Victory in Europe with James Holland

in May 1945 the war that had ravaged Europe but five and a half years was finally drawing to an end of all the Allies only Britain had fought from the start to the bitter end and the country was exhausted but still battling and Europe whole cities have been destroyed and 32 and a half million men women and children was dead so when the complete surrender of German forces was announced on the 8th of May 1945 Winston Churchill's measured address unleashed a wave of celebration and relief at one after midnight tonight to create the mayor we may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing [Applause] [Music] and they stopped the music right in the middle of a tune and said V has been declared and everybody started kissing everybody else I've never been kissed so many times in one evening champagne produced beautiful girls for so many years one had control ones inversions and then suddenly it was all over and the control went but few of those celebrating knew the truth behind the end of the war in Europe the part played by Nazi intransigence and by the continued fighting a mayhem of disintegrating borders nor did they fully realize the price that was to be paid for victory in Europe [Music] in the final dark days of the Second World War in Europe there lies a hidden history a tale of confusion chaos and misunderstanding of many thousands of wasted lies and a tragedy amidst the rejoicing it's also a tale of two final surrenders and of not one but three days of victory in this film we're going to explore the offense of those momentous last days of the war in Britain people were anxiously following the news waiting with bated breath for the end they felt must surely come at any minute waiting just waiting for that moment when they said the war is over the horrible feeling that every day that passed more people more of our people would get killed and you've just long for it to end and everyone was impatient waiting for that time as early as January 1943 the Allies had agreed that they would accept only unconditional surrender from Germany and nothing less and the map of post-war Europe that was drawn up at the Yalta Conference of February 1945 allowed the Russians to take Berlin by late April 1945 German resistance on all fronts was collapsing caught between a pincer movement by the Allies only the futile insistence of their Fuhrer prevented German troops surrendering the net was closing in in the West the Allies had crossed the Rhine encountering little resistance they are on the ground they are beyond the Rhine with one terrific blow they have begun the last great battle on the West once we crush the wrong and Montgomery said that they would travel 60 kilometres a day so the tanks rushing 60 killing me we went with him and then we stopped and then the Lord infantry come up behind and clear what the wood left beyond what we broke through and after that there was no contact really they have a rendezvous to keep with the Red Army and they intend to be on time [Applause] whilst the Western allies at bars from the south and west the Russians had sight through Poland and Eastern Europe and had launched a brutal attack on Berlin itself a city already reduced to rubble by British and American bombers ignoring the opportunity to flee Hitler had remained in Berlin gone to ground near what is a kindergarten as the fighting had drawn ever closer so he had remained closed in his underground bunker demented and raving his grasp on reality slipping away as quickly as the Russians were now swarming over the ruins above on April the 30th realizing his dream of a thousand-year Reich was over he shot himself in the mouth the news was announced on German radio late on May the 1st but soldiers like Seyfried ton no longer cared what was happening to the Nazi High Command they were simply fighting for survival desperate to escape from the notoriously merciless Soviet Army in May 1945 sixteen-year-old Seyfried was defending this bridge against the Russians you know he upon sir yes thank you have died on the Russian tanks hey I saw him and fired a shell at him and the splinters the shrapnel from the shell wounded him here in the shoulder and his leg seemed split up seven pieces of shrapnel in him just thank you here I found ya you're working a spell universe you're waiting of Allah fellow spell University nanotech on and off yeah it guides to the inside for members he's saying that he was here still here under this bridge when the news filters prove that Hitler killed himself and I wonder what his thoughts were about that and he said he wasn't the slightest bit bothered it was all the same to him one way or the other all he was concerned about at this point was getting as far away as he could bad a Berlin and to the safety of Western Allied there have been no quarter given in the long and bloody Eastern campaign the Russians had slaughtered and pillaged their way to the capital and around 2 million German women had been raped by the time the Russian army had overrun Berlin they had lost three hundred thousand of their men the German troops were justifiably terrified of retribution in April 1945 Sam Bradshaw was a 24-year old tank man fighting in Germany and well remembers German fear of the Russians I talked to a German lieutenant and he broke down in tears it was quite a nice affair I liked the fellow actually and he'd been with a panzer regiment so I had an affinity with him because I was Panzer and I was talking to him and he said it when he was taken prisoner by the Russians they took his boots off and made him march in the snow and I thought that was to me that was degrading to do that to a man this fear of Russian brutality was to dominate negotiations right up to the end of the war the German High Command was desperate to surrender as many troops as possible to the Western Allies rather than fall into the clutches of the Soviet forces nor by Mary your [ __ ] novel the average height of the pocket I another course a new over eros without sugar Shah Jahan Seyfried he had just been captured and it was a salt in their necks near to him in the rank they were all lined up and this German soldier was wearing the night scroll and because he was doing so the Russian guards dragged this this man out and and shot him right in front of C free on May the 3rd German delegates reached Field Marshal Montgomery's headquarters at lüneburg heath in northern Germany offering to surrender the three remaining armies now facing the Russians Monti refused telling them that any forces opposite the Russians must surrender to them alone a day later the German delegation was back except the surrender terms which but the German generals only surrendered those troops facing Montgomery in Denmark Holland and northwest Germany those facing the Russians on the Eastern Front would fight on and whilst these piecemeal surrenders hastened the end for those at home in Britain there was a growing sense of frustration when would they hear that the war was over for good the newsreels and read your report that the Germans were surrendering in thousands number one they were into Germany across the Rhine and it would only be a matter of time well coming to the end of the war and the morale stayed high and we're expecting the end of all and we're hanging about a Canadian four day on leave waiting for this announcement that didn't come and so will May v under leaden skies Britain waited in vain for word that the war was over the unpredictable weather contributing to the subdued atmosphere that had taken hold of the country what people weren't to know was that the Germans were desperately playing for time hoping that with each hour that passed more troops would flee West but in doing so they were jeopardizing a swift and peaceful conclusion to the war [Music] [Applause] by May the 5th 1945 it was clear that Germany had been irrevocably crushed by the Allies with her cities in ruins and armed forces shattered the Third Reich was finished however fear of Soviet revenge for the atrocities committed during the Nazi invasion of Russia ensured the war continued better to fight on the Nazis reasoned than to fall into the hands of the merciless Red Army at a light supreme headquarters in Reims they were readying themselves for talks as early as May the 4th when General Eisenhower had been contacted by the Nazi High Command but if the Germans support the supreme commander was open to negotiation they were very much mistaken Eisenhower told his staff there could be no bargaining whatsoever unconditional surrender of all forces were the only terms he was willing to accept a German delegation led by Admiral von Frieda Berg had been due to reach supreme headquarters early on May the fifth but was delayed by bad weather when talks eventually began later that evening from Frieda Berg confessed he didn't have the authority to sign any surrender talks were postponed until general yodel the German chief of staff could reach reams Billy Drake a celebrated fighter pilot now based at supreme headquarters Saul yodel arrived at around 6 o'clock on May the 6th I was actually in Eisenhower's headquarters when these two officers walked in he gave a Hitler salute and Eisenhower turn round to beat a Smith who was his deputy would you inform those officers that they are to give a proper military salute Nelson to leave and come in and give a proper salute so they went out there and came and gave a proper salute Eisen has strong stand shocked the Nazis yodel suggested an immediate ceasefire but wanted free movement of troops for a further two days we were all prepared and waited up in the war room all that evening having cups of tea and biscuits leaves only when Eisenhower threatened to call off the talks did doughnuts finally give yodeled the authority to sign the unconditional surrender witnessed by the Russians in the early hours of May the 7th general signs the surrender at Oh 2 for 1 hours on behalf of the supreme commander Allied expeditionary force Lieutenant General Smith who fixes his signature to the surrender document the ceremony over yodels stood and lectured the Allied commanders telling them that as no nation had achieved nor suffered as much as Germany they deserved to be treated with generosity by the Allied victors his outrageous claims were dismissed the Allied Force which invaded Europe on June 6th 1944 as with his great Russian allies and forces advancing from the south demons by Lam see mayor but despite the momentous nature of events for those taking part there were to be no great celebrations rather just a sense of anticlimax it was just a part of the day's work and one couldn't feel any euphoria that once war was over because at the back of one's mind you still had these two conflicting aspects that there's still a war going on in the Pacific and that there was your own private life to be resolved what were you going to do one of the reasons for such restraint was it upon Stalin's insistence the news was to be kept secret until one minute past midnight on May the 9th the Soviet leader was furious that despite the surrender German troops were still fighting in Prague and along the Eastern Front and despite the surrender terms throughout May the 7th thousands of German troops and civilians was still trying to cross the river Elbe into the safety of British and American lines after the war the far bank of the Alva would be part of the Soviet empire and the nearer Bank would be in West Germany where I'm standing now is where the Americans were over there and that thick line of trees underneath the bridge was where the Russians were and they were firing tank of mortar shells straight into the thousands of German civilians and soldiers that were desperate to flee over the bridge to the safety of the Americans their only root was a narrow catwalk across the ruined tangle under bridge many simply jumped in the river where a lot died it was a scene of utter chaos and horror as Nazism crumbled so a once proud and mighty nation experienced the traumatic and tragic reality of defeat Germany was paying for its terrible folly the surrendered German army they were dreadfully shabby as smelly miserable looking people actually different from those strutting stormtroopers one had seen at the Nuremberg rallies on on newsreels but since the remnants of the German armies were still on the move Stalin insisted there should be no simultaneous victory announcement until May the 9th two whole days after the signing of Reims back in Britain people were bracing themselves for the end of the fighting Bobby Brown was working in the Foreign Office in London and was hoping for news of her fiance missing after a bombing mission she's kept a letter she wrote to him but never sent the news tonight is so wonderful that I feel thoroughly worked up and an incredible mixture of emotions seemed to be running through through me make him fear one moment like rushing outside and shouting to the world that the war is nearly over and the next moment I want only to be left to learn to weep not only was she hoping for word of her fiance she was also trying to make sense at the rumor she was hearing like the rest of Britain she had been told that the war was nearly over many times before there had been so many other horrendous things what had happened when we thought things were getting well and you knew of course of a lot of people who were not going to come back because you'd already heard that they were killed so you had to be very realistic we knew that everything depended on whatever it was that was being planned and we only knew the fraction of it neither she nor the rest of Britain could know the surrender had already been signed even journalists who'd witness the signing were under strict orders to keep the news secret they were told sorry chaps can't break the story now you know you have to wait till he say you can but in a final blow to Allied pride it was the Germans who broke the story at 2:27 p.m. on May the 7th it was too great a temptation for one reporter who'd witnessed the signing the Associated Press Agency correspondent ed Kennedy a tough American said to hell with this this is the biggest story of my life I'm not gonna hang around for politicians and he broke the news alone [Music] Kennedy's story was immediately flashed around the world and at 9:30 Eastern Standard Time New York was told of victory in Europe the celebrations were spontaneous and euphoric [Applause] back in Britain that afternoon crowds began gathering in cities up and down the country waiting for an announcement from the Prime Minister what they weren't to know was that Stalin was still vetoing any official statement no one was more frustrated than Churchill but despite repeated pleading with both Stalin and President Truman he was unable to get his way the whole world it seemed knew that the war in Europe was over and yet the furious Prime Minister was forced to cancel not one but two planned victory broadcasts finally after canceling a third broadcast on the evening of May the 7th Churchill decided that British people could wait no longer they had to be told something defying Stalin he ordered a statement on the BBC at 7:40 p.m. listeners around the country were told that the following day May the 8th was to be treated as Victory in Europe day Peter Shore was a squadron leader in Bomber Command and was due to fly a combat mission that night I had sent the boys off on a daylight and I wandered up to the officers mess which was completely empty and sat down in an easy-chair strange feeling because normally it was just full of shouting idiots when there was a pip pip on the wireless and he said the war in Europe is over and I sat down I said have I gone crazy and when the boys came back I told them the news the war's over as a result of which we all went up to the mess and no doubt I can't remember anything about it at all because I was probably blind drunk but we must have had a pretty good party so although Britain had been told to wait until 3 p.m. the next day for an official announcement the relief was immediate I went to bed that night thinking everybody that I know everybody who's alive at this moment is going to be live tomorrow morning and when the celebrations did begin the Prime Minister would be the star it was Churchill who'd stood firm during the dark days of 1940 and who'd led Britain through the long bitter years of war May the eighth was the day in which the British people would demonstrate their thanks recognizing the unique role he'd play in ensuring ultimate victory [Applause] [Music] on May the 7th Britain had gone to bed knowing that the next day would be VE Day it had taken five and a half years but victory was theirs all that remained was to hear the Prime Minister tell them officially that the fighting was finally over [Music] and so Victory in Europe day finally dawned the previous evening the British public have been told the weather forecast for the first time since the beginning of the war and as promised they woke on May the 8th to a glorious summer's day with just the faintest of breezes and barely a cloud in the sky up and down the country church bells rang out and people began preparing for the celebrations many anxiously waiting to hear Churchill's victory broadcast at 3 o'clock that afternoon for Londoners there was only one place to be the very heart of the Capitol James Rafi was a 14 year old boy at home in Camberwell when he heard the news we've got the radio on and then some nee was announced that's it it's over and I was in our living room and I think the mother was in the kitchen and I shouted to her it's over that's over she came running through and said well that's it we're going not the Western but but from the start of VE Day the West End was jammed with celebrating Londoners the crowds were so dense the bus couldn't get any further can get out while all going possible to get out wide pool this was one sea of people and what was the mood on the bus I mean everyone was how everybody was absolutely delighted people would everybody was smiling each other and talking to each other you don't normally do and then looking at the crowds from the bus every laughing and joking and cheering and they're all these impromptu conga lines and the cottony saker's knees up mother Brown and no impromptu singing songs [Music] the capital and her people had suffered through the long years of war but at last on this day at least London could let off steam and remember we got up here and of course we're coming up to Trafalgar Square now and crowds there and all climbing up of Nelson's column it was a wonderful feeling of relief centrally it's over we've survived we've got through it [Music] and it was this sense of relief above all that swept over the nation the war in Europe was over when the dark shadow of Nazism had been wiped from the face of the earth [Music] Tom Pocock was a young war correspondent briefly back from Germany in the afternoon I got in touch with a cousin of mine who'd been invited to a party by a guards officer he'd met in hospital why didn't I go with him and I said fine where should I meet you and he said some James's Palace champagne would produce beautiful girls and we were having a lovely time that afternoon and then somebody said why don't we all go out and carry on the party and in green park near the palace and my memories from Haren become slightly hazy I miss because I I remember lying on my back with looking up at there at the leaves of the trees the blue sky and hearing all the cheering going on my head on the a silken lap of a charming young woman who is gently pouring champagne from the bottle into my open mouth at three o'clock on May the 8th Churchill gave his long-awaited victory broadcast at 2:31 a.m. at general Eisenhower's headquarters general Jodl the representative of the German High Command signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land sea and air ports in Europe to the Allied expeditionary force [Music] Churchill's voice was heard not just in Britain but all over the free world after addressing the Commons he suggested the members process across the road to some Margaret's church to give thanks for the country's victory and to pray for the struggle still to come Joan Collins was at home on leave in Bradford now was it to dance and they stopped the music right in the middle of a tune and said he had been declared when everybody started kissing everybody else I've never betrayed so many times in one evening and I suddenly wanted to be with my mom it was coming yeah and everybody was on edge we were waiting just waiting for that moment when they said the war is over and and our I heard were act remember here in Churchill's speech at one minute after midnight tonight you a the 8th of May and then my mother and my sister because my brother my father was away in Germany we went down into Brantford into Town Hall Square and there because they were all celebrating there everybody was dancing everybody was hugging everybody it was lovely and we stayed there till about I think it was about 10 o'clock at night in Bradford Central Square people gathered to listen to bands and to dance [Music] back in London James Rafi had been fighting his way down the mouth through the crowds absolutely jam-packed with people not just where we're walking right across the now over the other side these green crowded people I remember my mother saying come on Kate go could mention that wait that's Buckingham Palace down there which was probably the first time I'd ever seen but really Alice he was desperate for a glimpse of the royal family yeah I think it was about here where we managed to get to the railing yeah and so of course that's where we were and that's where we were staying and nobody was going to move and you were pressing your face against the side words upon these I was up here I was up on here like this you know and we all shout you we want the king we want the king and and the royal family kept coming out onto Hunter that balcony we suddenly heard more cheering coming from that direction and what's going on there and then I could just see mounted policemen high up on their horses and they were gently making their way through clearing away through the crowd the Churchill and then when he got come past here that's when we saw him there he was in this big open live standing up leisa golem beaming all over his face because I was joy every minute of it and the King step back and let Churchill out know he's there for cheering and sportive fantastic and if so he could've stood there Victor saw [Applause] [Music] as the day wore on there was no sign of an end to the party we then got up our unsteadily and joined the crowds and Elvia afternoon turned into evening dancing got going knees up mother Brown you would see an able captain arming armed with a with a pearly we in Acosta it got me dancing around it was absolutely wonderful very very exciting all over Britain people gave themselves over to dancing and celebrating the hardships and shortages of the war briefly forgotten [Music] [Applause] [Music] in Bradford as elsewhere the relief was palpable here in Central Square crowds gathered on VE Day cavorting and dancing with wild excitement and for the children the greatest treat of all hastily organized street parties with the kind of food they had only dreamed about for years there was a lots of food and we didn't know where it came from they just seemed to appear at magic enough carts we thought this was wonderful you know all these some wheelies and jellies and and cakes and things well I didn't because I was 11 when it was over and there were just children screaming and shouting you know the dew and blue extra games and axilla it was really exciting time and of course when we had the street parties that was another good thing that was that it was record was when the blackout the blackout was shocking but that night when you could switch where the street lamps glass came on again that was another wonderful time you know everybody wait you're afraid to get dusk and the lights all came on but for some people VE Day provoked different feelings joy was mixed with thoughts of the dead and missing at first Bobby Brown wanted to be part of the celebrations I came in by tube and found my way through the thousands of crowds crowds crowds crowds and took my place waited for their boy family to come out and then because my own personal Astoria I couldn't cope anymore and I just sort of fought my way back to the clouds she was not alone in her feelings many who had lost loved ones found it hard to share the celebrations for so many years one had had to control one's emotions and then suddenly it was all over and the control went the extra point and said for me I still thought that maybe by the time I got back to my parents at the bungalow in Mill Hill nine fianc said just might be one of the ones who had been freed brothers it was still not quite the end in Europe there was even one part of the British Arthur remained under German occupation and in Berlin there was a further surrender to be signed before Victory in Europe was finally and indisputably declared whilst the rest of the country celebrated the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by Germany was still waiting to be liberated after nearly five years of Nazi rule two British destroyers were on their way but had yet to reach the Channel Islands we knew that it was going to come but just when you know and everybody was so impatient I can remember you know Mom and Dad and everybody talking about it when is it going to happen and when are they going to come we just couldn't wait the 8th of May must have seemed very strange to many of the Islanders word had reached them that the war was over and that that afternoon Winston Churchill would be making his victory broadcast and yet they remained an occupied Island the Germans were still there and not a single British soldier had reached their shores we didn't know that these boats were outside but it was overnight you know you kept thinking well somebody's coming tomorrow morning I mean some the boats has has to come Molly Behe had remained on Guernsey throughout the war in May 1945 she was 14 and remembers listening to Churchill's speech on a radio that had been hidden from the Germans friend of ours neighbours had this a delet radio hidden in a cushion in the chairs and he got it out put it on the windowsill upstairs I can see it now and we all got in the road listening the heat fire began yesterday to be sounded all along the front and Channel Islands are also to be free today because we will went a bit mad when his friend Churchill said oh dear Channel Islands will be free and Germans were passing along the road and they just didn't take the slightest bit of notice they were just walking by as normal but although by three o'clock on maybe eight but the Islanders knew they would be liberated they were still officially under German occupation Germany itself have been overrun by nearly a million Allied troops but for most of them VE Day was just a brief respite in their duties rifleman Bernard Hickman the former groom managed to get hold of a horse and trap and then I'll say this was VE Day we said right we'll go out on a ride so we saddled up got the old buggy and off we went fishing we had no beer or nothing you know there's no there's no drinking out were in there like this but we danced around and you know being happy nobody firing guns are just all no soldiers we finish like finishing exercising is finished and and we went in into the rooms or to the house that we were and the Germans celebrated - was there the news and they were crying and the kids were screaming we had our compo rations 24-hour ration packs and in them with netted drops and young the old as sweets and beloved map the kids they let it happen for most Allied troops however mainly eight was just another day Sam Bradshaw now camped in northern Germany remembers little eforea we didn't celebrate we knew that they were celebrating England I felt personally a resentment that I wasn't there to participate that I felt that I'd done my best and the people with me all all the soldiers with me we're all in the same boat and we thought why this they're celebrating and we have nothing to celebrate really the war was only ended on paper there was a there was a job to be done a terrible job [Music] as liberating troops swept through Europe they were confronted with the terrible legacy of the Nazis the concentration and extermination camps [Music] at the end of the war I was encamped in a small camp near Belson and I went for a walk and when I walked I became quite quite emotional actually I even came to tears I must admit that I saw the the shoes of women and children and men and suitcases spectacles thousands and thousands and I realized that each pair of shoes represented a person particularly the children's shoes this to me was overwhelming and I walked around the camp and went back to do to the to my village and I sat down and also letter home to my mother how awful thought either by merely being a human being as something in common with the German people but I found consolation in the thought that I had played my part in helping to destroy those who had preached and upheld this doctrine of bestiality what he saw made him question is 5 years of fighting in North Africa in Europe I felt angry and a feeling of failure that we'd failed in spite of all we've done in the war and the comrades had lost and what we'd achieved in spite of everything we'd failed to stop this terrible thing happening as those responsible for the camps were being rounded up journalists were brought in to tell the world the truth about the Nazis terrible legacy you went in there and you look round the horrifying scene with the wretched prisoners tottering about of grave pits and there's a stack of corpses waiting to be thrown in and those frightful smell outside the crematorium and it really a very horrible and they were at that time moving the prisoners out of the prison house well they were full of typhus and as soon as they move prisoners out of a row of huts that they burnt them down with with with flamethrowers now that I took that picture that that's one of the Huff's going up in flames British flame tanks fire the flimsy building Belsen is erased from the earth Buchenwald Dachau Lord houses even as Britain and America celebrated VE Day there was still one final act to be played out on May the 8th Stalin was insisting on a ratification of the final surrender agreed the day before and we're better than Berlin the shattered heart of the Third Reich a defiant but humiliated Field Marshal Keitel was driven through the decimated remains of Berlin to marshal zhukov headquarters in the south of the city Zhukov Keitel had been extremely shaken by his journey through Berlin and on his arrival here at Karl's horse had admitted to his captors that had been terrified by the extent of destruction mr. Field Marshal replied one of the Russian officers were you not terrified when on your orders thousands of Soviet towns and villages were wiped off the face of the earth a millions of our people including many thousands of children were buried under their ruins title had no reply throughout the Soviet era of East Germany this room was preserved as a lasting symbol of their triumph the Russians were determined that this surrender would not be the low-key affair that had taken place at Reims the room was packed with triumphant Soviet officers press and camera crews at around 11:00 p.m. the ceremony began the Germans were brought here to this table title sat in this chair stiff-backed and defiant but clearly uneasy Tedder eyed him and said have you read this document on unconditional surrender are you prepared to sign Keitel isiliye looked back and said I am prepared to sign then removed his right glove and adjusted his monocle the German signatures represented the final act in the fall of the monstrous Third Reich [Music] at last the Soviets could celebrate the end of the Great Patriotic War a truly terrible struggle that have cost a staggering 20 million Russian lives the news of victory was finally broadcast in Russia in the early hours of the morning and VE Day celebrated that day 24 hours after Britain and America I made a knife the Russian celebrated their victory under the watchful eye of their leader Joseph Stalin after the war much of Germany and Eastern Europe would fly the flag of communism and oppression for a further 45 years as midnight on May the 8th passed and the war was officially over on all fronts two British destroyers waiting off the Channel Islands closed into the shore at a quarter to eight on the morning of May the knife 20 British soldiers stepped ashore us and Peter board and then all of a sudden we saw these little figures sort of right at the end down at the pier and this is them you know and course the excitement she's swelling up in everybody and just wait here we couldn't come fast enough when they were marching so smart and you had the valence there they were coming we just pushed my constables out the way and we just ran like mad and of course when we got to them it was a case of everybody went mad even loving them and kissing them nothing their hats off and they were crying as well as us we were absolutely you know it was such a wonderful moment while the German garrison handed over their weapons the British soldiers formed up outside the Old Courthouse and hoisted the Union Flag for most Channel Islanders this was the moment of liberation on the morning of May the 9th history later in the day and the Sailor came and I gained more loving and more cuddling and he said to me you're a bit young Missy said I'll come back to you in a few years time [Music] the celebrations were soon over new hardships lay ahead Britain's noble struggle had left her on the brink of collapse and those who had survived were now forced to reflect on what life held in store after the war we may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing but let us not forget for a moment the toil and effort that lie ahead Japan will all had treachery and greed remained and imbued despite scenes of euphoria and rejoicing for many VE Day was marked by grief for those who would not be returning home people were also genuinely anxious about the future 60 years on we know the victory in the East was just a few short months away but in May 1945 few dead believed that was possible [Music] the war was obviously over we'd done our stuff so what it was he still had the actual overall war were still still on that the Pacific War has still to be won [Music] I found that my experience when I first went home was that I couldn't adjust and I didn't feel I belong at home anymore though I've become too remote from civilian life with the war and the war for me was really being a soldier in a combat sold it was really my life and there was no place for me [Music] huge numbers of people by then would have known that their loved ones their fathers their sons their lovers whatever were dead and that was easier it was horrendous but it was easier [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Maya Vision

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Id: 5Ovtx4llD34

Length: 46min 14sec (2774 seconds)

Published: Fri May 08 2020