favored pursuing territorial expansion, particularly to the East. They saw Russia and the East as their future colony, if you will. They pursued it, but they were never going to win that war. I know Americans like to think that they won the war and defeated Hitler, but the truth is that the Germans really lost that war well before D-Day, and the opening of the Western Front. Harry Truman, the future President of the United States, favored what is known as "bait and bleed", which is to say, pitting two enemies against one another and letting them weaken one another. Obviously, given the horrifying numbers of dead for both Germany and the Soviets, this policy worked. But it could also give a glimpse of true understanding for why the Soviets were not exactly trusting of the Western Allies after the war, and why these tensions led to the Cold War. I am not excusing them, but it becomes a bit more understandable why the Soviets wanted those buffer states in between them and Western powers.
For France, there were 217,600 military deaths (including colonies), and 350,000 civilian dead. well over 300,000 deaths for Greeks, and the vast majority of them were civilians. Just shy of 600,000 dead in Hungary, with relatively equal numbers between military and civilian dead. Italy suffered over 300,000 military deaths, with another 153,200 civilian deaths. There were 17,000 military deaths from the Netherlands, but a whopping 284,000 civilian deaths! For Romania, 300,000 military dead, and 500,000 civilian dead! For Yugoslavia, 446,000 military dead, and another 581,000 civilians lost. The United Kingdom lost 383,800 military deaths, and 67,100 civilian deaths. For the United States, 416,800 dead, although this number includes the Asian war.
However, the most deaths for a single country, other than the Soviet Union or Germany, was suffered by Poland, which lost 240,000 civilians and estimates that range between 5,380,000 to 5,580,000 civilian deaths!
We all know about how the Nazis murdered six millions Jews. The Holocaust took place in two different ways. First, and most infamously, there were the death camps, the largest of which was Auschwitz. But the other part of the Holocaust was on the Eastern Front, when the Germans would round up Jews (and other undesirables) and shoot them en masse. Six million Jews!
And it was not only Jews, of course. There are various estimates as to the total number of dead by the Nazis, who pursued genocidal policies. The estimates range by the millions, so no definitive account exists now (and possibly, even probably, never will). But even the lowest estimate stands at roughly 11 million, and quite a few suggest higher, even much higher, numbers than that! There is still a debate about whether or not non-Jews should be included as part of the Holocaust or not.
But one way or another, the costs of this war were truly staggering and mind-numbing!
The late Kurt Vonnegut considered World War II the last necessary war. He himself was a veteran of the war, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was taken to Dresden, where he was one of the few survivors of the infamous Dresden fire bombings that destroyed that city. Dresden had remained relatively free from the constant bombings that other German cities had regularly had to endure, since it was an "open city", meaning it had no military value. There had been drills and exercises before, but they had been false warnings that had not actually materialized into anything. But that changed in February of 1945, when the city became the site of what Kurt Vonnegut called the single greatest overnight mass murder in history. He continued to write and talk about the bombing throughout his long and storied writing career.
Some may contend with Vonnegut's assertion that Dresden was the worst overnight massacre in history, but many agree that World War II was the last "necessary" war, if you will. There were aggressive powers that wanted to take over huge chunks of the world, and thus plunged the world into war. The biggest (and usually considered the most evil) of these was Nazi Germany, and the suffering that was inflicted as a result are mind-boggling, and hard to grasp for those of us who were born well after the war, and did not actually see these events unfold. Yes, we have the history books, but can you imagine what it would have actually been like to live through it, to see the war? The deprivations, the deaths, the uncertainty, the rations, the headlines! The revelations that came of the numbers of dead that came as a result, and the documented cruelty of a modern state, intent on wiping out an entire segment of the population.
As you can see, the war was not just costly for those who were literally fighting it! At a time when there was really very little to celebrate in Europe, the end of the war truly marked a momentous occasion and, for once, it was cause to celebrate! So much so, that we still recognize it every year on this day, May 8th. V-E Day.
I got the numbers for this blog entry from the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3411800037/world-after-war.html
May 8, 1945: V-E Day is celebrated in America and Britain
On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.
The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more; in Copenhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark--the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany.
The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender.
Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain.
Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9, the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio broadcast salute from Stalin himself: "The age-long struggle of the Slav nations...has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over."
535 - John II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
589 - Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo
615 - St Boniface IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope
685 - St Benedict II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1096 - Peter the Hermit and his army reached Hungary. They passed through without incident.
1360 - Treaty of Brétigny signed by English & French
1429 - French troops under Joan of Arc rescues Orleans
1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion-Kentishmen revolted against King Henry VI
1521 - Parliament of Worms installs edict against Marten Luther
1541 - Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River. He called it Rio de Espiritu Santo.
1624 - Hung king Bethlen Gabor & emperor Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Vienna
1639 - William Coddington founds Newport RI
1660 - English parliament declares Charles Stuart to be King Charles II of England
1721 - Michelangiolo dei Conti replaces Pope Clement XI, as Innocent XIII
1741 - France & Bavaria sign Covenant of Nymphenburg
1784 - Only known deaths by hailstones in US (Winnsborough SC)
1792 - British Capt George Vancouver sights, names Mt Rainier, Wash
1792 - US establishes military draft
1794 - Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was guillotined during the Reign of Terror.
He was the French chemist that discovered oxygen.
1794 - The United States Post Office was established.
1821 - Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks in Gravia.
1823 - "Home Sweet Home" first sung (London)
1834 - Charles Darwin's expedition returns to the Beagle
1834 - Prussia, Austria & Russia sign classified accord about Belgium
1840 - Alexander Wolcott patents Photographic Process
1842 - Versailles to Paris train catches fire; 50 die
1846 - The first major battle of the Mexican War was fought. The battle occurred in Palo Alto, TX.
1847 - The rubber tire was patented by Robert W. Thompson.
1858 - John Brown holds antislavery convention
1861 - Richmond Va, is named the capital of the Confederacy
1862 - Valley Campaign: Federals repulsed at Battle of McDowell Va
1863 - Confederación Granadina becomes Estados Unidos de Colombia
1864 - Actions at Stony Creek/Nottoway bridge Virginia (Drewry's Bluff)
1864 - Atlanta Campaign: Severe fighting near Dalton
1864 - Battle of Spotslyvania Court House begins
1871 - English-US treaty ends Alabama dispute
1877 - First Westminster Dog Show held
1878 - First unassisted triple play in organized baseball, by Paul Hines
1879 - George Selden files for the first patent for a gasoline-driven automobile
1881 - Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congolian monarch
1882 - David Belasco's "La Belle Russe," premieres in NYC
1885 - Sarah Ann Henley survives 76-m jump from Clifton Bridge, Avon, Engl
1886 - Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invented and what would later be called "Coca-Cola." in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.
1895 - China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki
1896 - Yorkshire Cricket all out for 887 against Warwickshire
1897 - 22nd Preakness: T Thorpe aboard Paul Kauvar wins in 1:51¼
1898 - The first games of the Italian Football League are played.
1899 - The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
1900 - 250 grave robbers shot to death
1902 - Mount Pelee in Martinique erupted, destroying the town of St. Pierre, and killing 40,000 people.
1904 - U.S. Marines landed in Tangier to protect the Belgian legation.
1906 - Phila A's pitcher Chief Benders plays outfield & hits 2 HRs
1907 - Boston's Big Jeff Pfeffer no-hits Cin Reds, 6-0
1907 - Tommy Burns beats Jack O'Brien in 20 for heavyweight boxing title
1909 - Albert Raines runs world record marathon (2:46:04.6)
1909 - Frederick Barrett runs world record marathon (2:42:31)
1914 - Paramount Pictures is formed.
1914 - The U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution that designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
1915 - 41st Kentucky Derby: Joe Notter aboard Regret wins in 2:05.4
1915 - H.P. Whitney's Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby.
1916 - German munitions bunker in Fort Douaumont explodes
1919 - The first transatlantic flight took-off by a navy seaplane.
1919 - Appingedam soccer team forms
1919 - Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day.
1920 - 46th Kentucky Derby: Ted Rice aboard Paul Jones wins in 2:09
1921 - Sweden abolished capital punishment
1923 - Hobbs scores his 100th 100, 116* v Somerset at Bath
1924 - Arthur Honegger's "Pacifica 231," premieres
1924 - Memel territories given to Lithuania
1924 - Workers at Werkspoor in Amsterdam strike against 3rd wage cut
1925 - 51st Preakness: Clarence Kummer aboard Coventry wins in 1:59
1925 - French colonial army beats Rifkabylen in Morocco
1926 - First flight over North Pole (Bennett & Byrd)
1926 - A Philip Randolph organizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
1926 - Fire breaks out in Fenway Park
1929 - Jan Mayen island, 500 km NNE of Iceland, incorporated into Norway
1929 - NY Giant Carl Hubbell no-hits Pirates, 11-0
1931 - Operette "Land of Smiles," premieres in London
1933 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India.
1935 - Cincinnati Red Ernie Lombardi doubles in 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th beat Phils 15-4
1936 - Jockey Ralph Neves unexpectedly revived after being declared dead after a fall. His wife fainted when he returned to track
1937 - 63rd Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on War Admiral wins 2:03.2
1938 - Stravinsky's "Dumbarton Oaks," premieres in Washington, DC
1939 - Clay Puett's electric starting gate was used for the first time.
1941 - German Q-ship Pinguin sinks in Indian Ocean
1942 - Aircraft carrier Lexington sunk by Japanese air attack at Coral Sea
1942 - German summer offensive opens in Crimea
1942 - First twilight game in 24 years, the Dodgers top Giants 7-6 raising $60,000 for Navy Relief Fund
1943 - The Germans suppressed a revolt by Polish Jews and destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto.
1943 - 69th Preakness: Johnny Longden aboard Count Fleet wins in 1:57.4
1943 - Adm Cunningham of Brit fleet: "Sink, burn and destroy; let nothing pass"
1944 - 33 communist resistance fighter sentenced to death
1945 - Canadian troops move into Amsterdam
1945 - Chinese counter attack at Tsjangte, supports by 14th air fleet
1945 - Gen Von Keitel surrenders to Marshal Zhukov
1945 - V-E Day; Germany signs unconditional surrender, WW II ends in Europe.
1945 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced that World War II had ended in Europe.
1946 - Red Sox Johnny Pesky scores 6 runs in 1 game
1946 - The Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial that preceded the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
1947 - A movement among Card players to protest its 1st meeting with Jackie Robinson & the Dodgers is aborted by a talk from owner Sam Breadon
1948 - Bradman scores 146 Aust v Surrey, 174 mins, 15 fours
1949 - West German constitution approved
1950 - Chiang Kai-shek asks US for weapons
1951 - Dacron men's suits introduced
1951 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1952 - "Of Thee I Sing" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 72 performances
1952 - "Shuffle Along" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 4 performances
1952 - Mad Magazine debuts
1953 - WIPB TV channel 49 in Muncie, IN (PBS) begins broadcasting
1954 - Parry O'Brien became the first to toss a shot put over 60 feet. O'Brien achieved a distance of 60 feet 5 1/4 inches (18.29 m)-Parry O'Brien, Los Angeles, CA
1956 - John Osbornes "Look Back in Anger," premieres in London
1956 - Alfred E. Neuman appeared on the cover of "Mad Magazine" for the first time.
1958 - U.S. President Eisenhower ordered the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green became the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school.
1958 - VP Nixon is shoved, stoned, booed & spat upon by protesters in Peru
1959 - 3-deck Nile excursion steamer springs a leak panicking passengers who capsized ship. 200 drown just yards from shore
1959 - Mike and Marian Ilitch founded "Little Caesars Pizza Treat".
1960 - Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union resumed.
1961 - 1st practical sea water conversion plant-Freeport Texas
1961 - New Yorkers selected a new name for their new National League baseball franchise. They chose the Mets.
1961 - Alan Shepard receives NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Washington
1962 - "Funny Thing Happened" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 965 perfs
1962 - First Atlas Centaur Launch
1962 - London trolley buses go out of service
1963 - "Dr No" premieres in US
1963 - JFK offers Israel assistance against aggression
1965 - 1st shut put over 70' (Randy Matson 70' 7")
1966 - Last game at old Busch stadium, St Louis Card lose 10-5 to SF
1966 - Only HR ever hit out of Baltimore's Memorial Park (Frank Robinson)
1967 - Muhammad Ali was indicted for refusing induction in U.S. Army.
1967 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
1968 - Jim (Catfish) Hunter of Oakland pitches perfect game vs Twins (4-0)
1968 - Pulitzer prize awarded to William Styron (Confessions of Nat Turner)
1969 - Cambodia recognizes German Democratic Republic
1969 - Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Sacra Ritum Congregation
1970 - Beatles release "Let it Be" album
1970 - Construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York City's Wall Street.
1970 - NBA championship: Knicks beat Lakers, 113-99
1971 - "Earl of Ruston" closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 5 performances
1972 - Sabena aircraft at Lod Intl, Tel Aviv, captured by Palestinians
1973 - Ernie Banks fills in for Cubs mgr Whitey Lockman who is ejected during the game, thus technically becoming baseball's 1st black manager
1973 - The 10-week occupation of the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee (site of a huge massacre of Indians in the late nineteenth century) ended when members of the American Indian Movement surrendered.
1974 - 50 MPH speed limit in Britain lifted
1974 - Canada government of Trudeau falls
1974 - FC Magdenburg wins 14th Europe Cup II
1976 - "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" closes at Mark Hellinger NYC after 7 perfs
1976 - The rollercoaster Revolution (roller coaster), the first steel coaster with a vertical flip, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain
1977 - David Berkowitz plead guilty in "Son of Sam" 44-caliber shootings, which killied six in New York City
1978 - ABC TV airs "Stars Salute Israel at 30"
1979 - Radio Shack releases TRSDOS 2.3
1980 - Sabres take only 15 shots, Islanders 22, in a playoff game
1980 - World Health Organization announced smallpox had been eradicated
1981 - Ron Davis pitches 10th consecutive strike out, 1 short of record
1982 - Canucks 5-Isles 6 (OT)-Stanley Cup-Isles hold 1-0 lead
1984 - Chicago White Sox beat Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 inn (completed 5/9)
1984 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1984 - Minnesota Twins Kirby Puckett debuts with 4 singles
1984 - Thames Barrier to stop flooding in London officially completed
1984 - The Soviet Union announced that they would not participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics Games in Los Angeles.
1985 - 20th Academy of Country Music Awards: Alabama and Judds win
1985 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1985 - "New Coke" was released to the public on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.
1986 - Reporters were told that 84,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Soviet Ukraine.
1987 - Gary Hart quits Democratic presidential race (Donna Rice affair)
1987 - The Loughgall ambush: The SAS kill 8 IRA members and 1 civilian, in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
1988 - "Oba Oba" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 46 performances
1988 - Francois Mitterrand elected president of France for a second consecutive term
1988 - Mike Tyson crashes his $183,000 Bently on Varick St in NYC
1988 - Amateur referees work NJ Devil-Boston Bruin playoff games, as NHL referees walk-off, due to a restraining order brought by Devils
1989 - Paul McCartney releases "My Brave Face" & remake of "Ferry Cross the Mersey"
1989 - US space shuttle STS-30 lands
1990 - Cuyahoga County voters approve sin tax to build Cleveland Gateway
1990 - Reindependence Day of Estonia
1991 - CIA director William H Webster resigns
1993 - ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Phil Ware
1993 - Lennox Lewis beats Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
1993 - 16 year old Keron Thomas disguises himself as a motorman & takes NYC subway train & 2,000 passengers on a 3 hour ride
1994 - "Rise & Fall of Little Voice" closes at Neil Simon NYC after 9 perfs
1994 - 500th commentary by Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes
1994 - Colorado Silver Bullets (all-female pro baseball team) first game
1994 - Ernesto Perez Balladares elected president of Panama
1994 - Jose Maria Figueres becomes president of Costa Rica
1994 - Laura Davies wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic
1994 - President Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people
1994 - Erling Kagge becomes the first person to complete the Three Poles Challenge.
1996 - NY Yankee Dwight Gooden wins his 1st AL game beating Tigers 10-3
1996 - South Africa's Constitutional Assembly adopts permanent post-apartheid constitution
1997 - Tea Leoni and David Duchovny wed in Greenwich Village
1997 - Larry King received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1998 - A pipe burst leaving a million residents without water in Malaysia's capital area. This added to four days of shortages that 2 million already faced.
1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel (military college) in South Carolina.
2005 - The new Canadian War Museum opens, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day.
2007 - A new Northern Ireland Executive is formed under the leadership of Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party as First Minister and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin as Deputy First Minister.
2010 - The last piece of Yankee Stadium falls in the Bronx, New York, marking the end of the two year demolition process.
2010 - Barrow AFC won the English FA Trophy at Wembley, this makes them the only team in the world to win it at both the Old and New Wembley stadiums.
Now, the biggest historical event that occurred on this day was surely V-E Day. As such, I figured that it would be good to get as much information on it as possible. Here is an article from BBC:
Victory in Europe Day
By Dr Gary Sheffield
Last updated 2011-03-10
Unconditional surrender
Tuesday 8 May 1945 was 'Victory in Europe' (VE) Day, and it marked the formal end of Hitler's war. With it came the end of six years of misery, suffering, courage and endurance across the world.
Individuals reacted in very different ways to the end of the nightmare: some celebrated by partying; others spent the day in quiet reflection; and there were those too busy carrying out tasks to do either. Ultimately nothing would be quite the same again.
The end of the World War One on 11 November 1918 had come as a shock to many soldiers and civilians because the collapse of the German army had been so sudden. By contrast, it was clear - since at least the beginning of 1945 - that the end of the World War Two was in sight following a series of capitulations. The German forces in Italy surrendered on 2 May. On the following day a high-ranking German delegation, including a senior admiral and a senior general, appeared at the headquarters of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, located near Lubeck.
Typically, Montgomery barked, 'Who are these men? What do they want?' They had come to surrender the German forces in Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The final document of unconditional surrender was signed at General Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims on 7 May. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King George VI wanted Monday 7 May to be VE Day, but in the event, bowing to American wishes, victory was celebrated on 8 May. The USSR waited an extra day before beginning their formal celebrations.
'I've survived'
The fighting, killing and dying went on up to the very last minute, and even continued into the immediate period of supposed peace. A German U-Boat sank two merchant ships on 7 May off the Scottish coast, and some Germans continued to fight against the Red Army for several days after VE Day.
A common reaction to the news of peace among soldiers in Europe was 'I've survived'. Stuart Hills, a British officer with an armoured regiment, finished the war deep in Germany. On hearing the news he felt immediate exhilaration and marked the occasion with some 'liberated' champagne. But then 'reaction set in' as he thought of his friends who had been killed, and he no longer felt like celebrating.
A Scottish battalion let off some flares when the news came through. Later on rum was issued and one platoon held a sing-song. Otherwise, VE Day passed without much incident. For this unit, still in close proximity to German forces that refused to believe the war was over, it was business as usual.
The 8th Hussars (part of 7th Armoured Division), also known as the 'Desert Rats', celebrated VE Day in northern Germany with a church parade followed by rum punch drunk beside bonfires on which swastikas were ceremonially burned.
Elsewhere there were more riotous celebrations, with men going 'absent without leave' (AWOL) and even some alcohol-fuelled fatalities, but these tended to occur further back from the front line.
In general terms, the British army remained well disciplined. The fighting might have been over, but surrounded by a near-starving civilian population eking a living in the ruins of Germany's towns and cities, everyone could see that there was still much to do. Moreover, the thought of the Far East was in the back of many minds.
'Burma Looms Ahead'
For the Western Allies, of course, the conflict in Europe was only one half of the world war. At that stage, the atomic bomb was a secret known to a very few, and the end of the war with Japan seemed a very long way off.
Many soldiers, sailors and airmen in the European theatre anticipated being sent to fight the Japanese in the Far East. The men of the British Liberation Army serving in Germany interpreted the initials 'BLA' as meaning 'Burma Looms Ahead'.
Not surprisingly, for some troops in action in Burma, or sailors of the British Pacific Fleet fighting alongside the US Navy, the news of victory in Europe seemed somehow unreal. As if to rub home the fact that there was still a war to be fought, the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious was hit by a Japanese kamikaze suicide plane on the day after VE Day.
For Far Eastern troops out of the line, there was an opportunity to celebrate in various ways. Some got hold of alcohol, while the Women's Auxiliary Service (Burma), attached to 26th Indian Division, supplied mugs of tea to a race-meeting held on a beach. A surprising number of soldiers who served in Burma do not even mention VE Day in their memoirs and diaries.
One group in the Far East who did hear about the news from Europe were prisoners of war from Britain and other parts of the Empire, still held in terrible conditions in Changi Jail, Singapore, who picked up Churchill's victory broadcast on clandestine radios.
VE Day and the Commonwealth
In Australia, the war with Japan was quite literally nearer to home, and Sydney Morning Herald posed the question, 'Since when has it been customary to celebrate victory halfway through a contest?' Subsequent VE Days were often quiet affairs in Australian towns and cities.
In New Zealand, victory was celebrated on 9 May in an orderly fashion - the government having made detailed plans months in advance - and the population quietly obeyed instructions.
This was in stark contrast to VE Day in the Canadian city of Halifax, where bars were unwisely closed, leading to the widespread looting of alcohol by servicemen, inevitably followed by riotous behaviour and the destruction of property.
Of course, other Canadians celebrated more decorously. The author's father-in-law, undergoing flying training in Canada, spent VE Day in Moncton, New Brunswick, joining local civilians in driving their trucks around the town in celebration.
Many sailors of the Royal Navy discovered the news of VE Day through their ships' 'sparks' (radio operator) as they picked up BBC broadcasts. Many ships' captains celebrated the occasion by 'splicing the mainbrace' - a euphemism for issuing a rum ration.
For some, this was a pleasant interlude in what was otherwise a normal working day. A force of British and Canadian ships spent VE Day sailing to Jersey and Guernsey, occupied since 1940.
Although in his victory broadcast Churchill had announced that, 'our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today', it was unclear whether the defenders intended to fight or surrender.
In the event the liberation was achieved peacefully, with the Bailiff of Jersey leading the crowds in St Helier in a rendition of the National Anthem, which the Germans had banned for the duration of the war.
War-weary Britain
In much of Britain, VE Day was marked by street parties. The people of Britain badly needed to let their hair down. The country was war-weary by May 1945. There had been years of austerity and rationing: five inches of water to a bath, few eggs, no bananas and the motto 'make do and mend'.
Half a million homes had been destroyed, and many millions of lives disrupted. Although the casualty lists from the battlefields were lower than in World War One, they were still terrible.
When in 1944 the primitive V1 'doodlebug' missiles and V2 ballistic missiles began to rain down on south-east England, the morale of civilians who had already endured the Blitz of 1940-1 took a knock.
People were already on the streets celebrating on 7 May, and huge crowds gathered in London on the following day. At 3.00pm Churchill made a radio broadcast. In Trafalgar Square, an eye-witness noted, '...there was an extraordinary hush over the assembled multitude', as Churchill's voice was relayed over loudspeakers: '... the evil-doers lay prostrate before us ... Advance Britannia.'
The King and Queen appeared eight times on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, while the two princesses - Margaret and Elizabeth (the present Queen) - mingled with the crowds. Churchill gave an impromptu speech on the balcony of the Ministry of Health, telling the crowds, 'This is your victory.'
Moving On
All over the country people held fancy dress parades for children, got drunk, made a din, sang and danced in the streets, and went to church to give thanks to God for victory.
For all too many people, mourning a loved one killed in service or in a German air raid, the moment of victory was bittersweet. For others, after the parties were over, there was a sense of anti-climax.
The tension that had been there for six long years was suddenly relaxed. Some found that they had lost a sense of purpose in their lives, a feeling exacerbated by the austerity to come. The war had been won, but the peace did not promise to be easy.
If VE Day drew a line under the past, the defeat of Churchill in the July 1945 General Election signalled a new beginning. On 15 August, victory in Japan read the last rites of the Second World War. Compared to VE Day, it was a subdued affair. Britain had already begun to move on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/veday_germany_01.shtml
Here are the links to the websites that I used to get most of the information used in this blog entry.
http://www.historyorb.com/day/may/8
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may08.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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