However, the war continued to rage in the Far East. “With it came the end of six years of misery, suffering, courage and endurance across the world,” writes war historian Gary Sheffield for the BBC. The following day, now known as VE day, marked the official end of Hitler’s war in Europe. In the space of just one month, Vienna fell to Soviet troops who then entered Berlin Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was killed by Italian guerrilla fighters, which led to the surrender of German troops in Italy US forces rescued 32,000 survivors from the Dachau concentration camp and Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin.Īfter the Third Reich submitted to Western and Russian demands, Germany’s unconditional surrender was signed at 2.41pm on 7 May in Rheims. The war in Europe between the Allied and Axis powers reached its endgame in April 1945. WWII killed approximately 382,700 members of the British Armed Forces and 67,100 civilians, according to the Royal British Legion, as well as tens of millions more from other countries. The official website of the 75th anniversary of VE Day states: “Years of carnage and destruction had come to an end and millions of people took to the streets and pubs to celebrate peace, mourn their loved – ones and to hope for the future, but not forgetting those still in conflict until 15th August when it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II.” The May Day bank holiday has been moved only once before: it was changed from 1 May to 8 May in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of VE Day.
The day off was due to fall on 4 May but has been put back to the following Friday to commemorate the day when guns fell silent at the end of the Second World War.
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