Victory in Europe Day, plus 75

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The BBC overnight to the US broadcasts have been posting stories.

These caught my attention

1-https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52583322

Last Nazi message intercepted by Bletchley Park revealed
snip--"They were broadcast on 7 May 1945 by a military radio network making its final stand in Cuxhaven on Germany's North Sea coast.

The message reports the arrival of British troops and ends: "Closing down for ever - all the best - goodbye."

After Germany surrendered, VE Day was declared the next day."

more are article



2-https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-52574748

Berlin marks end of WW2 in Europe with unprecedented holiday

snip--"What does 8 May mean for Germans?
For some, particularly in areas of the old West Germany, 8 May has long been associated with defeat in World War Two. Many families preferred to draw a veil over the period, both those who had suffered persecution as well as those who hadn't.

In the areas of the old communist East Germany, 8 May was taught as a "Day of Liberation" from the Nazi regime by the victorious Red Army. Post-war Berlin itself was divided into four sectors - the Soviets in the east and the US, French and British in the west."

snip--" Holocaust survivor Esther Bejarano, 95, wrote an open letter to Mrs Merkel and President Steinmeier calling for 8 May to become a lasting and nationwide public holiday.

She believes it could help Germans appreciate that 8 May 1945 was "a day of liberation and the crushing of the National Socialist regime". One hundred thousand people have signed a petition supporting the proposal."

more at article

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1. More from the BBC

3-https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52577473

Snip--"Victory in Europe Day marks the day in 1945 when then-prime minister Sir Winston Churchill announced that the war in Europe had come to an end, after Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered."

snip--" However, the BBC is airing a series of special programmes to mark the milestone occasion, including a re-broadcast of parts of Sir Winston's speech.

A pre-recorded message from the Queen will be broadcast on BBC One at 21:00 - the exact moment her father, King George VI, gave a radio address 75 years ago."


snip--" It will culminate in a public sing along of Dame Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again, a song synonymous with World War Two.

Last month, the Queen echoed the words of the now 103-year-old singer - known as the Forces' sweetheart - when she told those in lockdown "we will meet again" during a rare speech to the nation.

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2. More from the BBC Archieves

4--https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52522965

VE Day: 'Do not despair, do not yield'

snip--"On the afternoon of 8 May 1945, BBC war correspondent Wynford Vaughan-Thomas stood in the town square of the medieval city of Luneburg in north-western Germany. RAF aircraft flew. A white sheet of surrender hung from one of the windows of the old town hall."

snip--" In the nearby city of Kassel, Vaughan-Thomas's colleague Frank Gillard stood in the wreckage. Much of the city had been reduced to rubble in a battle a month earlier."


snip--" What the correspondents did not yet reveal was that the Germans had petitioned the Western Allies for a separate peace in the west, leaving German forces free to carry on the war against the Soviet Union in the east. The Allied commander, General Eisenhower flatly refused; on 6 May, he had told the Germans that unless they surrendered unconditionally on all fronts, that Allied air raids would resume.

For Germany, General Alfred Jodl signed the surrender document at 02:41.

The war in Europe was over."

More at article

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3. The articles and images from googling BBC and VE Day are amazing

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4. Americans and VE Day

Source--https://uk.usembassy.gov/how-americans-observed-v-e-day-during-world-war-ii/

snip--"As he announced the Nazi surrender, Truman said: “Our victory is only half over,” reminding Americans that many of their neighbors were mourning the combat deaths of husbands, sons and brothers. Truman asked Americans “to refrain from celebrating in order to focus on the task ahead in the Pacific,” recalls historian Judith B. Gerber, in her essay in the Historical Dictionary of the 1940s.

Truman, who had taken office just weeks earlier upon the sudden death of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was cautious because fighting was still underway with Japan."

snip--" New York was the site of the largest V-E Day celebration, by far, within the United States. Crowds gathered in Times Square, and thousands marched down Fifth Avenue, with confetti raining down on them."

snip--"Other major victory celebrations occurred in San Francisco and Baltimore, and in Hawaii, with marching bands and parade floats, according to Gerber."

more at article

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5. Colorized Images from London

Link to tweet

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