VE Day, by Clay Lane

Winston Churchill waves to the crowds in Whitehall on May 8th, 1945.

War Office Second World War Official Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, waves to the crowds from a balcony in Whitehall, London, on May 8th, 1945. That same evening, at 23.01 Central European Time, combat operations were to due to end in the terrible war that had ravaged Europe for almost six years. It was not the end of the Second World War: that came with the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan, announced on August 15th, 1945, and signed on September 2nd. Had Churchill and the British people let the Germans gain control of the Royal Navy and the vast resources of the British Empire — and from September 1939 to June 1941 we resisted almost alone — the consequences would have been unthinkable for the whole world.

VE Day

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Soon afterwards, even as Russian and Allied forces liberated the cities and concentration camps of Europe, Field-Marshal Montgomery reported to his superiors that he had received the unconditional surrender of all enemy forces in Holland, North-West Germany, and Denmark, effective at 8am on May 5th. At last on May 7th, 1945, General Jodl, the German Chief of Staff, signed Germany’s unconditional surrender at General Eisenhower’s HQ in Rheims. Operations were to cease at 23.01, Central European Time, on May 8th, 1945.* Joseph Stalin, however, felt this document could be challenged legally, and insisted that a more precisely-worded draft be ratified by more senior officials in Berlin, where all the trouble had begun. Eisenhower heartily agreed with him, and supreme commanders were rushed to the German capital to sign a more explicit document.*

Winston Churchill did not wait for the appointed hour, but told the British people the good news at 3pm on Tuesday 8th May (even as President Truman was telling Americans gathered around the office radio at the start of business), and King George VI addressed the nation again at 9pm. Thereafter, Victory in Europe Day, or VE Day, has been kept on this date by the British and the Americans; Stalin told the Russians on May 9th, which is Victory Day for them.

by Clay Lane

Based on A Chronology of the Second World War (1947), published by the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

* Central European Time (CET) is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, i.e. GMT+1. Moscow Time is GMT+3. From 1940 to the autumn of 1945, Winston Churchill’s Government moved our clocks to GMT+1 over the winter, and GMT+2 over the summer (‘Double Summer Time’).

* Exactly when this more formal document was signed is unclear. Report says it was actually signed just before 1am on May 9th, that is, after the much-publicized cessation of hostilities at 23.01 Central European Time (CET) the previous evening. The Russians, always sticklers for protocol, recorded that it had been signed at 22:43 CET on May 8th, so the instruction at least appears to precede the action.

Précis

Five days after the fall of Berlin, an unconditional surrender was signed in Rheims, but at Stalin’s prompting a more tightly-worded draft was signed, by officers of higher rank, in Berlin itself, late on May 8th. Britain keeps this day as Victory in Europe (VE) Day each year; the Russians celebrate on May 9th, when the USSR announced the surrender.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Where was the German instrument of surrender signed?

Suggestion

First in Rheims, and then in Berlin.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Germany’s surrender came into effect on May 8th, 1945. VE Day commemorates it on May 8th each year.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IAnnual. IIKeep. IIIMemory.

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